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My Classroom From Hell
The Wall Street Journal ^ | Friday, January 24, 2003 | JOSHUA KAPLOWITZ

Posted on 01/24/2003 5:44:35 AM PST by TroutStalker

Edited on 04/22/2004 11:47:59 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]

It was May 2000 and, during my senior year at Yale, I turned down a job with an Al Gore pollster to teach in an inner-city school.

Five weeks later, I found myself visiting Emery Elementary in Washington, the school where I was going to teach. As the interim principal showed me around, he cautioned: "The one thing you need to do above all else is to have your children under control." Easier said than done, as I was to discover in a spectacular way.


(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events; US: District of Columbia
KEYWORDS: education; schools
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There was a similar article about this posted not too long ago here, but I can't find it to link.
1 posted on 01/24/2003 5:44:35 AM PST by TroutStalker
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To: TroutStalker
Every once in a while I will read stories like this and they reassure me that our family is doing the right thing by homeschooling. These horror stories continue to get worse through the years. I fear to the point where they will no longer resemble a school at all. Perhaps that has already taken place in DC.
2 posted on 01/24/2003 6:14:22 AM PST by Boxsford
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To: TroutStalker
I was a white teacher in a mostly black school, and certain students hurled racial slurs with impunity; several of their parents, I was told, said to my colleagues that they didn't think a white teacher should be teaching their children -- and some of my colleagues agreed.

I await Fat Albert's appearance to eliminate all vestiges of racism.

3 posted on 01/24/2003 6:18:09 AM PST by ArrogantBustard
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To: mhking
Ping
4 posted on 01/24/2003 6:19:50 AM PST by FreedomPoster (This space intentionally blank)
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To: Vic3O3; cavtrooper21
Wow, this isn't the type of school we grew up with.

This only stregthens my beliefs that the liberals and the NEA are pursuing a higher agenda of creating generations of out of control, ignorant people.

Glad Vic and I have made the decision to homeschool.

Semper Fi
5 posted on 01/24/2003 6:23:04 AM PST by dd5339 (Homeschooling is eductation, not indoctrination!)
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To: TroutStalker
Inner-city schools are "hell holes" because that's exactly what the parents of those kids want.

They raise them to be little heathen beasts without a hint of discipline or societal restriction......and then bitch about how "they aren't given the same chances" as the so-called "rich".

I just don't care any more.

6 posted on 01/24/2003 6:42:07 AM PST by RightOnline
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To: TroutStalker
Sounds like another case of whitey holding back poor innocent little black kids!

What a shame that his career was so unpleasant and short-lived. He went into the situation with a severe disadvantage: he was white. Funny how the racism of the kids and their parents is okay because it is black on white. You can see how the parent's racist, bigoted attitude trickled down to the children. That is what will hold them back in society, not whitey.

The really sad thing is that the liberals in higher education, while overlooking this travesty of education in this and other primary schools, will seek to address it by giving free "malanin" points to many of these kids so they can get into colleges and universities. Talk about treating the symptoms and not the disease!

I agree with big Al Sharpton: there is still a racism problem in this country. It just happens that much of it is in the black and hispanic communities (and others, no doubt). It is bad enough when racism by whites against blacks holds back a promising student or job candidate, but it is infinitely worse when the minority populations hurt themselves by their own bigotry. Seriously, how smart is it to deny your own children's chances of success by showing no interest in their education.

Other racial minorities, in particular, East Asians, East Indians, Jews and others have prospered beyond all expectations by taking exceptional interest in their children's education. This even happens in black and hispanic families where the parents are involved in the children's education, so it is not really a racial problem. It is a parenting problem, and the liberal teaching establishment is doing little on nothing (judging by this article) to rectify the problem.

You can't help people that have no interest in helping themselves. Truly sad.

7 posted on 01/24/2003 6:44:26 AM PST by SpinyNorman
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To: TroutStalker
BTT
8 posted on 01/24/2003 6:52:26 AM PST by dano1
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To: dd5339
That is not a school. It is an insane asylum.
9 posted on 01/24/2003 7:02:48 AM PST by Zack Nguyen
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To: Boxsford
Now they want preschool for Washington, DC's children. Why start the downward spiral into the cesspool that is Washington, DC's public schools any sooner than you have to:

http://hslda.org/docs/news/hslda/200301/200301231.asp

Believe me, preschool isn't going to help these kids. K-12 hasn't done anything to help these kids.
10 posted on 01/24/2003 7:04:03 AM PST by ladylib
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To: TroutStalker
Still, Andre's mother pursued civil damages. I refused her offers to settle if I paid her $200,000, a demand that ultimately came down to $40,000. The school system settled her claim in October 2002 for $75,000 (plus $15,000 from the insurance company of the teachers' union).

Hate to say it but if I was this guy, I'd have been pricing hit men in D.C. It's cheaper.

11 posted on 01/24/2003 7:11:36 AM PST by Centurion2000 (The meek shall inherit the Earth. The stars belong to the bold.)
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To: TroutStalker
Abolish government schools and the problem disappears.
12 posted on 01/24/2003 7:13:28 AM PST by Protagoras
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To: ThomasJefferson
This is what results when you have the don't care NEA, combined with don't care parents.
13 posted on 01/24/2003 7:18:48 AM PST by Eric in the Ozarks
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To: TroutStalker
I was a white teacher in a mostly black school, and certain students hurled racial slurs with impunity; several of their parents, I was told, said to my colleagues that they didn't think a white teacher should be teaching their children -- and some of my colleagues agreed.

What would happen if the parents of white students in a mostly white school said that a black teacher should not be allowed to teach THEIR children, AND some of the teachers agreed?

14 posted on 01/24/2003 7:20:48 AM PST by Sloopy
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To: Eric in the Ozarks
This is what results when you have the don't care NEA, combined with don't care parents.

They care. But they care about things other than the education and well being of the children.

Abolish government schools, they don't work better than any other government programs, and the consequences are worse than not getting your mail, etc.

15 posted on 01/24/2003 7:39:29 AM PST by Protagoras
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To: Sloopy
What would happen if the parents of white students in a mostly white school said that a black teacher should not be allowed to teach THEIR children, AND some of the teachers agreed?

Double standards are standard.

16 posted on 01/24/2003 7:40:17 AM PST by Protagoras
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To: TroutStalker
The public school system has been made an educational ghetto to resemble the houseing ghetto...


17 posted on 01/24/2003 7:58:20 AM PST by hosepipe
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To: TroutStalker
Mr. Kaplowitz, a former liberal, ......
18 posted on 01/24/2003 7:59:51 AM PST by arm958
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To: TxBec
ping
19 posted on 01/24/2003 8:03:23 AM PST by Vic3O3
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To: TroutStalker
My Classroom From Hell

Stuff like this convinces me that, yes, indeed, there are children who should be left behind.

20 posted on 01/24/2003 8:03:41 AM PST by adx (Will produce tag lines for beer)
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