It's Been One Week...

It's been a week since I was at Stratford HS, and I'm glad that part of my life is over with. It was stressful, difficult to wake up at 6AM every morning, and some of the students were verbally abusive. I know I made a difference to some kids there, and hopefully I was able to be a steady force in their unsteady worlds. Many of the kids let me know that they enjoyed my class, some said that they wanted to be a teacher like me, and some said they will use the things we learned in class now and in the future. So I did make a difference, it's just hard to see when you're in the daily grind.

There are major problems in Metro Schools (just like all of the public schools nationwide), and there are problems with the school I was at specifically. Many of the students walk around doped up on SUGAR from ridiculous amounts of candy they consume. Every class period the kids would ask if they could go next door to buy some candy. I'd encourage them to do it at the beginning of class, but sometimes they would just walk out without asking. It's not that I have a lack of control over my classroom, but the kids have no respect for adults, teachers, their peers or school property. The way they would treat their peers, and me, was often appalling. During finals, we had really long class periods, so after their test, I took them to watch a movie. The movie was over with 5 minutes left in class. Two of the kids were acting up throwing paper balls all around the room and disrupting the class. I told one student that I'd write them up, but then he flipped out on me started yelling, cussing, hitting desks, and walked out and slammed the door so hard I thought my eardrum might burst. What a great way to end the semester! If these kids (the freshman that is, ) were disciplined with ISS (In School Suspension) they wouldn't care one bit. At my high school back in Dallas, a teacher would hardly ever have to go that far. A detenion would be enough to get some parent interaction and a student's cooperation. At Stratford, if you tried to call a parent, they were likely to talk back to you, be rude, deny the problem and hang up on you. You can see where the students get their good people skills! Seriously though, a lot of the problems in the public schools can be attributed to lack of funding, teacher pay, this, or that, but what it REALLY boils down to is PARENTING. Lack of good parents in these underserved areas is probably the biggest contributing factor to these kids' successes, or often failure, in school and in life. We need better parents before we can get better schools. Almost all of the problems I encountered on a daily basis- the arguing, talking back, tardiness, lack of motivation, lack of respect for others, could all be attributed to a lack of parenting or attention from parents. Many parents work two jobs to support their family. Most of the kids (75%) are on the free lunch program. Many of the kids try to get jobs to support their family. But I have a feeling that when these kids are home, they never see their parents or don't have enrichment activities. They sit down in front of BET and watch it all day long (and the white kids like BET too) or play GTA 4 (Grand Theft Auto), neither one helps them academically or with relations with people.

Also, what's the deal with the girls acting up more than the boys? In class, the girls cause more trouble than the boys do with talking (obvious) but with respect to arguing ("It's a free country, I do whatever I want") or hitting each other ("You're trifling") and simply not paying attention in class, the girls are often worse behaved than the boys. Another awful thing I noticed is that no one takes responsibility for their actions. The guidance counselors, teachers, principles all emphazise that your behaviors dictate your consequences but the students still can't grasp this concept. If one student blatently hits the other, and I see it, the hitter will flat out lie and deny it. Everytime. If they are talking when they're not supposed to be talking, they will deny it. I'll say "But I heard your voice" they respond "No you didn't" - OK, well i guess I have auditory hallucinations that sound exactly like you... (I did often have bad dreams at night about teaching, but that's a different story).

Overall, did I have a positive experience at Stratford? Yes and No. The teachers were very supportive, they helped me often and were helpful with discipline. They truly do care about the students. Some of my students were a pleasure to have in class, some liked participating and enjoyed the activities. The others, well, let's just say I prayed for them daily. I had no formal training, and I didn't even have lesson plans (!), but I survived. It's over.

In the next post, I'll post some Testimonials from my class- "What I learned in Mr. Baxter's Class".

End of School

Well, my time at Stratford HS is coming to a close. I have learned a lot from the students, and about the inner-city culture in general. I've expanded my vocabulary to include words like "triflin' " and " straight trippin' " and I've learned about new rappers like Lil' Wayne and Lil' Boosie. I asked my students recently to write me reflection papers about what they learned in this class. To my surprise, many actually wrote positive things like I taught them about stress management and hard work. One student said she had not learned anything from her parents about money and she spent every paycheck she got as soon as she got it. She said that after learning in my class about budgeting and saving, she's going to work harder to manage her money well. On each of these reflection papers, I wrote them back paragraphs about if they worked hard and kept a positive attitutde, they could acheive their dreams. Many have been discouraged by their peers and their backgrounds, and in many cases a lack of parental support. These students need consistency in their lives, and because I haven't left them (like many of their other teachers), they became attached to me. The other day, I was coming to class late from my other classroom and the other teacher told me that many of the kids were asking where I was, looking concerned. She said that when she is absent her kids rejoice, but my kids were worried- they thought something must be wrong. I guess my influence in their lives was more than I originally thought.

It's been fun, and truthfully, I'm ready to leave, but I'll never forget the students in my classes and the other teachers who have helped me along the way. I think this experience and cultural immersion will help me greatly as a dental provider and will help me to be more responsive to the problems in education and with inner-city youth in the future. I'll definitely identify better with my children's teachers and hopefully be a better parent because of my experience here. I'm excited to start the next chapter in my life: Dental School.