XPost: alabama.education, alt.niggers, sac.politics   
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   From: nigger-lovers@disney.com   
      
   Mobile, Ala. (WPMI) – It can be tough to be a teacher.   
      
   According to a study released last year by the Economic Policy   
   Institute nearly 14% of America's teachers are either leaving   
   their school or leaving teaching altogether, and school systems   
   are having a hard time replacing them.   
      
   Often, it's because of the pay, but a growing lack of respect   
   for the profession is also to blame.   
      
   WPMI spoke with one Alabama teacher who called it quits after   
   just two months on the job.   
      
   Two months.   
      
   That's how long this former Mobile County public school teacher   
   lasted in the classroom and he says his departure had everything   
   to do with a lack of student discipline and support.   
      
   "At this point, I wouldn't want to teach, knowing what I know   
   now," he said.   
      
   "It tainted you on teaching?" the reporter asked.   
      
   "Completely," he said.   
      
   He's asked that we conceal his real identity because students   
   are still trying to contact him through social media. But he   
   doesn't respond.   
      
   After four years of college and thousands in student loans, this   
   former middle school science teacher called it quits.   
      
   He began having his doubts, he said, from the very first day.   
      
   He was told he'd teach about 24 students per class. The reality   
   was between 32 and 36.   
      
   And some of those students made it impossible for him to teach   
   and for others to learn.   
      
   "Having students playing video games on their phone, just   
   getting up, walking around, yelling at each other as if they   
   were just hanging out at the house instead of at a school where   
   they were there to learn," he said.   
      
   He says when he'd try to reason with the troublemakers, he was   
   ignored. And when he asked for help from the school's   
   administration, he seldom, if ever, got it.   
      
   "Write 'em up. Write 'em up was just kind of the thing. Write   
   them up, and if they get so many write-ups, then we'll deal with   
   it then. No specific number, just write them up and at some   
   point, we'll try to address the behavior that way. Then it was   
   call parents. Write them up, and call parents," he said.   
      
   This teacher is not alone in bailing from the profession because   
   of behavior related issues in the classroom.   
      
   It's taking a toll on teacher retention.   
      
   Like many states, Alabama is dealing with a teacher shortage and   
   has been for several years. The problem is so bad that last year   
   the state Department of Education created a task force to study   
   the problem, producing an eight-page report recommending   
   solutions.   
      
   Those recommendations include better incentives, like more   
   money, loan forgiveness, streamlining the process of certifying   
   new teachers. But nowhere in that report was the problem of   
   student behavior addressed.   
      
   And teaching teachers about dealing with behavior issues doesn't   
   appear to be a high priority item.   
      
   We asked the University of South Alabama, a prime source of   
   teachers in Mobile County, if we could see a class focused on   
   dealing with student behavior. We were told there isn't one.   
      
   "A lot of them just get up and quit, or a lot of them don't come   
   to us. They just come to us afterwards and say, well, I just   
   resigned," said Abigail Davis, a representative of the Alabama   
   Education Association who assists teachers in Mobile.   
      
   She recognizes that behavioral problems don't start at school.   
   They're often brought from home.   
      
   "That is part of the mental state of the child coming into the   
   classroom," Davis said. "So if they're not addressed for those   
   behaviors at home, why would they think it's any different   
   coming into the classroom?"   
      
   So, what is the Mobile County school system doing to help   
   struggling teachers?   
      
   A spokesperson tells us there are several options.   
      
   The teacher can talk to their school supervisor and human   
   resources administrator.   
      
   They can tap into the system's employee assistance program for   
   help with stress management.   
      
   And the system encourages teachers to consult their classroom   
   mentor, an experienced teacher that is paired with new educators   
   to help them work through problems they've already faced,   
      
   That was something this former teacher says he did on several   
   occasions but found his mentor to be of little help.   
      
   But what he saw during his two-month stint at that Mobile County   
   middle school isn't easy to forget.   
      
   "It came out a student had brought a gun to school and had taken   
   pictures of himself and other students in a bathroom mirror," he   
   said. "That student had already been removed from the school for   
   other things, but it still kind of made me wonder, you know, if   
   having marijuana on campus and bringing guns is just kind of a   
      
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