In Which I Answer Another Comment

We have the same issues here in Fl. I'm thankful that we go to a good elementary school, but they fall victim to the same things, those standardized tests. I think it puts too much pressure on the kids because they are told that if they don't pass, they could be held back. Honestly, they have to be doing very poorly in school to be held back, its just another decision maker to see if they should be promoted, but most of the time the kids are. And the ones that aren't promoted usually have behavior issues that aren't always addressed.

Some of it here I think is due to our ex-Governor (soon to be our ex-President) and his partner-in-educational-crime, Ross Perot. They "reformed" our schools a while back and really screwed up a lot. Of course, a lot of this problem is nation-wide, the whole "No Child Left Behind" scam. I knew it was a total crock from the get-go, but it's really been brought home to me this week.

Fortunately, my son will be 25 later this month, so school for him is not an issue. But he did spend five years in a non-religious private school, from 4th through 8th grades. I wish I'd kept in private schools through high school, but we didn't. In theory, I'm a big believer in public schools, but these days I'm not sure how often it's the best choice.

It's scary sending your kid to school these days, which explains why I'm such an active parent. It's not fair, but if they know who you are, they know your kids and they tend to watch out for them more. If I gotta work the system for my kids, I will.

I have a friend who has a son in high school, in a public school. She feels the same way, though she's doing it as much to keep an eye on him as to keep an eye on the schools. But I wouldn't be a bit surprised to learn there's a note attached to his records warning teachers to cooperate with her. She can be hell on wheels when she feels the need!

and on a lighter note, thanks for listing the mystery web site. LOVE it and saved it for later. also your library thing had a link to Ravelry. Can I have the real one?

(blush) Sorry. HTML is so not my thing! The front door is www.librarything.com. My catalog is http://www.librarything.com/catalog/DianeS. librarything is almost as wonderful as Ravelry!