“When I was a kid, we could never get away with that in school!” is what this may sound like. But in reality society has changed since then and education with it.
I was talking to a friend who is a teacher in the Pawtucket school system and I learned how different it is now. Apparently the threat of law suits, bogus (and not some bogus) accusations and the general level of maturity of some kids really makes it difficult to be a teacher today. Add to that the families they come from are smashed up and that sure doesn't make a teacher's job any easier when little Johnnie is brought to his first day at kindergarten already twisted.
When I was in school there was a definite separation of various kinds of kids. There was no mainstreaming of everyone. Inclusiveness did not mean we include everyone in the same building. The slow learners, the proto-criminals, the behavioral problems were never included in our classes. Sure, we had rambunctious boys who had to be corralled daily, but nothing dangerous. I remember ten kids total in my entire school career that were shunted off to a “special school” if they couldn't cut it in a regular classroom. One month they were with us and then POOF...they were gone one day and we forgot all about them by Friday.
Not today...
“Kyle, please put away your cell phone...Kyle...this is a classroom please...I need you to pay attention and that phone isn't helping so please put it back...”
“FUCK YOU MR COLLINS! YOU SUCK! YOU CAN'T TEACH!”
This was told to me by my friend who had to deal with kids who have no fear of authority because there is none to back the teacher up.
“How did you mange that kid during that? I had to ask.
“I had to get the teacher from the classroom next to me to “witness” everything. I got her, we went back to my classroom and I told Kyle to leave the room to go see the principal...If there had been any altercation, I have my witness.”
I was a bit surprised. “You need witnesses now?”
He said he wouldn't move on a kid like that without one.
I ask, “Have you been hit?”
“Yep, and the trick to that is to get out of the classroom as fast as you can, make your way to the admin room to dial 911...get the kid arrested. It's a game, you build a rap sheet on the kid, get him to go past that last line drawn in the sand and ship him to somewhere else.”
I rolled my eyes...
“Ron...it's way different now. When you were in school, mostly everyone's parents would be involved, or could be involved in the school if there was a problem. Also, back then teachers had some power, they could make your life suck if you misbehaved. Not today...I have to watch my ass on what I say, do or God Knows What.”
“How many 'special classes' did you have in your schools then?” He asked me.
“None that I remember.” I tell him.
He goes on...
“Yeah, back then, they removed the problem kids so the regular class could function. Do you know how many different programs we have now? We have classes for pregnant teens, violent kids, kids with severe ADD, borderline mental retardation. Did you know we have a program for bullied kids? If they are very low on the high school social order, they have a place they can go to be safe from the abuse now.”
I had to ask. “Do you like your work?” To me, it seemed such a drag. He said he did but worried about the future. The pensions are no longer as good as they once were. The stability of a teacher's job is up in the air due to the sick town and city's tax base. The constant worry about being accused of this or that bugged him too.
I had told him I knew about one high school teacher (from a Pawtucket DeLasallian school: hint-hint) that was porking the crap out of one of female students. The joke was she wanted it. There was no legal problem because he was smart enough to wait til she had turned eighteen when she was a senior. Sure, it looked like hell and it was a running joke on the gossip circuit, but it didn't really upset many people.
He rolls his eyes. “ Ron, had I a pupil as a girlfriend and who was of legal age...I'd be run out of town on a rail anyways. You've got to watch what you say or do. Jesus, you have to watch what you look at because if someone sees you looking.... Hey, sure...some of these girls are knockouts at eighteen and I do look, but I can't dare..or even dream of doing anything. Even if I look it's a quick glance.”
I say it sounds like the kids now have the upper hand, the pendulum has swung the other way compared to when I was in school.
“Yep, I'm sure there was a time when teachers were allowed to do what the hell they wanted to kids waaay back then, and abused the crap out of it. But swinging the whole way, in the other direction, wasn't an answer either.” He tells me.
It seems to me, being a teacher and retiring ten years ago, was the high water mark.
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