I work in a career that I love but trapped in a job that I hate. What to do?

It's really hard to swallow the fact that despite all my successful years of teaching, landing a job in a horrible school may just end my career.

I want to scream at the top of my lungs, "THIS ISN'T FAIR!" But, what's fair anyway? Being judged harshly because I have the strength of character to tell students they may not pass if they don't do work. When did we decide as a society that it would be okay for kids to just show up to school and do nothing? When did we decide that doing no work meant they were mastering the material?

In the current climate, many point the finger at ineffective teachers. True, there are many teachers out there who do nothing. In fact, there are teachers out there who do actual damage. I am not one of those but I am being made to feel as though I am. I work for the meanest son-of-a-bitch that walked the school hallways. He tells me I'm negative. The irony seems lost on him. I know that he believes the school is the best in the district; numerically speaking I guess it is, but the students are not sharp tools. They cannot think critically. They cannot write a good sentence. If the goal of the freshman English teacher is to teach a good paragraph, how good can the school be? I taught more demanding stuff to 7th grade students. Sure, they were in private school, but that didn't make them more motivated or interested. In fact, I'd argue that the audience was far more difficult to please. I could manage there; why can't I here?

Maybe the problem is that no one is willing to ask the tough questions. Why do so many fail my class? Or, why don't others fail students? There is another teacher at my school who is in trouble for giving too many A grades. Can you win??

Here's how I see it: if only 30% can pass the state proficiency in reading, maybe the grades are inflated. Maybe, one should look at those stellar grades compared to the actual performance of the student. Do those numbers line up?

I know how to work with students who don't possess strong skills. I do NOT know how to teach students who don't have to work.