School Is Out

For Most Kids.

The year is coming to an end for most of the children suffering in the institutions known as public schools, except for at my kid's school where they have the nerve to make the children go for two more whole weeks before they are released. The daughter is extremely unhappy about this. I haven't even told her that most of the kids she knows had their last day of school almost a week ago. No, this would probably push her over the edge and make her even more difficult to motivate to get up and go.

She is completely fed up you see. She told me this morning, "I HATE SCHOOL!" as she whined and complained. Some people might think a longer year is a good thing, a sign that the school is wanting to spend as much time as possible educating their young charges, and the more time spent filling their little heads the better. They are wrong of course because the fact of the matter is, the children are there yes, they are, but they are essentially just punching the clock and being present.

The problem with schools these days is that they don't spend enough time making children hate school for the right reasons. Perfectly healthy minded children have hated school for as long as the institution has been around, but they hated it because they were challenged, they were held accountable, and the teachers made them work, they used to actually make kids learn things they didn't want to learn. We didn't like it as kids, but as adults of course we are thankful for it. In my daughter's case she hates it because she has teachers that are morons, when she has one that is, she hasn't had a teacher for half of the year now. Her teacher quit in the middle of the year, in the middle of the week, and has not been replaced. Nobody makes her work at school. I have never received a phone call because my daughter has not been working on her lessons.

No, I get phone calls because my daughter did not have the appropriate uniform of the day on. I get phone calls because my daughter was ornery and turned the light off in the bathroom on other girls. I get phone calls because my daughter is not wearing a belt, not because she doesn't know her times tables.

We did the public school thing. After multiple years of testing, special education, IEPs, with little result, we decided to try this charter school thing. People often ask me what a charter school is, I say, "well, we put her there because they have more individualized teaching available." That was my answer, and it was the truth. There were some things I didn't really like about the charter school, the uniform was sort of commie in my eyes, but I decided since she was so miserable in public school we could live with it.

I don't really know what the point of charter schools is, supposedly it has something to do with more parent involvement. I call this the PTA gone mad with power syndrome. If you think the PTA is bad at your public school, you should attend some meetings at a charter school. These people know they can pretty much make demands and that the school is going to go along with it. Problem is, some of these people are just downright freaky, some of them are aggressive, and most of them are stupid in my opinion.

They are the ruling class. They have nothing better to do than hang out in the office and make copies, phone calls, and plan ways to insert themselves into the daily running of the school every which way they can, and did I mention that some of them are idiots? These are the people who send out different packets every month of things they are selling to raise money. For what it never says, and frankly I don't care. I am not selling anything, and I always send the things back with my daughter. I will start selling crap for the school when they actually start doing their real jobs and what they are paid to do, which is teach children to read and multiply 6 times 9 with complete accuracy. Until then, I don't think they should be selling a darn thing.

Back in the old days the only time my parents ever even so much as set foot in our school building was to pick us up if we had thrown up in math class, or to go to a Christmas program. Other than that they knew by the fact that we came home every afternoon with homework that we sat down and did on our OWN with very little prompting that all was well. They knew their children could read a newspaper, and even add 161 plus 39. We had books to read, we read them. We had work to do, we did it, and we were lazy little shits too, but we knew if we did not do it, we might fail, and that was the worst nightmare we had.

Our teachers were nice, professional, and firm. There was never an army of parents hanging around the school doing whatever it is these people who are apparently unemployed do all day at the school. Sure there were a few of them who came and gave us cupcakes and treats on holidays, my mom did that many times, but when it came down to the nitty gritty our parents knew we were in good hands, and that our teachers had everything under control.

Everything has changed. School is nothing like I remember it being when I went through it. My daughter is not stupid, but I've been told by this test score and that test score and this teacher and that, that she has learning problems. Funny, she functions quite well at home, people are often shocked to hear what the schools have had to say about her abilities.

I think it is well past time that we brought her home. They are ruining her education. We will most likely homeschool next year. Enough is enough. They made her hate school for all the wrong reasons. We can't do worse. It is time for us to try and save what is left of her formative years.