Interesting life- interesting story?

Well, yesterday I was searching through teaching books, and I stumbled across a book I Am Pencil. In it, there's a chapter that tells of a teacher visiting his student's home. He found a sad situation, but said in the last lines, "well, it will make him a better writer," as though that makes it okay. I was disturbed.

But, lo and behold! Today while reading in Negro Art and America, I found a similar statement, saying that the "the poetry the average negro lives" inspires his story, making the writer's words art because of his lived experience.

I often feel like I have nothing to add to the vast plethora of novels, poetry, and short stories. How could something in my experience really inspire a story that says something important? Does my life have to be interesting in order to have a good story? Or is my life uninteresting to me because the normal things in it seem commonplace to me? Perhaps to someone else, my story would be interesting. But if that's the case, how's a writer to know? How am I to know?

If I feel this way, then how will my high school students feel?