Both of my school-age granddaughters are complaining about recent school events. This is a great sign that they are alert and aware of what is going on.
There is the little rumble about their homework that must be done 4 days a week.
It must be done, so it is.
There are the standardized tests that are beginning to make their appearance. That's OK too, since there has to be baseline for understanding who knows what – no matter how irrelevant it is to objectively gauge a person's intelligence, genius or overall usefulness, not to mention that a test could never measure the depth of kindness or potential for courage for sacrifice they may be able to make.
There are also the disturbing reports they bring home about other things going on like the HVAC units and vents being sanitized to keep them from getting H1N1 but that same day their deskmate was in class 30 minutes after a visit to a physician had confirmed they had pneumonia and they had been given an antibiotic with assurances that the strain of pneumonia they were carrying was probably not contagious to most children. Of course that raises the questions as to what to do about the 3-12% that might be sensitive to the bacterial strain?!?
So, with lungs irritated by chlorine bleach and the stress of school in general, we stir in a child who is a walking petri dish.
This is one Papa pretty angry at a parent treating a teacher, class of children and a school like a sick-child clinic.
It is sad the child is sick but worse that the parents are so callous.
Just where is that test for stupid parental behavior?
Speaking of test and bringing up tests throughout the ages ... in the latter stages of Middle Ages, which is technically pre-second Renaissance, our modern university system was developing and scholars who wanted the recognition of their masters and their institutions went through rigorous examinations which lasted for long periods of time. So difficult were the tests that bodyguards were assigned to the examiners to protect them from assault.
We've come a long way haven't we?
Plague and security problems in school. Imagine.
Now, if the 14th Century University Of Paris had buses, what color would they have been painted? © tim tim@timjohnsonphoto.com
