The No News is No News Purgatory Thread, Volume 8

Tasmin21 said:

The more I hear about the state of the school system, the more I wish I could home school kiddo. That said, her school is currently processing the paperwork to get her referred to their gifted program. Kiddo herself asked to do it, so we're going to see if she can pass the test.

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I'm not even knocked up yet and I've already started researching school options. In LA - even the nice parts - it's the high schools that are the problem. Anyone who can afford it sends their kids to private school, which probably isn't going to be an option for us so I'm starting to learn up on charter schools and the Arts magnet high school downtown. Either that, or move to one of the self-contained school districts that are pocketed throughout the city, like Beverly Hills or Santa Monica.

callalily61 said:

and a scary amount of illegal drugs (also in the bathroom and many other spots), are handling themselves well. Thank God.

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Yes, the drugs are everywhere in every type of school. I told both my kids when they hit seventh grade that what they did from that point on was going to help determine their future, so their choices are their own and they're going to have to make the right ones. It seems to help for them to have the responsibility of making the choices themselves based on thinking about consequences, rather than just doing or not doing something because their parents told them to.

mayqueen said:

This is only from my limited (< 5 years) experience teaching at the college level, but I've found myself surprised the sorts of things I have to put in my syllabus. I think it's an effect of our litigious culture. Your syllabus becomes like your contract, so whenever you enforce a policy, you can point to the syllabus. And I'd imagine in high schools, when you have to deal with students and their parents and the administrators, that's especially true. But I don't know.

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Oh, yes, this is exactly what it was. But the content of the syllabus indicated that what the teacher had to deal with on a daily basis wasn't so much teaching unruly students as trying to keep a bunch of thugs from killing and raping each other.

It's depressing to realize that there are entire populations of teenagers who have no idea how to behave or help themselves. It's obviously not the fault of the school system, but these kids need to be in "how to be a decent human being" classes, not English classes. But of course we've got to teach to the standards, right? It's just a horrible endless cycle and it's overwhelming to even think about.

I mean, I look at my son right now and I think about all the instruction I have to give him just so he won't remain the little needy selfish animal he was when he was born. You have to TEACH people how to empathize and love each other, and if kids don't get that from day one... ugh. Please, people, just give me all your babies and I will love them.

callalily61 said:

I think I've mentioned this before, but one of the reasons we moved to the 'burb we're at now was the school system. We knew we were going to spawn, so we researched house prices, neighborhoods, and schools equally. for a plain old public school, the offspring have gotten a decent education, had less trouble with bullies than we feared, and while exposed to booze, smex in the bathrooms (during the school day!) and a scary amount of illegal drugs (also in the bathroom and many other spots), are handling themselves well. Thank God.

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This is basically what I'm aiming for. Anyone who can afford to send their kid to private school around here absolutely does, but we want our kiddo to learn how to deal with peers who may not have good home lives. That said, I don't want to send him into the kiddie equivalent of Thunderdome. From what I've heard, our local primary and middle schools are definitely on the upswing, so they should be quite nice by the time Sharkbite gets thrown in the mix, but the high schools are all... well. Yeah. So we'll just play it by ear.

Can I just say it scares the crap out of me every time a kid gets shot around here? Because they do. Couple times a year.

Hey, guys. I'm doing a post-and-dash. Will be back after I get something done here. BUT, WU is having an auction for a featured interview, a skyscraper ad in the sidebar, and the newsletter. (Proceeds go to support the bandwidth costs, etc.) If you are published, right now bids are so low, IMHO it's worth a look. Only 6 hours left in bidding, too.

Life with kids is so much simpler in the Yollers. Not that we don't got smex and drugs, but that there's usually just the one school.

Yep, count me in the yollah crowd. We have towns on all sides of us that aren't big enough to qualify for a school, so they get bused to ours. (I was one of those kids myself, after 4th grade.)

Of course this far out in the boonies every other kid has a hunting rifle in his truck, which is less of a good thing.

Maryn, good for you!

