That is very sad and troubling because they'll never make it in the real world. The adults in their lives are failing them if they're not trying to make them aware how the world really is outside their world.
You are to be commended for being a teacher in this day and age where good teachers are hard to come by.
Not all these kids are defiant or bad apples.Many of them are very nice and friendly.
Maybe some of them will realize on their own what is facing them on the outside and adjust to it. There has to be hope.
I try not to be too cynical.I only do the subbing as a part time enterprise.I have to also remember that I was not exactly the paragon of academic rigor when I was their age and my grades reflected my nonchalant attitude.
Yet I had parents that insisted on SOME productivity.They supervised my homework and would be down at the school if failure was iminent.The kids in the hood have few adults who care about them.Dad is almost never there and if truth be told,lots of time MOM isn’t doing right either!A lot of folks get very upset when you bring THAT up since in the black community,mom is sacrosanct.If you want a fight with a black man,say something bad about his momma!Or even IMPLY it.
Yet I agree with you.Some will come out allright.Just talked to one of my old students from New Orleans after 33 years.She had six kids out of wedlock,was strung out on crack for many years and ended up serving three years in state prison.She is finally clean,working,is married and raising her GRANDKIDS!Finally,at age 54,she has turned her life around.But what a lot of wasted years in bewtween