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My students know they’re in charge — and there’s nothing I can do
nypost.com ^ | 03/06/2019 | Teacher 'X'

Posted on 03/06/2019 12:35:51 PM PST by massmike

In my school, law and order have gone the way of the slide rule.

I am a math teacher at a middle school in Flushing, Queens, and two months ago, I was helping one of my students work out an arithmetic problem when he called me a “f–--ing’ a--hole.” When I asked for an apology, he shoved a chair at me and stormed out. Five minutes later, an administrator brought the student back to class. She informed me that she had called his parents and that he could return. And what did I do? I went on teaching.

In my 20 years working for the Board of Ed, I’ve never seen such a disregard for the rules — and human decency — as I’m seeing now. Smoke weed on campus? Grab your fellow student’s breast? Tell your teacher to f–-- off? You just earned yourself an in-house suspension — also known as a hang-out-with-your-phone-in-an-empty-classroom day.

When I started out, an altercation with another student could get you an out-of-school suspension ordered up by the principal. Nowadays, giving a kid a bloody nose doesn’t even buy you so much as an in-house one. And the kids are so street-smart, they know exactly how to commit the maximum amount of crime and get the least amount of time. So what can we teachers do to lay down the law? Under the current system, nothing. The best we can do is meet with the troubled kids and try to explain that their actions have long-term consequences. Consequences that, as adults, could be fatal. Every now and then, it works.

But try explaining life to the kid who repeatedly got reprimanded this year — mostly for sexual harassment.

And all he got was a string of in-house suspensions.

(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...


TOPICS: Education
KEYWORDS: arth; newyork; obamalegacy; publicschools
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1 posted on 03/06/2019 12:35:51 PM PST by massmike
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To: massmike

Yeah, but think about that pension and all the other benefits you get. Is it worth it?


2 posted on 03/06/2019 12:37:47 PM PST by EQAndyBuzz (TRUMP YOU MAGNIFICENT BASTARD!!!)
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To: massmike

In California, teachers have the legal right to suspend students for the remainder of the day and the following day, and there is nothing the school district or any other controlling authority can do about it. This right is absolute and at the sole discretion of the teacher. I would not be surprised if NY also has this statute as well as many other states, this teacher needs to determine if this is the case.


3 posted on 03/06/2019 12:42:49 PM PST by erkelly
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To: massmike

End government schools.
End Welfare.

Any school should be able to expel any troublemaker.
Students who do not want an education should face a very real risk of starvation. Or the equivalent of debtor’s prison. If they can succeed without school, fine. But if they are illiterate and uncontrollable, life should be darn tough for them.


4 posted on 03/06/2019 12:44:29 PM PST by ClearCase_guy (If White Privilege is real, why did Elizabeth Warren lie about being an Indian?)
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To: massmike

Thirty years ago I was asked by a reporter what could be done to return discipline to our public school classrooms. I looked into reporter’s eyes and YELLED .... YOU DON’T WANT TO KNOW ..... I stand by my answer to this day


5 posted on 03/06/2019 12:46:28 PM PST by no-to-illegals (Liberals, Rinos, moslems, illegals, lamestream media. All want America to fail and die)
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To: massmike

Wear a MAGA hat and the school will use the full force of the law against the student.

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/chandler-education/2019/03/02/parents-say-students-perry-high-school-told-remove-maga-gear-donald-trump/3035751002/


6 posted on 03/06/2019 12:47:09 PM PST by outpostinmass2
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To: massmike

I taught for 20+ years in a large urban school district. And I echo everything that the author said there.

Our school used to have a saving grace, the Honors program. Only the best kids could get into it. So, for example, to get into Honors Algebra 2, you had to have earned at least a “B” in any Algebra 1 class.

But about five years ago central administration decided that the Honors program wasn’t “inclusive” enough. So it was abolished.

Are all urban students bad? Nope. Not at all. Even in my worst classes most of the kids were decent. They were willing to do at least enough to pass. It was the 10 or 20 percent who ruined everything. And as the author said, those kids are essentially in charge now.


7 posted on 03/06/2019 12:47:15 PM PST by Leaning Right (I have already previewed or do not wish to preview this composition.)
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To: erkelly
In California, teachers have the legal right to suspend students for the remainder of the day and the following day,

So how does that work out? Kid gets two days off from school, the parents don't give a crap then the kid is back in your classroom..........Pretty cool, eh?

8 posted on 03/06/2019 12:47:16 PM PST by Hot Tabasco (ui)
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To: outpostinmass2

The students noticed the school’s police resource officer taking photos of them and others wearing MAGA gear without their permission, Jones said. When the officer asked her freshman daughter, Logan, for her name, the girl refused to answer, questioning why he needed her name.

“I thought the whole situation was weird. They’re out of school, so why are you coming up to her?” Jones said.
When the girl refused, the officer said she had been a part of a disruption all day, that no one was allowed to have a Trump flag, Jones said. She said he told her daughter to go to the office.


