**The Edvocate is pleased to publish guest posts as way to fuel important conversations surrounding P-20 education in America. The opinions contained within guest posts are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of The Edvocate or Dr. Matthew Lynch.**

A guest post by Stuart Goldurs

As a new teacher I was placed in a very difficult elementary school. I had student taught at Westside and Valley schools. I was totally unprepared.

However, I learned under fire. By the time I left that school after six years I felt that I could handle any student and any situation.

What if I had been assigned to a school similar to where I had student taught? Would my rookie mistakes have been magnified because of the community and because of the high expectations of the parents?

I learned, I experienced, I persevered!

What about the new teachers with great potential who are not ready for the schools that are more difficult? They leave! They leave during their first year or before they become permanent teachers.

What if they had been assigned to schools with less difficult conditions in which to work?

Would they have persevered and become the excellent teachers that their potential and training had prepared them to be.

So which is better? Getting your feet wet in hard-to-staff schools, establishing yourself and becoming a fine teacher or starting and completing your teaching career in an easier school without experiencing a different educational climate and students with differing needs and home life.

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Stuart has been a Los Angeles elementary teacher for 35 years. He started writing to make people aware of the district waste, large bureaucracy, and other major issues of the time. He expanded his writing to include public education nationally with particular focus on the excesses of testing, Common Core, and the so called reformers. He writes both prose and poetry and occasionally take an old rock song and changes the lyrics to fit schools or testing. His Twitter handle is @LaIndianFan.