So you think people don't know? They didn't go to school themselves and experience no school during the summer for themselves? The reality is that people know what a teachers schedule looks like, generally speaking, and they still don't want to get into education. Why? It's. Not. Worth. It. It's funny how people don't use the same reasoning when it comes to higher salaries for other occupations. Why do CEOs have to be paid so much? Because we have to pay that much to attract the best and the brightest, we're told. Oh really? But somehow higher salaries for teachers in order to attract people to the profession has to be "justified"? Frankly, your dismissal of the work that teachers do both in and out of the regular school year is insulting. Pay is not the only reason people don't get into teaching, but it's absolutely not helping.

I work with at risk youth here in Philly and run into this problem all the time. It is extremely frustrating for the kids who are just trying to actually make some progress in life (like go to college) and can't because they don't have the necessary paperwork for the process (many don't even have a birth certificate). Trying to navigate the bureaucracies is a nightmare when you have no experience with such things, as it sounds like you've discovered. You've received some good suggestions already. I'll just add that for some kids I've worked with, getting a voter id card was a helpful form of id and actually easy to get. If I remember correctly you'll need to provide the social security office with an address where they can mail the card and that address has to match an address on your id. That's where something like a voter registration card can be helpful.