High School & Hypocrisy

Facebook is an interesting place. Although I live in the same town in which I grew up, I 'see' more school chums on Facebook than around town, even when they still live here, too. Since it's been nearly 20 years since my graduating class graduated without me, these virtual relationships bring surprises. One good high school friend, for instance, persists in refusing to speak to me just because I got pregnant during senior year. Seriously. And it's fun to see who married whom, who has kids, etc.

All this to say that this week a 'friend' un-friended me all because I dared criticize our high school!

For those who don't know, Nate attends two classes at the same high school I attended (German and French). He's been very blessed in the instructors he's been assigned. However, he's still in a public school two hours a day, with all that entails. This week it entailed something that his mother found irresponsible, unnecessary and above all, not educational in the least. And I posted about it on Facebook. No-Longer-Friend answered that she thought the same thing happened when we attended. In answering this No-Longer-Friend's answer to my complaint, I pointed out that in Washington State, an average of ten thousand dollars in tax money is used for each student, far more than private school tuition, but the results of the education are far less impressive. In fact, at this particular high school, less than half of 10th graders pass the 10th grade Math exam, and only slightly more than half pass the Science exam. The way I figure it, if they are taking this money, but not getting the job done, then the last thing they need to do is waste class time and administrative power on non-essentials such as a school-sponsored electronic dating service (no, I am not making this up).

Anyway, fast forward to where I am called a hypocrite for daring to repeat the above. Well, thank you, No-Longer-Friend, for pointing out yet another area in which our alma mater failed us: The use of a dictionary!

Hypocrite n.
1.
a person who pretends to have virtues, moral or religious beliefs, principles, etc., that he or she does not actually possess, esp. a person whose actions belie stated beliefs.

How does pointing out flaws in a school at which I attended (not by choice, even) make me a hypocrite? I didn't like the school then, didn't feel it was giving me a good education or preparing me for life, and I feel the same way now, only more strongly. Apparently I am a hypocrite for hoping my son and sister make better choices and have better opportunities than I did?

Shall we assume, then, that No-Longer-Friend is going to encourage her daughters to take their mom's romance novels with them to middle school and read the naughty parts aloud to their lunch table? I ask because this is my earliest memory of No-Longer-Friend. Or is it just possible that growing up, we gain wisdom and learning? Actually, Nate and I often have a conversation that begins with me saying I wish I had been more like him at his age and him pointing out that if that had been the case he would not exist.

It is never hypocrisy to learn from your mistakes, or even from the mistakes of others. It isn't hypocrisy to change your mind. It isn't hypocrisy to have rules for your kids that you didn't follow when you were a kid. And it definitely isn't hypocrisy to point out the flaws in an entity that you were once a part of. Some might even call it progress in the making.

The Principal of the Thing

No, I did not use the wrong homonym...read on:

I was reading this story on CNN, which has many facets that I will not explore. The facet I would like to explore is from this quote:

Bayer [the school principal] also removed her from Advanced Placement classes and assigned her to regular classes.

That's right...this student was punished by banning her from learning!

As someone who was yanked out of AP classes as punishment ("If you aren't going to get good grades in advanced classes, you will have to go back to regular ones!"--which then caused me to be bored out of my skull until I finally dropped out, and which really didn't address the root of the issue as I learned what they wanted me to learn but simply refused to perform the way they wanted me to perform--seriously, can you tell yet why I homeschool?), I am appalled. Ninety percent of the students in school feel like knowledge is being shoved down their throats (I made that statistic up) and you take on of the tiny fraction who are hungry for knowledge and take it away? That should seriously be illegal. Clearly this principal doesn't actually have her students' education at the top of her list of priorities. Oh, no, it's all about conformity of thought...and here I could digress into areas that are best left untouched today.

Could I Have Some of What He's Smoking?

Just for fun, I read this article in our local paper, the Tri-City Herald. It's about a local guy, Chet Biggerstaff, who wants a marijuana co-op for our area. Now, I have very little in the way of opinion on medical marijuana. It's legal in this state. But what Biggerstaff (pardon...somewhere in his lineage someone HAD to have been making up for feelings of inferiority) wants to do is put a storefront on marijauna cultivation. That is shameful. More shameful is that the landlords at the Parkway have allowed him to rent space there. This would be the place where free movies are shown for kids, free concerts thrown for families, the Farmer's Market shows up every Friday for half the year...what, are we gonna let him sell pot next to the peaches? I think it's abominable.

