I'm embarrassed to say, when I was out of town last week for Thanksgiving (yes, I scheduled blog posts in advance of my trip), I missed the powerful op-ed we ran from a teacher at Maryland Academy of Technology and Health Sciences, a charter high school in the city. It's a week old at this point, but I think it's still worth coming back to for discussion.

The teacher, David Donaldson, asked six boys in his advisory class to make a list of five male role models. Is it surprising that this was hard for them? Or that none of them had a father to select? One boy chose his grandfather, since of all the males in their family, the two of them are the only ones who haven't been to prison. Another picked his mom, since he buys her presents for Father's Day as well as Mother's Day. The saddest response of all came from a boy Donaldson described as the usual class clown. His male role model is his dog, who is "always there and very loyal."

These responses won't surprise many of you who work in city schools. But they goes a long way in explaining to the rest of the world why your job is so hard.