9 posted on 03/06/2019 12:50:03 PM PST by outpostinmass2
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To: no-to-illegals

Thirty years ago I was asked by a reporter what could be done to return discipline to our public school classrooms. I looked into reporter’s eyes and YELLED .... YOU DON’T WANT TO KNOW ..... I stand by my answer to this day

This....most of the public would be shocked at what we put up with. It is insane. It’s like lockup. And the bullshit comment about the pension. We pay into it, 10%, and we earn it. Maybe we should kick the kids out, send them home, so they can rob you while you work...You owe us.


10 posted on 03/06/2019 12:55:08 PM PST by krug
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To: massmike
Does this teacher vote Democrat? Odds are likely this teacher does, so guess how much sympathy I have?


11 posted on 03/06/2019 1:01:03 PM PST by GrandJediMasterYoda (As long as Hillary walks free, equal justice under the law will never exist in the USA)
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To: krug

The reporter had no idea so I tried to wake the reporter up. Ignorance by reporters was prevalent thirty years ago and has grown worse over the years or their lies are harming the nation as terribly as was their lies then


12 posted on 03/06/2019 1:02:13 PM PST by no-to-illegals (Liberals, Rinos, moslems, illegals, lamestream media. All want America to fail and die)
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To: massmike
You just earned yourself an in-house suspension — also known as a hang-out-with-your-phone-in-an-empty-classroom day.

Install Faraday mesh under the drywall...

13 posted on 03/06/2019 1:05:23 PM PST by MortMan (Satan was merely the FIRST politician who pretended to speak for God.)
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To: massmike

Sad. Flushing-Queens used to be a working class place that produced decent people.


14 posted on 03/06/2019 1:07:28 PM PST by Buckeye McFrog
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To: Hot Tabasco

> In California, teachers have the legal right to suspend students for the remainder of the day and the following day <

The kids at my school call that an “HBO weekend”.

As in:

Student A: “Did you get in trouble for throwing that book at the teacher?”
Student B:”Yeah. I got an HBO weekend.”

So Student B gets to sleep in and then watch TV all day. But at least the better kids get to learn something until Student B comes back.

Oh, and one more thing. Principals get a bonus for keeping suspensions low. So while a teacher might have some power to suspend a kid, that teacher had better not use that power! Because if you do, all of a sudden the principal be writing you up for poor teaching, having bad attitude, etc.


15 posted on 03/06/2019 1:11:58 PM PST by Leaning Right (I have already previewed or do not wish to preview this composition.)
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To: massmike

In the 15 or 20 years after WW II, there were a lot of ex military men teaching. They didn’t take any guff from anybody and knew how to maintain discipline. They all eventually retired or left the profession and weren’t replaced. Then the liberals made it impossible to discipline the little darlings and welfare destroyed many lower class families. Kids raised without strong fathers turn out like those in this article.

I clearly remember Mr. Razzman in Fourth Grade at Cayuga Heights Elementary School. He would bean you on the side of your head with fastball chalk if you acted up. Don’t ask me how I learned that lesson.


16 posted on 03/06/2019 1:17:43 PM PST by ProtectOurFreedom
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To: Leaning Right

Are all urban students bad? Nope. Not at all. Even in my worst classes most of the kids were decent. They were willing to do at least enough to pass. It was the 10 or 20 percent who ruined everything.


Thank you for pointing out the fact that most kids are, in fact decent. If a class has 10% bad kids, those 10% take up 80% of the teacher’s time, meaning the other 90% are only going to learn in spite of the disruptors. When the bad ones get to 20%, Virtually no learning will take place.

Although most of my career was in rural schools, I have taught in urban settings as well. Even in a predominately white, rural school, 3 really lousy kids in a class of 25 makes for a long series of “bad days”, not just for the teachers, but the other students as well. I really don’t think that most people understand how few bad kids it takes to ruin a class—even with a good teacher.


17 posted on 03/06/2019 1:18:11 PM PST by hanamizu
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To: ProtectOurFreedom
I clearly remember Mr. Razzman in Fourth Grade at Cayuga Heights Elementary School. He would bean you on the side of your head with fastball chalk if you acted up. Don’t ask me how I learned that lesson.

And I remember Miss Lightfoot. Disrupt her class and you became the recipient of "The Lightfoot Hold", which was a grasp/pinch on each side of your collarbone which would cause you to rise out of your chair, as she led you out of the classroom to cool your heels in the chairs outside of the Principal's Office.

That woman had a right-hand grip strength that was just amazing ...

18 posted on 03/06/2019 1:25:03 PM PST by BlueLancer (Orchides Forum Trahite - Cordes Et Mentes Veniant)
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To: ProtectOurFreedom
In the 15 or 20 years after WW II, there were a lot of ex military men teaching.
I graduated HS in 1966. Had a retired Army Colonel and a reserve Capt for teachers.
They took NO crap and I really enjoyed watching the Capt bounce erasers off of kids' heads for various reasons. He never missed.

But I think the bigger deal is that back then, the vast majority of families had fathers - AND - fathers (and mothers) who were WWII veterans who did a lot worse than throw erasers.
19 posted on 03/06/2019 1:35:05 PM PST by oh8eleven (RVN '67-'68)
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To: oh8eleven

AND those mothers and fathers would support the school’s efforts to enforce discipline. “Just wait until your father gets home” would instill the worst of all possible dreads.


20 posted on 03/06/2019 1:40:44 PM PST by ProtectOurFreedom
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