Being a Public School Teacher is Scary

So today I started my 15 hours of required observation for my graduate class. I have to observe a high school English teacher in their element - while teaching class. The Dean of the College of Education at my school made me go into the Metropolitan Nashville area because of "diversity" issues. I was like BS...let me do it in MY county and get familiar with MY schools. We have blacks, latinos, poor kids...we're just as diverse as Nashville!

Boy was I wrong. These kids were scary. This was a 9th grade class and there were 17 year old gang members in the 9th grade class! This guy had a gold grill that could have paid for my car. The teacher and the other students obviously give him leeway or 'respect' because he scares the bejesus out of them. Then one time I went out to go to the restroom, the school police were escorting a boy out. He was well over 6' and was yelling at them for treating him like some kid when he's a "grown man." I was like...um...sweetie...no you aren't. Don't try to grow up so fast. I have to do 11 more hours there and I think I need to get a bulletproof vest.