What the Heck?

I have been thinking about writing about my interviewing experience for a while. I have talked to friends and family about an injustice that I experienced. The injustice is not really directed at me but at the students in some of these schools. First of all you should know that most of my experience has been in private schools. But, I went to a Chicago Public School, I taught my first year at a suburban public school and I taught summer school in an urban setting this year. At two of the  urban, public schools where I interviewed, I felt scolded for my lack of experience with "tough" kids. I was essentially told that I was totally unprepared to teach this type of student because these students don't want to learn and their behavior is bad.

Hmm.

Do all private school kids have great behavior and want to learn?  Do all public school kids have bad behavior and hate learning? We know that is not true. This experience is still bothering me because I feel like there can be no movement of teachers from private schools to public schools and a lot of what I have learned about teaching came from my private school experiences.  Thankfully, I did get a job at a public school and I can transfer my skills but it still bugs me that these two schools couldn't see that and they have a crummy attitude about their own students behavior and desire to learn.