33) Makeshift Memorial

A student in Tyler, TX murdered a teacher yesterday. Stabbed him in the neck for no apparent reason. Today an article read, "A makeshift memorial surrounded a flagpole Thursday at a high school where classes resumed under tight security a day after a teacher was fatally stabbed."

My brother, Stephen, teaches at this school. He tells me about how many fights occur daily and of the complete lack of respect students have for teachers. Stephen was threatened by a student the day before the murder. Stephen stopped the student from disrupting his class, of which the student was not even a member. A teacher cannot keep order in such an environment. A teacher cannot be made responsible for teaching others when brutal death is a very real possibility.

I cannot wrap my mind around how bad a situation this is. Something serious must be done. The lines that divide and decide districting of schools in Tyler are such to keep the lower socioeconomic classes from mixing with the middle-upper classes. This idea is fundamentally incorrect. Why not call those young men and women born in those neighborhoods criminals and ship them to Australia? I realize bad things happen, and I realize we cannot let knee jerk reactions dictate education policy. However, it has been a well known fact the state of this school for many years, otherwise the district lines would not be drawn as they are and the students forced to endure this school would not enter class knowing that education is not the their primary purpose.

A teacher lost his life. Those students lost their chance for an education. And when the worst possible situation occurs we throw together a "makeshift memorial" and keep things moving in the same miserable direction.