Work

As part of my job, I travel throughout the county to all of the various elementary schools. We have a big county. It encompasses urban areas, rural areas, suburbia, and impoverished areas. Some of the schools are very diverse, others are almost completely black, white, or hispanic, depending on where the school is located.

Today, my partner and I were in a mostly rural area with a wide group of ethnicities. The school was kind of old, but not in disrepair or crumbling. More than anything it needed somebody to care about it. The floors needed scrubbing, the walls needed painting, and the bathrooms could have used an ocean's worth of bleach.

When we arrived, the office was overrun by late students who kept streaming in 10-15 minutes after the first bell. Usually there is always one or two, but today it seemed like this was a common occurrence. The secretary was stressed out trying to sign them all in, and at the same time, direct us to where we needed to be. They had moved our performance from the media center to an open space between four classes...y'know...usually it's called a hallway.

After surmising the space we had to set up, we made the best of it and got ready.

All I can say is that it was the worst experience with a school that I have had so far. The students were out of control and openly talking during the performance. The teachers made no effort to control the students or bring order to them. It was chaos.

The eye-rolling, the sighing, the grumpiness, the general look of despair---and those were the teachers!

At one point, in between our two presentations, we listened to a teacher lecture a student on how he didn't go to college for four years so some kid could make him look like an idiot...and how that kid needed to stop being a baby, suck it up and do his work....and how he was going to lose every special for the next two weeks if he didn't shape up...and he'd better just try it and see what would happen.

The kid's crime? Falling asleep in class and not admitting it.

OK. Let's start stocking the teacher's lounge with some Prozac!

My partner and I kept exchanging sidelong glances and looking at the clock, wondering when we would be able to escape the "Land of the Unmotivated, Bitter Teachers and Students with Serious Issues."

yikes.