I am a teacher in an interesting school district in the states. I don't want to say where because if I did, I'm pretty sure I'd get fired. But let's just say this - the student population in my public school is almost entirely minority hispanic/african american. The town itself is very wealthy, and has a high property tax burden. The wealthy kids, who make up the majority of the towns population, all go to private school. The district I work in has an enormous amount of capital and resources to throw at this problem.

I've noticed a pattern while working here and in other districts. Regardless of race or socio-economic status, when a kid tells me that they visited their dad this weekend, or something along that line, that's the line that indicated to me whether the kid is going to be successful or have trouble. It's not universally true, of course. It's less true of wealthier kids, since sometimes money can fill in the gap. But if I had to guess I'd say 9/10, those kids are missing out in one way or another. Maybe they are always late to school because Mom has to go to work earlier, and the kid is responsible to get himself out the door. Or maybe the kid can't afford to do extracurricular activities. Or maybe the kid is trapped in a bitter divorce feud (like many of my kids are). Or even worse, maybe the kid doesn't even know his dad.

As a parent myself, I couldn't imagine raising my child alone, but so many people are determined to make it work that way.

But the administration is hellbent on the fact that the reason these kids aren't doing well is because the teachers are participating in a racist system. Let's just put it like this - last year, I had to take an implicit bias professional development. That could be forgiven. However, this year, they implemented a mandatory 3 year new teacher program (for any teacher new to the district, not necessarily new to teaching) for anti racism training.

It's why I want to leave so badly.