A Map out of the Gap?

I started back to classes at the U. today. I also went by Dr. Glade's office and spoke with her a few minutes. I told her about the eleven AVID facilitator/tutor positions and told her I interviewed for a spot but didn't get any offers. She said, "Well! That's depressing." (No kidding.) What's more, she was quite surprised when I told her that I offered to help with the AVID program as a free volunteer, and that the woman never even responded to my email. "What's wrong with these people?" she mused. What is wrong with them? Or, should the question really be, what is wrong with me?

So, I starting thinking later about what I could do to give all us teacher-types with no jobs something to do that might, in the end, be something sustainable and even *gasp* beneficial to the local schools and communities. There is a lot that teachers-in-training can do to help support stressed school systems. I wonder why school districts don't partner more often with university education programs to formulate a "win-win" for both the pre-service teachers and the districts. What probably would need to happen is that the universities would have to partner with participating schools and monitor volunteers that are screened for the program. There is a lot of liability, though, and a lot that could go wrong, so the volunteers would need to be the best of the best education students. The colledge students that participate would have to get recommendations from their professors or from some other reputable source. Hmmm. It might be interesting to research this a little and see if there are any other universities that do this kind of thing.

I remain flummoxed about the whole current job situation in general, and I feel as though I need to think more creatively about how I can not only help myself but also others in a similar situation. I'm feeling a LOT of anxiety lately, and I'm not sure if I'm creating my own or feeding off general socio-economic uneasiness. One thing's for sure though, it seems to me that there is a yawning disconnect between school systems and university education programs. I'm just trying to figure out a way to fill in some gaps that will pay-off in the end.