What the heck has happened to these kids?!?!

I am doing my student teaching in a 10th grade high school English class. The school is in a middle-class neighborhood, and many of the students are from nice homes. Some have some very disturbing backgrounds, and the fact that they show up at all is an achievement. Most of the classes I have contain kids who are average to below average. Plenty of them are capable of doing way better than they are, but they are simply lazy and apathetic. I'll never understand those kids, but at least most of them don't feel the need to disrupt the class and keep everyone else from doing the work.

The kids that amaze me are the ones who think nothing of cussing me out, telling me that they'll talk to me anyway they please, and they don't have to take the quiz because they haven't bothered to do the reading in the first place. Homework isn't assigned, because they won't bother to do it, anyway. They don't even have to take their books or notebooks out of the classroom. They can't be expected to remember to bring materials to class, so they leave everything there. Heaven forbid a modicum of responsibility and accountability be expected from them. Teachers are expected to perform miracles and raise every child up to some unattainable level, even though those same kids refuse to pay attention, refuse to do the work, and refuse to show any respect for the adult in the room. Most of their parents say they can't do anything with them, either. Well, how did that happen???

I get really scared thinking about my son, who's only four, and shows intense attitude already. I can't even count the number of times he's told me he's not going to do something and he hates me. I am so scared that he's going to turn out like one of these kids I have to face every day. Now, most of the time, when he gets punished for behaving like a brat, he says he understands what he did wrong. But it doesn't stop him from doing it again. What can I do now to make sure he isn't a menace to society in 12 years?

And how did our society become one where 15 year-olds think they have the right to speak to people the way they do? I would never have dreamed of speaking to an adult the way one girl talked to me today. I really think corporal punishment is due for a comeback. When did parents decide that even though they don't punish their kids, or set limits for them, or discipline them in any way, that teachers are the enemy? When did parents decide that they would support their kids over the teachers when their kids are insolent brats? Why are some parents so unable to see their kids for who they are? When did we decide that kids who don't do the work should still advance to the next grade? When did we decide that self-esteem is more important than actual knowledge? These kids have plenty of self-esteem, believe me. I would love to be a fly on the wall when they hit the real world. Many of them have a huge surprise coming.

Thankfully, there are a few who remind me why I wanted to teach. Regardless of the difficult home lives they have, they show up, do the work, and care about their grades. They contribute, positively, to the class.

They make it all worthwhile. Although some of them face a difficult path, I don't worry about them. I'm grateful for them.