Stupidity in High Places

After the blunt, goofy humor of yesterday’s post, today I’m going to rant. {pulls soapbox over and steps up on it} Today I'm ranting about stupidity in high places. I'm in the U.S. but I'm sure readers from other countries will be able to identify with the following peeves of mine. There are times that if I could move to the North Pole, I would--and I hate cold weather!

Now, before any teachers or school officials get ticked off at me, I'm not saying ALL teachers and officials are like the ones in my rant below. I'm speaking of the small percentage who seem to run everything. The ones that even the other teachers and officials rant, bitch and complain about too. The ones that pull me aside in the hall to share their school woes with me because I'm one of the few parents who grabs my flaming sword called Youpissed Meoffagain and go charging into the building screaming "I wear size nine and a half ass-stompers, hear me roar!"

Anyway, my grandfather was a school teacher from the age of seventeen until well into his eighties. He was also a professional college student, and he loved to travel to historic places such as Egypt. The man had common sense as well as a high IQ, a rare combination, imho.

Granddad was also capable of seeing into the future. He could watch how things progressed on a topic or situation and then state what the outcome would be. One such occasion was a comment he made about the U.S. school system.

“Mark my words,” he said, “twenty years from now, the government will stick its nose into the public school system and take not only the rights of the children away from them, but also the teachers and the parents.”

Man, oh man, did he ever nail that one down!

By the time I was in high school, my school district, which is one of the largest in the state of Ohio, began crashing like the Hindenburg. Things became so bad at my high school that I nearly quit school altogether. That’s a story in itself (for starters I was screwed out of a 60K art scholarship), but rest assured, education isn’t about education. It’s about the almighty dollar and power.

Fast forward to now. I have four children of my own and I’ve raised four step-children, too, so I’m well acquainted with three different school districts. Moreover, several members of the State Board of Education know me much better than they would like to. Let’s just say I was up at the last school so much this past year that when a few teachers or the principal saw me coming, they’d make an excuse to leave, followed by a hasty dash out the nearest exit.

The fact of the matter is this: our tax dollars pay their salaries and pay for everything that runs a school system. Since I’m essentially one of their employers, get off your damn arrogant, egotistical fat asses and teach our children, dammit!

Stop giving money to only the football team that should actually go to ALL sports and arts divisions!

Stop letting the kids have a free period in history while you, the teacher, are down the hall bs’ing at the water cooler or handling fundraiser money that should be done AFTER hours!

Stop male teachers from treating girls like they’re shit!

Stop worrying about the proficiency tests that determines how much the kids are learning. If schools would teach, then kids would know their basics! Duh! And while I’m at it, the reason the schools push the proficiency tests is because the higher overall score the school gets, the more funding it gets from the state, and I got that straight from the mouths of several school officials and teachers, including one on the state board.

Stop telling me that my daughter is too dumb to do online schooling (yes, I was told that by a superintendent who nearly got his coffee cup stuffed up his nose). and that I'm just an over protective parent. Hmm, how odd. Online school may be difficult, but now my daughter carries a four-point-oh! And she will graduate early too! Why? Maybe because she's challenged now? Maybe because she's learning?

Teach, dammit! And for God’s sake, get rid of these stupid math text books that require a course in learning how to read the infernal things before the parent can even help their child with a math problem.

What the hell happened to common sense? I’ll tell you what. The government stuck it’s big, fat nose into something that has worked just fine for years. It’s about competing with other countries too. Not every child is going to be in computers. Not every child will be a doctor, nurse, technician, attorney or scientist. A huge portion of all populaces are normal, blue-collar workers. When I was in school, those who wanted or thought they might want a career in something like law or medicine took college prep courses that would aid them in those careers. Now, my oldest daughter is taking calculus because she’s passed all the other math courses and the state insists she needs another one.

Don’t think the government has it’s thumb on everyone? Take this new school district my kids are in since our move. I got a call about a month ago that my youngest had three unexcused absences. Say what? I called the school and reported him ill each day he missed and I sent excuses to school with him when he returned. He’d been sick with a fever for three days, so why were those days unexcused?

Oh, that’s easy. The reason is that the state has employed a new program that schools can join [and get funding if they do so] that prevents truancy. As a result, the only excuse that is accepted is a doctor’s excuse. Imagine the amount of money this costs some parents to take their kids to the doctor for eating something they’re allergic to or a horrible sinus infection, a bad cold, a sore throat, a migraine… Imagine the parents freaking out who only have one family car and the husband or wife uses it five days a week for work [been there many times myself]. What about a doctor office that is often booked solid, so no appointments are available? Well, then you take your child to the ER, which costs even more!

But that’s not all, after five unexcused absences, the truant officer begins harassing the parent, and if your child reaches ten, you’re dragged into court!

Yes, I know there are kids who skip school while their parents are at work, and I realize that there are parents and guardians who don’t keep track of their kids nor give a rat’s ass whether or not they attend school every day.

But does that make it right for the government and schools to penalize everyone for the stupidity of a few?

Like I said, stupidity in high places. And it’s getting worse. It’s up to the parents to take back our rights as parents and those of our children, concerning their welfare and education. From my battles with the government and the school systems, only a small percentage of parent fight for their rights. If we don’t all don’t speak up and do something, the government will control more and more parts of our lives.

Point in case: my oldest daughter’s health. When she was pregnant, the doctor insisted on running various tests. We said no, because we believe that nature should—at times—run its course. What really pissed us off was that she’d already had a test for AIDS, which was negative, but because she changed from one doctor to this one, they said the file was closed and therefore another one had to be done.

Bull!!!

When you sign a paper giving a doctor the right to view ALL medical files, how can the medical profession ban you, the patient, or your new doctor from seeing them?

I fought it—and was threatened. Yes, threatened. We were told it was federal law and if my dau didn’t have the AIDS test a second time that she and the baby would be treated like they both had the disease, that I would not be permitted in the delivery room, and that they’d turn the matter over to social services too.

Furious, I told my dau to get dressed and that we were leaving. I also told the doctor she could stuff her office up her ass.

The next week, there was a sign in the sign-in window that said:

“Be nice or leave.”

My reply to that? “Grow a damn brain!”

[Stop by and visit my guest blog at NOW and voice your opinion there on fluff vs meaty fiction. ]