Being an Educator Sucks

I'm getting a bit disenchanted with this whole tutoring business. I've met my student once in a get-to-know-you sit down and once for an official "tutoring" sesssion. You can't even consider it tutoring because of how he wants to learn. It's basically memorization on his part and human dictionary on mine.

The last three scheduled sessions didn't happen at all, and I'm about to end this relationship if nothing changes. The first time he skipped out was because he got a job for the day. This is an acceptable excuse in my opinion.

The next time he missed our tutoring day was because he had to help his cousin. I have no clue what they were doing and didn't ask. This was a less acceptable but still legit excuse for missing the session.

The most recent time he failed to even call to let me know he couldn't make it. I waited at our meeting location for about half an hour before giving up. I called and left him a message informing him I was leaving and to call and confirm if he would make the following session.

Shortly thereafter, he called me and mumbled something. I have no idea what he said and asked him to repeat it. On the second go-round, I think I caught something about marital problems. Before I could process it, the line went dead. I called back thinking we just got cut off, but he didn't answer. WTF?!?!

I expressed my concerns today when I spoke to the volunteer cooridnator. She said to give it one more try and report back to her whether or not he showed. She also encouraged me to tell him to use the workbook rather than just memorizing his material. If he didn't want to use the workbook, she thought it was of no use for him to be in the program. Should he decide not to use the book, she would probably need to talk to him again. She said she would also try to find another student for me as it is not fulfilling on my end if all I am was a human dictionary.

I'm supposed to meet him tonight so we'll see if he even shows up. The coordinator talked to him and he said he was supposed to meet me tonight. At least he knows the schedule.