Relocating to Cincinatti

[abr7rmj]

The major school-shooting events around the country are almost exclusively suburban or rural, for some reason. And, sadly, you don't have to go very far to find an example. Just look at Chardon near Cleveland.

[t45209]

Originally Posted by unusualfire

Woodward is one of the newest schools in the entire metro. Someone said broken arm? Well my response to that, you can get killed by being shot by students in suburban schools.

Suburban vs inner city is incidental. I'm sure the parents who send their kids to Walnut Hills breathe easier than those who send their kids to Woodward. And what impact does a new building have on the behavior of the students if it's still filled with the same knuckleheads??? Are you one of those who are deluded by the myth that new facilities produce better students?

Without a doubt, suburban schools have their share of delinquents...every school does. However, some, such as Woodward have a significantly higher percentage of them. In my friend's case, she was terrified of many of her students, and the administration gave her very little support (a story I have heard echoed by other CPS teachers). She went in there with a lot of high ideals about helping disadvantaged kids and trying to make a difference, and it resulted in a trip to the hospital. Your average teacher should be expected to handle at least a couple of miscreants in the classroom, but if you teach at a school like Woodward, you should be prepared to handle many more than that.

I don't think you can ever let your guard down, no matter where you teach or go to school. Maybe it's just me, but it seems the headline grabbing mass shootings and conspiracies seem to happen most often in the "good" schools, where no one seems to expect that kind of behavior on a day to day basis, and the parents are supposedly more involved in their kid's lives. These situations seem to take time to develop and require planning, often money, and are perpetrated by the "kept to himself, never was any kind of trouble" kid. On the other hand, schools like Woodward are immersed in a culture violence that is likely to break out at any second, driven by emotion and a lack of basic values. Many of these kids simply don't know how to behave and have never been taught respect for others, so it's no big deal to grab a stapler off the teacher's desk and whack another kid in the back of the head with it (I've seen that one first hand). So, in the so-called blackboard jungles, there is always this underlying tension, a pervasive fear that anything could happen at any time. It probably won't be a kid coming in a gunning down 10 of his classmates, but it will be a broken arm, a gang fight, and a few stitches here and there. Because it happens with such frequency and because the crimes are less severe, no one outside of the school gives it much notice.

[kjbrill]

t45209...

Some of what you say I totally agree with. My daughter-in-law has been a career English teacher in a close-in suburban school district, not CPS, to Cincinnati. She has been sent to the hospital twice by female students of hers. It is a rough district and I keep imploring her to leave but she refuses. She is one of those idealistic people who believe they can make a difference. Over the years she has mentored some students to get an opportunity at college and they have come back later just gushing all over themselves thanking her. This is the reason she does what she does.

We need teachers who will work in the troubled districts and try to make a difference. Otherwise the students there are just doomed to failure.

[t45209]

Originally Posted by kjbrill

t45209...

Some of what you say I totally agree with. My daughter-in-law has been a career English teacher in a close-in suburban school district, not CPS, to Cincinnati. She has been sent to the hospital twice by female students of hers. It is a rough district and I keep imploring her to leave but she refuses. She is one of those idealistic people who believe they can make a difference. Over the years she has mentored some students to get an opportunity at college and they have come back later just gushing all over themselves thanking her. This is the reason she does what she does.

We need teachers who will work in the troubled districts and try to make a difference. Otherwise the students there are just doomed to failure.

While I don't want to open the can of worms on teacher pay, it does take a special individual to put up with that kind of garbage on what many teachers make.