I teach in what could be considered an "inner city" school. It is in a a relatively low-income neighborhood. There is a definite gang presence on campus, although typically not a violent one. Although there are plenty of high-performing students on campus, there are a lot at the other extreme as well.
I teach a class of those students at the bottom end of the spectrum. It is a literacy intervention course, bascially it is third grade phonics for high schoolers who were never taught to read, or who do not read at grade level. While the academic side of this class is challenging, that is not my biggest obstacle in teaching this group. What make it difficult is the culture and lifestyle of these students that goes against everything I try to teach them. Getting an education simply is not a priority to them. They come to school to be with their friends and because they find it too boring to stay home.
I have spent many a stressful day wondering what happened to these young students that has made them so jaded so early in their academic career. I wonder what legitimizes their behavior in their own minds. For instance:
what makes it ok to use profanity in the classroom?
what makes it ok to talk back to the teacher?
what makes it ok to turn every comment made into a gross sexual joke?
what makes it ok to be on probation and have a criminal record at 15?
what makes it ok to be drinking and doing drugs at such a young age?
what makes it ok to refuse to do school work and not take responsibility for one's own education?
I could go on and on. What has happened to these kids? Who is to blame? I know a lot of the blame rests on the parents. If they had made these behaviors unacceptable in the home, they might not have tried them elsewhere. I could blame their past teachers. Afterall, how does a student enter high school reading at only a second grade level? I could blame the environment and culture in which they live, one where gangs run the streets and crime often does pay. Perhaps I am even to blame for part of it. I sometimes wonder if I had been a more dynamic teacher and taught more inspiring lessons, perhaps I could have made a difference. Although there are many who could be blamed for this, the ultimate responsibility for these students' behavior will rest on them.
I have come to realize soemthing however. As much as it saddens me to see where these kids are headed, I realize there is very little I can do to stop them. It's a much bigger issue than can be solved in the two hours I am with them each day. I believe it takes a very special kind of teacher to effectively reach these kids, and I don't believe I am that teacher. But I do hope, for their sakes, that one of those teachers crosses their paths one day.
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I think there's only one teacher who can do that: Jesus. Hopefully, there's enough of that Teacher in enough of us, and enough teachable moments with enough of them, to make a difference.
But I agree, morality, goodness and truth are counter-culture these days. It seems an impossible task to salvage anyone who's been born into this postmodern age of relativism, whose role models have been self-absorbed parents, money-hungry media and value-free school systems.
Where do we start? We start where God puts us and take one step at a time. With every eventual victory, we gain another footsoldier and advance in the battle.
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