Every Teacher's Nightmare, Part V

On Saturday the Washington Post ran an exceptional article about the struggles at Coolidge High School in the district. It speaks to the power of intention vs. the reality of some of our most troubled schools; it’s also one of the most disturbing accounts of an assault on a teacher that I’ve ever seen. From the article:

Two boys appear outside the door. One has been kicked out of Cox's class for being disruptive. The other is a student of Willis's. They peer through the window and laugh. They bang on the door. Willis shoves the metal door open, and it hits his student. A knot swells on the student's forehead, and blood runs down past his eye.

A deep sense of inevitability descends on the afternoon.

"Why you hit me? Why you hit me?" the boy screams. "Look what the (expletive) you did to my head." The bell rings. Students file out. The boy continues yelling and cursing. He is stomping up and down. A crowd gathers, egging him on. You can't let him do that (expletive)! Steal him, son! kids yell.

The two boys push into Willis's class. Other students follow. The one who is bleeding turns over desks. He knocks over a computer. He tears apart the bulletin board that told them to respect themselves and their school.

All around, kids shout for vengeance.

Willis rushes out and down the stairs. The two boys follow him. The crowd follows them, 20 kids or more, running and jumping down the steps. Everyone is hollering. The last of the crowd gets to the first floor and rounds the corner.

Suddenly, kids are running back against the crowd. As he flees, one boy yells: "He put that nigga to sleep!" His voice echoes. Bodies blur in a rush. Seconds later, the hallways clear, the yelling grows distant and a surreal scene comes into focus.

On the floor, a few yards from the main office, Fredrick Willis lay crumpled. He is not moving.

Seemingly far off, someone starts to yell. "Get the (expletive) to class."

Horrible. Absolutely horrible.

There’s also a piece on the problems of black kids later on that I found rather odd, from the leader of the local PTSO:

"African American kids come with anger that comes from longtime situations," Goings says. "We're angry folks, and most times that's the only way (kids) know how to deal with anger is violence. How can we deal with them before they become violent?"

This feels more like an excuse than a reason, but when you consider the evidence about stress that’s been coming out recently, maybe this is the way it is for a reason.