Stop beating up our kids

Stop beating up our kids

As a teacher in the Youngs- town City School District, I am a passionate advocate for my students, and it has been extremely disheartening to read the continual attacks on the city schools, its teachers and especially its students. The writer of an April 1 letter to the editor referred to our city’s children as “thugs,” “ juvenile delinquents” and “gangsters.” While I am outraged by his derogatory comments, I am more saddened that people not only have this misconception, but that they continue to convey it to our city’s youth.

If we continue to negatively label Youngstown’s children as delinquents and predict that they will be unsuccessful, they will fulfill this prophecy. As a teacher, I know that our students are not perfect, and I concede that there are facets within our schools that can be improved, yet I wonder why we continue to dwell on the negatives, rather than working together to help our students reach their potential. When will we as a community begin to work together to help our students achieve the success that they are surely capable of achieving?

As I look around my classroom, I am continually reminded of the barriers that many of my students must overcome to achieve success, and I am continually inspired of their resilience and strength. Every student has a story to share, and unfortunately, many of those stories are painful to hear, but I believe that all children deserve our respect and our commitment to help them achieve the hopes and dreams they have for their futures.

I would invite community members to visit my classroom and to listen to my students’ stories of triumph. I would love to have them talk with Cametreus and Barraya who have earned full scholarships to Ohio State University, and to Doniece and Heidi who have aspirations of going to medical school, and the many other students who have already been accepted to the universities of their choice, and who are writing countless scholarship essays in hopes of being able to afford the high tuition costs. I would love to introduce them to the boy who was in class on Monday, despite losing his cousin on Saturday to senseless gun violence, and to the girl who is struggling to graduate despite homelessness.

The administration and teachers of the Youngstown city schools are not “tolerating” the poor choices that some of our students make, but that we believe all students deserve respect, and to know that there are people who want to intervene and help them become productive and successful adults.

As teachers, we cannot choose which children enter our classroom doors, and we are committed to educating and believing in all students.

Jennifer M. Walker, Canfield