I am, speaking of exercise, totally in love with my elliptical. It's quiet enough that I can watch episodes of Buffy while running, which is probably my favorite thing about it.

i don't like to watch tele when i do cardio--
or read. (i'm always amazed by people who
can read while cardio'ing.) i like music and
brainstorming.

i'm so busy this week with fun brunch
dates i'm getting absolutely no exercise in.
eep!

even for those who could afford to move
to a better school district (and i think 100% of
my playgroup mom friends have bought bigger
houses--except us. we remodeled) the classroom
sizes are still big. teachers are still getting pink slipped
every year and there is a panic as to whether
the classroom size would be 40 due to teacher
firings.

i think it is really ass backwards where
our priorities are. we voted to increase taxes
and also pushed through a prop locally in SD
that i hope can give our k-12 the money they
need to function.

as it were, the bubs will be out of the
"cheap" private school they are in (i'd honestly
rather poke an eye out than home school--we
have enough screaming matches over chinese
homework) feeds into the 28k a year per child
middle and high schools. that's not including all
the "extras" and fundraising/donations, if you
get my meaning.

needless to say, we'll be returning back to
public school come 6th or 7th grade.

tas, good luck on the gifted test!
it's something i'll have to look into as well--
but i don't think it runs naturally in our
family. ha! hub, perhaps. me, no.
i do awful on those IQ type tests.

Ye gods, x-cin. And no, no homeschooling for us either. Thaaaat would be my personal nightmare.

Actually my ideal scenario would be like 3 or 4 days a week of public school and then a day or two where the kiddo either comes with me on an educational jaunt or stays home and works on his own projects. I've heard you can work out hybrid programs, so we'll see.

lily pie, the most prestigious which
is what our school feeds into--yes.

there ARE catholic schools and some
other alternatives around, but even that
is about 15-18k a year per child at least.
we can't afford that.

JoNightshade said:

It's depressing to realize that there are entire populations of teenagers who have no idea how to behave or help themselves. It's obviously not the fault of the school system, but these kids need to be in "how to be a decent human being" classes, not English classes. But of course we've got to teach to the standards, right? It's just a horrible endless cycle and it's overwhelming to even think about.

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I find it terribly depressing to think about. I do think we have to blame the school system to an extent -- by which I mean the whole American educational system. There's this idea of "prison tracking," which is basically just raising kids with the expectation that they're going to screw up and wind up in prison. My friend's partner works for Chicago Public Schools. It's absurd the number of schools that have booking stations in the schools. I mean, obviously the school has to respond to the serious problems going on it, but I wonder how much these poor kids are just getting told over and over by their parents, their community members, their teachers, and every other adult in their lives that they'll just grow up to be criminals. And then they have kids that they expect will be criminals, too, and it starts all over.

Sorry for my rant. : ( I just was thinking about all the gun violence in CPS and how utterly hopeless it all seems to me.

sunna said:

Yep, count me in the yollah crowd. We have towns on all sides of us that aren't big enough to qualify for a school, so they get bused to ours. (I was one of those kids myself, after 4th grade.)

Of course this far out in the boonies every other kid has a hunting rifle in his truck, which is less of a good thing.

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That was my experience. We had the one school. Sometimes other kids came here because they lived way out there. And everyone had a gun rack. We also had "drive your tractor to school" day.

xiaotien said:

i don't like to watch tele when i do cardio--
or read. (i'm always amazed by people who
can read while cardio'ing.) i like music and
brainstorming.

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Oh, I love reading while I do cardio! I spin, though, so I just prop my e-reader up on the bike and go to town. It's like my mini-vacation time. I used to try to read for classes, but then I realized 1) my brain doesn't work at that level while I'm sweating and 2) I have to have boundaries about how much my work bleeds into my life.

My hometown has stayed as safe as when I was in h.s. Only problem my h.s. has had recently is the football team sucking when we have a reputation for the opposite. The district was finally able to open a new h.s. a couple years ago, too, so now there's no overcrowding problem. 4 h.s. in the district plus a continuation h.s. and supported independent study program. I check up through the websites every so often and have been pleased with how the district has improved.

The private schools in the county are expensive, but at least seem to give results for the money, with top standings in sports and education (though part of that sports rep is because they recruit top athletes, which is against CIF policy).

