"History tends to repeat itself"

Just completed my first day of volunteering in the Kindergarten. I'm dissapointed. I feel very similar about public schools as I always have. I feel drained, not happy. There were 3 potential k. classrooms that I could help in. The first one I was sent to the instant I walked in I heard the intern barking at the children. Screaming. Hurt my ears! I was instantly uncomfortable in her presence. When the head teacher told me I could help in other rooms too, I thought, how long can I tolerate this room? This intern?

DON'T TOUCH HIM!
SIT DOWN!
WHAT DID I SAY!
GET BACK TO WORK!
KEEP YOUR VOICE DOWN!

What a bad example this intern is setting. Ironically it's not the kids who make this school an unbelievably noisy place!

I had arrived at the school at 10:15. By 10:45 or so I decided I couldn't stand that screaming anymore. The head teacher was out of the room, so I just left and went to another classroom and asked if "Can I hang out with you?" "Yes" she said. But she didn't really need anything per se. She was getting the kids ready to go to the cafeteria.

Once we got to the caf. she said that she is going to go take care of some stuff. She introduced me to a very nasty very angry caf. aide. She asked the aide if I could help her. Everytime I tried to help (with a spill, or to get a child another juice for example) she said "No, I'll do that" Teacher 2 had asked me to follow this caf aide to the playground after lunch.

We'll call the caf. aide "Maggie" In the 1/2 hour that the kids were on the playground they kept leaving the prescribed area and she wouldn't bring them back. I had no idea what the official boundaries of the playground were, and feared some kids might run off. But she stood next to me screaming at the kids but right into my ear.

I SAID GET OUT OF THAT MUD. YOU KNOW THOSE TEACHERS WILL BE ANGRY IF YOU TRACK MUD INTO THAT SCHOOL. (She kept screaming these same commands over and over again) TIME OUT, YOU NEED TO SIT!

I've been in public schools and public daycares off and on since 1983, and I've had nothing but bad experiences. Lots of verbal and emotional abuse. I've reported some daycare centers for physically abusing the kids. The only positive experiences I have had with schools were the Young School and the Waldorf School.

Backtracking to the cafeteria. Up on the stagebehind the curtain children were practicing trumpets. The cafeteria was so loud that hurt my ears too. If it hurts my ears I'm sure it's loud for the kids too. (My first boyfriend says I've always had sensitive ears)

I wanted to observe music class. One kid felt naucious, so the teacher told her she has to go "sit next to the trash can"

When I signed out for the day, and told the worker in the principals office that I wasn't going to be able to help in Ms. X's class due to the way the intern was treating the kids, she said "You'll need to report that to the principal" I did as she said, but I could tell the principal was not comfortable with it. I wasn't "reporting" the aide, so much as I was saying, "please don't place me in that clasroom."

Also during music class the teacher had the stereo's bass system blasting. My ears hurt. The autistic boy put his hands on his ears and started screaming at the top of his lungs. The teacher said" you have to sit next to me, there is nothing to be scared of"

I thought, he's not scared, it hurts his ears and that's what autistic kids do when their ears hurt.

Now that I have a car, I'll have to call some of the private schools and ask if they need help. The private school teachers have a tendency to treat the kids with more respect, and I'm much more comfortable in those more normalized environments. Sadly it's the norm in the public schools to constantly scream at the kids, and I've always felt the teachers use such poor judgement.