I wrote about this yesterday. As did Mr. W.
I cannot tell you the number of pregnant (and unmarried) girls in the school. I know that there are many with children.
Their friends celebrate with them - although they are making a choice which will make their lives (and those of their children) harder.
I listen to the boys talk about hos. And the girls act like this is ok.
I listen to the ones who give me the hardest time - because I am disrespectful to them (I ask them to follow the rules, how dare I) - and know they live in single parent homes with siblings with different last names and I know that they will perpetuate their lifestyle with their children.
And I do not know how to change it.
Make Adams writes about the level of college students he receives but I know he gets the best of what we have. (I know the dialogue was made up. There were no F bombs or N words in what he wrote. And the students cannot talk without this.)
One of the teachers I had in high school used to compare the last names of his students with the last names of their parents. And in the 1970s most matched.
I do that and it is less than half.
Do you ever look at the last names of your students? Or how many parents are in the home?
On This Day in Math - April 30
15 minutes ago
3 comments:
sounds like you have it worse in your neck of the woods. We don't have a lot of pregnancies, but it's just one more thing that people in general forget about when they talk about education. The whole home life factor isn't even brought up anymore.
I run demographics in every class I teach: boys vs girls, etc. This year I have a large number marked economically disadvantaged - and a larger number where the parent names are different.
The stories I hear would curl your hair.
I don't have any hair to curl :-)
You know I teach at a great school where our API is in the 880's. But it's stories like yours and others that people need to hear to understand just how challenging this job can be.
My problems probably pale in comparison to yours, but there are things I have noticed that we do share, such as any stories involving administrators...it's like a factory that churns them out :-)
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