I ran across this video. Teachers in inner city schools go through hell.

[hunter]

22. That was the roughest job I've ever had, and I've had some bad ones.

When my wife was accepted to graduate school in another state I was overwhelmingly relieved to be moving on from my job as a science teacher in an overcrowded, underfunded, urban school.

Substitute teachers would leave our school in tears and never come back.

I remember one day my class was exceptionally quiet. For a moment I patted myself on the back thinking I was doing a great job, but then I realized they were listening to a riot in the class next door. Then I heard glass shatter. I stepped outside and all the kids next door were running away. Some kid had thrown a desk at the windows. The substitute teacher, a big guy, was just sitting at his desk in shock.

I sent two of my kids to the office to fetch help. This was before cell phones and the ancient intercom system was unreliable. You always sent the kids in pairs, otherwise they were likely to wander off, go to the bathroom, check their lockers, etc., instead of going directly to the office, even if someone was bleeding.

My wife's sister has been a teacher in similar situations more than thirty years now. She's some kind of superhero.