THE RED PILL
DIALOGUE AND DISCUSSION ON EDUCATION, ENVIRONMENT AND RACE
A Teacher's Perspective: Inside the Public Schools
For months, I have been looking for an opportunity to share what physically and mentally goes on inside a classroom. This may be the place. I won't (at least I'll try) get into a lot of philosophy, just the day to day stuff or, as they say in sports,"keeping it between the lines." I'll have to give some of my background and since I'm almost at the end of my career, I will bring you up to speed as to where I've been and the things that went on at those schools. This will be an ongoing process so get ready to ride with "Teacher Man! I will try to let you in on some of the things that really go on in the Public Schools, Monday through Friday, bell to bell! I will share a little bit about my training and I'll try to bring you along using my ears and eyes. Hopefully, you can feel, see and hear what I feel, see and hear because I will give it to you like/as it happens. And trust me, I need this discussion as much as anyone!
Coming to Memphis, Tennessee, in the early nineties, I had an opportunity to get certified in a program called 'Project Teach!" It was a collaborative program involving Memphis State( at that time!), LeMoyne-Owen College and Shelby State Community College. It gave a few minority students with bachelor degrees an opportunity to get certified in elementary education. I jumped at the opportunity since working for temp services throughout this city was not what I considered my cup of tea. I also felt I could really give back to the students. I knew it was a great opportunity. Not that it meant anything but my father was an educator and so was my mother. So I thought I could do this. I was nearly 40 at the time and I had never given any real thought about making teaching a career. I had taught several months with an emergency credential in South Central Los Angeles and I thought it couldn't be any worse than that. And at least with this program I could get some valuable and necessary training to really help kids learn and be successful. So I took advantage of the opportunity.
My brief experience in Los Angeles was at Bethune Junior High on 78th and Broadway. It was in the middle of a strong Crip gang presence and there was beginning to be an East Los Angeles' hispanic growth spurt with gang issues too. Most of my students were Hispanic and Black. Many of the Hispanic students couldn't speak English well or at least they played like it. Many were new arrivals to the US and the LA community and, by law, all children have the right to attend public schools in America. I was teaching Algebra and was sharing a room with a white guy. I had scored high on the CBEST teaching aptitude test in all areas and particularly math so since they needed math teachers, I got hired. You see I had received a strong math training while in the public schools of East St. Louis so I knew I could do this. I didn't have any classroom management skills but thought I could handle the students since I was raised in East St. Louis and had survived the military. I had never had any education courses so I wasn't prepared for what I was about to deal with. It was a trip! Students wouldn't listen!! They would throw erasers!! Uniforms were whatever! At that time most students wore their colors.
One incident I remember was with Javier, a Latino kid. I spotted him tagging a wall and I shouted "stop"! He bolted and my instinct told me to go after him. He jumped the fence and boy was I embarassed. I thought I was doing what teachers are supposed to do. Right! I was told by a more experienced teacher to never chase after a student. That was that! They brought him back into the school and, subsequently, back into the room. Before the semester was over, I think he quit coming. Another memorable situation happened one day with a young Black student. He was really a good guy if/when he came to school but one day he dropped some weed after showing me a bankroll of money. He was affiliated with the Crips but that didn't bother me. Most were affiliated with some organization. When he dropped the money and the weed, he quickly picked it up and ran. Again, I ran after him but this time I stopped at the office. He left the building and eventually returned. I don't think much happened to him in terms of consequences. We laughed as a matter of fact about the money and the drug situation. He quit coming to class too, I think!
I lasted at Bethune until that Spring. It was daily chaos and confusion for me. They had several dances. The students got a snack break about 10:00am in the yard which was surrounded by fence. It reminded me of a penitentiary yard. Snacks were given and the students had an oppportunity to socialize and plan! The Principal was a Black lady (cute) and seemed rather under the radar. I dealt with her a few times because I had taken a lot of days off! (smile) I enjoyed teaching but the rigors day-to-day were rough. One day the white guy I was sharing a room with got pissed at me for some reason. I told him the room was the kids, not ours. It lead to more stress. He was very territorial while I was just there trying to help the students learn some algebra. Anyway, by the Spring I had found a job in the defense industry. I'll stop here for now. Next, we'll head to Memphis!(smile) Boy do I have stories to tell about this experience.
