Should I do this?

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C

Chazwozel

So I was pretty set on being a part time consultant until the new school year starts when I start my new full time position.

I got a phone call yesterday for an interview at a juvenile delinquent facility to be a science teacher. It'll be for just the Spring and Summer no doubt, but it's going to put a load on me until I start my professor job.

Am I being too optimistic in thinking that I can change some of these kid's lives around?
 
Timmus

Timmus

Sure there is a chance you can change a life or two for the better. You're almost certainly going to deal with some students who are just too fucked up for you to make any positive impact on though.

Is the small number of people who can be helped worth the headache of dealing with the probable majority of people who can't ?

If it were me I wouldn't do it. Those kids would eat me alive.
 
P

Philosopher B.

DO EET.



If they give you any shit, hit them with a hockey stick.
 
W

Wasabi Poptart

http://video.adultswim.com/family-guy/chilax.html

It's peachy keen to think you're going to make a difference in kids' lives. I think if you walk into a job like this thinking that you are going to be the one thing that turns a few of them around, you are going to be sorely disappointed at best. That sounds terribly pessimistic, but you have to think about what some of these kids have probably gone through while growing up, what's waiting for them when they get out, and what has gotten them put in a detention center in the first place. Something tells me that Bill Nye Science Guy isn't going to be much of an impact on them.
 
Dave

Dave

Staff member
Show them this place and tell them to turn their fucking lives around.


It's called Scared Straight.
 
D

Deschain

Inspire them to greatness.

If all else fails, they are responsible for their own choices, you can only provide.
 
Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

To continue with the pessimism, depending on what sort of juvie you're going to be teaching at, the majority of those kids are likely going to be 'problem kids' that are simply not going to listen to a word you say, and obviously don't want to be there. Several orders of magnitude more so than the average schoolaged kid that doesn't want to be there.

But some of them are going to be good kids, who found themselves in bad situations, and made a few mistakes.

You're not going to be the inspirational force that comes in and gets them all to build a soccer team and learn the value of teamwork and friendship while learning science along the way. But you -might- just manage to get through to one of them.

So now you have to decide if that possibility is worth it.
 
Cajungal

Cajungal

Staff member
I'll tell you the advice that every professor and every field experience teacher has given me: No matter what kind of school you're in, don't assume anything. If you expect less, you'll get less.

They probably won't end up making a cheesy inspirational movie about you, but it might be a good experience for all of you. It's going to be a hard job, though.
 
R

redapples

On the upside a few months there and it would make teaching typical well adjusted but generally disinterested students (about 60-70 % of all students I'd imagine) feel like heaven.
 
D

Deschain

If you do take the job, make sure it won't stress you out too much more.
 
Rob King

Rob King

Maybe this is just the type of person I am, but I'd go for it without a doubt. I know it might be difficult, and you might not feel like you make much of an impact, but I live my life ten years down the road. All I can think about are the stories and experiences I'd be able to talk about after having worked as a teacher in a setting like that.

Of course, if it's going to kill you, you won't make it to that dinner party in 2023 to tell those stories. But barring threats to my well being, "Potential for Entertaining or Educating Anecdotes" always wins out for me.
 
C

Chazwozel

Deschain said:
If you do take the job, make sure it won't stress you out too much more.
Click to expand...

After surviving my doctoral committee meetings and dealings with corporate nitwits on a daily basis, nothing stresses me out too much anymore.
 
SpecialKO

SpecialKO

Is there a moderate chance you could be shot, shivved, or otherwise permanently maimed, knowing what you do about the facility?

If there is, I would say don't do it, since it sounds like turning the lives of delinquents around is a life's mission.

If there isn't, or if this is something you feel like you *have* to do, then do so and be careful.
 
C

Chazwozel

TeKeo said:
Is there a moderate chance you could be shot, shivved, or otherwise permanently maimed, knowing what you do about the facility?

If there is, I would say don't do it, since it sounds like turning the lives of delinquents around is a life's mission.

