HS students behaving badly? Youtube vids.

[Stacy in NJ]

I sometimes get anxious thinking my childen are missing out on the positive experiences they may have in ps. The fellowing link shows 7 videos taken by HS students of their teachers "losing it". WARNING: content warning, bad language and sad, sad behavior. I actually really sympathize with the teachers. They appear powerless to control these classes. I wonder how much actual, you know, LEARNING takes place there. I had several really wonderful gifted teachers in hs, and do appreciate what they have to put up with.


http://www.dangerouslyirrelevant.org/2008/03/cell-phone-came.html

HS = Highschool, not Homeschool.

[Karen sn]

In 9th grade I was in a private school.
10th grade was a magnet school.
11th grade was a traditional public school.

I got through all but the last two videos - and it reminded me of 11th grade. Disrespecful, nasty, rude kids who prevented the rest of us well mannered kids from learning.

I would NEVER teach in a public high school and know sooooo many GOOD teachers who are waiting tables because they couldn't teach in a calm, respectful classroom.
(Yes I know some teachers are "bad" - I have seen them too first hand. But I think the kids are out of control in some school districts and THE PARENTS do NOT care.)

[CLHCO]

I've seen such things myself in real life. In junion high a teacher got so made he slammed a table over. Looking back, I don't blame him at all. Some of those kids were awful to him.

[K-FL]

My sympathies are with the teachers. They can't discipline& the kids are out of control. I heard Joe Clark on the radio this am (link below) talking about the school he was principal of in NJ. We need more of him.

http://www.issuesineducation.org/

[Asma_08]

The students are definitely the problem, my sympathies are for those teachers.

Its really disturbing to see so many videos on youtube of kids just acting out of control, I get scared thinking about the future of this country.

[infomom]

Wow. How do we get ANYONE to teach in our schools, with kids like this and the salaries we offer?

[mcconnellboys]

I can't get this link to work....

[kalanamak]

The students are definitely the problem, my sympathies are for those teachers.


I remember a could of "loud talking to-s" from teachers, and the class always deserved it. Of note, our response, oh these 40 years ago, was to get very sober and get back to our work.

How depressing these vids were.

[Anita in NC]

I watched some of them and I feel for the teachers. Those poor teachers have been pushed to the edge and snapped.

[Dulcimeramy]

I went to youtube a few months ago and googled my old high school. I had been thinking I wanted to move back to that town and put my oldest son in ps. He's very social and outgoing, and I didn't want to teach high school science or math.

The youtube videos that I found persuaded me to stay the course with homeschooling.

After the first half dozen videos, I was no longer watching the troublemakers. I was watching the "good" kids who are just as much victims of the environment as their poor teachers. Who can teach? Who can learn?

I admire the teachers for continuing to try. I admire the good kids for patiently waiting for the lull in the din, trying to catch some sort of education during their time in school.

My son will be part of such a melee over my dead body. I can't save the public schools from this problem, but I can create a good learning environment for four American children.

Sigh. So depressing. Such a change in one generation.

[missesd]

I watched all the videos. #5 was just stupid. #1-4, were sad. I saw really nothing wrong with #6, I thought it was handled well. #7, never played.

I think the WORST part about these videos is the laughing. These kids are so disrespectful.... NO WAY could I tolerate that. Initially out of HS I wanted to be a teacher. I am so glad I have dedicated my life to my children and not the heathens I saw in those videos. If MY kid ever acted like that, I would probably smack them upside their head!!

[laundrycrisis]

IMO the teachers are put in an impossible situation.

I had a friend who quit teaching completely after moving into a large school district because he said his hands were literally tied. There were no rewards at all he was allowed to give his classes for good behavior and working hard. There was no disciplinary action he was allowed to take other than sending a child to the office, but each time he send a child to the office, it counted against him as a teacher. He was meant to control them by some sort of magic perhaps ?

This is a guy who had previously taught in a very small and poor town, who spent his own money to rent videos for his class to watch on Fridays after lunch as a reward for working hard all week, to provide them with holiday parties when no parents could/would contribute, and even little gift bags for each student at the holidays, because for some of them, it was all they would get....spending his own money to do this because he cared about the kids and wanted their school experience to be a happy one, even though he could barely pay his rent and his car was repossessed. He did not have discipline problems with his classes in the small town because he was able to help shape the experience of school, his students wanted to please him, and his administrators took anything he reported seriously. He was very passionate about teaching, and incredibly patient. He knew what help each child needed most and did everything he could to provide it. He loved being a teacher.

