This class I just finished had a student whose parents just left him and his younger siblings one day, and he still doesn't understand it, but takes care of his siblings. Another student's dad died of cancer, and to avoid reality he ran around and did $480,000 worth of graffiti, for which he spent time in an institution, but now he's been in the military and is rehabilitated and serious about his studies. Another one, a straight-A high school student whose mom married again had problems with her stepdad, her mom kicked her out, and she never went back--Now she's on track again and doing well in college. Two more have post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from Afghanistan--One of them, his base was hit by missiles every night for weeks on end. They're both still suffering because it affects emotions and relationships a lot, but they're each putting their lives back together. Three more of them struggle with their English, which is amazingly complex to learn if you're not immersed in it--and they're not--but they're making every effort. A few more have some learning disabilities like dyslexia, but above-average IQs! Another one, a native English speaker, got through high school but was failing papers in my class because of bad grammar, run-on sentences, etc. He got busy half-way through the short summer semester and the last paper I returned to him was AAAA- (I give four grades on each paper). And that's not even half of the stories in this class. The problem is, I get connected to the students and then have to say goodbye, and that's got me kind of uneasy tonight.