Let me preface this post by first saying that I am *NOT* a *FAN* of President Bush. I did not vote for him, I don't agree with how he has handled the war, and I don't think he is the most intelligent man. I say this because much of this post has to do with our president and I don't want anyone to think that what I am upset about is related to a right wing wacko mentality.

Ok, so I mentioned in my post yesterday that I would be talking about what my daughter heard in school. It started actually earlier on in the week on our typical ride home - the girls are asleep in the back, and it's just her and me. We talk about everything and anything. We actually have most of our meaningful discussions during these rides home when I feel like the best mom in the world :-D (totally not part of the story but whatever :-D) So on a ride home last week she started telling me about a writing assignment she had in class about the three legged frogs. I was like "Um, ok" she continues to tell me that there is this area (somewhere) where there are frogs that have three legs or one arm or one eye or something weird. She continued to tell me that this was due to pollution. And that pollution had to do with people dumping garbage where ever they wanted to. So I asked what the assignment was exactly and she said that she had to write a letter to President Bush asking him to do something about it. Now I really started to perk up because she said it with a tone. A tone of 'psssh like HE'D do anything about it'. So I asked, "Well what SHOULD he do about it?" She said "Well, I don't know. That wasn't what we were supposed to write about. We were just supposed to write him a letter telling him he needed to do SOMETHING about it". At first I thought, 'hmmmm, they could have made that a more thought provoking assignment. make em think about what COULD be done, not just by the president but by anyone. really get them thinking about how even a kid can have an impact.' you know stuff like that. But that was it. Until Saturday...



Saturday evening we got home late from being out at the new neighborhood. So I went upstairs to help her and my littlier one get dressed and in bed. As I was helping the little one, my 9 (NINE) year old says in that coaxing way-of-getting-you-to-ask-what-they-are-upset-about-without-saying-they-are-upset way "I woke up before we got home cause I couldn't sleep very well. That's why I woke up early today and yesterday too." - I was intrigued. So I asked her why. MY NINE YEAR OLD DAUGHTER SAYS "well, I'm just really scared about going to war. I know I'm only 9 but I'm about to be 10 and that means it's only 8 more years until I have to sign up for the draft." - !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! - WTF?!?!?!?! "I really don't want to go to war but President Bush is going to make me because he is going to make the draft a law and that means I have to go as soon as I turn 18" - !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! - WTF?!?!?!?!?!? I am SCREAMING in my head! I said "UM....WHAT?! Where did you hear that?" I was thinking she saw it on some stupid kid show, a cartoon, an old movie, the radio - some unreliable source that may spout off opinions and portray them as fact. I never dreamed she would say it was her substitute teacher.



I asked her what EXACTLY happened and what exactly she was worried about. Because as you and I well know - there is A LOT about her statement that is just factually incorrect and I just couldn't imagine that it could come from her teacher. She told me that it stemmed from YET ANOTHER WRITING ASSIGNMENT ADDRESSED TO PRESIDENT BUSH. They were told to write a letter to President Bush explaining how she would feel if inducted into the army by way of the draft - not worded like that you understand - but that is how I am relating it. She then told me about the president was GOING to reinstate the draft and that she WOULD be going to war. I of course stated and explained the two OBVIOUS points

1. He has NOT reinstated the draft and MOST LIKELY won't (and I told her why)


2. YOU ARE A GIRL - women are not required to go to war by the draft - it's only for men.

She tells me "NO! My teacher said girls have to go too! And that he IS GOING to start the draft". I had to KEEP telling her that it was incorrect information but she was still totally convinced that the teacher was right.

When you're a kid, the only law higher or equal to your parents is school. How can a teacher who is supposed to be 'teaching' you this stuff, be wrong? If this person is teaching you something, they HAVE TO know what they are talking about and therefore be RIGHT. So that lead into the discussion of how SOME teachers, especially in high school and college, teach opinion as fact. Then I had to explain the difference between the two and how that related to what the teacher had told her. I tried to explain that not EVERY person between the ages of 18-34 could leave - and I told her that if you have a past serious injury, or asthema, or are the sole provider for a family - OR A GIRL - that you don't have to go. She says "NO, my teacher said that even if you are overweight you have to go because they will make you lose weight". and then she says "OH GOOD that you and dad go though, I was worried that you would have to too." - I was like WOW, this REALLY affected her!

