5/24/2007
New Teacher Excited Teaching Next Generation of Prison Inmates
(Chicago, IL) Kristie Ingersoll has enjoyed her first full year as an elementary teacher on Chicago's tough South Side, and looks back fondly upon the experience of helping to educate society's future criminals.
"When I started I had aspirations of breaking through the cycle of learned helplessness in these kids," she said of her class of third-graders at John P. Altgeld Elementary School. "And I did! Every single student in my class knows how to stand up for themselves and demand what they want from society from a position of strength with the use of a stolen 9 mm handgun. This is one group of kids who will never know the indignity of going on public assistance, because they will all be facing lengthy felony jail terms by the time they are 20."
Ingersoll said that there were "quite a few" students who demonstrated superior intellectual abilities.
"Face it - no matter where I hid my purse, one of these resourceful young people always found it and heisted everything of value in it, including my ID - twice," she chuckled, beaming at the valuable career skills she helped enhance. "And I know that in my class there were quite a few prison ministers, jailhouse lawyers, and yard bulls about to bloom."
The beaming faces of America's future prison leaders and career criminals
Ingersoll added that her first-year teaching experiences at Altgeld Elementary have "bordered on the inspirational."
"I know made a difference in these kids' lives, and will I continue to try to make a difference every day in the future," she said, eyes misting up at her memories. "Without caring teachers, our nation's next generation of thugs and sociopaths would grow up believing that the prison system has nothing to offer them. I know that I have helped most of these children know that they can earn GEDs, correspondence school diplomas, and even journeyman trade certificates while incarcerated that they can put to productive use in our nation's prison industries."
"When I started I had aspirations of breaking through the cycle of learned helplessness in these kids," she said of her class of third-graders at John P. Altgeld Elementary School. "And I did! Every single student in my class knows how to stand up for themselves and demand what they want from society from a position of strength with the use of a stolen 9 mm handgun. This is one group of kids who will never know the indignity of going on public assistance, because they will all be facing lengthy felony jail terms by the time they are 20."
Ingersoll said that there were "quite a few" students who demonstrated superior intellectual abilities.
"Face it - no matter where I hid my purse, one of these resourceful young people always found it and heisted everything of value in it, including my ID - twice," she chuckled, beaming at the valuable career skills she helped enhance. "And I know that in my class there were quite a few prison ministers, jailhouse lawyers, and yard bulls about to bloom."
The beaming faces of America's future prison leaders and career criminals
Ingersoll added that her first-year teaching experiences at Altgeld Elementary have "bordered on the inspirational."
"I know made a difference in these kids' lives, and will I continue to try to make a difference every day in the future," she said, eyes misting up at her memories. "Without caring teachers, our nation's next generation of thugs and sociopaths would grow up believing that the prison system has nothing to offer them. I know that I have helped most of these children know that they can earn GEDs, correspondence school diplomas, and even journeyman trade certificates while incarcerated that they can put to productive use in our nation's prison industries."
Labels: Chicago Police, Chicago Public Schools, prison industry, teachers