What is Happening to Our Children?

Today, I visited a public school in Chicago. I won't say which school, due to privacy rights. I work for a nursing agency which escorts medically complex children to school. The public school allows these medically complex children to have certain classes with the non-medical students. While in computer class, I witnessed the worse behavior I've ever seen.

This classroom was approximately 99% black students and 1% Latin. The two teachers were Caucasian. I'm telling you this because I need you to get the full picture of this. In computer class, the children are suppose to remain silent and use the computer. From beginning of class to the end, the children's behavior was horrific. Not all the children, just 4 boys and 1 girl. These 5 children disrupted the whole class. Firstly, they were cursing and yelling. For 40 minutes, I heard approximately 30 niggers, fuck yous, bitches, suck this, etc., etc. The teacher continuously stated, "watch your mouth" or "quiet down". The children acted as if they didn't hear her. It took all of me to refrain from telling the teacher, "please stop saying watch your mouth and quiet down, they're not listening to you. Why don't you kick them out of your classroom? Are you afraid of them?"

Second. The one girl's behavior was far worse than the boys. This really surprised me. This girl's conversation consisted of violence and nonsense. She spoke of drugs, how she smokes blunts. She spoke of violence, how it was funny to her to watch gangs fight each other. She talked about her "crack head" uncle. She cursed her classmates, which were boys. When the teacher insisted that she remove her feet off the table, she yelled, "I always put my feet here, I hate white substitute teachers!" The teacher did nothing, this brought tears to my eyes.

These children spoke negatively of everyone, adults, whites, mexicans, and each other. The other students were quiet and seemed to be use to this behavior. It was impossible for my child (patient), which is medically complex, and the other children in class to get any work done. I wanted to shout and say, "am I in the twilight zone, am I being punked?" These 5 children are not acting this way and no one seems to care. Would someone do something, please.

All of a sudden, one of the boy students jumped up and yelled, "Nobody can kick my ass!" I thought it was about to be a fight. Luckily, there wasn't. These 40 minutes was a disgrace and a waste of taxpayer's money. As a matter of fact, almost every class I went to was a waste of taxpayer's money. The children in art class were just as bad.

Now, I haven't been in high school for 20 years. I also was blessed with parents that paid for my education at Catholic Schools. I'm not experienced with the Public School System, but this is ridiculous. Something needs to be done. These teachers just sit there and allow the children to run the class. I'm assuming out of fear, or maybe, they are tired and fed up. I hope it's not because they just don't care. In art class, the teacher said nothing in class, no teaching or instructing. He played on the computer. The children were given a paper to draw, and that's it. No communication. The students talked and played. While walking to another class, a teacher wrote a girl student's name down, for discipline. The girl yelled at her and stated, " you pissing me off, write that down!" Again, nothing was done.

What's the solution? I don't have a clue. I do know that it starts at home. Any child that acts that way at school, has some sort of problem at home. Parents, please, have some sort of control over your children. I know there's a large percentage of single family homes in the black community, but that's no excuse. Everyone has a story to tell. Women, what's the point of having children living in your home with no discipline. Without discipline, you know what your child's future will be like, dead, in jail, or just plain losers. If the father isn't around, you have be be both, the disciplinarian and bring home the money. As simple as that, life isn't fair.

Teachers, if you are afraid of your students or their parents, don't work at that school. You are hurting the child, in the long run. When a child is disrespectful, send him or her to the principal. After that, inform the parent, hold the parent accountable. If you have to do this daily, do it. Why would you allow a few apples to spoil the whole bunch? Doing nothing shows the child that you don't care or that you are afraid. Either way, the child has no respect for you. How can you consider yourself a teacher if your students do not respect you. What can you teach them? Remember, it takes a whole village to raise a child, that includes teachers too. Stay safe.