I'm another one for sticking to the 'burbs. My mother taught in urban LA County for 30 years and no. Just no. There's a reason we lived 17 miles from her work.

Yep, private schools in SoCal are the cost of a private college education up to Ivy League education. In OC, the big ones have been around a long time with a top reputation and some famous people have their kids there, so they price accordingly. W!ll Smith's oldest boy and J0e M0ntana's son go to the same school down here.

callalily61 said:

X-Cin, private HS in your city costs 28K/year?

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There's an elementary school about a mile down the road from us that goes for 40k. Add room & board and it's something like 53k a year.

OMG, the prices on good schools is mind-boggling and makes me glad I haz dogs.

Really tired today, but got a few things done. I have lots more, since one of my betas is coming over Fri for dinner and my understanding is that she's bringing a couple bottles of wine. I need to straighten a few things before that, though. That will be a diet-breaking day, as will Sat, since I go into V3gas for my birthday party. (actual day won't be until Mon though).

This is such a big number. I remember thinking this was a very old number when I was younger and here I am at the number and thinking life is going by so quickly. I was just 30 yesterday, wasn't I? Anyway, I'm not at all freaking over turning 60, although I am somewhat nostalgic.

It has been suggested I should do a bio/memoir of the years I knew Ph1l1p k D1ck. I tried to interest Tim in writing it together, but so far neither of us has seriously thought about it. He did like my concept, though. Not much time to write it with my series and another book I'm hoping to get into after I finish Book 3. At least not for a long while.

That's it from my world for now.

I tried reading while running once, and basically fell off the treadmill. Not pretty.

Watching is nice though: a 40 minute episode makes it go by fast, and I try to sprint through all the fight scenes.

mayqueen said:

I wonder how much these poor kids are just getting told over and over by their parents, their community members, their teachers, and every other adult in their lives that they'll just grow up to be criminals. And then they have kids that they expect will be criminals, too, and it starts all over.

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This, many times over.

My BIL is the head of the alt ed program at his school, and the stories he brings home are heartbreaking: kids whose parents have set them up to fail and, it seems, are doing their best to make sure that happens. Kids that the system has deemed unworthy of more effort, who work two jobs at 16 and live with friends or in halfway houses, trying to earn a GED in what little free time they have. Kids whose whole lives to date have prepared them for prison, and who have only their overworked, exhausted teachers pulling for them. It kills me.


--And it gives me hope, too; because at 16 some of them are more focused than I was at 30, and he bends over backwards helping them, and more make it out than not.

rab, you're of the boarding schools
territory, huh? i had a friend who went
in MA and is very much a proponent of
it. her dad was a school dean for one of
those boarding schools or some such.
she is an east coaster.

it makes me wonder if she'll send her bubs
to boarding school in HS or middle school?

i can't imagine, to be honest.

also, i just took an online iq test for
the first time and got 128 which is
supposedly exceptional. i laugh. i don't
believe it.

not to mention all the shape ones,
i GUESSED.

i don't think i've ever taken a real
IQ test before, but did have to do the
logic (or whatever) section for GREs
which i hear is a lot of what LSAT is composed of.

you know,
bob is wearing a green hat on saturday
and peter can only wear a red on mondays
and fridays. if bob's purple hat is at the
cleaners on tuesday, what hat is peter
wearing on sunday?

or some such?

NO. JUST NO.

cindy, who hates logic

wait. i am above average
according to this online test.
most reputable, i'm sure.
i can take that.

lily pie, ha! that's why i knew i could
never be a lawyer. kudos to gjb, cuddles,
teri and suki who have suffered through.
it makes me want to pull my hair out!

wait, a newer puglet is a lawyer too, i believe?

xiaotien said:

rab, you're of the boarding schools
territory, huh? i had a friend who went
in MA and is very much a proponent of
it. her dad was a school dean for one of
those boarding schools or some such.
she is an east coaster.

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There are a few around here, yeah. I have cousins who went to Phillips. The one I mentioned is called G0vern0r's Academy. It used to be called Governor Dummer's Academy, but they changed the name a few years ago for obvious reasons lol.