Coming to Memphis, Tennessee, in the early nineties, I had an opportunity to get certified in a program called 'Project Teach!" It was a collaborative program involving Memphis State( at that time!), LeMoyne-Owen College and Shelby State Community College. It gave a few minority students with bachelor degrees an opportunity to get certified in elementary education. I jumped at the opportunity since working for temp services throughout this city was not what I considered my cup of tea. I also felt I could really give back to the students. I knew it was a great opportunity. Not that it meant anything but my father was an educator and so was my mother. So I thought I could do this. I was nearly 40 at the time and I had never given any real thought about making teaching a career. I had taught several months with an emergency credential in South Central Los Angeles and I thought it couldn't be any worse than that. And at least with this program I could get some valuable and necessary training to really help kids learn and be successful. So I took advantage of the opportunity.
My brief experience in Los Angeles was at Bethune Junior High on 78th and Broadway. It was in the middle of a strong Crip gang presence and there was beginning to be an East Los Angeles' hispanic growth spurt with gang issues too. Most of my students were Hispanic and Black. Many of the Hispanic students couldn't speak English well or at least they played like it. Many were new arrivals to the US and the LA community and, by law, all children have the right to attend public schools in America. I was teaching Algebra and was sharing a room with a white guy. I had scored high on the CBEST teaching aptitude test in all areas and particularly math so since they needed math teachers, I got hired. You see I had received a strong math training while in the public schools of East St. Louis so I knew I could do this. I didn't have any classroom management skills but thought I could handle the students since I was raised in East St. Louis and had survived the military. I had never had any education courses so I wasn't prepared for what I was about to deal with. It was a trip! Students wouldn't listen!! They would throw erasers!! Uniforms were whatever! At that time most students wore their colors.
One incident I remember was with Javier, a Latino kid. I spotted him tagging a wall and I shouted "stop"! He bolted and my instinct told me to go after him. He jumped the fence and boy was I embarassed. I thought I was doing what teachers are supposed to do. Right! I was told by a more experienced teacher to never chase after a student. That was that! They brought him back into the school and, subsequently, back into the room. Before the semester was over, I think he quit coming. Another memorable situation happened one day with a young Black student. He was really a good guy if/when he came to school but one day he dropped some weed after showing me a bankroll of money. He was affiliated with the Crips but that didn't bother me. Most were affiliated with some organization. When he dropped the money and the weed, he quickly picked it up and ran. Again, I ran after him but this time I stopped at the office. He left the building and eventually returned. I don't think much happened to him in terms of consequences. We laughed as a matter of fact about the money and the drug situation. He quit coming to class too, I think!
I lasted at Bethune until that Spring. It was daily chaos and confusion for me. They had several dances. The students got a snack break about 10:00am in the yard which was surrounded by fence. It reminded me of a penitentiary yard. Snacks were given and the students had an oppportunity to socialize and plan! The Principal was a Black lady (cute) and seemed rather under the radar. I dealt with her a few times because I had taken a lot of days off! (smile) I enjoyed teaching but the rigors day-to-day were rough. One day the white guy I was sharing a room with got pissed at me for some reason. I told him the room was the kids, not ours. It lead to more stress. He was very territorial while I was just there trying to help the students learn some algebra. Anyway, by the Spring I had found a job in the defense industry. I'll stop here for now. Next, we'll head to Memphis!(smile) Boy do I have stories to tell about this experience.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by B. Crittenden Freeman on
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Solution:
Parents and Teachers should work together for a Zero Tolerance Policy of ensuring the Best Possible Teaching/Learning enviornment. Zero Tolerance Policy should include both suspending & expelling policies and appropriate processes.
Question...
What would people here describe as a "Best Possible Teaching/Learning Environment"?
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Permalink Reply by Craig on
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Barry "Zero Tolerance" is "Zero Tolerance"! There are so many gray areas. Subjectivity has to be/is in place, in many cases. It is hard to implement zero tolerence in our society. Even if we had a judicial system in place like we do in our cities, judges/juries use their best judgment even with mandatory sentencing criteria.
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Craig, my friend Billy has his 4 Grandson's living with him, in Florida. His daughter was basically declared an unfit mother due to alcohol and drug abuse. His 15 year old Grandsom was "dared" by his friends to pull the fire alarm in school and he did. The school was emptied and the fire trucks arrived to a false alarm. His Grandson was expelled, NOT suspended, expelled. He will NEVER be allowed back in the regular High School and has no choice but to attend an alternative school.
