Here's a letter from an educator in Texas, regarding Ed Morman's experiences in the Baltimore schools:

I have been in some form of education since 1970, but I got out of public
education in 1989 when I returned to the university to get my doctorate in
English.  I was one of the fortunate ones.  I missed the years when
education in the form of true student accountability (not TAKS or other
standardized tests) and discipline failed to mean something.

Unfortunately, I have a friend, also a Ph.D. in English who returned to the
public school classroom and environment in a high school built for 2,000 and
holding 3,400.  And her description of what she has had to suffer at the
hands of the students is quite similar to Mr. Morman's.  However, a student
threw a book at her and missed her.  For that, the student was sent to the
Extension Center (in-school suspension) for 2 days.  That's it!  I thought
that was assault; silly me.

If Mr. Morman wants to be blamed for his "inability" to do more, more power
to him.  I, however, agree with my friend:  "Stop Blaming Teachers!"  How in
the world can a teacher teach a lesson or a class when administration
continues to retreat from disciplinary problems and expects the teachers to
handle the 34 gangs in their urban high school, or the groping male students
during pass time between classes, or the violent students who punch pregnant
students in the stomach and move into anonymity, or the students who have
been released from juvenile detention and put immediately back into the
classrooms even though they've been diagnosed with schizophrenia or other
psychological disorders, or on and on and on and not to mention the weapons
that are brought daily to campus.  Disrespect becomes a slight infraction
when a teacher is faced with these other problems.

And academics?  That's another hoot.  The administrators who proudly
proclaim that they have a 0-failure rate are only trying to fool the public
and themselves.  Ask the teachers who cannot give a grade lower than 50 even
if an assignment is not turned in.  Ask a teacher about students who will
look directly at them and say, "Go ahead, give me a 50 for the day.  I'm
going to take a nap."  And then ask them how they feel when they have to put
up with this kind of behavior and watch their salary cut because these very
students mark their standardized tests like a Christmas tree without even
reading the questions.

Society is getting exactly what it deserves when they allow this kind of
behavior from their school districts, their superintendents, and their
administrators.  I am a great promoter of education; I've been part of it
for 39 years, but I cannot participate in this kind of pseudo-educational
approach.  We are penalizing our good students, and yes, there still are
good students who go to Harvard (even though Harvard accepted a student who
failed her English class this year, missed many, many more than the allowed
number of days, and asked for deferred entrance so she can take a break
before going to college) and other ivy league schools because they succeed
in spite of the system.  How can we look at our students and tell them they
have to turn in their work and follow rules when they see their slovenly
do-nothing peers passing because they make one good grade on an exam that
brings up an average or when they see the do-nothings ask do-nothing
counselors to be transferred into a lower level class two weeks before the
end of the semester and pass because of the lower grade requirements?

I got out when I didn't get support from my department chair and from my
principal for plagiarism from a student.  I had to ignore the cheating and
look the other way.  I had to change the grade after the parent called me at
home and yelled at me (did I mention at home?) because I dared to say the
child was cheating.  I moved into administration, hoping that I could make a
difference there.  Finally, I returned to the university for my degree so
that I could teach those who actually attended classes because they wanted
an education and a future.

How sad that our educational system has turned into this!  How sad that
people continue to blame teachers--even the teachers themselves.  How sad
that our young people have learned to play the system and get away with
academic murder.

My heart and my hand go out to those brave, courageous, persistent, and
burning out teachers who continue to struggle daily with their students.
They are the ones to be commended.  They are the ones who are keeping the
schools together even though parents are providing excuses for the drugs the
administration finds in their children's purses and lockers, even though
parents lie for them, even though parents excuse the low-cut blouses and the
pants that are worn with the waists below the males' knees.

I am a sell-out.  I left the public school arena before I couldn't take it
any more.  I hope that our future teachers have more endurance than I did
and than the excellent, incredibly loved teacher who is leaving this year
does.

Elizabeth Rodriguez Kessler, Ph.D.
Lower Division Studies Administrator
Department of English
University of Houston