But that isn't why I am posting. I am posting because I think this guy is hilarious. Take a look at these quotes:

"More than likely we'll open and they'll shut us down and arrest me and I'll have to deal with it in court. I firmly believe most of the people in Richland and the Tri-Cities in general are for this."

Yes, you are right. Most people may be all-for your going to jail.

Biggerstaff also claims he's been harassed by Richland officers who he says have pulled him over and come to his house on an "anonymous" tip about a marijuana grow in his backyard.
Biggerstaff said his latest harassment by officers was Oct. 23, when he was pulled over for having expired tabs on his license plate. He said he was on his way home when an officer drove past him, turned onto the next street, then sat and waited for him to drive by.
He admits his tabs were expired, but questions why so many officers were required for a traffic stop. He was not cited, just warned to take care of it. "Why have I been pulled over so many times and not cited?"Biggerstaff said he's been stopped by Richland cops two or three times, but the only other instance he could recall was when an officer said he was "changing lanes too quickly in the middle of rush hour traffic."

So, you have been harrassed by....the police doing their job following drug hotline tips...and not arresting you...and the police doing their job by pulling over people with expired license tabs...and following protocol by having more than one car at the scene (this would happen if they pulled my little white-haired granny over, it's a basic safety precaution)...and not arresting you, and not even giving you a ticket for a clear violation of the law?! Because, the last time I was pulled over for expired tabs, I got quite a whopper of a ticket! Could I please have some harrassment?

Oh, by the way, if you can't remember all the times you were pulled over? You may be smoking too much pot.

At Least He's Persistent

Remember Alex Tran, the boy who wrote that high school seniors have the right to be left alone by substitute teachers? He waited out his 30 days and then, seriously, he wrote again in response to all his critics.

You can tell me all you want about how substitute teachers are people too, but
if the best you can do is tell me how I'm going to be told what to do my whole
life and that I'm an immature little kid who needs to run to his mommy, then
you've done nothing to change my opinion.

I am not sure what his point is. I am even less impressed with him than before...not only is he being childish, but he is stubbornly insisting on being childish. His poor father wrote to the paper, as well, basically to protest that he hadn't tried to teach his son to be a brat. All I know is, this kid has a lesson to learn, and the sooner the better for all concerned!

Tabloid Scandal

Now, I may be the pot calling the kettle black, here, but...

This whole thing with Jon Gosselin doing whatever he was doing with another woman? I don't condone the behavior, but my understanding from hearing others talk about the show (which I have never seen) is that Kate is pretty disrespectful of her husband. On national television. Men can't handle that, especially for long periods of time, without damage being done to them emotionally. I can hardly blame the guy for wanting to hang out with someone who treats him with honor instead. Someone give his wife a copy of The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands, for pete's sake.

The Spirit of Something

So, Christmas shopping has already resulted in the deaths of at least three people. Two men shot at Toys R Us and one employee trampled to death at Wal Mart. Um, pardon me, but did you all miss the part about Peace on Earth?

I did not shop today. First off, I worked 7 to 5:30. Secondly, I am doing Christmas for $50 this year and pretty much have everything bought already. And the traffic at 6:30 this morning was insane.

I did take my very first phone calls on the job today and lemme tell ya, it rocked! My job is so much fun! Even the people I can't make happy are fun, lol. And boy does the day go faster when you are talking to people than it does in the classroom.

Btw, the power stayed on all week long and all is well...eh, except the dirty dishes that have taken over because Nate worked part of the week, as well. Thanks to those who prayed!

Is It Cold In Here, Or Is It Just Me?

For the last few weeks I have worked with real, live scientists. It was cool. Brought back memories of my days working in the high school chem department, wearing a powder blue lab coat (because I couldn't figure out where to buy one that I could tie dye!), turning down dates with guys who only wanted one thing from me (access to chemicals), and finding new freckles when I went outside after spending the morning reclaiming silver.

Anyway, the other day I overheard one of the real, live scientists say something about polar ice levels being very high, as high as they have been since I was kicked out of preschool. I was fascinated. It sure SOUNDED like this real, live scientist was saying something that I had been very careful not to say in that building...manmade global warming is a hoax!

I tentatively broached the subject with him and indeed, there are lots of crazy people like us in the world, many holding science degrees. He shared some links with me that I, in turn, am happy to share with you. That last one might be especially fun, if you can figure out what it says (set your homeschooled middle-schoolers on that).

Greenie Watch
Watts Up With That
Solar Cycle

A MOMENT OF SILENCE

People Making a Difference

It isn't often that I cry when reading the local paper. But I have been following this story for a week and today the news is amazing.

