Bad Teachers

Recently, Philadelphia news stations have been running stories on how bad Philadelphia city schools are. Teachers are complaining about how they are afraid of their students and how they don't feel safe at work. Some teachers have even been beat up by their students.

The general reaction is something between sympathy and outrage. How terrible! Poor teachers! Hoodlum kids!

My response? Those teachers are bad teachers. I've worked in some of the worst Philadelphia schools. It's no cakewalk-- but if you genuinely care about the students and know how to teach, you will have no problem.

I suspect these frightened teachers are not teaching in these schools by choice and are falling prey to their own preconceived notions of inner city schools. In my experience, I've found that students will rise to your expectations of them-- no matter what they may be.