Inside Mrs. B's Classroom #1

The autobiography reminds me of the movie The Freedom Writers. A teacher documents her time as a teacher of a poverty-struck Chicago city school. First, she explains how she was a journalist of Sun Times and that she made the decision to act upon what she preached. She explains how it is so tragic that everyone says they are going to help the education of the Chicago public schools, but nothing ever happens. Mrs. B wanted to change that, so she left journalism and began researching the requirements to become a teacher. In the mean time, she received hundreds of calls and letters through the mail supporting her decision. Many called her a hero; she did not receive one bad review.


The more she looked into the Chicago schools, the more determination she had to make a difference as a teacher. She described the school as a “microcosm of the neighborhood. Pregnancy, drugs and alcohol were part of the life experience of children thirteen and fourteen years old. Parents had their own issues. Lives were consumed by the relentless stress and woe of poverty. Violence was omnipresent. The summer before, a serial killer had murdered prostitutes and left their bodies in abandoned houses. Gang shootings claimed players and innocents alike. Every family, it seemed, bore the scars of victims or perpetrators” (5). These kids were her heroes; they grew up being exposed to violence. These children had to be strong for their family and many raised themselves and their siblings alone. These children were warriors. 


The children makes me sympathize and appreciate my life. I never had to worry about gangs or violence on a daily basis. I have an amazing school district that ranks high. These children would do anything to have my life, yet here I was often complaining about how my my life "sucked." Baldacci opened my eyes to the real world.