It Never Hurts to Know Someone Gives a Crap

[Foxfyre]

I'm so thankful to have gone to school back when there was order and discipline in the schools. I'm sure my teachers would feel the same.

Actually in the schools I have visited in the last couple of decades, there was no obvious disorder. Many kids are less schooled in social graces and manners than those were in previous generations and somewhat more likely to be rude or disrespectful or unkind to people, but otherwise things didn't look all that different than when I was in school. The teachers welcomed volunteers who could work one on one with the kid who was behind in reading or math or history or whatever.

But arriving at school early in the morning, it breaks your heart to see shivering kids huddled near the cafeteria door waiting to get in for breakfast because their parents could not or would not feed them. That didn't happen when I was a kid in school. Yeah sometimes mom forgot to give us lunch money and we got fed anyway, but only lunch. Or we brought our lunch. But only lunch as a convenience, not as a necessity. Parents who did not feed, clothe, house their children in those days would lose their kids until they could or would.

Culture always changes over time. Sometimes for the better. Sometimes not.

But Unkotare is correct. In all times, good and bad, those who take the time to help out the struggling one on one--who chose to extend kindness--are pretty much all that is keeping everything from going to hell in a handbasket.

 

[Unkotare]

...


Uh? Sure? 16 yr old kids working 10 hr night shifts? ...

Yeah, and?

 

[TheParser]

(1) We all know that the OP is a very sincere and successful ESL teacher in an urban high school.

(2) The school and students are very fortunate to have him.

(3) But if you know a young person who is thinking about becoming a teacher in an urban high school and especially in non-ESL classes, please ask that young person to choose another profession.

(4) Most Americans are not aware of the climate of violence that reigns in urban high schools. That is why many first-year teachers quit.

(5) If your friend still insists on trying such a career out, please please please warn him/her to NEVER turn his/her back to the class lest some "student" throw a book or something worse at your friend. Some "students" are downright vicious.

 

[Unkotare]

That works both ways

I say he’s a bad teacher who misleads his students

?????????????????????????????

 

[Blues Man]

It's a lot more beneficial to realize most people don't give a shit about you and to not care what other people think about you.

 

[Grumblenuts]

It's a lot more beneficial to realize most people don't give a shit about you and to not care what other people think about you.

^Tried to pick his friend's nose

 

[Robert W]

As some here may know by now, I work at a very inner city school district. This comes with many challenges for teachers (but who cares, we applied for these jobs after all) and even more challenges for the students. Challenges of greater number and manner than most here will likely be able to imagine. It is truly inspiring to see so many young people trying so hard to succeed under such trying conditions. They know the value of education, and they fight against terrible odds to attain it. Sometimes the daily frustrations of the job can make it hard to keep the important things in mind and think about walking a mile in a student's shoes before losing patience with him or her. Sometimes the students can feel sort of isolated and discouraged. It is important to keep all this in mind. Knowing that someone gives a crap about them can be very encouraging, and can give students a sense of belonging that really can have a significant impact on their learning.

Yesterday:

• I was monitoring a hallway (Every day teachers have one period devoted to doing stuff the school needs that is not exactly teaching. For obvious reasons, I have been assigned to monitor a particular part of the school where fights break out pretty frequently) a girl was passing down the hallway and she complained that in the cafeteria two boys started fighting and knocked over her lunch tray. She didn't have time to go get another (the school is so overcrowded that lunch periods are cycled in and out rather quickly). As a result, she never did get to eat lunch. Since my wife usually packs me a sack o food that would tide me over for a month if my plane crash-landed in the Andes, I usually have a little something left over even when I get back home. I scrounged around and found a few things she could eat quickly before returning to class. She was so glad that someone gave enough of a crap to offer a hand, and I'm sure she was better able to concentrate in class.
• About 20 minutes later a girl was basically staggering down the hallway, and upon questioning it turned out she had been working 10 hour night shifts for the past few weeks then going straight to school. She was clearly exhausted and couldn't keep her eyes open. I helped her walk back to her classroom, then returned with a hot cup of green tea. She looked very pleased that all her classmates saw someone caring enough to notice. Her teacher (a friend and colleague) found it amusing.
• A student in one of my more advanced ESL classes who also works a lot outside of school mentioned that his uncle was frustrated at not having enough time & money to work on his English while his nephew was getting better and better. The student's eyes widened like saucers when I offered to tutor his uncle for free at the local public library after wrestling practice. Not sure his uncle will in fact find the time, but the offer was appreciated.

Today:

• A student I had in an early college class last year came looking for me after school because for the first time ever he has an F in a class. Since it turned out to be his History class, I offered to help. He grabbed his History book and the DBQ they are working on in class and we outlined how he can work through the primary sources. I'm penning an email with notes on the Qin Dynasty for him right now.

Make no mistake, this is in no way intended to be a "look at me!" thread. The point is that I am all but certain that ALL of my colleagues would do the same, if not more. No CRT, no inappropriate topics, no "hate this group or that group" nonsense. Don't just parrot what the media commands you to; talk to people who are actually on the job and try listening to them for a change.

I want to congratulate you for being a teacher who deeply cares. I don't mean other teachers don't give a damn. Partly I suppose that when I was a student in the 40s and 50s my teachers did care a lot. I have a step daughter who lives at Kauai, HI who has been a long time teacher and she is a VP now and was a Principal for some years. Administration was harder on her so she asked to return as a Teacher. They wanted her admin skills and she is a VP as I mentioned. Kids need goals. That sums up much of what I want to say. Goals give them reasons. And they do far better when a teacher stresses to them setting goals.

 

[Robert W]

Probably not today. Several of my teachers in HS were WW2 combat vets. My architectural drawing teacher was a fighter pilot. My social studies teacher did the walking tour from North Africa, through Italy, and into Germany. His only wounds were hearing loss from artillery fire. My shop teacher was a golden gloves boxer in his younger days. I had many male teachers in HS and would trust all of them with firearms. Not sure about the women teachers, but you didn't mess with any of them either.

I was raised and schooled in CA and back then, none of us chatted about guns much. The high school had a range on campus and we shot rifles there. A school project took me and other students many miles to Cal University Berkeley where in back was a range. There we fired as big as the .50 cal machine gun. None of the students out of over 5000 were shot at. We never thought of being shot at school. Something changed in America. Real change happened.