Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Getting An Education
I have made a few entries regarding my son and the woes I've encountered since he entered "the system". As much as I've been frustrated by all the contradictions I've faced, I have a new challenge. Where will my son go to school in 2006-07?
I will be the first to acknowledge that my boy has issues... in fact, he's a problem child. He was very close to his Mother and she left him when he was in First Grade and he's buried alot of Hurt and Anger. I believe that much of it was spawned by his feelings of abandonment and his unwillingness to talk about it and 'let it all out'. It has evolved into something more problematic, but it all started with him holding all these very significant emotions inside himself.
As far as I know (and I have been very proactive in my dealings with the school system) - no one in the school's has every really, truly tried to get inside my son's head. I commend certain individuals over the years for their efforts, but no one every really took the time to find out why my son rebelled. It seems that their answer/solution to his issues was to toss him aside - i.e. suspend him.
When my son caught a 10 day Suspension for skipping class I contacted the appropriate sage at the school and asked them point blank - "If you caught my son skipping class, why do you reward him with a ten day vacation? Are you also going to provide us with a pass to Busch Gardens or Disney World? If you caught him smoking a cigarette, would you give him a carton?"
Right now I'm confronting a situation whereby the school that he went to last year says he "needs a change of scenery" - and because we don't actually live in "the District" anymore, I can't force them to accept him. We do live walking distance from the school that both his Mama and his Grandfather went to, but because of the policies regarding districting, that is apparently NOT his school. The "system" expects him to catch two buses to a school 12 miles away on the far end of the county and dammit I REFUSE TO SEND HIM THERE!!!
There's alot more to this dilemma than I have the patience to divulge at this point except to say - I will send my kid to the assigned school when THEY convince me that it makes any sense for him to go there. Their explanation about the Law and the District is just not good enough for me.
This is America. I do not live and exist to serve the will of incompentant beaurocrats. Our country's government is supposed to be "For the People, By The People, and Of The People". The laws being opposed upon my family are entirely unacceptable... and I WILL NOT stand idly by and allow this to happen.
I will be the first to acknowledge that my boy has issues... in fact, he's a problem child. He was very close to his Mother and she left him when he was in First Grade and he's buried alot of Hurt and Anger. I believe that much of it was spawned by his feelings of abandonment and his unwillingness to talk about it and 'let it all out'. It has evolved into something more problematic, but it all started with him holding all these very significant emotions inside himself.
As far as I know (and I have been very proactive in my dealings with the school system) - no one in the school's has every really, truly tried to get inside my son's head. I commend certain individuals over the years for their efforts, but no one every really took the time to find out why my son rebelled. It seems that their answer/solution to his issues was to toss him aside - i.e. suspend him.
When my son caught a 10 day Suspension for skipping class I contacted the appropriate sage at the school and asked them point blank - "If you caught my son skipping class, why do you reward him with a ten day vacation? Are you also going to provide us with a pass to Busch Gardens or Disney World? If you caught him smoking a cigarette, would you give him a carton?"
Right now I'm confronting a situation whereby the school that he went to last year says he "needs a change of scenery" - and because we don't actually live in "the District" anymore, I can't force them to accept him. We do live walking distance from the school that both his Mama and his Grandfather went to, but because of the policies regarding districting, that is apparently NOT his school. The "system" expects him to catch two buses to a school 12 miles away on the far end of the county and dammit I REFUSE TO SEND HIM THERE!!!
There's alot more to this dilemma than I have the patience to divulge at this point except to say - I will send my kid to the assigned school when THEY convince me that it makes any sense for him to go there. Their explanation about the Law and the District is just not good enough for me.
This is America. I do not live and exist to serve the will of incompentant beaurocrats. Our country's government is supposed to be "For the People, By The People, and Of The People". The laws being opposed upon my family are entirely unacceptable... and I WILL NOT stand idly by and allow this to happen.
