Teaching in the Inner City

I read with regret the article on Mimi Warshaw and her experiences at Markham Junior High School.

Warshaw claims Markham students are “noisier, boisterous, and more aggressive,” than middle-class kids. I’ve taught middle-class kids in Yucaipa, Redlands and San Bernardino. I’ve also worked youth services events in the middle-class areas of Los Angeles City schools. I’ve found that junior high school students are generally loud, boisterous and aggressive.

Admittedly, students differ in culture and ethnicity, but the crucial factor in the classroom is teacher expectations.

I am presently a teacher at Markham, my alma mater. I attribute part of my success to the dedicated teachers who took time out to know me despite my loudness and aggressiveness. My students may attribute their success to me because I take the time to know them , despite their loudness and aggressiveness.

I am also exhausted at the end of the day, not because my students have worn me down, but from the exhilaration of the constant teacher-student interaction.

I look forward to seeing my students every day. They help me to grow as a professional and as a parent. I, in turn, help them grow in academics and as future leaders in our society.

Warshaw was asked if she would return, her reply was, “No, I’m tired.” That’s unfortunate because it takes more than a year to get to know our students. A teacher needs to see a student outside as well as inside the classroom in order to see that student as an individual. Were Warshaw to spend more than a year teaching in an inner-city school, and getting to know the students and community, perhaps she’d have a different outlook.

E. CONROE

Los Angeles

Conroe teaches math, computer literacy and dance at Markham.