They have a "ZERO TOLERANCE" policy.
Now, if Memphis chooses to be "wishy-washy" on its Zero Tolerance policy and chooses to look at situations as "all these grey areas", then Memphis accepts that its Teaching/Learning environment/culture will have a lower standard and classrooms will NOT have the "Best Possible" situations.
That's the bottom line!!!
Can you please share with me some of the grey areas that come to your mind?
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Barry,
Some of the grey Areas:
1). We have policies on electronics with firm consequences. It is not enforced! Kids have phones, use phones, Ipods, MP3 players, all day long. It's a joke!
2). We have policies on cursing/profanity/insubordination. Profanity is used all day long. It is a joke!
3). We have policies on skipping, tardies, absenteeism. It's enforced selectively. Kids are late, walk the halls, all day long. It's a joke!
4). We have policies on uniforms. They are violated everyday! It's a joke!
These are just examples! We have a "Zero Tolerance" pamphlet with almost 100 violations. They break them down into levels, level 1,2,3, so forth. It is a matrix that spells out offenses and consequences. It isn't enforced. It's vary ambiguous. It's like most educational standards. Vague! Vague! Vague! The consequences vary, often time depending on the student, situation and level. Violence and drugs aren't tolerated but I smell marijuana everyday! Many don't even mention it. I do to my students. If I can smell it, I know the police dogs can! Schools are safe havens though. Some days the police come in with a show of force to "SHOW" but often time it is only effective on those days. Metal detectors are used daily but they don't stop a thing. That's just another farce. If a student is "caught" pulling the fire extinguisher, he may get expelled but he can appeal in MCS. It happens all the time and I am sure that, too, is subjective for some. Alternative schools would overflow with students if hard consequences are given for every offense. And, I judge, more learning would take place. I hope your friend's son learned a lesson. The key for him is to just get out of school.
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Craig, what do you mean? "Get out of school?" You think School is the problem? School did not make these kids the way they are. Are you saying that the kids should get out of school because the kids can't depend on the Adults to create the best learning enviornment???
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Permalink Reply by Aaron (Al) Lewis on
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Barry, to really perform proper analysis you'd have to compare both systems, cities, demographics, poverty levels, and a host of other is variables. It is a crucial mistake to highlight one or a few instances and think that is applying critical thinking. Memphis, is not unique, most big cities with huge populations of children of color are experiencing what Craig describes. It is systemic. It cuts a much broader path than we'd imagine.
We must diagnose before we prescribe lest we induce the poison of our personal pre-dispositions into our patients. We have figured out one thing. The system and the people in it, all of us, have been driven insane. And I do mean all of us. In order to start any healing process enough of us have to sneak out of the civic asylum and stay hid long enough to heal ourselves and learn to to protect ourselves because once we reinsert, the antibodies, that support the continuation of this form of insanity are coming at us.
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Al, I'm going to agree & disagree. What I am highlighting is one bottom line thing. That is, an inability by people to identify issues and make decisions/take actions. Now, you have in fact what you have mentioned, done by the superintendant, Kriner Cash. He has brought to the a table a game plan and is executing it. And his game plan encompasses:
http://www.mcsk12.net/forms/First%20100%20Days.pdf
Key Initiatives and Activities include:
1. Student Achievement,
2. Safety and Discipline,
3. Health,
4. Preparation to Compete Globally,
5. Board Relations,
6. Family and Community Involvement,
7. Stakeholder Engagement,
8. High-performing, Diverse, and Motivated Faculty and Staff, and
9. Culture
His background is extensive:
http://www.mcsk12.net/aboutMCS_superintendent_professional.asp
However, my question is since he has imlemented his gamplan, what are the report results.
I do know that the "Zero Tolerance" policy is not what I WOULD consider a Zero Tolerance police and the what people consider "expel" is actually "suspend".
The question I have is do the parents AND students AND teachers AND gov't officials WANT the best possible learning environtment? The logical answer should be YES! If the answer is not YES, then, that is a school system I would NOT allow my kids to attend. OR, if the Kriner Cash initiates were NOT moving to the speed that I wanted, I would not allow my kids to attend that school system. OR if the school system did not implement and execute a ZERO TOLERANCE policy according to MY STANDARDS, I would NOT send my kids to that school system.
Those are bottom line decisions I would make.
I'll be doing more research on this.
