I am generally a huge supporter of the public schools. My kids attend them, I volunteer to help, I even go to some of the meetings. I like teachers and think they do a difficult job, often with inadequate resources. Our school system is considered pretty good, if relatively uninspired. Until yesterday, I was committed to keeping my kids enrolled and try to provide an extra spark of curiosity and wonder during the hours they spend at home.
Now I'm not so sure . . .
Meet me below the fold as we try to guess just who "those guys in long, black robes" might be!
My younger child is bright, lively, loving and irreverent. She can solve any problem in her head, and tells long, interesting and complicated stories, often including characters with perfect exotic accents. Reading is a problem, though, and when she has to write anything down, it often comes out backwards -- entirely backwards -- as though she was writing in a mirror. I think she got her Dad's dyslexia, the school system wants to wait to make sure it's not just a developmental problem that will go away on its own.
I'm fighting to get a proper evaluation, but that's another diary.
So back to the "guys in robes."
The school suggested we get my babe a tutor after school, so we hired the student teacher who worked in her class this year, a young woman who grew up in our town, then graduated last year from a decent local college with a double major and an extra dual specialist certification. It's been going pretty well, my kid likes her and even though the backwards thing isn't going away, the reading is getting a little easier.
Then came yesterday. My little one got ready for her tutor with her usual excitement and had a good, focused hour. Then as the teacher was leaving, my kid tried to give her one of the Obama "Yes We Did" stickers that she'd just found in a drawer. The teacher paused, and I jumped in with "You know, love, we are excited about Obama, but not everybody likes him, and that's OK."
And that was OK. Reasonable people can disagree.
Then she started to talk, and I fell gradually into deep despair. First, she explained that she wasn't really for anyone in the election, that she hadn't really been paying attention. Then she mentioned that she was a little worried because Obama seemed to be doing all of the wrong things.
Then she said, "And did you hear about that lady he just appointed for that Council, or something? I hear she's terrible and really sickly. What's that about?"
I said, "Do you mean Sonia Sotomayor? The woman he just proposed for the Supreme Court?"
"Yeah, I guess that's the one," she said, breezily. "The Supreme Court? Is that the one with the guys who wear those long black robes? That must be it. I hear she's really, really sick."
I went a little numb. I tried to briefly explain how smart Sotomayor is, how she might bring some more human understanding to justice in America, and how just having diabetes doesn't qualify as really, really sick. I kept it short, but was stopped by her totally uncomprehending, yet still friendly smile.
I hear she's very likely to get a permanent teaching position in our district. She's certified to teach from Kindergarten through Fifth Grade.
Hopefully it won't involve teaching Social Studies . . .