The minimum age for a Facebook account is 13. So there's nothing preventing someone putting out a "13 year old girls around me" app. The internet's Garden of Eden days are over. Article
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Suppose there are a very limited number of slots in a given specialty PRIVATE SCHOOL in the city. So they make a test up... and only, say, a couple of minority children of doctors get in. The rest of the kids are white. Would it be OK to make cutoff decisions this way?
I'd probably be inclined to say YES. That is fair. Cut the mustard and pay your tuition or don't go. You can be as elitist as you want to be with your own money.
BUT.
Suppose it's a public school. Is it OK to discriminate then? Hmm... There are parent groups out there fighting to exclude special-ed children from their schools. We don't want their kind here. I "get" (believe me, I do) the need for special-ed and gifted-ed classes. There needs to be some overlap, though. We are all of us citizens together and I see zero reason why we can't all learn to play soccer or violin together, too. Sure, one kid has calculus and the other is working on elementary addition. But wow. We can still share some common classes. I don't get the hate.
Want to keep your kid away from kids like mine? Go send your snowflake to private school.
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In somewhat unrelated news, I voted for school board candidates today. From what I see, I have a choice of two lackeys from a list of five. Yay me.
I vote not because I think the people I am helping to power are all that great. I vote because um, sometimes... there are people I want to be sure do not get in. Many of my friends are voting in that board race. My concern is that with five candidates, the vote will be diluted and this guy will get in. He's infamous.
I am sure he wouldn't be able to singlehandedly make the Park Hill School District teach "white culture" and kick all the special-needs kids out if he's elected. But I have to admit to you... I believe (strongly!) in local rights. In local people developing their own curriculum. And then people like this show up and show me what that just might look like sometimes. It just takes a bunch of yee-haws to mess things up if all decisions are TOO local. If we forget that each person has civil rights.
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I'm very "pro-homeschooling." But I'm not very "pro-homeschooling because the schools get lots of money when they make things so hard that parents with special-needs kids leave and save the district a fortune." It doesn't fit on a bumper sticker, is why.
Anyway. Outraged. Just outraged at this. I'm so outraged, on so many different levels and in so many different ways, that I just can't even fire off a coherent argument about the whole situation. There are just too many angles to come at it from. Wow.
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Look Out, Dad!!
My father is the purple dot above the blue weather station. He's juuust outside Milton's evacuation zone. Well! My brother and I jus...
The school district is suing that family? For what? They gave up and removed him from school 5 years ago! This is disturbing.
ReplyDeleteYeah, it's "harassment" when you keep asking for help!!
ReplyDeleteDang, if they were that awful, there would be specific charges, cops would be by, bla bla and bla RIGHT when it happened. You and I both know it's just a witch hunt.
The Facebook app is down right disgusting. This is why I don't want my kids on Fb. Perverts paradise!
ReplyDeleteAs far as the elitist peeps, can't their money be better spent elsewhere? What's the point of buying your kids a more savory environment in a school setting like that when later in life you cannot buy who shops in the stores you do, drives on the streets you drive on, etc.?
As for that family being bullied, that is just an outrage. This makes you lose so much faith in humanity. How many people leave it up to the schools to teach their kids manners and morals on top of reading, writing, etc., when deep down, the schools need to be taught the very same things!
See... I never would have figured on someone wanting an app like that, let alone being able to make one so easily. Thankfully most children I know on facebook have weird made-up names like TyTy Cookiemonster Lovesyou and whatnot. So sort of hard to pinpoint the exact kid often.
DeleteThough sometimes? These kids are entirely unsupervised online and posting pics that are highly inappropriate...
You can't win every battle.
ReplyDeleteThe trick is not to get so emotionally involved in these issues that a setback raises your blood pressure to boiling point.
Eventually you can win every war .. it just takes time.
Don't forget to have a little fun in the midst of all this ...
I know I'm a fine one to talk .. but I actually am a lot calmer than I used to be ... :)
Much Love,
Absolutely, Dad! I'm sorry if I came off as so angry that I was speechless. More like... hm. So many different (and pretty outrageous, you must admit) angles to this story.
DeleteIt was like Lays' Potato Chips; I couldn't pick just one. :)
Sounds dreadful!
ReplyDeleteYep. Hey... hope your situation clears up soon. I have been thinking of you!!
Deleteyeah, it does seem like certain segments of folks have found the "beauty of homeschooling" to be that they can just squeeze unwanted kids out of public schools and turn the parents on to "online curriculum" and suggest "homeschooling" to the parents. I am seeing it far too often especially with African American boys. The problem is no parent should have to homeschool because they feel it is their only option, but it is happening more and more... and in many cases, the parents aren't prepared or equipped to do a good job.
ReplyDeleteI agree!
DeleteOk so I just read the link about the board member. I read the comments that followed. You could not PAY me to live in your town, based on what I read. I thought we had some fruitcakes here! The racial issues revealed in that article and comments section are scary.
ReplyDeleteWell, I'm trying to teach my kids to be nice. Of course, they did say HOLA! and WELCOME TO OUR COUNTRY! to the nice black lady up the street... not sure if I should laugh or cringe! At least they were welcoming... more than I can say for some people. I should check and see if this guy got elected!!
DeleteDo you watch Harry's Law (television show with Kathy Bates)? There was an episode lately of a special girl whose "fits" were disrupting the class and the principle wanted her expelled. Her parents sued, but lost after the judge witness a "fit." All I could think was--seriously? This is what we have come to. Every time I start to drift towards school (private or public) I think of things like this and attitudes my son will have to wade through to get his education and I go "oh yea, that's why I am homeschooling." We are fortunate in this country though, that when we decide to homeshool offically (he's not 4 yet and not required to register until he's 5)--we will get a teacher's aid, if necessary even at home. Can't imagine how that will work, but so grateful we have options here! That other story is just too sad! I read it the other day. UGH!
ReplyDeleteWhat I am nervous about in allowing cameras in school... what if the school deletes all the instigation/harassment by teachers and other students and just leaves the kid's "fit?" You know? They say the camera doesn't lie... but it really can if you edit the footage enough. :(
Delete