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Barry, I think that is what Craig is saying. I know that is what Mr. Black started advocating years ago. I know my wife and I did it. I know my daughter took her son out of MCS. The system is only doing what it was designed to do, to dumb our children down. Lofty words and ideals sounds good, but as you have highlighted, unless they are implemented and enforced they amount to empty policies and rhetoric.
However, I think we are still missing the real point. Even if all of this were accomplished they still are not preparing the children to compete and thrive. In order to do that you'd have to teach them to think, and in the case of what's happening in Memphis, they'd will have to be extraordinary thinkers.
The best thinking of the best thinkers available got us in this predicament. The evidence is overwhelming that it never worked, period! What I am suggesting is that even if the school system was 100% safe the students still are not being taught what they need to learn. That time has passed. I am not just saying that for Memphis and even large urban school systems. I am saying across the board the education system in America has been and is degenerating.
Here is an indicator. My son is in a college ROTC program. Now that doesn't include the near full scholarship program he got from his university. He made an exceedingly high score on the ROTC entrance exam. To make matters worse or better we later found out he was the only freshmen in the city that passed and we also learned that only a very few sophomores passed. Wait a minute. A great deal of these students are not from Memphis and wait another minute, only three are so called black students. We are talking about 1 young person out of 40!
Our son was not an exceptional student. He did have the opportunity to study with Mr. Back for several years and only half applied himself then, but apparently his half application put him in a forward position of competition.
What this says is the various school systems across the country are only not producing scholars, they are producing cripples.
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Al, I agree with you totally. What I am highlighting is decision-making. It does not take an extraodinary thinker or educated or well-educated or exceptionally educated person to be comfortable to make decisions.
That's the bottom line. At this point the "whys and wherefores" are meaningless to me. What is meaning full is can all the people invovled make the decisions necessary. OR is the only good decision to separate and "do your own thing" as you and your daughter have demonstrated.
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Barry, I hear you. In this case it appears decisions are made but are left open for interpretation or a least the discretion of teachers or administrators. Of course "zero tolerance" indicates there is no discretion. So much for the decision. Now in truth you don't think they really mean that do you? That is just all window dressing. Truth be told if they expelled all the students who violated these rules a great portion of the students would be gone for good and then the money would start to dry up.
It's just smoke and mirrors. Anyone in the know already knows it's basically bullshit. Man, you'd need to live here to comprehend the magnitude and scope of the problems and issues. It is so complex as to become a real enigma. People are desperate and thing are seeking out the only things they know to extricate themselves out of this abyss. The problem is it was the things they know that got them into this hole.
I do hear you on being decisive and meaning it. The issue is the decisions have not been trued for effectiveness. In fact I'd be willing to say no real insight or study or analysis has been performed on the patients, the students, the populace and the educators to properly diagnose the condition(s) and thus prescribe a course and regimen of treatment. What makes it doubly hard is a large potion of the patients are the children and there is a marked distrust between them and most adults. How then would you extract the vital information you need from them to see what is driving their actions, feelings and behaviors?
As I stated earlier we have a real and true dilemma on our hands. It is amazing watching the processes to address it. Personally, I cannot see a way out for the masses because in fact it serves the few that the masses stay ignorant to the cause of their condition and only a few times in history has their been any peep behind the curtain. Even then the masses never saw the wizard behind the controls, only a few with X-ray vision saw that and most of them either were absorbed by the wizard, imprisoned never to be seen or heard from, went deep underground or were crucified, murdered, hung, shot, burned, lynched whatever they call it nowadays. The genius, we were writing about on the other thread , would be the rare one who could survive inside the construct.
Public education will not produce any large waves of students with that capacity because it will not serve society to produce too many real thinkers. If it did anarchy would prevail! You grok?
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Thanks Barry and Al for the feedback and contribution to this thread. I'm just a soldier in this army who happens to eyewitness insanity daily. Yesterday, I physically felt terrible. I had to take a day off today just to regroup. My sinuses are about to explode. I worked "security" (the metal detector) with an assistant principal Monday thru Thursday mornings this week. It was in the morning and at the entrance area. Every student was required to walk through it! Guess what? It buzzed everytime! Was anyone searched? Nope! Go figure.(smile) We pulled a few over for shirt tails being out and red shoe strings. Was any student searched? Nope! So, I guess the metal detector is used to scare them. It is definitely not used to find metal.(smile) Today I'm resting! Peace!!
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Barry, can you dig what is happening here? It is all a farce.
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