We live in a society where honest and decent people are afraid to become police officers, teachers, health workers, or firemen for fear of getting caught up in a YouTube moment. I began this year, my first as a teacher, with such high hopes. I felt a strong urge to give back to my community. I wanted to inspire young minds to read and learn and gain the fruits of knowledge in the same way I was inspired.

Now, I am seriously re-thinking my career choice. I owe 55k in student loan debt and am looking at job opportunities outside of the classroom.

Why?

The list is almost endless.

*I have been falsely accused of racism on numerous occasions.
*I have been spat upon and physically intimidated dozens of times.
*I have been accused of being homophobic/homosexual too often to count.

It is not just me, every teacher I know deals with this stuff. The problem is that the students are consistently supported in their actions by their parents and, to a large extent, by the state. We all saw the video clip plastered on the news of a school Resource Officer (policeman) physically dragging a girl out of a classroom. Within 24 hrs he was on administrative leave, and his career was over. What we never see are the events leading up to the 12 sec video clip. This is becoming a common occurrence.

Every time I see one of these sensationalized video clips on the news, It bothers me that we are rushing to judge the subject without giving the benefit of the doubt, or even due process.

We judge a human being over what they did over a 12 second period of their lives. Would any of us want someone to take the worst 12 seconds of our own lives and have them used selectively to define our entire history?

I know that there are police officers, firefighters, teachers, doctors, nurses, and people in every field who are unfit for the positions of trust that they hold. There are very few of us who are saints. But, in a YouTube world, many of our best and brightest are wary to risk being goaded into a "gotcha" moment.

So many of these moments are now being staged just for the purpose of bringing someone down.

FYI, I have not been a victim of one of these staged little episodes, but I have been the victim of two attempts to create such a scene.

In one attempt a student accused me of being racist for using the word black, rather than African-American.

I had previously taken up her phone as per district rules that do not allow cell phones to be on or openly displayed during class. I had twice asked her to put the phone away or I would have to take it up. On the third time, I took the phone up and she became so disruptive that I had to call an administrator. She and her phone went to the office. Later that day the mother came to the school to meet with me, her daughter, and an administrator about my "racist" attitude toward her baby.

My school is predominantly Hispanic (65%) with a pretty even distribution between Anglo and African-American rounding us out.

I am a racial mix with Anglo, Slavic, Asian and Afro-European roots.

The student's mom demanded to know why I had repeatedly used the word "black" during a lesson on the Abolitionist movement in the years preceding the Civil War. The student had complained to her mother and my administrator that I had used the word "black" several times during my lesson and claimed she was interrupting my class only because she felt that my use of that word was emotionally upsetting to her, not because I had taken up her phone.

After both student and mother had finished, I pointed out three examples of what I would consider salient points.

1. The lesson was quoting primary source material.
2. The lesson was specifically designed to be presented during Black History Month.
3. The parent and student had each used the word several times on their own during the conference, beginning when the young girl had first pointed to me as I came into the room, saying: "That's her. She don't like black people."

I then was forced to listen to the parent's rebuttal.

1. I should have clarified each use of the word as coming from primary sources since her daughter had thought that I was intentionally using the word to punish her for having the phone out earlier.
2. Black History Month activities and lessons should have been specifically presented to the class as being for that purpose, rather than just including it in a lesson without explaining the deeper importance of the material. (I assume the reason for this was so that students like her daughter could actually pay attention rather than ignore it like does with the rest of the curriculum)
3. It is okay to use the term "black" as long as you are African-American, but for other races, it is racially insensitive to do so.

The parent left after the administrator promised that the school district would investigate the incident and contact her as soon as the investigation was concluded.

After the conference, the administrator asked me to type out a document that detailed my own recollection of the incident, including any relevant facts or the names of any students in the class who I thought would be reliable witnesses. I went back to my classroom to do that while he typed up a synopsis of our after-school conference. When I returned to his office with my report, he read it as I read his own. I was then asked to read and sign both documents. I signed my own report as well as verified the accuracy of his.

A few days later, the principal called me into her office. She had both documents in front of her and asked me if there was anything that I felt was inaccurate or missing from them. I said that they were both correct.

She then showed me a third document that detailed the district's findings. The school had found several students who had corroborated my account. They also found two students (both close friends of you-know-who) who said that I seemed to be picking on her because she had her phone out and argued with me before giving it up.

The school district recommended that I take one of two available ethnic sensitivity classes before the end of the current school year, as well as beginning an online study group for the book (which I already own and is a personal favorite of mine):

Teaching With Poverty in Mind: What Being Poor Does to Kids' Brains and What Schools Can Do About It - by Eric Jensen

The principal indicated that she thought it might also be a good idea to discuss the incident with my class and clarify that I want them to feel safe in my classroom and know that I am always willing to be sensitive to their feelings on any subject that they might be uncomfortable about.

She said that as long as I follow their recommendations satisfactorily, and demonstrate sufficient progress, I should have no problem getting my contract renewed for next year.

Yay me....I feel so validated.

With the recent upsurge of "gotcha" moments that I am seeing in the news, I do not feel that my own administration will support me, much less the parents of my little angels. I spent almost seven years to get this degree. I watched a petulant 13-year-old brat and her mommy demonstrate just how tenuous my position truly is.

If this had happened in my first-period class, there is a good chance no student would have supported me and I might well have been fired over the incident.

I am holding my letter of resignation until after STAAR testing ends (next week). If I still feel as I do now, I will submit it then.