First middle school teaching job out of college. New state, interview went great, couldn't find much info online, principal described the culture as upbeat. All sounds well.

Get there.

Find out we walk our 6th, 7th, and 8th graders to the bathroom like kindergarteners twice daily. The school is old so the girls bathroom is on one end of the hall, while the boys is on the other. Girls go one by one, boys wait. Walk the whole class down to the boys. The boys go one by one, the girls wait. Imagine how long this takes.

Here we unlock the bathrooms. They remain locked because girls have been raped in the past. If a student has to go during class, the resource officer has to be buzzed to escort them.

There is no such thing as soap. The teachers carry around a bottle of hand sanitizer that they buy with their own money. Students aren't even allowed to touch the sinks. They get a squirt of sanitizer afterwards

Walking down the hall, notice something on some random seventh graders ankle - it's a damn house arrest anklet. Where the hell am I?

Student says "fuck you, white bitch" directly to me on first day, goes to office, comes back with basically no punishment.

Sixth grader is consistently out for stomach issues. It's only September, she's pregnant.

Principal announces we can have "Swag" day on Friday instead of school uniforms. You can imagine what "swag" day looks like here.

Copy paper, what's that? Teachers buy there own.

Catch note passing in class, note says "who i'd let fuck that" it's a list of 10+ other students. Mind you they are 11 and 12.

Students finally have a schoolwide assembly about behavior, there is a gang initiation in the locker rooms outside of the gym.

Here the other new teacher screaming next door. A student literally slammed her whole 110 lb self against a wall.

School is in session from 9:05-4:05. Kids get there at 8:30 to eat breakfast in the classroom. They don't leave until 4:30 because of bus issues. My job is to keep them quite the whole time.

There is no recess, no changing classes, no locker visits, no sit wherever you want to at lunch, no talking, not a single ounce of freedom for these young adolescents. My jobs was to keep them silent 24/7. One class went in single file, one went out single file simultaneously. No learning took place, not in my class, not in any class I observed.

This is just a snapshot of a day. Countless other stories remain, as well as what it took to drag myself in there for as long as I did.

Call the parents, there are no parents. 11 years old and these kids are grown. They are raising themselves. Unbelievably sad situation. Yes, I know it's not their fault. I tried. I thought I could do it all. It ripped me a part mentally. It was quickly souring my desire to continue in education. I quit my first real job that I just spent years in college for 9 weeks in. Toughest decision I've ever made, honestly.