Gangsta's Paradise

Most everyone who reads this already knows by now that there have been recent events at one of my schools that have been somewhat, I don't know, crazy.  To explain, one of the schools I work at is considered a ZEP (zone éducation prioritaire), meaning that the students in this school may come from difficult or under-priviledged backgrounds, similar to inner-city schools in America.  That said, I've never had any problems with the students and they respect and are generally very nice to me.  If they're not nice, they're indifferent...not mean or rude, just indifferent (to education in general).

The troubles began last Thursday.  I was working with a difficult 3ème class that I don't particularly care for because no one ever wants to work.  I was with the whole class and the teacher (we'll call her S...this is the teacher who makes me her "gopher"...I never plan activities or do really anything in the room besides say a few sentences in English to repeat, write on the overhead and go find surveillants to take the bad kids to detention).  One student was being rude and refusing to pick up his backpack (which was halfway across the room), so S sent me to get a surveillant to take him to detention.  After I arrived back, they were still arguing about the backpack, but he finally picked it up when the surveillant asked.  Two seconds later, another student (who is a friend of backpack boy) stood up and walked over to a still-standing backpack boy.  They started pushing each other, which made two other boys stand up and run over to break up the scuffle.  I was standing about 2 meters away from the action, and while I wasn't scared that it would turn into fight club, I was more shocked that this was actually happening in the classroom.  The Spanish teacher and surveillant burst in and calmed everything down, the two fighters got booted from class and order was sorta restored.

Following that incident, I came in early Monday morning to prepare a handout for my 6èmes, when Hélène called me into her room.  I walked in to find a broken window, shards of glass covering the floor, and a giant rock about halfway between the window and the wall.  Over the weekend, someone had decided to toss a rock through the English room window.  After some discussion, it became clear that the perp was likely a student, so the local crime scene investigators were called in to take fingerprints off of the rock.  The investigation is on-going, but I'll be sure to update with anything I find.

At times, I really can relate to the Coolio song (Alli, this is for you!): I feel like I've been spendin' most of my Nancy life, livin' in a gangsta's paradise.