Article: Tell me in my ear, teacher: tales from an inner-city school.

I began teaching in New York City in the fall of 1962. I was assigned to Eli Whitney Vocational High School, now defunct. Whitney was, in the parlance of the time, a "ghetto school." The pupils were a tough group. They would learn, if one made them. At the start of every class they tested the teacher. It almost seemed as though they demanded a struggle, requiring the teacher to put himself out before they did.

How does a teacher survive in the classroom? How does he take control? The odds for success are not in his favor. He is one against thirty or forty, and once he shuts the classroom door, he is without immediate means of assistance. He has no gun or nightstick, ...

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