Why it's hard to believe
There's a real possibility that I might choke one of the kids in my 5th period class before the year is officially over. They are nucking futs. I am not joking or trying to be funny. They have lost their rabid ass minds. The behavior is completely outrageous.
Last Friday there was a cookout and party on the front lawn of the school for the 8th graders. It was designed to celebrate their graduation from the D.A.R.E. program. We had city cops and other officials who volunteered to grill burgers and hot dogs, which were served up by teachers and-- get this-- trustees. That's right. I served up hot dogs and hamburgers alongside a dude in a green and white striped jumpsuit while the local news station filmed it for the evening news. Even a college degree can't help you escape fate. I also thought it was symbolic of how teachers are regarded in our society. Stick me behind the serving table with the convicts. What's the difference, right?
The kids were mostly behaving well from what I saw, though I did think it unwise to let 400 8th graders roam around the parking lot and front yard for 4 hours with no organized activities to occupy them after the meal was finished. I predicted that something ungodly would happen, then at 12:30 I left to go to my 1:00 OB appointment.
That night I watched the news, but they didn't show anything about us. They showed the kids from the white school marching and riding bikes through town while holding signs about reducing fuel consumption. There was another piece about some other white school that won an award of some type. But no sign of me and my little black D.A.R.E. graduates. I became infuriated. Why the hell did they come film this if they weren't going to show it? And why do people want to see the kids from the "good" school but not our school? Something positive was happening at our horrible school, it was filmed by the local news station, and they weren't showing it! Why the hell not!?
I brewed over this the rest of the weekend-- when I wasn't busy crying hormonal tears for Eight Belles. (P.E.T.A. is an organization of fools, by the way.)
Then this morning when I went to work, I learned that an all out riot had erupted about an hour after I left. The kids had organized a game, someone got mad, and next thing you know there was a brawl. There are students claiming that a gun was brandished at one point and that it was a gang-related tiff-- even though it sounded to me like two groups of guys playing football on opposing teams, they swear it was gang vs. gang.
Now I don't know if there was a gun, or if the kids were separated according to their gang affiliation. I tend to discount most mentions of gang problems just because it seems to me that even the kids who do make references to gangs are really just playing make believe. Scribbling "Vice Lords" on your binder doesn't make you a gangster in my book. Hopefully I'm not jinxing myself, but I've never seen a gun at school or heard a rumor about one that turned out to be true. They did have the cops do a "random" search today, so maybe they felt there was a threat.
Anyway, the fight might explain why the celebration didn't make the news. Can you imagine what the broadcaster might have said?
Teachers and convicted felons served up weenies today at We Be Cool Middle School to celebrate the eighth graders' graduation of the D.A.R.E. program. Five hundred students were recognized for completing the drug prevention program. The celebration ended with the arrests of 57 students after a football game turned into a gang war. And here's Jamaal with tonight's sports news! Jamaal?
This is one disappointed teacher, signing off.
Last Friday there was a cookout and party on the front lawn of the school for the 8th graders. It was designed to celebrate their graduation from the D.A.R.E. program. We had city cops and other officials who volunteered to grill burgers and hot dogs, which were served up by teachers and-- get this-- trustees. That's right. I served up hot dogs and hamburgers alongside a dude in a green and white striped jumpsuit while the local news station filmed it for the evening news. Even a college degree can't help you escape fate. I also thought it was symbolic of how teachers are regarded in our society. Stick me behind the serving table with the convicts. What's the difference, right?
The kids were mostly behaving well from what I saw, though I did think it unwise to let 400 8th graders roam around the parking lot and front yard for 4 hours with no organized activities to occupy them after the meal was finished. I predicted that something ungodly would happen, then at 12:30 I left to go to my 1:00 OB appointment.
That night I watched the news, but they didn't show anything about us. They showed the kids from the white school marching and riding bikes through town while holding signs about reducing fuel consumption. There was another piece about some other white school that won an award of some type. But no sign of me and my little black D.A.R.E. graduates. I became infuriated. Why the hell did they come film this if they weren't going to show it? And why do people want to see the kids from the "good" school but not our school? Something positive was happening at our horrible school, it was filmed by the local news station, and they weren't showing it! Why the hell not!?
I brewed over this the rest of the weekend-- when I wasn't busy crying hormonal tears for Eight Belles. (P.E.T.A. is an organization of fools, by the way.)
Then this morning when I went to work, I learned that an all out riot had erupted about an hour after I left. The kids had organized a game, someone got mad, and next thing you know there was a brawl. There are students claiming that a gun was brandished at one point and that it was a gang-related tiff-- even though it sounded to me like two groups of guys playing football on opposing teams, they swear it was gang vs. gang.
Now I don't know if there was a gun, or if the kids were separated according to their gang affiliation. I tend to discount most mentions of gang problems just because it seems to me that even the kids who do make references to gangs are really just playing make believe. Scribbling "Vice Lords" on your binder doesn't make you a gangster in my book. Hopefully I'm not jinxing myself, but I've never seen a gun at school or heard a rumor about one that turned out to be true. They did have the cops do a "random" search today, so maybe they felt there was a threat.
Anyway, the fight might explain why the celebration didn't make the news. Can you imagine what the broadcaster might have said?
Teachers and convicted felons served up weenies today at We Be Cool Middle School to celebrate the eighth graders' graduation of the D.A.R.E. program. Five hundred students were recognized for completing the drug prevention program. The celebration ended with the arrests of 57 students after a football game turned into a gang war. And here's Jamaal with tonight's sports news! Jamaal?
This is one disappointed teacher, signing off.
