General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: IF ONLY WE WERE ASHAMED [View all]BumRushDaShow
(128,343 posts)while looking for a job in my field, I actually signed up to be a substitute teacher in the Philly school system. Since I had a science degree, I was in demand in the junior high and high schools, and the schools that I was sent to (and later became a long-term sub at) were the very types of schools being discussed here - i.e., in the poorest parts of the city with the most need for subs. I had classes with 40 students, kids falling asleep in the back of the room etc. Many of the kids were literally just a year or two younger than me at the time. I brought in my own materials to use to teach (and worked the mimeograph like the dickens! LOL). I opened up closets and cabinets full of books and scientific experiment kits that none of the previous teachers bothered to break the wrapping off of, and the kids were grateful that someone "cared". Before I left for my permanent job in my field, I had kids who were cutting other classes to be in mine. From their standpoint, they were looking for someone who appreciated them, gave them the correct amount of discipline, and could relate and show them what they were missing out on. And this was over 30 years ago.
I's like a broken record in school systems... even when I was in the public schools, and it's only gotten worse.
But sometimes when the pendulum has swung so far to one side, it eventually is going to snap and go back the other way. It's just a matter of getting it moving.