All Comments on 'A Courage Pill'

What an incredibly sad tale. Not because of you. It sounds like what we need is a 'respect' pill- force fed if necessary. And a system that does not sacrifice the best (and our future) to cater to the worst.

30 odd students in one high school classroom is at least 10 too many. The administration cannot be interested in your students' education or they wouldn't create the situation you find yourself in. There are doubtless three or four students in each of your classes who are interested in learning what you are teaching (Spanish?), cater to them, help them learn. The other students? Give them mindless dictionary assignments ( translating passages from Don Quixote maybe) and a big fat "F" for a grade if that is what they deserve. Courage? You don't need courage to face the class, your need courage to face the administration and DEMAND a smaller classroom. For God's sake, a foreign language cannot possibly be a necessary part of the curriculum for every student. The students who are causing the problems need to be out of the class (probably out of the school); at best, they are giving you headaches; at worst, they are causing a student who might profit from learning to miss out on what could be a helpful skill in this immigrant-rich United States (thousands of jobs could use a worker with basic foreign language skills).

I could go on, but what would be the point? The basic problem here is simply that you are tasked with an impossible job, attempting to teach in an overly crowded classroom, filled with hormone infused students who (probably because their parents and the society they live in have failed to give them even a modicum of respect for the fact that we live in an ethnically diverse culture) will find themselves deprived of skills that they think is beneath them or as unnecessary (to their minds) as acting with simple courtesy when with others who wear different clothes or speak with a different accent.

Your essay, by the way, gets a score of "5" because it so accurately depicts the anguish a professional feels when faced with doing a job circumstances make impossible. Flunk the students who disrupt! Flunk them! Send them to a class where they can learn a useful skill for them, how to collect garbage or sweep a street, or sew on a button!!!!

There are many courage pills, most of them illegal, some prescribed by a trusted psychiatrist. Personally, I don't need them. My courage is rock hard. But I have this friend that would like to know....

I went to a bad school, awful actually. Academic probation for almost two decades straight. I had one teacher, though, who was simply outstanding. I have never found his equal. I am me because of him.

You do matter. You do help. Save the ones you can.

I agree. As a former I have been in her spot. At Ritenour High School I often had classes with over 25 students. I had several physic classes that had over 30 students in a chemistry lab room designed for only 24 students. They supplied a multimedia projector but I had to by my own cables and a signal amplifier because the only place to use it was over 30 feet from my desk. A lot of the school systems are so caught up in following federal guidelines, No Child Left Behind, that they have lost focus on actually providing quality education.

If they had those pills I would be like a crack head. I would be either taking those, or shooting up with a big dose of "Fuckitall" non stop.

Good work.

Really, it's not all like "To Sir, With Love"? Heh heh.

I teach at a major university rather than K-12, and have the deepest respect (and occasional awe) for K-12 teachers. I still remember the four or five teachers along the way who influenced my life and expected me to rise to their expectations. And I did! The trick I learned very early on, in a class of 99 students my second semester ever of teaching was how large theater is a part of teaching. You can't show uncertainty or fear of any sort, ever. You always project that you're on top of your game (whether for real or not) and deflect questions that you can't answer, sometimes by simply saying "I'll get back to you, I need to look some details up," or "That's an interesting question, let's research it together."

A very nice job conveying the day to day difficulties and stresses of teaching. Good luck with the next years - you've lasted longer than most. Think about how many of your students have been inspired by your dedication to their education, and have changed their lives by making them believe in themselves. Remember those! They often don't tell you how much your work meant to them, and take years to realize how important you were.

Some checkup. The result will sure be they will ban all the gays out, but they wont tell any sources. I would love to understand the seventies specialist, when the girls were ripe and we could really compete. Now the most of the games is against the US, like you are blind.

Why do you lead your country to end?

If you thought no one knows about economics and your debt to whom? Who will always want it back, dont forget it.

The only man I love In USA is Mel Gibson. I guess he loves it too.

Dear woman I will read it and say my thesis.

Havent read completely. It is clear. Total control hidden behind the pretty moments. Sure you live in a total control society, dear mam.

Compared to us. Russians. We look at you like you are fu...cking zombies sometimes.

They give you an illusion of being free. And the country being the heaven promised.

Why are we Russians are laughing at you?

How come, sweet?

Sure they forgot about something higher, but what, it is not our church. What?