So when me telling her that it was NOT going to happen, and if it did she would NOT have to go - she was still upset and I don't think really believed me! So that lead into the discussion of WHY he won't reinstate the draft. THAT lead into the governmental process as a WHOLE. THAT lead into a discussion about how we the people DO have power - we can vote. If we don't like that the president decides on a draft we can then vote for a president that WON'T want a draft. She then says "YEAH, so then we can get RID of President Bush and the next president can get rid of the draft!" - I was REALLY suprised by how she basically blamed the president for something he hadn't even done! She was totally ANTI-Bush! And since she has definetily not picked up the hatred from me, I can only think it came from the teacher who set up *at least* TWO anti-Bush assignments.

Now, I'm not saying that these assignments shouldn't have been given, they could have just been a *LOT* less squed! The first could have had them thinking of solutions not blame. The second should have AT LEAST been portrayed in a FACTUAL invironment!

SO - today I marched my ass into the office to get some answers. I asked for some contact information on filing a complaint against a subsititute teacher. The vice principal only had the district phone number but then got me into the office with the principal. I did't want to come off like a righteously-indignant-my-kid-is-NEVER-wrong kind of parent so I really tried to keep my composure and organize my thoughts and words so it didn't show how my heart was pounding out of my chest! I told her that my daughter was losing sleep over it and that things were said that were incorrect and that I really didn't appreciate the propoganda going on. I told her that maybe if it were just the one incident I would't be as concerned, but it seemed she had an agenda and I didn't appreciate it. Then my kids teacher happened to walk by. The principal called her in and I'm on the fence about how it went after that point.

Before she came in the principal was listening intently to what I had to say. Not saying anything about my kid being wrong or misunderstanding or whatever - just listening and thinking that it didn't sound like something that should have been brought up. THEN, when the teacher came in she IMMEDIATELY got defensive. She wouldn't look at me, just kept looking at her boss. She KEPT SAYING 'well it wasn't in my lesson plan!" - I was like 'CHILL - DAMN - no one is insinuating that YOU had anything to do with this.' She still wouldn't look at me, and then said "i'm sure she just misunderstood. I KNOW the sub wouldn't have said that." - I was like "WELL, SHE DID. Misunderstanding or not, the information was INCORRECT." - Then the principal says something about making it known not to have any assignments about the war at all and I said "Well, I think it would have been fine if it was done in a FACTUAL environment!"

I mean, if she would have said 'they had a draft a long time ago, this is what happened - how do you think you would have felt?' - THAT would have been interesting, factual and thought provoking. BUT SHE DIDN'T. She told my 9 year old that the president WAS instituting the draft and she WOULD be going to war.

And *IF* she didn't, and my kid misunderstood, it must have been a pretty BAD explaination because my kid is pretty smart and picks things up pretty easy - she would not have jumped to those conclusions because she would have had the misinformation unless that teacher gave it to her. So, seeing that they were now "OH YEAH, she just misunderstood" - "It's no big deal, her teacher will pull her aside and talk to her about it" - I knew I done, they had decided that was the story and that was that. So I just basically pleaded with her to please tell ALL OF THE KIDS that it's not happening and give them the FACTS so my 9 year old *GIRL* isn't worried that she is going off to die in battle in 8 years.

Well I guess that's it. My train of thought TOTALLY derailed there when my connection went down and THANK GOODNESS for the new auto save Blogger feature - YAY! cause I didn't totally lose the post. So that's all for today... let me know what you thought about this situation I had here. I guess I'll wait until tomorrow (or so ;-) to post about the bbq yesterday chocked FULL of family fun! :-D *sacrastic tone implied...

TNT!