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Real School: The Education America Never Sees

by Philip Compton and Scott LaBelle

210 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #02-0802; ISBN 1-55395-088-7; US$20.50, C$25.50, EUR16.60, £11.50

"Chalk boards, textbooks, lectures, and lockers. because everyone has gone to school, everyone thinks they know what school is like. They couldn't be further from the truth. School today is nothing like you remember it. This book is a shockingly honest look at school today. Real School."

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About the book      About the author      Table of Contents & Sample Excerpts      Catalogue info

About the Book

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About the Author Mr. Philip Compton (left) serves as the Principal of Pueblo West Middle School in Pueblo, Colorado. He holds two Masters Degrees in Administration and Counseling, with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Social Studies and Language Arts. Mr. Compton has been a middle and high school teacher in a regular school setting as well as at an alternative school. He has been a counselor as well as a dan of students. Mr. Compton is originally from Chicago, but now resides in Pueblo, Colorado with his wife Cindy, and sons Ryan and Adam. Mr. Compton enjoys skiing, fishing, golf, and white water rafting. ---------------------------------- A former radio announcer and talk show host, Scott LaBelle (right) began teaching in 1990. He received a B. S. in Secondary Education, with majors in Theatre and English, from the Uiversity of Wisconsin-Madison. He is presently working as the Speech and Drama teacher at Alameda High School in Lakewood, Colorado. Mr. LaBelle resides in Denver, Colorado where he continues to direct and design for theatrical productions. He also enjoys playwriting, singing and playing guitar, spoiling his niece, riding his motorcycle, and spending time in the outdoors.

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Table of Contents & Sample Excerpts

Table of Contents I. The Students II. Trench Warfare: Weapons and Violence III. Without a Prescription IV. Administration V. Sex Ed. VI. Parental Input VII. Teacher's Tales, Part 1 VIII. Occasionally, the Kids Will Amaze You IX. The Parent Factor X. Teacher's Tales, Part 2 XI. The Good, The Bad, The Students XII. More From Management XIII. Teacher's Tales, Part 3

