I did my student teaching in New Orleans. it was a public school, a magnet school for students who scored in the top 10%. Even so, kids are kids, and most kids hate school. It's only natural for them to take it out on the nearest authority figure -- the teacher. I didn't know at the time that I was autistic and faceblind. However, the kids picked up on it real quick, and bullied me just like they'd bully an autistic peer. When I appealed to admin, they told me that it's impossible for students to bully a teacher because the power balance is in the teacher's favor.

The next year I tried teaching at a Catholic all-boys school. Most of the kids were white but it wasn't any better. Kids are kids.

I'm an anarchist at heart, a social democrat in practice. I recognize that governments are necessary to solve the problems that occur when many people are living closely together. I recognize that compulsory education is a necessary part of this. However, I feel that the usual Western model of school, originally developed for 19th century middle and working class German kids, doesn't work well for all kids, especially past age 12 or so. Non-western cultures handle the task of educating youth as they transition into adulthood in many different ways and I'd like to see different options available for youth in the Western world also. This led to a fiasco when I was student teaching ... see next post.