Pelosi: Use of Medicinal Marijuana Should Be Left to States

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[planekT]

A very thoughtful post. Thanks.

I home schooled my two kids this year. Texas has some of the most sensible law regarding that of any of the States, but it would not be so if it were not for groups like HDLSA.

They say what you say. If you are going to homeschool, they do not recommend that you take one thing offered from your district if you don't absolutely have to. If you do, you open yourself up to Government intrusion, and they (HDLSA) may not be able to help you.

Our school district (which as you might surmise since my kids aren't in there, I am not a big fan of them) also gripe about NCLB. I heard it from plenty of teachers. "We have to spend too much time teaching the test". Now my kids never had any trouble passing those tests, yet, both of them were dubbed with a learning disability. ADHD for my son, and though they could never quite pin an acronym on my daughter, she was also labeled as having a learning disability (guess they don't have one for strong will and sense of right and wrong, yet!).

I took my son out and we enrolled him in a private Christian school. No more damn pills. He did fine without them (put some needed weight on too). In sixth grade his reading comprehension tested at 11th grade level. Wow, he sure is learning disabled isn't he? What a joke. My daughter is extremely bright as well.

It's all about money. I called up a gentleman who used to have a gun store for a while here before his wife got sick. Just called him up out of the blue to see how things had been going since I hadn't seem him in a while. As the conversation turned to my kiddo's, he related a story to me of a friend of his who was hired to diagnose children at a public school for ADD and ADHD. He was only confirming about 1/4 of the kids they sent to him for evaluation, and I guess that just wasn't enough, because they fired him. I certainly did not find that story very hard to believe.

I think I remember reading about one school district (might have been in Utah) who did decide to stop taking federal dollars. It can be done, but I can imagine the look of disbelief on the faces of those you have spoke to who have had their hand in that "free" lunch bucket for so long that they can't imagine that there never, ever, is such a thing as a free lunch.

Parents are starting to find that out though. I hope that more parents will wake up to the fact (as I did) that the public school system, while having a zero tolerance on illegal drugs, actively promotes legal drugs through their policies. The worst thing about it is the monetary incentive for them to label children as learning disabled who are not. There is way to much of that going around.

I think you're right. If we want to be free, then we are just going to have to start saying no to a lot things, because in the long run they are proving to be harmful to us. That is unacceptable.

[Alia]

I can back up your stories out of TX with my own out of CA! In re pub ed, homeschooling, and diagnostics.

Your children are so very fortunate in having you as their parent. I am homeschooling friendly. :>

"We have to spend too much time teaching [to] the test". Now my kids never had any trouble passing those tests, yet, both of them were dubbed with a learning disability.

Both items here are troubling. I've seen far too many students dubbed with a "label' over the years and just so the school could get the EXTRA federal (and in some cases, state) dollars. And, yes I've seen a few parents play to matters of "money". It messes the kid up -- that's my observation, cultivated over a 15-year period.

I hope that more parents will wake up to the fact (as I did) that the public school system, while having a zero tolerance on illegal drugs, actively promotes legal drugs through their policies.

HA! That's what we saw in our district too; DARE being the usual "vehicle". I know some folks clamor over DARE; but it sure wasn't "adorable" in my area and for the reasons you cite.

This of yours is well said; and needs repeating, IMHO:

If we want to be free, then we are just going to have to start saying no to a lot things, because in the long run they are proving to be harmful to us.