Thursday, February 10, 2011
Jenn: Thoughtlessness
Posted by
Cara
I have been very busy this morning - in a space of a few hours, I have gotten up, gotten dressed, gotten three children fed and sent off to school with lunch in hand. I have gone to a PTA meeting, the DMV and the bank and am now temporarily back home.
The DMV was a breeze - I was there a total of 5 minutes - I kid you not. I got my number - they basically told me they couldn't help me without certain documents that I needed from the bank and I left. Next hit the bank. 10 minutes there but left with the satisfaction of knowing that the documentation I needed would be mailed today. A good day.
What nagged at me both at DMV & the bank, was an encounter earlier this morning at the PTA meeting. I couldn't shake it. I went over all the coulda and shoulda's in my mind. Then decided I really just needed to get over it - but not without telling you about it first.
First some background for any of you reading this who may not be locals. Cara and I live in a small town. Not as small as some but definitely small for our area. We occasionally refer to it as Mayberry because we were called that once in a national news magazine. This small town has 1 high school, 1 middle school, 2 elementary schools and a kindergarten - first grade center. There has been a rivalry between the two elementary schools for as long as they have been here. There tends to be an elitist attitude of one toward the other. One school is perceived as better. Parents and staff deny this rivalry publicly but privately it is out there.
Cara and I and a handful of other parents have a unique perspective. We have had children in both schools. Is what better than the other? No. Are they vastly different? Absolutely. They both have pros and cons and at the end-of-the-day, achieve the same goal - the education of our children. At the PTA meeting today, the social worker, who was speaking about bullying, made a off-hand derogatory remark toward the school my older children attended. I looked at Cara - did she just say that? Really? So there it is - on record - all the denying from the staff that they don't consider their school better is bullshit - cause the social worker just made a comment about the students of the other school. I have to say I was fuming. I approached the social worker at the end of the meeting and told her I didn't appreciate her comments as a parent of children who attended the "other" school. I was insulted. She told me it was only a joke. Exactly - a joke at the expense of other children in our school district. I told her she was perpetuating the myth of one school being better than the other with her comment and she should keep it in the back of her mind next time she spoke about the two schools. I am still mad about the whole exchange - but hopefully next time she speaks, it will be with thoughtfulness and not thoughtlessness.
The DMV was a breeze - I was there a total of 5 minutes - I kid you not. I got my number - they basically told me they couldn't help me without certain documents that I needed from the bank and I left. Next hit the bank. 10 minutes there but left with the satisfaction of knowing that the documentation I needed would be mailed today. A good day.
What nagged at me both at DMV & the bank, was an encounter earlier this morning at the PTA meeting. I couldn't shake it. I went over all the coulda and shoulda's in my mind. Then decided I really just needed to get over it - but not without telling you about it first.
First some background for any of you reading this who may not be locals. Cara and I live in a small town. Not as small as some but definitely small for our area. We occasionally refer to it as Mayberry because we were called that once in a national news magazine. This small town has 1 high school, 1 middle school, 2 elementary schools and a kindergarten - first grade center. There has been a rivalry between the two elementary schools for as long as they have been here. There tends to be an elitist attitude of one toward the other. One school is perceived as better. Parents and staff deny this rivalry publicly but privately it is out there.
Cara and I and a handful of other parents have a unique perspective. We have had children in both schools. Is what better than the other? No. Are they vastly different? Absolutely. They both have pros and cons and at the end-of-the-day, achieve the same goal - the education of our children. At the PTA meeting today, the social worker, who was speaking about bullying, made a off-hand derogatory remark toward the school my older children attended. I looked at Cara - did she just say that? Really? So there it is - on record - all the denying from the staff that they don't consider their school better is bullshit - cause the social worker just made a comment about the students of the other school. I have to say I was fuming. I approached the social worker at the end of the meeting and told her I didn't appreciate her comments as a parent of children who attended the "other" school. I was insulted. She told me it was only a joke. Exactly - a joke at the expense of other children in our school district. I told her she was perpetuating the myth of one school being better than the other with her comment and she should keep it in the back of her mind next time she spoke about the two schools. I am still mad about the whole exchange - but hopefully next time she speaks, it will be with thoughtfulness and not thoughtlessness.
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1 comments:
This attitude has gotten worse not better over the years. The worst offenders are people that went to the other school as kids and now send their kids to this one. Ridiculous!!
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