I know everyone has a different opinion on whether or not schools/teachers are effective, caring, etc, but life as an educator in an urban setting is going to be the end of me. We recently lost a student for making some alarming threats to teachers, and yesterday a student with a short temper and a history of aggression brought a gun to school. He's gone for good.

If this was a rare time of unusual strife, ok, that can be dealt with, but this is far from uncommon. Now I get to start planning for standardized tests, scores for which I will be held accountable for, to be taken (with no extra help allowed) by a student body which includes over 25% English as a Second Language students. THAT goes real well....

Anyway, I just needed to vent. Teaching is

wow. i went to schools where we rarely even had fights. one of the kids in my class called in a bomb threat our sophomore year. he was sent to a remedial school until our senior year when they allowed him back in. when he came back, everyone freaked out so much that he was sent away again. i think he's in jail now.

anyhow, i really respect you and the job you do. it sounds incredibly tough, but i'm sure you're making a difference in someone's life and that's a wonderful thing.

stay safe!

It's a shame that times have changed to the point where the teacher has to give the student an apple every day...just so they won't shoot them.

Wow, Diggum.

Scary. Very, very scary. My girlfriend is a high school math teacher. She had a job at a small district and ran into trouble with office politics and an awful administration, so she quit. She's subbing now, but she's considering looking into teaching at one of the more "inner-city" schools nearby next year (which is likely nowhere near as bad as where you're teaching, but nonetheless it scares me).

You know, I'm thinking about getting a master's in education after I finish up my Bachelor's in May so I can go into teaching, but I keep hearing stories and seeing evidence to indicate that it's not a field that's worth all the hassle.

Bomb threats were always fun when we were in junior high. They had to take them seriously, of course, so we all got to walk next door to the park.

I hated teaching, though...and I never had to deal with those kinds of problems.

i think this might be better served in the N&D forum, so im gonna slip it over there.

woops, wrong forum, and i have no powers here , ill have this taken care of ASAP

add me to the list of quitters... i'm in my fifth year of teaching and this is it for me... im at my 3rd different job.... years 1-3 were spent in a small high school with a school board that thought they knew everything about you and listened to every rumor out there (not good for a young male teacher), but i did have a principal that wanted to fight for me, but why would i want to deal with a shitty board the rest of my life.... year 4 i taught at a high school again, but this time i had the principal from hell... and now i decided to try junior high, and holy shit was this a bad idea... so im heading back to school... ive met so many disgruntled teachers, it is a wonder anyone makes a career out of it... i guess june, july, and august keep them motivated (it has me for the past 5 years)

this disgusts me beyond belief. i don't know how you teachers keep coming in every day. todays kids are fucking rotten. when i went to school there were lots of shitty kids, but nowhere near what i hear about today. and teachers are left utterly powerless to do anything but stand in front of the class and read verbatim from pre-authorized texts.

damn, this is making me reconsider going into education. Then again, I never even had a thought in my mind that it would be a walk in the park, but what teachers go through is shitty. I dunno, I guess I can give it a try, I can always go back to school.

to be honest... do it... you never know... you might find a gig that suits you, and it is very rewarding... just dont expect to reach every kid... hell, be happy if you reach half... one thing i can tell you is that i would teach high school if i was you.... junior high and middle school blow

that's what I am going for.

It's the hardest thing I've ever done, that's for sure. It's probably not the most rewarding, either, but it's never boring and the intensity of it all is enough that every day flies by and I always feel like I just survived something. Actually, once upon a time I was hit by a car, and the two experiences are very similar.

Bizarrely enough, I heard today that ANOTHER kid in our district, at a different school, brought a gun on the same day.

On the other hand, one of my seventh graders is writing a book . He's actually on page thirty-something, with a map drawn of the world it takes palce in and characters who represent different people in his life. That fucking rocks.

It does indeed! If you can find just one kid like that in every class, it can make it all worthwhile.

it probably does

Parents suck. As does MTV.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/ALLPOLITICS/01/ ... index.html

"Bush calls for increased high school testing"

What confuses me is why articles always make it sound like the only critical response is in terms of money. My complaint has nothing to do with cash and everything to do with the research being ignored in its design and implementation.

The picture is funny, though.

yes. everybody who respects the education that theyve recieved (and even those who dont) always remember that teacher who made a difference. the one who cared. the one who went the extra mile. i had several and to this day when i see them in the supermarket or wherever i thank them....but i had one teacher who made it his personal duty to help me pass grade 12 english...i fucking worked my ass off all semester and i ended up with a 40% (i couldnt deal with shakespeare then) but he passed me with a 50% which allowed me to graduate and go to college. if he had been a dick i dont know how bad my life could have turned out.

in retrospect, i may have treated some of my teacher shitty, but the ones who did it well, i respect and love. they did wonders for me and helped shape the way i am today.

NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF A GOOD TEACHER...and for all you teachers out there...dont let those 29 assfucks bother you...cause there is 1 kid in that group that you will reach. Keep on doing the amazing job that you do!