Thursday, December 09, 2004

One classroom teacher tells it like it is

The trouble with public schools today has largely to do with a failure of parents to teach their children respect and of society to teach parents how to be quality parents.

I found this blog via blog explosion. As I am want to do, looked at this person's very first posting back in 2000 - she has been blogging a lot longer than I have - but found it to be a very revealing post:

Check it out, slice:

I have been at this school for a week now. my sixth grade class is unbelievable. i hate to say it, but they're little fucking assholes. i despise them. really. i teach in a ghetto school where the only discipline these kids understand involves physical violence. i'd beat their asses myself, only the majority of them are bigger than me. its a goddamn shame....

...the day just got worse from there.

i spoke to my boyfriend after school today. he, too, is a teacher. he teaches high school english at a school for juvenile delinquents. it seems that at some schools, there are consequences for behaviors like leaving the room without asking and calling the teacher a fucking bitch. i however, can only ruin my afternoon by assigning detentions to kids who mostly refuse to stay...

...perhaps if i improved my ghetto talk they'd understand me better. the other day a student asked if i was puerto rican. i said, "no, but i'm part portuguese." the kid said, "that right next to puerto rico ain't it." i said, "not exactly." another student said, "hey man, you better stop cursin in spanish, she part rican."

End slice:

Talking about what is wrong with our schools has got to include a thorough examination of the poor behavior on the part of the students, the parents, the teachers, the administration, the governements, and what is wrong with the very fabric of our society.

How about it? Does anyone want to kick off the commentary for this one.

3 comments:

Bryan said...

I'll bite. I decided not to follow Whatshisname (the hubby) into education when he came home and reported that a student in the high school shoved a petite teacher of the female persuasion into the chalkboard. When said student was sent to the office, office just sent him back.

When he would call parents (mostly grandparents, actually, they were the guardians) about behavior, they would tell him that school problems were HIS problem, not theirs.

Most students aren't forced to take responsibility for their behavior. Such as this case http://www.ajc.com/hp/content/metro/cobb/1204/09cake.html One dad is claiming that his daughter isn't responsible for her actions because she has Asperger's syndrome. I've done more than my share of research on Aspies. Not a good excuse.

Personal responsibility. What a concept.

Anonymous said...

Oy, great post on the link. But nothing since Tuesday, October 17, 2000. What happened to this blogger-teacher? Beat up by her kids? retired? tired? found blogging too strenuous? lacked readers?

There must 1 million teachers who can empathize but who have be cowed by ''the system'' into silence.

Every now and then a teacher opens their mouth, only to be slapped down. Connecting a name to a post like this could/would cost a teacher his job. So the public continues in its ignorance.

''I see nothing. I know nothing,'' - Sargent Scholtz.

girlfiend said...

This was fun to stumble upon. Yes, I was beat up by my kids. But it hasn't stopped me from teaching. I'm a sucker for punishment.