Now Playing: Wind chimes outside the window
Topic: Personal
Public education gives me the heaves now and then.
When we moved from Mississippi to California six or so years ago, I was afraid the Kiddo might be behind when she started to school out there. Right. She was so freaking far ahead that after about two months, we took her out of public school and started homeschooling her.
For the next four year, from fourth grade through eighth, she was homeschooled. I handled everything, for the most part. When we got to algebra-level math and I couldn't teach her anymore, we got her enrolled in community college classes. Her dad taught her computers and music.
Then we were back in Mississippi and it was time for her to start high school. Again, I was worried stiff. Would the homeschooling have been inadequate? Would she be far behind her classmates? Were remedial classes in our future?
I shouldn't have worried.
What I should have been was disgusted.
The biggest things I had to counsel with the Kiddo about during her first year of high school, as I recall, were ...
* how to fake staying awake during classes when the teacher covers the same thing ten times even though you got it the first time
* how to not waste your time writing a real answer on a test because nobody wants a real answer; they just want you to regurgitate what was said in class
* how not to appear too smart because people will think you're making fun of them
* how not to overthink questions on standardized tests and therefore end up getting them wrong. They really are as dumb and simplistic as they seem.
* if you do too well, people will think you cheated. Do your best anyway. Their suspicion is their problem.
* more along those lines.
So she's learned how to dumb down a bit on the official level, although not on a personal level, thank goodness.
But it frustrates me to no end that a student would have to dumb themselves down in order to succeed in school. Where's the logic in that?
This week we found out she didn't pass part of the state-mandated English II test - required for graduation - that she took last year. She'll have to take at least that part over. What part did she fail? Informative writing.
My daughter can write rings - big looping sparkly rings - around 99 percent of the people at her school, faculty included. But because she didn't follow some precise formula, didn't put some specific paragraphs in some pre-determined order, didn't dot some i or cross some particular t, she failed to pass.
Words fail me.
In fact, I've got to stop thinking about this before I put a stapler through the computer screen out of sheer frustration.
More later, maybe.