The fifth chapter moves away from McCourt’s life before he became a teacher and details what teaching high school students was like. He starts by estimating how many students (12,000) and classes (33,000) he taught over the course of his career. It’s daunting, he writes, to face teenagers every day. They’re focused solely on themselves and don’t care about any troubles the teacher is having. In fact, they see the teacher as a problem. McCourt warns, “Watch your step, teacher. Don’t make yourself a problem. They’ll cut you down” (68). Rainy days were good because the students were more subdued, so teachers could get more done.

Twice a year, McKee had parent-teacher conferences on what the school called Open School Day. McCourt tried to be positive about all his students, and had to be especially careful if a father was present. One could never know, he notes, whether a negative comment might result in a father beating his son. He thus learned to be protective of his students. McCourt had to learn all this for himself, as these conferences were never covered in his college classes on teaching.

Some parents were angry at McCourt for telling so many stories of his life in class.