Making the Trip

[Nate SC]

I lived for a while in Boston and I have first hand knowledge of how much that town sucks. I lived in both the "South End" and "Dorchester" . I did a teaching practicum at two of supposedly the best public schools in town. The first school I was at was Boston Latin and the second was Latin Academy. Boston Latin is a really over-rated school. The kids are the full spectrum of society, from the worst ghettos to old blue blood money. I saw at least four fights per day at that school. The policy in regards to staff dealing with fights was to let them fight it out until they got tired, then step in. There were drugs, weapons and violence on a daily basis. Latin Academy actually used metal detectors, which i felt cut down on the number of weapon based assaults but they still had a large number of incidents daily. Hawaii schools have the same violence. At least in Boston the cops didn't put up with the craziness, the cops don't take school violence seriously in Hawaii. In Hawaii the racist head splitting violence is just swept under the rug as "kids will be kids". You can read all the time about kids in Hawaii schools engaging in racial violence, intimidation, making improvised explosive devices and detonating them on campus, and all the while failing to reach miserabley low academic standards. I recently read in the Tribune where a teacher is being sued by a parent for informing the school that their child has "issues" and may need intervention to prevent a violent outbreak. It's more like "every child left behind" instead of "no child left behind". I do think that Boston has more "gun play" than Hawaii but still if a kids head is opened up with a bullet or a boot stomp, it's still a serious injury and the kids skull gets split. Don't think for one second that you are going to be in some fairy tale school district like in Japan or something. Hawaii schools are just as bad as Boston schools but in Hawaii you have the added stress of trying to teach "English" in a "pidgin" world.
I can trully relate to the feeling of wanting to "get the fug outa dodge" but to go from the pot to the frying pan doesn't change the amount of heat your gonna feel.

"Nemo me impune lecessit"