What children really learn at school

I often think if we had the money, (like winning that $240 million) we would hire private tutors for our kids. They would have the best education. They would learn not by reading out of a book, but by living seeing and doing.

Wait- that is going on right now!

Example #1 The daughter learns about prejudice and politics.

My daughter had her first day as an 8th grader. She walked to school with her shorts and her flip flops and her long snug fitting tee-shirt. My daughter is very thin and doesn't have many (any) curves. The shorts were "past the pinky finger" as the rule had always been in school. She was not dress "conservatively" but she look clean well put together for a 13 year old girl.

She came home in tears. It seems one of the teacher's aids felt it necessary to tell my daughter she looked like a prostitute. Her shorts were too short (new rule, longer than the longest finger) her shirt was too tight and her body was a jewel that she was not protecting.

I was irked. And my daughter will not let me do a thing about it! You see she has already learned it is a small town, a small school, and if she / we call out this aid, we will get more grief than the aid will receive. Tough lesson to learn

Since the aid felt it was time to quote pseudo bible verses at my daughter I gave my daughter a few of her own to use on the aid next time

When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.

or how about

To everything there is a season,
a time for every purpose under the sun.
A time to be born and a time to die;
a time to plant and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
a time to kill and a time to heal ...
a time to weep and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn and a time to dance ...
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing;
a time to lose and a time to seek;
a time to rend and a time to sew;
a time to keep silent and a time to speak;
a time to love and a time to hate;
a time for war and a time for peace.

I informed my daughter she should quote these to the aid and tell her -- "hey let me be a kid!" My daughter informed me this would get her a detention.

I told my daughter I would sit with her in detention --- in a pair of short shorts!

You see, my daughter is in 8th grade. She will dress in the fashion of her time and laugh and with her friends and be a high honors student and when she gets older she will be herself!!!! And that is okay!!! But for now she is just a good kid, and she is being a kid.

Funny -- very funny story. I totally forget it until just now.

My freshman year I was sent home from school. As it was in 80's style. I had on some shorts with a pair of leggings and "china flats" and a striped shirt. I wish I had a picture of that outfit! It was sooo put together! Much like my daughter I was thin, and the stripes and contrasting colors of the snug fitting cloths gave me shape.

I wasn't in the halls 10 minutes when I was called into the Principal's office.
"No shorts in school."
I protested "But I don't have any skin exposed! My legs are totally covered! There are the ROTC girls waring mini skirts and you let them strut around the halls but I can't be here ????"
"No shorts in school. What would your mother say if she saw you in this outfit?"
I protested again "She bought me this outfit!"
Even the "you wouldn't bit into an apple that has already been bitten out of" health teacher tried to come to my defence. He agreed, what I was waring was not nearly as bad as what they would allow others. It was different, yes, but is covered what needed to be covered.

I was sent home to change. 3 years later, during a debate at school I shared the history of the , the back arm bands and the Vietnam war and the Chicago Public School dress code. I was not the first person to be kicked out of school for thinking for myself, I will not be the last.

The things we learn in school.