Special

Our granddaughter is the light of our lives. She's giggly, funny and dramatic. In this strange era we're in, we are supposed to accept the acclamations of toddlers as valid. We're supposed to encourage and especially celebrate and AFFIRM their choices, even though they hold limited ability to reason and limited experience with which to compare. We have teens who claim to be the gender opposite of their birth or even choose to be a different species.

So it with all the pride in the world I tell you-

Our granddaughter is a cheeseburger.

She's told us this for a week now, so by the modern conventions, we should be slathering her with mustard and topping her off with onions and pickles. Don't be ridiculous, you say, and you would be right. She's two. She' s exercising her imagination, her sense of humor and her observations. A couple of weeks back, she was a ballerina. Before that she was a puppy. Next week? Who knows? But again SHE IS TWO YEARS OLD.

This is my point, All kids play with their identities as young children. The membrane between pretend and reality is very thin. The idea that we should honor the whimsical musings of a toddler is a great example of adults not being parents. Parents exist to confirm to the child that their imaginary ideas are not based in reality. It is wonderful for a child to make believe and mimic the world around them. What is not okay is adult projecting their own mental fragility on children for the same of self-gratification.

For example, if a child is given a doctor's play set, you certainly wouldn't demand they start writing prescriptions or operate on siblings. If a child has a toy cash register, you wouldn't send them out to work at the local Dollar Store at the age of four. So why are we letting these soft brained adults ruin children's lives by "affirming" things that simply are not true?

I predict in twenty years, the horror stories of gender reassignment will result in massive lawsuits against name universities, hospitals and individual providers. That American doctors are stubbornly clinging to the disproven theories on gender dysphoria when many other studies showing that gender dysphoria is much more about mental health than physical well being makes them appear they are only in it for the money. What is more, the medical damage done by faulty medication and drastic surgery of otherwise healthy young people will be viewed in the same light that the Chinese recall footbinding today.

We need to stop allowing a tiny minority of the population proselytize for a lifestyle by catering to kids who are already struggling. It's not a secret many of the children going under the knife for drastic surgical removal and alteration of healthy tissue are suffering from a variety of issues including depression, anxiety, autism and many have been sexually assaulted, adding to the trauma. It's time to stop being afraid of being called a bigot for protecting your children. I is also time for the role of parents, most of them mothers, who exhibit signs of mental illness before sacrificing innocent kids on the altar of transgenderism to be addressed.

Why Teachers Quit.

My district, under some truly delusional actions by the state of Texas, has implemented a program known as total inclusion. No pull outs, no special classes, no content mastery or small group teaching for the kids who struggle to function. Instead general ed teachers are supposed to magically develop the skills to intuitively know how to address multiple IEP mandates for multiple children within a regular classroom setting. To some, this may sound like insanity, but to many this is the endgame for special education wherein teachers are simply observers and record keepers. The sad thing is, I'm a good teacher. I find kids who have talent and I get them to where they need to be. I write recommendation letter, I find college sponsors, I push them, I reward them-which last time I heard is what a teacher is supposed to do. But the New Regime, a rather aggressive and arrogant movement led by Special Ed teachers who see general ed teachers as The Enemy, seem intent on making our lives more complex than it should be.

First, there is the placement itself. A student with mild challenges can be easily incorporated into a regular class with support. That means that the general ed teacher is informed-FULLY-and that care is taken to place the student into a class where his or her numbers won't tip the apple cart. But what is happening is that because of scheduling special core classes for these groups, a full third of some classes hold severely disabled students in a regular classroom. That in itself creates a situation where the teacher must pay due to the special ed student first leaving the regular students to their own devices. Then you have 504's, BIP's and other special designations. We have to file no less than five and sometimes as many as nine pieces of paper every single week PER STUDENT, which with ten students results in 90 pieces of paper be handled. Today the head of Special Ed celebrated all the necessary data we are generating. What she ignores is that in order to do this, many teachers are dumbing down programs, ignoring advanced students and diluting rigor in programs.

Second, there is the issue of classroom management. I am one of those teachers who rarely if ever sends students to the principal. Generally speaking, special ed students aren't referred for behavioral problems. But when you have a situation where you have autistic spectrum kids who can be set off by too bright a light, or a word or an emotionally disturbed student who likes to openly rant over ways to attack people it makes it hard to encourage students to stay in an elective program. when they view it as a holding area for kids who cannot do anything else.I spent half an hour on Friday trying to convince an amazingly talented sophomore to stay in art after she was verbally assaulted by an emotionally disturbed student. My fear is that the talented students will leave and my classes truly will little more than a place to put every problem, every kid who fights, every kid with issues.

I have five years until I can retire. Five years. That's 900 days of teaching. What's sad is I am good at what I do. I had more kids get 5's on their AP portfolios that the rest of the district combined. I have more kids taking AP than any other school. I have more kids in elite art schools or in art programs in major universities than any other teacher in the district. That is what I have always thought I was supposed to do-make kids successful. And while I am good at finding those kids who never realized they had talent, the stark reality is that someone who can't move their arms, cannot read, cannot write, cannot talk, is probably not destined for anything beyond a very limited life. I want to make their lives pleasant, but not at the cost of everyone else. After today, I feel broken. I feel that all my work is simply not worth it. I believe that everything I have done to build up the program has been nothing more than a joke.

I wish I felt differently. I wish I could feel more hopeful. But this is what the feelgood policies of the current crop of educational elites and the politicians of the Left has done to the once noble idea of a free public education. I hope my children will be able to afford decent private schools for their kids. It's over.

Neglectful Blog Owner-Looking In the Mirror

I post quite frequently at MyFoxDFW, but since the election I haven't really had the time or the heart to blog. Personally, we were going through what most of the nation has had to endure. My husband was laid off for the first time in his life. But the good news is that his good reputation and contacts in the industry made it possible for him to get a job as a sales rep. It's a tough gig-straight commission and exploring new territory, but it's doable. And I suppose that's the message I would like to send to folks who are currently dealing with this economic crisis. You may not come out of this as rich in "things" as you were before, but as the Great Depression shaped the Greatest Generation, this has the possiblity of changing the most egocentric generation and their children into Real Adults. And isn't that really what we need in this nation?