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If you have conduct issues in a parochial school, the public school must be a combat zone.

I was never interested in religious education, and my parents weren't either, so I was in public school until 8th grade. After the first year of Junior High, I'd had enough. I literally learned NOTHING in an entire year; the place was a friggin' zoo. We had ARMED security in each wing and on every floor of that place -- and this was in 1967. After the Easter Break, a ninth grader came into a votech class and shot his girlfriend and the shop teacher who tried to reason with him. I can't even imagine what goes on there now. I do know that in the last ten years or so that I've been following the school it has never come in higher than 480 in theTribune Reviews PA school district rankings. Two of those years it was not even on the list (came in lower than #500.)

I couldn't believe how different the Catholic School was. It goes without saying the nuns were punitive and nasty. But you could actually learn there...

Anyway, having taught undergrads for around a decade in the 1980's the decline was clearly visible over that period. I never used my Physics PhD and have been considering teaching math and/or science as a retirement option. The kicker: my Alma Mater wants (minimum) $30K for a teaching certification. But that's another story ...

"If you have conduct issues in a parochial school, the public school must be a combat zone."

Most of the kids are refugees from the public schools, so it carries over. The school system is so short of money due to legal costs and declining enrollment that they are reluctant to expel students who probably should be expelled. It's not fair to the kids who are there to learn. There is administrative support at my school, but we are asked to work incrementally in addressing the problem children, so it will take some time to sort out some of the issues. You can be sure I'm documenting a lot of what is going on. I spend way too much time on writing up infractions and monitoring detentions when I should be teaching.

I wouldn't consider working in our urban public school system. It's not worth the risk. There aren't enough security officers (money) and the administration is notorious for not backing teachers in disciplinary matters. It's really tough for the public schools to get rid of troublemakers, and they have a boatload of them.