my ass..
Misguided piece of politics, bad legislation plain and simple. Medicare D and HIPPA ring any bells folks? Another half assed delivery on an election promise. And another that hemorrhaged billions of dollars and ultimately merely ended up making things worse, far worse. I don’t know a single teacher- mainstream, special ED, ESL, any of them that think this is a good piece of legislation. I know parents of special needs kids that literally hiss when they hear those four words..
Why, might you ask do I have such a case of the ass about this? My kids got screwed- once again. Essentially we are dumbing down our best and brightest. Plain and simple.
Unless you happen to live in a county or city with excellent recourses – magnet and charter schools and such, or happen to have the bucks to send your kids to private school- you’re screwed if they’re smart and you actually work for a living.
Ok, your Mom is supposed to brag, right? Whatever, my blog, my life I’m allowed. My kids happen to have been lucky enough to get their Dad’s intelligence. We’re talking border line genius level I.Q here folks. Both have always read at least 5 grade levels ahead (no that was not a misprint peeps) Math- they both scare the crap out of me.. Miss Thing took the SAT at 12 to qualify for the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth Program- her scores freaked us both out.. Would you not think that the school system would be happy to help foster the academic careers of bright kids? Not so much.. Too damn busy worrying about getting accredited and making sure the state scores total up the right way.
Yeah, that NCLB bullshit. No resources, had to take it from somewhere.. So what programs might I ask got hit the hardest??? At least where we are- Arts, Gifted & Talented programs and non sports extracurricular activities. Nothing against the sports crowd- don’t get me wrong, the Hurricane is a major jock. But should there not be some EQUITY here????
I have had to fight tooth and nail to get the credits that Miss Thing earned at JHU on her record (at OUR expense, thank you- and that is not a cheap program people) I’ve had to bitch and complain about access to AP courses, I’ve had to raise hell with any number of principals through the years about the fact that my kids are bored out of their minds.. And this frankly pisses me off.. Why the fuck are my kids being penalized for being smart?????
Why in the hell are we NOT giving the best and brightest equal treatment? Why is there the assumption that because they are bright, they’ll shuffle through and just let the college system deal with stimulating them? This is beyond fucked up..
I see perfectly capable and intelligent kids getting turned off and subsequently tuning out because they’re bored out of their minds.. How many do we lose every year because we fail to engage these children, support their intellect and give them the right tools to let them fly??
Hey Shrub- know what? Those two smart kids will come back to bite the universe in the ass. Be afraid, be very afraid.. Two brilliant humans that have actual compassion and in spite of being dismissed by their government- they’re both going to make a difference and make someone terribly ashamed that they ended up being marginalized. Mom and Dad will sit back at that point and just smile at all the righteous indignation coming down on your ass..
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7 comments:
It sounds like the kids have the brights,but more importantly,the character to excel at whatever they do in life.
...(meanwhile,the never ending quest for mediocrity continues in this country)..
My nieces and nephews (oldest sister's kids) are all exceptionally bright, but because they were raised in rural Wisconsin, they too, were penalized by their school. My nephew Ben is doing advanced math from textbooks my sister purchased at the University of Wisconsin. He is 11. He should be skipping grades and receive placement in a gifted program, only there isn't one available, and no teachers qualified to teach him the curriculum. NCLB my ass. what to do?
The county where I went to school in Utah and where my sisters children still go to school, no longer has a music program. None. Even though elementary music education has been proven to increase so many areas of brain function, not to mention the cultural benefits of exposing children to the music of history. It really just sickens me.
Yet another topic that makes me jump up and down screaming obscenities! A lot has to do with well intentioned and misguided educational trends that have been building for years. My brother and sister-in-law, as well as friends that used to teach all complained about having to dumb down the curriculum for years before this, so that kids self esteem wouldn't be damaged.
I was horrified at the quality of education that the ganomette received when she was going to one of the best schools in the area. Things have just become worse since teachers had to start teaching to tests rather than the subject.
I could go on and on. Yes it's worse now, but it has been very bad for a long time. This is just the final asshattery. We are becoming a third rate nation, because we refuse to educate our children.
You are so right -- there are laws in place to make sure kids at the other end of the spectrum get the education they should, but the kids at the "gifted" end (i hate that word too) are often assed out, depending on location and a boatload of other things. (My nephew has Down Syndrome, so I know those laws don't always work either, but that's another subject)
I had to fight for my kids in that area when they were little - lots of stories there. My pissedoffedness on this subject resulted in my eldest being the "pilot child" for a program I helped implement for kindergarteners at her school. The next year, Teen Demon and 5 other kids were in it, and it grew from there.
My problem with this is the same as with the other school subjects I've been bitching about at my site --- if you don't actively advocate for your kids (hard) they will get left behind. Or at least just float along and not get much out of the system to prepare them for life. And society misses out in that these kids are not given the opportunity to live up their full potential, as cliche as that sounds.
If this country could just get the friggin' concept of INVESTING IN ITS CITIZENRY, in education, in health, in retirement ... gee, what a concept. Educate the folks who will one day run the country.
I'm ranting, aren't I? Anyway, good post, important subject.
The sad thing is that the best and the brightest when left alone to fend for themselves in schools don't get into the best colleges and universities. The dumbing down of America. It's a sad and vicious cycle.
I've had to wage absolute war, with scary lawyers and everything, to get my special-needs kid what she needs. We finally did win the battle to get her in a school where they can bring her along instead of leaving her behind, but it was a huge, draining effort. I always think about parents who are less educated than we are, less able to work the system than we are. What a completely messed up system it is. And don't even get me started on NOT using property taxes to fund public education!
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