Friday, September 17, 2004
Well, it finally came...
FINALLY! Friday has come, and I am done with work for two whole days! Okay, yeah, so that's just sad. It's depressing that I get that excited about two days of my life. Oh well. No real thought provoking questions to raise today. I asked my kids what they thought Hurricane Jeanne would do (I made them write a paragraph...They all said, "Can't we just tell you?" Nope, mean ol' Mrs. Pitchford wants to see you write! Ha ha ha!), and they all said they thought it would destroy the earth and everyone in it. In case you are unaware, I teach special ed. at a juvenile detention center, so yes, my kids often wish that something would destroy the world. I can honestly say that I don't blame them. It is a sad and depressing place there. I do my best to make it better for them and encourage them, but I really feel for them. They come from bad homes (many times when they are finally parolled, some kids have to stay at DJJ b/c there is no one who will take them. A lot of times their parents move and don't tell anyone where they've moved to. So sad.), they only know bad people, and then they commit a crime (or two or three...) and are sent to a terrible place where they are routinely strip-searched, live in a dorm with tons of other boys, have to wear an icky uniform, and see some very dreadful things. It's bad, and to top that, they all have to be "men". Being a man must be very hard. Okay, here's my question of the day: I've come to the conclusion that being a man in today's world is very hard, b/c they have to live up to certain standards and follow certain rules. Any thoughts on this?
 
posted by Christi at 6:07 PM | Permalink |


2 Comments:


  • At 10:01 PM, Blogger Unknown

    I didn't know you were working in a juvenile detention center. What an incredibly difficult job! I am in awe of you for devoting yourself to something so important, yet so difficult. The burnout rate for teachers must be incredible. What ages are the boys?

     

  • At 11:35 AM, Blogger Christi

    Actually, for some very strange reason, most of the teachers there have been there for MANY years. We just had a guy retire yesterday who had started his teaching career there. It's wierd, b/c it's a horrible place to work. I am actually the newest teacher there, well, sorta. There is one other teacher there that started after me, but she had worked at DJJ before, so she doesn't really count. Fact is, once you've worked there, you really don't ever feel comfortable anywhere else (as far as teaching goes), or so I've heard. There have been many teachers that say they won't put up with any more of it, and go and get a job at a regular school, and end up coming back within 2 or 3 years. It worries me, b/c Trey WILL be transferred within the next 4 or 5 years, and then what will I do? They don't have juvenile prisons everywhere!

    Anyway, enough of my going on....Thank you for your compliment. It is a challenging job, but well worth it. I'm still thriving off of one student that I helped get his GED shortly after I started there (in January). It was really awesome. Of course, in grand Christi style, I jumped up and down and danced around and screamed with joy. Sure, I embarrassed him, and the other teachers thought, "What is wrong with this woman?", but it was so great! Now I can never say I didn't do anything worthwhile there. Oh, and all the other teachers have now figured me out. They think I'm too happy sometimes, and I dance around too much. I think that's why they like me!

     
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