Arresting Someone for Trying to Better Their Kids' Lives? Piss Off!

There are a few stories I've seen that have my dander up (and I really should update this blog more but between a steady paying temp job, paid writing work & other responsibilities, my schedule has been a little crazy lately) but this one takes the cake. It also hits a personal note for me since I was a smart kid and education was huge in my household. When I was little, my father insisted that we both go to college. There was no negotiation on that point. Neither of my parents went, though my mom actually didn't want to aside from cost issues. Plus, in those days college was akin to a graduate level degree today.

This story is also personal to me since I lived in CT at one time and know the stories about how bad Bridgeport is. I also spent a fair amount of time going to the ferry.

The powers that be in Norwalk should be ashamed of themselves. Where is their outrage for the conditions in the Bridgeport schools? Why should this woman's son be forced to get a substandard education because of who he was born to? Do you think he asked to live in a poor community? What parent wouldn't do this for their kids? If mine were in this woman's shoes, you'd better believe she would.

Should I have been denied admission to AP level classes because of where I went to school? Don't people living in poverty have enough problems to deal with without being forced into a substandard school system to get an inferior education that won't do shit for them in life? Is it any wonder the dropout rates are so high & kids in those areas turn to a life of crime, living on welfare, or whatever else they have to in order to survive?

They'll never get admitted to good schools when they have no foundation or real education to speak of. I feel bad for the kids at my school who were taking regular level classes. You did not learn squat in them, largely because the troublemakers were put there but that's another story.

That is yet another reason I support homeschooling but what if you can't afford it because you are a parent who has to work or there is no local homeschooling teacher to go to who will not cost a fortune?

How about instead of punishing this woman for trying to do right by her kids we go after the real issue, which is education funding and equality for everyone in that regard? I, in particular, don't think the quality of your education should be based on accident of birth.

Want to run that "pull yourself up by your boostraps" argument to me again? You're just starting to sound like a bigger moron the more you use it. Personal motivation can only take you so far.

If you ask me, this woman should be celebrated as an example of a great, dedicated parent giving 100% to her children. That's more than you can say for some of these lazy asshole rich folk who refuse to admit their little precious is capable of wrongdoing and threaten to sue when the school doesn't put up with their crap or a teacher "hurts their little feelings." I'd like to see how involved the parents in this school district are in their kids' lives and what the teachers think of them. I'm sure we'd find some deadbeats in the bunch who refuse to be PARENTS and whose children are wasted in this "good" school system.

How's about an exchange system or an education system like in Europe where smart kids with potential get to advance and are not held back because their parents don't have a million bucks? You call it socialism? Well, I call forcing smart kids to be on the same level as the slowest kids & never letting them move forward an act of socialism. How do you like that?