Burke Jensen and his wife, Heidi, bought a house in a new development. They were given a year to landscape the yard (2.5 acres!). Unfortunately, Lt. Jensen was a military reservist and was called up and sent to Iraq, leaving his pregnant wife behind. Instead of, you know, being sympathetic and thankful to someone who has risked life and limb for the rest of us, the developer has taken action against this family for not getting the landscaping done in time. 'Cause, you know, grass is so much more important. Riiiight.

This man would not back down and has made several rather rude and just-plain-stupid comments to the press. But now, it won't matter.

Because now, dozens of people and businesses have banded together to landscape the grounds, install a flagpole, and treat this family the way they ought to have been treated to begin with. I pray God blesses them greatly for it.

Wonderful!

I saw this story on our local newspaper's site. I am thrilled! Not only is this mom making a difference for other moms, but she is getting good reception from the local businesspeople.

I hear so many times that moms should not breastfeed in public, but that attitude is rooted in ignorance and the terrible mis-use of breasts in the media. New mothers are terribly uncomfortable doing one of the coolest things possible, and that's a shame!

I am far past the breastfeeding stage with my kids, but I can remember getting dirty looks, my grandmother talking of nursing in a bathroom stall (ew!), etc. Society needs an attitude shift in this, and the mom in the story above is helping make that happen.

Thank you, Brittany Hansen!

For Pity's Sake!

This article from fellow blogspot blog JunkFoodScience highlights one of the stupider results of our culture's fatphobia. It discusses a new proposal to screen TWO year olds for high cholesterol and use statin drugs on CHILDREN. Um, pardon me, but these are kids. Kids whose brains are developing. Brains that are composed of cholesterol. Sorry, Johnny, you have too much grey matter potential coursing through your veins....yeah, this drug might make you dumb, but at least you won't die of a heart attack...as if. My grandmother has been on statins for years, and along with those drugs, had a very unhealthy fear of all things fat and cholesterol. She caused herself to starve out of this fear, going down to 95 lbs! My 12 year old weighs more than that. I am firmly convinced that lowering her cholesterol to unhealthy lows (yes, I said unhealthy LOWS), which doctors now seem to be aiming for, hastened the onset of dementia. I will say it again--our BRAINS are made out of cholesterol. We NEED cholesterol. And young children need it most of all.

Necessity being the MOTHER...

This article, I think, shows why necessity is the mother of invention and not the father, lol. That's right, this obviously intelligent lady used her bra to save her life! I believe there was a story of a Wonderbra protecting a woman from a bullet a year or so back, as well. And here women have for generations complained of these torture devices? A little gratitude for fashion is in order, I think!

Say what? Girl eats toys...

I heard a news story while driving to work this morning (listening to my favorite station, www.plr.org). It seems an 8 yo girl ate some of her toys. Now the parents are campaigning to recall the toy that she ate. Pardon me, but shouldn’t an 8 year old know better? Personally, I had a 12 year old who swallowed a thumbtack, and it was stupid even though it WAS an accident…but you don’t see me lobbying to recall thumbtacks or keep them in child-proof (not!) containers, or even require an ID check to buy them. No, I just made it very clear to my kids that eating office supplies is a dumb thing to do and the one who swallowed a thumbtack and was nearly airlifted to Seattle Children’s Hospital was never going to live it down! Is there so little personal responsibility-even for your KIDS-that we need to sue or legislate every idiotic decision that one might make?
Do we really think that this is the first time this girl has eaten something that wasn’t food? Can you make the leap from mashed potatoes to Magnetix without some sort of gateway toy? Do you suppose when she was six some kid on the playground offered her a Polly Pocket accessory and from there it just went downhill? Gee, if she hadn’t been stopped I am sure Lincoln Logs would be next…and then our kids would never be able to buy them again, for fear of mass cabin ingestion. And don’t even think about those little army guys. I am sure I could easily swallow an entire Playmobile Confederate General!
I actually played with a very similar toy (the dollar store version, no less!) with a six year old and a two year old a week ago. Neither attempted to put a piece in their mouths, but neither was left alone with the toy, either. I sat with them the whole time, on a blanket so that none of the pieces would roll away unnoticed. It’s remarkable how parental (or parental-ish, as these were not my kids) supervision and training avoids this kind of tragedy.
So, open letter to her parents: You should already be embarrassed…don’t make it worse by making a public spectacle of yourselves and the fact that you couldn’t do your job well enough and are trying to blame someone else.
Oh, and by the way…we found a handheld metal detector (sold by National Geographic) very handy in determining when things had *ahem* passed on through. And the metal detector has no small pieces.