I recently found out that the Fenger student who was beaten to death actually went to my school until this year. It's appalling to think about something like that happening so close to home and with the same kind of kids that I teach every day. And what's worse is that it doesn't seem to be all that uncommon--apparently two years ago the football team at my school pushed a student down a flight of stairs and beat him into unconsciousness.
Not to be pessimistic about our mission as teachers, but it seems a little naive to think that we can resolve this problem by telling our kids to peacefully resolve conflicts and use words not fists. When your life could realistically be in danger every day, whatever your school is trying to teach you probably becomes a lot less relevant.
To be fair, my neighborhood's not one of the worst in Chicago and I feel perfectly safe there (even riding the bus). But it's scary to know that these kinds of things happen here and at this rate are likely to keep happening.
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