In Baltimore City, They Don't Say "To Sir, With Love" Around Here

E-Mail from John, a battalion chief in the Baltimore City Fire Department to Ron Smith, a local radio talk-show host.
Thursday, October 21, 2004 - E-mail from John in Carney

Ron,

As a battalion chief in the city fire department, I've recently been spending quite a bit of my time in the public schools ,both on emergency responses and supervising the fire fighters who are conducting the fire watches. Ron, you truly cannot imagine just how horendous the schools are until you spend some time in one of them.

When classes changed and the so-called students filled the halls, I remarked to one of my subordinates that I had seen more discipline and organization on the Discovery Channel when the wildebeasts were crossing the river with crocodiles nipping at their heels. The atmosphere reminded me more of the conditions I have observed on emergency responses to the Maryland Penitentiary than that of a school.

The level of profanity the students directed at each other - and the teachers - would have made a sailor blush. Despite the pleading of the teachers - who looked as if they had been beaten with sticks - the kids did exactly as they pleased. It also occurred to me how absurd it would be to believe that these kids are passing any standardized test, no matter how dumbed down.

How can they learn when they aren't even in the classroom? Many of your listeners who are my age will remember the movie Up the Down Staircase, which took place in a totally dysfunctional public school. Trust me, the situation portrayed in that movie would be a step in the right direction.

John in Carney

WBAL Radio
http://wbal.com/