62-Dr. Kyle Roberson: Educational Opportunities for the Incarcerated

<p>•  While I was in the military police, I met somebody who worked in corrections, and so as a reservist, I was looking for full-time work while I was doing my reserve time. When I applied for the Bureau of Prisons, I got hired as a correctional officer and once I got hired as a correctional officer, I met another guy who was in the Reserves who... This is all part of the happenstance part of it. Now, this was not planned. All these people came into my life. Made an impact, gave me an opportunity. (2:41)</p><p>•  Because as Family Consumer Sciences educators, we have a great skill set. Not only do we work with content literacy, not only do we work with math and all of our content, the reading aspect of it. When you're dealing with the incarcerated, and a lot of them were in need of their GED, and at least in the Federal Bureau of Prisons system, the only requirement is that you have a teaching certificate, so as long as you're a certified teacher, you can get hired. (10:18)</p><p>•  Mr. Roberson, please don't ever quit your job. And right there, I just like, I've made an impact, I've made a difference, and it's all because I chose to get into Family Consumer Sciences and come work in the prison system and in the education department, and I knew right then that I had a life-long mission of helping inmates better themselves so they can give back to society, get re-introduced and re-connect with their families. (16:42)</p><p>•  A completely different spin on how I think of things, just mentioning the differences, but yet the similarities with the incarcerated versus the deployed... I think, honestly, I've never even considered from the incarcerated side, the supports. I know there are numerous supports for the deployed families, but I never even considered what kind of support system there are in place for the families of the incarcerated. (39:50)</p><p>•  And that's that human connection that we need to make with our students, and I tried to make with the inmates that I work with, and it just goes a long, long way