For some reason I forgot to mention the most important work I've done: as a tutor, both in English as a Second Language and in Basic English. I loved it, even thought of setting up my own business. But with free Adult Education available down the street, it didn't seem likely I could make a living at it.

I liked tutoring second-language English- it's neat to see people become comfortable, even proficient, in their adopted language. But for pure satisfaction, teaching basic English can't be beat- tutoring an adult who can barely sign his or her name and in the course of a few weeks seeing a whole new person emerge is fantastic. As one man marveled, Where is the hard part?

A great many people who are now 40-plus years old dropped out of school only because they hadn't learned the basic things they needed 'way back when. Many of them have never had one-to-one tutoring. The man who said that about the "hard part" didn't even realize that there were rules to help in reading- he thought everybody just kind of knew and so he just kind of guessed. And he certainly didn't imagine that he would find it to be fun.

In most cases, I think, there are actual learning disabilities, because, I think, most of us just find ourselves to be good spellers, test takers, fast readers- it's not necessarily something we set out to be. With a learning disability, even a mild one, everything is tons harder. The neat thing is that as adults people learn differently and are easier to reach.