[A_perfect_lady]

What do you teach?

I teach English and ESL in an inner city middle school in Los Angeles. My students are often quite sweet, but they are as wild as feral mink. I remember this one boy who had just come from Belarus and he was an intelligent, well-mannered, witty 12 year old. He would sit in his chair and look around in astonishment at the cursing, dirty little inner city hoodlums with tagging all over their backpacks. Poor kid. He was obviously thinking "This is America?"

I got him switched to the magnate school for his own safety. Smart white kids aren't popular in my neck of the woods.

[meandog]

I teach English and ESL in an inner city middle school in Los Angeles. My students are often quite sweet, but they are as wild as feral mink. I remember this one boy who had just come from Belarus and he was an intelligent, well-mannered, witty 12 year old. He would sit in his chair and look around in astonishment at the cursing, dirty little inner city hoodlums with tagging all over their backpacks. Poor kid. He was obviously thinking "This is America?"

Know what you mean...I have a friend who teaches elementary ed here in Va. A lot of her kids are children of migrant Hispanics who come to harvest the crops. They are in school usually from September to the first of November, then head south (Mexico?). They return in the spring for planting. The state mandates a Standards of Learning requirement (thanks to former Gov. George Allen) and the school must pass it to remain accredited; but it makes no allowance for ESL children who attend school just 6 mos. out of the year.