After he moved to the big city district, he was so discouraged by the larger view of the profession and what goes on in so many schools that he emotionally couldn't do it anymore.

[Hen Jen]

I can't get the link to work, anyone have a different link?

[Jean in Newcastle]

I have two personal stories of having my hands tied as a substitute teacher. Both were in high schools.

The first one, I went to the office to introduce myself and was given a map and told, "If there are problems, do not call the office for help.":glare: Halfway through the class, a boy threw a chair and missed my head by a centimeter (he actually wasn't aiming for me). I called the office. They were furious with me because they didn't want to deal with any more problems or it would make them look bad with the district.

The second one, I was attacked by a boy with a knife. I yelled, "Sit down while I call for help." He did. I'm quite sure he was high on something. I called the office and spent five minutes arguing with them that I needed someone to actually get up off of their patooties and come down to the classroom. The moment I hung up the phone, the boy attacked me with the knife again. The office refused to call the police so I borrowed the cell phone of a student and called them myself.:mad: They were furious with me too!

I still got assignments for teaching though, so I didn't care what they thought of me.

[jenn&charles]

I can't get the link to work, anyone have a different link?
I can't get the link to work either...

[i.love.lucy]

My late FIL was a high school civics teacher. Back in the day when they began to integrate schools in Louisiana. Bad, unmotivated, troubled kids from all neighborhoods seemed to be grouped together. He endured many death threats, physical assaults, defecation in his desk, it goes on and on. I have a lot of respect for the teachers that really try to reach those kids, and feel really sorry for them too. And sorry for the kids who want to learn something and have to sit through all that.

[mom2scouts]

My oldest son's girlfriend is in her first year of teaching at a public charter school in a large city. Actually, this is her second school. The first was so bad that she came home and cried every night and finally quit at Thanksgiving. At her current school, she works with inner city kids who are being raised by their grandparents and social workers. Mom is on drugs and dad was never in the picture. They are disrespectful and she has to teach 7th graders who are on a first or second grade level. Our public schools have big problems and most of them start with a lack of personal responsibility.

[Cindyg]

The videos were very depressing. My sympathies were with the teachers. The students were horrible!! What on earth are those poor teachers to do?! When I am that angry at my (one, usually cooperative) student, I walk outside to cool off. I know classroom teachers don't have the option to leave the classroom.

And, yet, I can remember being all sassy and full of energy like those kids. In a controlled environment, it was sort of cute. (I adored my Christian school teachers. Thirty years later, some of them are still willing to call me friend.) In an environment with no controls, it is frightening and ugly. Lord of the Flies.

The irony is that the public school people can't understand why we want to teach our kids at home. It boggles the mind.

[Tree House Academy]

The only teacher that did something truly punishable was when the lady screaming at the kid in the door threatened him and then shoved him. She shouldn't put her hands on a kid.

I am sorry, but the African American girl being a total b*tch to the older woman just needed to be slapped! GRRR! I PRAY my kids never act like that to anyone who is their senior. EVER!

[Celia]

Wow. We sure live in a screwed up society.

[laundrycrisis]

The kids know that the teachers cannot do anything. They know that the teachers get in trouble when they send students to administrators. They know that teachers get in trouble for giving too many students low grades. They know the school is obligated to keep them as students and that expulsion is something the school administrators do not want to deal with. There are no real consequences at all for the students who do not care to learn. There is nothing the teachers can do. The system is thoroughly broken.

[kitten18]

I didn't watch the videos. I didn't need to, I taught middle school and high school. I will never go back to the classroom.

I had a friend who quit teaching completely after moving into a large school district because he said his hands were literally tied. There were no rewards at all he was allowed to give his classes for good behavior and working hard. There was no disciplinary action he was allowed to take other than sending a child to the office, but each time he send a child to the office, it counted against him as a teacher. He was meant to control them by some sort of magic perhaps ?

That was exactly my experience.

[Jeannie in NJ]

way back when I was doing my student teaching, I took a very disruptive teen girl out into the hall to talk to her. Now I am tiny and looked very young and I could tell that she was going to jump me wnen a boy (who just happened to be the "coolest dude" in the school walked by. We happened to work toghether at a restuarant in the evenings. He saw what was going on and came over and made it very clear that he considered me a friend and that the teen girl better back off. I never had any other problems with any other students. But I decided that I did not want to pursue teaching anymore as a future job.