This article in yesterday’s Chronicle talks about how bad it is in one of the high schools I tried to teach at back in 1997. Looks like it hasn’t improved at all. It also looks like they don’t really know what the answer is to improve a place like that. Sure, many of the parents can move to better schools, but many of the families that might need it most (i.e. little or no income, substance abuse, domestic violence, etc.) don’t have the means or the desire to do so. So it’s very sad.

That said, it kind of makes me feel better that a lot of people see what a bad situation that was. The fact that I had to leave there then doesn’t mean that I can’t be a good teacher. It didn’t kill me, so it must have made me stronger, right?