If there isn't, or if this is something you feel like you *have* to do, then do so and be careful.
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Well, I mean you run the risk of being killed everyday by just getting in your car. I've never been of that "stay clear of danger" mentality, so nah, it's kids ages 12 through 18. Most of them a skinny little things to begin with. My job isn't going to be that of a prison guard, and you gotta remember a lot of these kids aren't hardened criminals (yet).

My job will be to teach them science and possibly coach some of the sports programs they have. It's not something I feel like I have to absolutely do, but I like the idea of helping a teenager turn his life around for the better. I really wish I took more child psychology classes though. If I do try to steer them clear of anything, it'll be the fantasy notion that the 'gangsta' lifestyle is the only choice they have.
 
CrimsonSoul

CrimsonSoul

In my opinion as a former correctional officer.. no those kids are fuck ups for life and if you do it, do it for the money, fuck those kids their parents should have raised them better. IMHO btw
 
MindDetective

MindDetective

Being the end of the semester, when students are at their worst, I have the mentality right now to advise against a job like this. The hardest students to teach, I've found, are the ones that don't WANT to learn. You can lead a horse to water, and all that. That is not to say that teaching doesn't have it's up side. It does, no question about it.

I know it sort of sounds like I'm saying give up these kids. I'm not. I'm saying this has to really be something you want to make it worth while. You have to take so much joy out of those little moments when you get them that the rest of it feels like par for the course.
 
Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

If anything, the college course you start in fall will feel like a breeze.

On the downside, they could turn your teaching mentality in the wrong attitude for said college stuff.
 
K

Kitty Sinatra

If you do this, you could do some awesome matchmaking for Iaculus. Your troubled students sound like they'd be exactly his type.


I feel dirty
 
C

Chazwozel

Gruebeard said:
If you do this, you could do some awesome matchmaking for Iaculus. Your troubled students sound like they'd be exactly his type.


I feel dirty
Click to expand...

ahahahaha

It's an all male facility though, and most of them are in for sex crimes.
 
T

Twitch

CrimsonSoul said:
In my opinion as a former correctional officer.. no those kids are fuck ups for life and if you do it, do it for the money, fuck those kids their parents should have raised them better. IMHO btw
Click to expand...
Thank god you're a former correctional officer.
 
Espy

Espy

escushion;314741][quote=Twitch;314694][quote=CrimsonSoul said:
In my opinion as a former correctional officer.. no those kids are fuck ups for life and if you do it, do it for the money, fuck those kids their parents should have raised them better. IMHO btw
Click to expand...
Thank god you're a former correctional officer.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, no kidding.[/QUOTE]

I'm not saying it's a "good" attitude to have but I have this sneaking suspicion that before we judge him we need to realize that we have ZERO understanding of what it's like to deal with the people he had to deal with and how it can effect a person.

Again, I'm not saying it's a good or even helpful attitude to have but from what I have heard it's hard to not end up jaded when one does a job like that.
 
Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

Espy;314743][quote=escushion;314741][quote=Twitch;314694][quote=CrimsonSoul said:
In my opinion as a former correctional officer.. no those kids are fuck ups for life and if you do it, do it for the money, fuck those kids their parents should have raised them better. IMHO btw
Click to expand...
Thank god you're a former correctional officer.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, no kidding.[/QUOTE]

I'm not saying it's a "good" attitude to have but I have this sneaking suspicion that before we judge him we need to realize that we have ZERO understanding of what it's like to deal with the people he had to deal with and how it can effect a person.

Again, I'm not saying it's a good or even helpful attitude to have but from what I have heard it's hard to not end up jaded when one does a job like that.[/QUOTE]

I can totally understand someone forming that attitude/opinion and I wouldn't hold it against them, but it means you shouldn't be in a correctional officer job, when you feel there is no possibility of correction. Probably didn't start that way, but now that that's his feeling, I agree that it's good he is no longer in that job.

As I'd say with anyone who is or becomes incompatible or jaded towards the job they're doing.
 
T

Twitch

I would say that teaching gives me a pretty good idea about working with these kinds of people, before and after they go to these facilities.
 
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