Call me what you will....

Idealist. Naive. Clueless. Maybe I'm one of those crazy youth who truly expect I can make a difference in the world and make it a better place for upcoming generations.

But I want to.

And I know I can. Please allow me to stand on a soapbox for a few minutes. Heck, I don't need your permission. This is MY blog, afterall. However, just to warn ya'll, and to protect myself, this speech is NOT made to attack anyone of homeschool, public school, or private school descent. It's simply my thoughts.

Now that all of that has been said, for about the last 10 years, my desire has been to be a teacher for elementary children. I have been convinced during most of that time that while I wanted to teach, my children would certainly only have ONE option when it came to their own education -- Private school. Where it is ok for the children to be stuck in little uniforms and the boys think it's cooler to wear their basketball shoes with their dress khakis, and the girls are stuck with rather unflattering plaid skirts and knee highs with (yet again) tennis shoes or maryjanes. Where they would be in a place where the liberal arts would reign next in line after religion, and all would be nice and neat in middle class suburbia. No public school for them -- afterall, since I didn't experience it, and I was scared of the thought of going to one, why would I send them to one? Not that public schools can't give you a good education. My mom went to one, and she's brilliant. My roomie went to one, and she's way better at writing than me. But, still, it wasn't going to be for my kids, and I CERTAINLY wasn't going to teach at one. Yes, b/c they still scare me. Too big, and too liberal for my tastes. Better to go to a place where my conservative and biblical views nicely fit in, and I'd be free to say anything and everything that I wanted when it came to "bad subjects" such as God and family values. And, very last, I would never, ever, homeschool my children. Afterall, I went through that for 6 years, and it was plenty for me. Never mind the fact that I was able to be protected from so much of the horrible reality of the world until I was old enough to deal with it on my own. Nevermind that it gave me a great base with my mother for so much more time than being at a regular school all along would have. Nevermind the fact that I was instilled with the true, biblically founded values in a setting that is incredible, rare, and should be cherished. Never mind all that. I wouldn't make my kids sit at home b/c I didn't like the fact that I personally had never gotten the chance to eat in the lunchroom everday through middle school and talk about boys, or get kissed behind the bleachers after school. I knew what I wanted for MY future degree, and MY kids. It was all laid out.

But, then, something happened. I started to grow up. Now a scary 21 years old, I'm in "Contemporary Problems in Education." And while they have been for changing for awhile, my veiws on who I am, and who I should be, and what I should do, have drastically changed. We've been discussing the difficulties of Sex and Death Education which is occurring all over our country in our public schools. This is Affective Education (education which is not part of the liberal arts, but focuses on the "emotional growth" of the children is emphasized instead.) I'm getting to learn what's really going on out there, and it's been laid on my heart to go out there and actually try to do my best - as it is my responsibility as a Christian and a true teacher. It is not JUST my job to bring up children as intelligent newcomers to society who can be beneficial to both themselves and others by knowing how to read, write, and comprehend the liberal arts, but it is also my job to keep them from having to go through the crap of what's been going on in (some, mind you, not all) public schools. Such as FIRST graders (6 years old) have an in-class visit by a transsexual, who describes to them how to get a sex change. Such as field trips to the boys bathroom in kindergarten to see how it's different than girl's bathrooms. Being given tests that ask them if they've had sex by the time they are in third grade (9 years old.) Being told that the best birth control is contraception, not abstinence. Forcing fifty-nine 6th grade girls to have pelvic exams - in front of other girls, as part of the routine "Physical." (Which, btw...it became a court case that the parents won against the school, so the school had to pay $7,500/girl in damages. But, it was a public school. So, where did the money come from? The taxpayers/parents themselves.) Telling children to experiment sexually with people of their own sex b/c it's safer that way. Teaching kindergarteners what homophobia is. And then, there's death education, where where field trips to funeral homes are made, having plays with mock human sacrifices, and having death therapy sessions for everyone in a class...with an unqualified teacher. And, lastly, (and this infuriates me due to the especially huge impact it has made on our school...such things are not to be taken lightly at ALL...) - classes which tell the children to write their own suicide note as homework.


Sick.

Revoltingly, the list goes on and on.


I remember when Ann Coulter, speaking to a Conservative 12 year-old girl when she was here speaking at Hillsdale tell her: "Become a teacher, and work in public school. That's where you can make a difference." It stuck with me. If I want to be a teacher and a Christian, I believe it is my responsibilty to go out there and witness in everyway I can. I need to be able to make my classroom a place where the true aspects of education are taught, and keep out the nonsense of such a rediculous expenditure of precious classtime being devoted to emotionally readying them for that which is politically correct and accepted. Sure, it may not be easy. I just may be rediculed. But we, as Christians, must bear the weight of the decision we made when we pledged ourselves to the life that Christ took. His actions took HIM to the cross, and he was ready for it. What are we willing to do to help the world sit up and see what he did for us?

So, through this time, I have realized this -- homeschooling isn't as bad as my young brain thought it was. Who cares about lunch-time-middle-school gossip. And somehow, I don't think I really missed out in not getting kissed behind the bleachers. It's starting to look pretty good in my eyes that I'd be able to keep my children out of being taught about transexuality and drugs and death in first grade, and teaching them my curriculum of Biblical values instead. And, instead of my grand plan of teaching cute little kids in my plush, cute, private school where all is just as I'd like it.... Maybe God would be happy if I actually pushed my comfort level and went out and worked for HIM in a place where I'm most needed ... yeah...like those public schools that have been oh-so-scary.


Maybe, just maybe, I'm starting to grow up. Maybe I'm a little more than just a little girl................


Just something to think about. <><


so...what do YOU think?