"You shouldn't have taken your son to that march!"

by liberalhistorian
http://www.democraticunderground.com

This was the crap I heard from one of my son's teachers when I picked up the phone at work yesterday. My 12-year-old son and I participated in the march and rally in Washington, D.C., this weekend.

My son is as political as I am, WITHOUT ANY ENCOURAGEMENT FROM ME. He saw me getting involved and began studying issues and politics on his own, including magazines and newspapers. He was so incredibly excited about being in the march and being able to exercise his right as an American to express his beliefs and opinions in our nation's capital, the heart of our ever-diminishing democracy. He is particularly concerned about the Patriot Act and the various versions of the TIA (Total Information Awareness) program, and has done a lot of research on his own on these issues. So, in other words, he is definitely NOT a pawn that I have manipulated for my own use. He's very strong-willed and has a very strong mind of his own, with his own opinions and beliefs (we disagree on some issues, such as abortion, for instance).

So I was extremely upset to get that conference call from his teachers and the principal yesterday. They now want me to come in for a conference with all of them on Thursday afternoon. Apparently, he's been talking about the march and rally at school, and being a little "too political." His math teacher told him, "this is math class, not social studies class."

Now, I agree that there's a time and place for everything and that it wasn't appropriate for him to do nothing but constantly talk about it and disrupt his classes. And we will certainly be discussing that, and it will be made clear to him. But I will NOT be told by his teachers or anyone else that I had no right to take him to the march, and that I must teach him respect for the presidency. I asked her how I could do that when we don't currently have a legitimately elected president and the current "president" blatantly stole the election. Total silence on the other end of the phone. "We'll talk about it at the conference", she finally said. You goddamn well better believe we'll be talking about it, lady, I thought. Because I've frankly had enough of you people. And I've especially had enough of them telling me that I'm teaching him the wrong things politically, and that I shouldn't have taken him to the march and rally, or any other political gathering/demonstration!

My mom told me that he was extremely upset when he came home from school yesterday, he went straight up to his room and just lay on his bed, she had to go up and talk to him and calm him down. He then called me at work and we talked for awhile, we're very close so I managed to calm him down and make him feel better.

What really pissed me off was that they didn't stop at telling me that I shouldn't have taken him to the march, they actually told him that as well, that "your mother should have known better than to have taken you." Now, just how the hell do they think THAT made him feel??????????? Then his fucking art teacher told him Clinton was a far worse president and asked him "didn't his sex scandals bother you?" HELLOOOOOOOOOO???????????????? Is that something you as a teacher should ask a sixth-grader? But I was so proud of him, he fired right back, "which is worse, lying about sex or lying about getting us into the war and getting people killed for nothing?" That shut his art teacher up for awhile, although I'm sure he'll have plenty to say on Thursday! I couldn't help but laugh when he told me that.

But isn't that just a bunch of BULLSHIT? I will NOT BE TOLD BY TEACHERS AND PRINCIPALS what I should and should not teach my son and what he should and should not believe! And the other kid's parents are apparently getting upset as well. Well, TOUGH SHIT! I have the feeling that if I'd taken him to an anti-Clinton march they would have been beaming with approval! I'M SO SICK OF WINGNUTS IN SCHOOLS!!!!!!

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printed from "You shouldn't have taken your son to that march!" on 2004-04-14 11:09:53