rain rain......

I'd like to say go away, but I know the gardens need it. Except the tomatoes. I'm not sure they are digging the rain as much as everything else is. My flowers are loving it, though. Hey the sun just came out--for how long, no one knows. Ah well, we'll pray for the rain in July and August, probably...

Such fun, anyway. Last minute debate b/w myself and Chris' English teacher. So much for going thru the whole eyar without one. No kindergarten graduation--Shel's school doesn't do that anymore. No 8th grade graduation--Ben's school "does not have a gym available to seat everyone this year" as I was very snottily informed by whoever answered the phone at the middle school the other day. Yeah, well they have an auditorium, don;t they? Plus we had the secretary and the counselors try to tell me I could not pick Ben up the other morning for his orthodontist appt, because they were still taking the WESTEST. I told them that Ben needed to be in the office within the next 5 minutes or he would be late for his appt. and one finally got on the computer and checked to see where Ben was---he had finished the test 45 minutes earlier!!!!
I was preparing my "well we will just contact the police and my attorney" speech, when the one went to get him. As we were leaving the office a couple of minutes later, I looked at Ben and said, "well they tried." When I dropped him back off, I made the point of walking back into the office to sign him back in, and they were just as nice as could be. Hmmmmm....

Which brings me to my next point. The WESTEST is flawed. It does not test for the classes the kids are taking. It tests for what the powers that be think the kids should be taking. Example: for the 10th graders, it tests for biology, which it just so happens my son is taking this year. Quite a few of his friends opted to take chemistry this year, and so therefore were unprepared for all the biology on it. Should it not be given based on the class you are in? At least at the high school level? Then again, my 8th grader is taking two high school level courses while in 8th grade, instead of taking the basic courses. So this year he was tested on pre-algebra, which he took last year, instead of the algebra course he is currently taking. Go figure.

The test system is also flawed. The administrators and teachers are telling these kids that how they do on the test is how their classes for next year are scheduled and how their grades are determined, etc. Bullshit. Bluntly put. The test is a TEACHER scorecard, not a student scorecard. The test determines whether or not the school is doing their job, as defined by whatever the powers that be think that job should be. For many years now, that job has been how well the schools can teach TO the test, instead of teaching the actual material in the book. Instead of teaching kids how to reason, and use logic, and all that, the teachers are teaching that if what you think varies in the slightest from what they personally think, you are wrong. There is no room for thinking outside the box, so is it any wonder no one knows how to do that these days? No one has ever learned to think for themselves, because they have been taught not to. And then we wonder why so many 40 yr olds are still living with mommy and daddy and working as pizza delivery guys or something---because they have not been taught any differently.

My mom works at the university in this area, and comes in contact with professors from all different depts. And the majority have told her, and me when we talk about it with those that come into my store, that even some of the brightest kids coming into college are woefully unprepared for studies at the college level. They still expect to have it spoon fed to them, and that mommy and daddy will still fight their battles for them.

Mine didn't. The only battle they fought for me was the financial aid one, after I had reached the end of my tether over it. I remember Dad telling the lady in the financial aid office, as he was reaching the end of his patience, that he would come to campus and camp out on the president's doorstep unless she had a package together in the next 15 minutes. Keep in mind this was late July---bill was due within the next week, and the office had had all my paperwork since February or March. But they were working on the K's at that point; they hadn't gotten to the C's yet........Hello????

The financial aid officer had the package ready well within the allotted time.

But when it came to class schedules, assignments, grades, etc., that was my job. I was there, and my job was to learn. Some days I did better than others, some classes I did excellently in, others I bombed. All on my own merit. Even when I took a philosophy class and my term paper directly went against the belief of the professor, I still got a high B, because, like he said, it was a well thought out paper and I defended my position with facts, and he could not take off for that. See, I knew how to think, how to reason. Some days I wonder where that ability has gone too, and other days, I think I have to much of that ability. But I had it. And I used it. And I graduated in 4 yrs and have worked, with little exception, ever since. My actual degree in psychology may have gotten me in the door of the workplace, but it was my ability that has kept me there.

At the age of 40, I have worked, like I said with few exceptions, since I was 16. I have worked both entry level and management level positions. I have been both hourly and salaried, with benefits and without. The biggest change I have seen in my industry is in those who apply for work----the majority cannot properly fill out an application, math skills are history---if the correct answer does not appear on the computer screen, forget it----and most cannot think for themselves. Which so aggravates those of us who were educated without calculators and computers telling us the right answers, and who have had to problem solve on our own, after being told by our supervisor to figure it out and get the job done. These kids, and many of my own generation, can't handle it. They need babysat. They need to be led like 2 yr olds thru the maze.

Enough of my diatribe for now--it's sunny now and I'm going outside......