From Chapter 1: The Students "I was scared a little, but the reason I'm crying is because he killed my sister." What would you say? I had a headache, slight fever, sore throat. The flu was coming, and at 7:15 in the morning I sat at my desk and wondered how I was going to make it through the day. I made myself a cup of hot tea and was sitting back down when I heard a faint knock at the door. "What?" I barked a little more forcefully than I had planned. Slumped over from her backpack and rain dripping from her face and hair, Tisha, one of my sixth graders, stepped in. "Mr. Compton, do you have a minute to talk to me?" I gave her a towel and made her a cup of tea. She sat down. "Tell me what I can do to help," I told her. "Saturday night we were hanging around, watching a movie mom got for us. Before it was over, my step-dad came home drunk," she said, sipping her tea. "He gets drunk a lot. Anyway, Saturday night he came home and was so upset with my mom that he began yelling and screaming at us. When we didn't move out of his way, he came over and picked up the TV and tossed it across the room into the corner." She began quietly sobbing. "I bet you were scared," I consoled. "It's OK to be upset." "I was scared a little, but the reason I'm crying is because he killed my sister." I almost spit out my tea. "What do you mean he killed your sister?" "My six-month-old baby sister was sleeping in the crib in the corner. When he threw the TV, it landed on her head." She began crying harder. "The police came and now I've lost my sister and my father." Although I have a master's degree I counseling, none of my studies or experiences prepared me for this. After a moment, I put my hand on her shoulder and said, "Tisha, with so much happening to you over the weekend, why did you come to school this morning?" She looked up at me through her tears with an expression I'll never forget. "Mr. Compton, I don't have no other place to go." ***** Tommy dropped his pants and defecated on the floor, then reached down, picked it up, and flung it at me. Incoming! My day began with a bang! First period I got a call from the special education teacher. "Tommy isn't behaving today." Tommy has Down's syndrome, but is normally a high functioning individual. Today, however, he had no interest in listening. I went to his classroom and spoke to him in a rather stern voice. Unhappy with me taking this position of authority, Tommy dropped his pants and defecated on the floor. He then reached down, picked up a handful and flung it at me. I dove behind the teacher's desk as the teacher and other students ran for cover. When he'd thrown all of his "ammo," we hurried him off to the bathroom and called the custodians. I learned Pine-sol is both a cleaner and an air freshener. ***** Chapter II: Trench Warfare: Weapons and Violence I turned the corner and found a scared little girl crouched in the corner like a frightened animal, waving a gun in her right hand. Gym clothes, towels, and a .357 magnum. Early one morning I heard sirens outside my office. I remember thinking, "Boy, those guys are getting an early start." When I looked out the window, I saw that the police, fire department, and paramedics were all pulling up to the doors outside my school's gym. I quickly learned that a girl was in the locker room with a .357 magnum, threatening to shoot herself. As luck would have it, I was the new crisis intervention counselor, and she was one of my students. Amy was a sophomore who was emotionally at the end of her rope. Her parents had just divorced, her grades were failing, and she was having troubles with her boyfriend. These things wouldn't send most people over the edge, but obviously Amy wasn't most people. I introduced myself to the officer in charge and asked if I could assist him in any way. After talking with me for a while, he agreed to let me try to talk her out. They tried to put me into bulletproof gear, but I told them looking like Robocop wasn't going to gain her trust. So I went back to my office, grabbed my cup of coffee and five mini-doughnuts, and then returned to the gym. Opening the door to the locker room, I announced myself to Amy and told her I was coming in alone, to talk. She yelled she'd shoot herself if I tried to stop her. We made a deal. I said, "You just let me talk with you a while, and if you still feel as bad when we're done, you can do what you want." She agreed and I went in. I turned the corner and found a scared little girl crouched in the corner like a frightened animal, waving her gun with her right hand. She screamed she was going to end this once and for all. Inside, I was more scared than I'd ever been. Outside, I just remained calm and said, "That's OK, I always like a little brains in my coffee." She smiled. She let me sit near her on the floor. She took a sip of my coffee and one of the mini-doughnuts, and we talked about her life. Before we knew it, the food was gone, and so was her need to do away with herself. Forty-five minutes after going inside, I came out with her walking on my right and her unloaded gun in my left hand. As the police escorted her away, the officer in charge shook my hand and told me he was impressed that I could remain so calm. Calm? Only on the outside. ***** Chapter V. Sex Ed. During an acting exercise I asked my students to tell us their best attribute. Betty looked at me with a straight face and said, "My breasts." Sexually Immodest Girls today are much more comfortable with their sexuality than they were when I was a student. Blame it on the movies, TV, magazines, whatever you want, modesty isn't what it once was. Here are some examples: -I was upstairs near the dressing rooms during our production of Our Town, when the door flew open and the lead actress walked out. She was wearing nothing but a white bra and panties, and carrying her costume. "Mr. LaBelle, I can't get this thing to stay on. Would you help me?" I told her to wait there and went to get a female to assist her. - Just before class a female student approached and said, "Can I borrow a jacket from the costume room? My raisins are showing." (She could've just said she was cold.) -A student came back from vacation with pictures of her trip. She was showing her friends the photos when I heard, "Mr. LaBelle, do you think this is too small?" she showed me a photo of her in a swimsuit reminiscent of those in Sports Illustrated. I said, "If I'm your dad, I lock you in the basement till you're thirty." -The bell rang and I came out of my office and into the auditorium to start my acting class. Two of the girls were standing there cupping their breasts outside their shirts. "Excuse me, " I said. One looked at me and said in all seriousness, "I'm just teaching her how to tape her breasts for prom." One of the boys in class then added, "Yeah, let them finish." - Rehearsal was about to start. I looked up to give a couple quick notes and saw one of my actresses wearing the bottle caps of two twenty-ounce bottles on her nipples over her T-shirt. -During an acting exercise I asked my students to tell us their best attribute. Some said their listening skills, others mentioned their sense of humor. Betty looked at me with a straight face and said, "My breasts." -My mass media students were producing a "Question Tape." The assignment was to ask ten people a question, the answers to which were recorded on videotape, then edited together with graphics and music. The question two girls chose (without checking with me first) was, "What do you like most about sex?" The clincher was they received more than ten honest answers from students who allowed themselves to be videotaped. The answers were quite.adult. Modesty has gone on hiatus. ***** Chapter VI: Parental Input She sat quietly for a moment, then blurted out, "Cause I think I'm pregnant!" "If you were doing your job" Some days you ease into, and others jump out at you like a maniac in a slasher film. Before I could finish my first cup of coffee one morning, two students and all their parents charged into my office. One parent started talking even before they were through the doorway. "Mr. Compton, I want you to know how disappointed we are in the way you handle things around here. If you were doing your job, we wouldn't have to be here!" Not certain how to respond, I stood and said, "Hello, I'm Phil Compton, dean of students, and you are?" I offered my hand. We handled the introductions so I could at least know who it was that was mad at me, and then I invited everyone to have a seat. As they started to tell me their stories, I found Tony's parents were upset because Tonya was continually calling on the phone, demanding to speak to Tony. Tony would hang up, and she'd just call back. These things had been going on for over a week. What's more, Tonya was following Tony around at lunch and before and after school. They wanted this stalking to stop. After talking with Tonya and Tony awhile, I asked, "Were you two dating?" They looked sheepishly at one another, then nodded. They then proceeded to tell us about their one-month relationship. Their parents sat quietly, stunned. None of them had known their kids had been dating. As Tony and Tonya talked, it soon became apparent that this was one of those times when one person wanted out of the relationship, but the other didn't. The phone calls and the hanging around showed Tonya wasn't ready to call it quits. As I tried to coach her about seeing other boys and doing other things with her time, she became upset. She said I just didn't understand. I told her to explain it to me. She sat quietly for a moment, then blurted out, "Cause I think I'm pregnant!" It felt like one of those moments you see in the movies where everything runs in slow motion. The parents looked at each other, Tony looked at Tonya, Tonya looked out the window, but no one moved. I encouraged each family to talk things over and decide how to proceed, and if they needed me in the future, to call. As they were leaving, I leaned toward the first parent who had walked through the door angrily blasting me, and said, "If you were doing your job, I wouldn't need to be here." ***** He took his report card, scanned it, changed the grades once it was in the computer, and printed a new copy. The Plain Truth Mid-way through my day, a well-dressed woman entered my office and asked if she could have a copy of her son's grades since she and her husband had lost their copy. "No problem!" I told her. I turned to my computer and brought up her son's file. After printing, I handed her the copy. She looked confused. "These aren't my son's grades. I think you must've printed another student's by mistake." I apologized for being inept with the computer and printed another copy. Once again she looked and said they were all "wrong." I asked her to have a seat while I figured this out. I checked the computer again and the grades came up the same. All poor. I thought for a moment, then turned to her. "Do you own a computer and a scanner?" I asked. She nodded. "It's possible he took his report card, scanned it, changed the grades once it was in the computer, and then printed a new copy." She looked stunned. Her son had actually failed four out of five of his classes and was now in jeopardy of not graduating. She shook her head and assured me things would be taken care of. She said what made her most upset was that she and her husband had just spent $1000 on tickets to Cancun. They were his Christmas present, a reward for his raising his grades. Now the boy was in for a not-so-merry Christmas.

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Catalogue Information

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