What teachers do instead of helping obviously-troubled students

Michael Grassie, a teacher shot by 14-year-old Asa Coon at the SuccessTech Adademy in Cleveland, says, "that some teachers at SuccessTech wanted to send the boy to another school so "some other teachers, some other students would have to deal with him."

There's a plan. Do nothing, and keep hoping he'll go away.

I have often heard teachers expressing similar demands that someone else deal with their problems, but I never saw the sentiment so frequently and blatantly stated as I did when I was at Castle Park Elementary School in Chula Vista.

Why do so many people want someone else to do their job?

It seems that many people fall into teaching these days because it's a steady paycheck. And many of these accidental teachers don't seem to understand how to teach kids.

It also seems to me that fewer and fewer teachers are hungry for a challenge. What happened to a sense of responsibility toward others? Or even a sense of joy at accomplishing something?

Teaching jobs should be harder to get--and better paid--to make sure that teachers are highly capable, instead of barely qualitied.

Information was obtained from a Newsweek October 22, 2007 article by Joan Raymond.