Too often when being involved in service, society’s mindset becomes trapped in the idea of charity as a direct fix, overlooking the more pertinent course of justice. While charity seems appealing, it frequently becomes a temporary aid to the problem at hand. Catholic Social Teaching’s mission merges charity, responding to effects, with justice, examining the cause. This is an important attitude to keep in mind for it does not look to simply provide solutions to the problem; it locates the direct source, preventing it from occurring again.

 

            This past fall at Saint Joseph’s University my service learning course provided a volunteer opportunity at the Center for Literacy in west Philadelphia. My classmates and I were to teach adult learners whose low literacy skills hindered them from reaching their fullest potential in society. We were set with a daunting task: to tutor the CFL learners in basic reading and writing in the hopes that they might reach their educational goals.

 

            Not only was I new to the tutoring experience, I had never done any sort of community service before. I had foolishly thought that I would walk in, meet my learner, teach her what she needed to know, and then she would be off to further herself in the world. I had not envisioned that my learner would be the self-effacing, 21-year-old high school graduate, Teleia Dorsay, who was reading on less than a first grade level. I was stunned. I learned that she was a victim of being pushed along by her school system—an unfortunate occurrence of many of the adults at the Center.

 

            Week after week we worked on sounding out syllables, spelling, reading, and writing; week after week I was certain that I was failing her. I saw no progress. I was frustrated with what little time we had together. I felt that I could not teach her. But I refused to just push her along. I would watch her struggle, try to help, and encounter that very same struggle the following week. I knew that I needed a new approach and thought about a class discussion we had early in the semester in my service-learning course: the difference between justice and charity. Before service, I hadn’t thought of the distinction. Was I doing justice, charity, or both? Did it matter?

 

            Yes. It mattered. Justice fixes the systemic problems of society, as opposed to the temporary, band-aid effect of charity. I approached service with the completely wrong idea of what I should have been aiming for. I was attempting charity—taking someone who could not read or write and attempting to make her read and write. I was failing, so I thought that I was doing something wrong. My error, however, was that I was attempting to provide charity to a person who was in desperate need of justice. Why was it that Teleia had never mastered the skill of literacy post-graduation, I wondered. Struck by the answer, I was ashamed it had taken me so long to realize: no one ever told her that she could.

 

            I returned to the Center with a new insight. My teaching had not changed, but my mentality made all the difference. Now I knew that I was first and foremost addressing the root problem of Teleia’s literacy struggle every single time she told me she couldn’t write and I told her that she could. Every time she struggled over a word and said, “I’m stupid” I told her that she wasn’t. It was her self-degrading thoughts, instilled in her by the high-school teachers who did not have time to deal with her, which had been her downfall all along. Being told that she couldn’t read or write translated in her mind to thinking that she was incapable of it.

 

            When I met Teleia, she was reading at less than a first grade level. When I left her, she was at this same level. But I had not failed her. Over and over, I would tell myself that I had. It was not until our very last lesson that it occurred to me what I had done for her. We were wrapping up the session as the clock neared 7; as she flipped the pages of her journal, I noticed she had copied down pages and pages of words from her wordbook. “Teleia,” I said. “Did you do that on your own?” She told me that she was bored one night, and wanted to practice her spelling. This small action told me that I had accomplished what I set out to do. She was at home, and realized that she had the ability to pick up a pen and write—something she had never had the confidence to attempt before. Where everyone else had failed her, I was the one that gave her this confidence simply by telling her that she was just as capable as anyone else at reading and writing. Yes, she is still at less than a first grade level. But she knows that she has the capacity for more.

 

            As a society, without taking the time to merge justice and charity, we will be doing more harm than good. When I could not see immediate results with my learner, I nearly gave up. By me identifying the cause and attempting to tackle it, Teleia has been helped in the long-run. Since I would not give up on her, she wasn’t willing to either.