187 - Are there schools that are really that bad?
08-06-07, 10:20 AM
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187 - Are there schools that are really that bad?
I just watched the film 187 with Samuel L. Jackson. I loved the movie, but it was just so depressing. Are there really schools that are as bad as the school depicted in the movie? I'm lucky to have been raised and gone to school in a small Indiana town, so I guess I am naive as to what big city schools are like. You couldn't pay me enough to work in a school like the one in the movie. Every single day would be a nightmare.
Last edited by taffer; 08-06-07 at 10:25 AM.
08-06-07, 11:59 AM
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Read (at leas the first part of) Jonathan Kozol's Savage Inequalities: Children in America's Schools. It's non-fiction, but I could not believe some of the stuff happening in that book. Granted, it's now been 15 years since and who knows if anything improved, but it's still terrible.
08-06-07, 04:15 PM
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It's sad, but probably true. Kids either stay in school or face jail time (like the gang in 187)
Add that to the fact that most teachers get paid jack shit, and you got a "winning" situation.
Add that to the fact that most teachers get paid jack shit, and you got a "winning" situation.
08-06-07, 04:46 PM
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My friend teaches chigh school classes with what's termed "emotional support" cases, and pretty much all of his students have parole officers, and many are wearing those tracking things.
This is in a district far, far, removed from the inner city. Guards, metal detectors, etc. are now commonplace in schools across the country. If it's this bad way out here in Hlllbilly Hell, the kind of schools described in 187 must be far worse by now.
This is in a district far, far, removed from the inner city. Guards, metal detectors, etc. are now commonplace in schools across the country. If it's this bad way out here in Hlllbilly Hell, the kind of schools described in 187 must be far worse by now.
08-06-07, 09:55 PM
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I have worked in Toledo City Schools in Ohio for the past 10 years as a teacher and principal and can tell you most depictions of schools on tv are completely sensationalized. I have never feared for my safety or my students safety a single day of my carear. Toledo is the fourth largest city in our state behind Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati. Our schools are not falling apart, we dont have metal detectors, we dont have graffiti all over our walls, and our kids are not assaulted our killed on a weekly basis. Granted Toledo is not LA or NY, but we do have our share of gangs and violence in the city. I have seen some incredibly sad home lives and heard horrible stories from my students, but it is still not the school culture you see in the movies or watch on television. Its not even close.
Last edited by Bcolon; 08-06-07 at 09:57 PM.
08-06-07, 10:47 PM
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I haven't seen the movie so I can't say how accurately it represents the worst of the inner-city schools. And I don't mean to belittle Bcolon's experiences, but my own at a general high school on Chicago's west side were much different. There were definitely times when I worried for my students' safety----especially during the spring when gang recruiting became more aggressive.
IIRC, there have been something like 30 Chicago public school students die violent deaths this year.
I no longer teach in the city.
IIRC, there have been something like 30 Chicago public school students die violent deaths this year.
I no longer teach in the city.
Last edited by Draven6593; 08-07-07 at 02:50 PM.
08-07-07, 02:46 PM
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Originally Posted by Bcolon
I have worked in Toledo City Schools in Ohio for the past 10 years as a teacher and principal and can tell you most depictions of schools on tv are completely sensationalized. I have never feared for my safety or my students safety a single day of my carear. Toledo is the fourth largest city in our state behind Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati. Our schools are not falling apart, we dont have metal detectors, we dont have graffiti all over our walls, and our kids are not assaulted our killed on a weekly basis. Granted Toledo is not LA or NY, but we do have our share of gangs and violence in the city. I have seen some incredibly sad home lives and heard horrible stories from my students, but it is still not the school culture you see in the movies or watch on television. Its not even close.
-Doc
08-07-07, 03:03 PM
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Rent season 4 of The Wire when it comes out. One of the producers is a former cop who became a teacher in the Baltimore public school system and that's where a good deal of season 4 takes place, not to mention it's the best show on television.
08-07-07, 03:13 PM
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Originally Posted by MrX
Rent season 4 of The Wire when it comes out. One of the producers is a former cop who became a teacher in the Baltimore public school system and that's where a good deal of season 4 takes place, not to mention it's the best show on television.
Seconded, Thirded, and Fourth.... ed.
!!!
-Doc
08-07-07, 06:55 PM
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I work NYPD/School Safety and schools over here in the South Bronx are pretty crazy. You'd be surprised how many kids bring guns to school but you'll never see it or read it in the papers.
