To Parents with Children in Public School - by a student

Arkansas Publik Skulz ^ | 30 Aug 2003 | Ashley Anderson

[Atlas Sneezed]

Good letter.

Was it written by an adult activist, or is there really a student who can be shown to have written this?

[The Mayor]

I am a Christian. This is not the time for believers to stick their heads in the dirt and hope that everything goes all right. The remnant of Christ’s followers exists today as foretold in the Bible. This is the time for believers in Christ to rise up and defend the rights our Forefathers died so that we may keep. I will stand and fight until the end, because I owe it to my country. What will you do?

AMEN!!

[WestPacSailor]

AMEN!!

Big, bold, capital AMEN!

[Mears]

Very true. I have grandchildren in a school system that is political correctness run amok.

In December of the FIRST GRADE my grandaughter was learning about the Civil Rights Movement.Astonishing!

[4mycountry]

Sad sad sad, how public schools have gotten.

I'm homeschooled, and that's a wondeful thing for me. I'm just 13, but I'm very "advanced" by public school standards. I'm in grades 8-10 (we're going to do summer school and get everything up to tenth); I have Algebra and Geometery down, and am startng basic trig (sine, cosine, tangent, etc); I've finished physical science and am going on to Biology; and it is a very real possibility I could be out of high-school by the time I'm 16.

Cool, eh?

[.30Carbine]

Must read!

[.30Carbine]

Very cool.

[steplock]

THis *IS* the daughter of a friend here in Hot Springs, Artkansas.

This is a portion of the letter from her MOTHER giving me permission to publish:
======

Ashley has been working on a letter to the editor for the last week ... I asked her to try to tell parents a few things to look for as their children start school again this fall.

I helped her with a few word choices and did some editing for her to keep it down to 2 pages, but other than that, she wrote it herself, drawing on her own experiences.

======

[Ahban]

step buddy,

GREAT post. Is she actually describing an Arkansas school? If they have replaced AP with IB, and it is a UNESCO program, we need to know the district. Please freepmail me.

[netmilsmom]

Sweet!
Congrats!

[cornelis]

Was it written by an adult activist, or is there really a student who can be shown to have written this?

When I was fourteen, I wrote best like an adult activist.

[Phyto Chems]

bttt

[jocon307]

"When I was fourteen, I wrote best like an adult activist."

Cool of you to say that. Let's be vain for a sec, I always wrote well too. In fact one of my fave school assignments was to get random spelling words, and you'd have to write a story using them all. I wrote great 5 or 6 page adventure stories. They were always well received by my schoolmates. That was in public school too, about 35 years ago, but it was already much deteriorated.

We be self-esteeming!

[PleaseNoMore]

My son's HS has the IB now rather than the AP. Can you explain to me exactly what it is that I need to be concerned with? I am asking with sincerity.

[Mind-numbed Robot]

When I was fourteen, I wrote best like an adult activist.

Would it be correct to assume that most adult activists write like fourteen year olds. They certainly think like juveniles.

[wizardoz]

This is a good letter but I have one quibble. I have read The Giver, it is NOT utopian propaganda. Just the opposite, it is a cautionary tale about the horror and force underlying any ultra-controlled utopian society.

The part about killing babies is where the young hero sees, with shock, that the apparently benevolent man who is his assigned "father" has duties that include "release" of (murder of) unwanted children. The boy snatches up another child marked for "release" and tries to escape The Community. It's as anti-utopian and cautionary as 1984, Brave New World, and Fahrenheit 451. I'm surprised a girl like this didn't catch that.

[Bob]

I'm homeschooled, and that's a wondeful thing for me. I'm just 13, but I'm very "advanced" by public school standards.

Having seen quite a few of your posts on FR, I never would have guessed that you were as young as 13. I'd say that you're "advanced" by a lot more than just public school standards.

Maybe there really is hope for the future after all. :=)

[WhyisaTexasgirlinPA]

While this may be Ashley's experience in her school in Arkansas, this isn't true for all public schools. My children have been in public school in Texas and in Pennsylvania, and we homeschooled for awhile, and may possibly again in the future.

My daughter takes honors classes in her High School and has read many classic books. The kids here are required by the State to read 25 books each year. Depending upon the age/grade of the student, each book must be a certain length.

My daughter has vocab/spelling words each week in an English Comp class and I help her study - the words are very impressive -

Yes, many many kids are out of control - I have seen more of a "private school" experience in her Honors classes -

I wish Ashley great luck in her new school but hope she recognizes that there are varying degrees within the public school system.

[LiteKeeper]

INTSUM -EDUCATION