Letting it Go

My daughter has been out of public school for almost 2 years now. While at public school, she endured abuse - mental, physical and emotional - from her classmates, and she endured ignorance and blatant stupidity from those who were supposed to be teaching her. Of the two, the latter has been easier for her to let go of.

Sure at first, it was a daily battle to correct misinformation, but that aspect of school soon faded to memory.

The other... We're still working on it. I can understand it. She smothered under that crap for years, and it's hard to shake off the worst of it. (Heck, I can still remember the face of the girl who tried to push me off the stage during the 5th grade play.) I get it.

But while sitting in the stands at the local bee a couple weeks ago, I was stunned to find her tormentors couldn't seem to let it go either. Snide whispers drifted to my ears, and afterwards when I asked my child who was sitting behing me, and she named the three girls who had been the worst of the pack. My daughter and I discussed it, and I find out the same girls were pushing her around during last year's state testing. (I wish she'd have told me. I would have made the whole thing stop. :growl: )

I don't get it. Really I don't. Let it go. In a few years nothing any of these children say or do will matter one whit in the scheme of the universe. Heck, it doesn't matter now.

So, to underscore my point here, let me point you to a particularly poignant article: Socializing Students for Anarchy. It's one I used to print out and give to her public school teachers, until I got sick of banging my head on the wall of their stubborn ignorance.

Heh. I guess I've got some things I should be letting go of myself. ;o)