Threats

Nothing to write about for two weeks?  Maybe.  We are beginning to post-test and students are demonstrating progress.  Usually the morning class is the harder-working one with more mature students.  The afternoon class has three or four young ladies that have a hard time concentrating and would like to chat, use cell phones, and even sneak a look at Facebook!

Today, however, the morning class had a blow-up between two students.  R was helping E with her math and the sounds of their voices bothered S who told them to be quiet.  They didn't hear her, so she pounded on the table and spoke rudely, calling R "Joe" (urban slang says it is a Chicago way of referring to someone you don't know--it seemed more insulting).  He responded in kind.  She thought he was saying he would beat her.  E told her that was not what he said, but he did admit to saying something to the effect that his wife would whup her a...

I insisted they both drop it and they did, but it came up at the end when S wanted to write about it in her journal.  She wrote that he probably beat his baby's mother and went to jail for it.  It's not impossible.  I know he is a convicted felon. There was more discussion outside in which E said that S was from Chicago and that is the way people from Chicago acted--as if that was just expected. I tried to joke and say that we were in South Bend and this was not the way we did!  And R did apologize.

 The most troublesome part was that one of them asked about the other's gang affiliation and both gave their gang names.  I wasn't sure what I was hearing, so I asked E about it after they left.  She said that indeed those were gang names.  I called S afterwards and said there could be no response to any provocation or nor any mention of gangs or she would be kicked out of class.  I tried to call R as well, but he did not call back.

So what will happen tomorrow?  I would regret either one of them having to leave class, but especially if R would have to leave.  He and his wife were in my class many years ago when they were young and unmarried.  But I will not put up with ugliness in the class.  I don't really feel threatened by it--just a bit angry and disappointed that all this hostility can come out so easily.  R was not in class last week and when asked about it, first thing this morning,  said it was a long story.  I let it go and was just glad to have him back.