I used to think that a lot of people who became police officers had a power issue. Either they did not get enough power as a child or they got too much and therefore ended up working a job where they could carry a gun all day and basically do whatever they wanted. (I know this is a generality and there are plenty of very good cops out there!!!). After spending a couple of months in MPS I'm starting to think that some people go into teaching because of the same power complex. I don't remember the saying exactly but I think it goes something like, "absolute power corrupts."
In chapter 18, Enora Brown is addressing some of these issues of power in the school. Her comparison between a school and a prison is not that far fetched either. At Roosevelt our students have to spend every other lunch in total silence. The bathrooms on EVERY floor are often locked and can not be used unless unlocked by a hall security guard. The school lunch is AWFUL. The three floors of the building are each assigned a security person who simply walks the hallways (they are dressed in all blue uniforms and carry a flashlight...I'm not sure why because the school is always well lit!). There is no playground at my school and no recess either.
This is nothing like the schools I attended growing up. We had playgrounds, basketball courts, soccer fields, decorated hallways with nobody patrolling them, noisey lunch rooms and two periods for recess. We didn't have any strict dress codes. We still had bad food for lunch but that didn't matter because my mom always packed my lunch anways! Why can't the kids at Roosevelt have these same luxuries as I had? I grew up only 75 miles from here. Yet it feels like a completely different world. What and who is to blame for this atmosphere in our schools here? Can we do anything to change it or are these kids not to be trusted with the same freedoms I enjoyed as a child?
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