When Teachers Go Wild: Fed Up In Lousiana

One knows that it's nearing the end of the school year when stories like this from Waggaman, Louisiana begin to surface:

A public school teacher fed up with his students' behavior found a way to berate them in the context of a class assignment. The Jefferson Parish teacher wrote and distributed a two-page essay to his fourth-grade students saying he hated his job, blasting the children's "animal" behavior, and even identifying some of them by name.

Titled "I Wonder Why?" the essay ended with an assignment for each student to write a 200-word essay on how the teacher should treat them.

"Make sure you tell me why I need to treat you a certain way," the assignment reads. "I want to make sure that I no longer cheat and act unfairly."

In the essay, the teacher detailed the loud, disobedient behavior of his students on a particular day and how some ridiculed him while others accused him of cheating for a competing class during a spelling bee. The teacher said he was tired because pain from a root canal had kept him awake most of the previous night.

About the spelling bee that went awry, the teacher wrote, "What should have been a nice little game turns into anger and sadness. I hate my class at times like this, because anytime I try to do something fun, they ruin it. They can take the best thing in the world and just ruin it."

About students who hit each other and ran through the halls, he asked: "Makes me think, are these children or animals?"

The assignment was supposed to be done in class. Instead, several students took it home and showed it to parents. Not surprisingly, several have shown concern, with the parent of one 9-year-old stating, "I was outraged and I was upset, I'm thinking, you shouldn't be a teacher if you hate kids."

It was not disclosed if the unnamed teacher, who works at Norbert Rillieux Elementary School, was facing any sort of discipline. Spokesman Jeff Nowakowski of the Jefferson Parish public school system wouldn't provide any details, including the teacher's name, saying, "It's a personnel issue."

Related Commentary: OverEducation has much more and Schoolhouse Blog chimes in.

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