One of the things I hated about being a teacher was that I had all these gang-bangers in my classroom who'd been sentenced there by a judge. I was being expected to do the job of a prison guard without the training, equipment, and facilities to be a prison guard. If a kid decided to get into a fight with another kid, there was nothing I could do except let them fight until they got tired of fighting, then wait for the principal to tell them they were suspended and get off the school grounds -- there were no prison guards to call to haul them off, no isolation cells to haul them off to. These kids need to be in a different kind of school, one that has real guards and places to haul them off to when they're violent or disruptive, not regular schools where they just interfere with everybody else's attempts to learn. Either that, or teachers and school administrators need to be all armed with tasers and blackjacks and trained how to use them, but that wasn't why I want into teaching (to be a prison guard).
But this doesn't mean that these kids ought to be banned from the schools entirely, as has apparently been done to Earl Davis, who as a 15 year old gang wannabe was found guilty of participating in a gang riot that ended up in the death of a member of a rival gang. I certainly sympathize with the school here -- this kid comes back to school, he's gonna get jumped by that rival gang, or he's gonna get with his homies and do the jumping. That kid doesn't belong in a regular public school -- yet. And that word "yet" is the biggie.
What is needed is some sort of alternative setting or alternative environment for these kids where they can continue to receive an education, but aren't endangering other children. This alternative school will have a "here squad" of big goonish guards who can haul off kids who get violent, and detention cells to put them into so they can be violent to the padded walls. If they can get through a year at this alternative school without engaging in violence or disruption, then, and only then, should they be allowed into regular schools. But this would cost money and mean raising taxes, so instead we'll just throw those kids out onto the street to be the next generation of criminals costing us far more money (in incarceration costs) down the road. Sigh...
- Badtux the Sisyphian Penguin
As a taxpayer I have resented having people I'm paying to teach children being forced to act like baby-sitters, nurses, parole officers, prison guards, and mental health counselors. They will necessarily do the jobs they aren't trained for badly, and be unable to do their real jobs.
ReplyDeleteThe simple solution is to have a "corrective" school run by teaching nuns with drill instructors monitoring the halls and "instilling discipline".
What is usually done, when anything is done, is warehousing in a private charter school operated by Wackenhut.
A city where I once lived has a school for youngsters who are in danger or who have been suspended for violent reasons. The teachers/keepers there are trained in specific ways to handle these young people. And, they also received medical and psychological help as they will accept it. My god-daughter's son, who was finally diagnosed as schizophrenic, went there for some time during a bad episode before diagnosis. I am grateful that some places like this do exist.
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