Confession

Late this afternoon, I did something I'm not particularly proud of.  I exempted myself from Jury Duty.  I know, I know, not the juiciest of confessions but I am pretty sure that Mrs. Southard, my excellent but very intimidating Government teacher, would not approve.  Civic duties are important and should be fulfilled if at all possible.
It was surprisingly easy to opt out.  I simply entered my juror number and checked my reason for exemption (having custody of children under the age of 15 who required my presence at home) and, like magic, I'm off the hook.
Of course, if I'd wanted to, I could have asked Madeleine, Jack or Barbara to babysit on the 24th while I spent the day downtown at Jury Duty.  Not my first choice of a way to spend a vacation day away from my job as head teacher at The Doyle All Girl Academy, but possible.
Here's the thing though--I do not feel particularly motivated to bend over backward to support the "system".  I recognize the need for government, laws and all the rest.  The problem is that in one big area that is very important to me--education--the powers that be are not doing a very good job.  I say that from the perspective of both a parent and a teacher.
As you know, we, like many, many families, have opted to educate our children at home.  This saves the government money because we are sending five fewer children through the school system.  We absorb all the costs of our kids' education and, in the end, if we are like most home schoolers, our results will be better than the public schools' both academically and in the area of citizenship.  I think it would be fair for us and all home schoolers to receive at least a small tax credit.  I don't want anything that comes with government interference, just an amount for each child not drawing from public school funds.
That will not happen for two reasons--#1) the government has little interest in supporting home schooling or encouraging it in any way because  #2) school today is as much about sensitivity training or institutional "brain washing" as anything else.
If that sounds far fetched to you, you might want to pull up a list of the books taught in English class in junior high and high school these days (these will be different depending on where you live).  I looked at a few different lists at the beginning of this year in an attempt to find some standard reading lists but recognized few titles.  They all seem to deal with kids with sexual identity issues, serious family issues, drugs, you name it.  Traditionally, English class is where students are supposed to read good literature, learn to write well, think critically and contribute to a good discussion and other related things.  If you talk to college teachers (including myself), many will tell you that they are getting students lacking in most of those areas.  Many are totally unprepared for college level courses.  As a result, the first part of college involves filling in the gaps in a student's high school education.  In my opinion, that is sad and a misuse of both time and money.
But back to Jury Duty.  I said that I wasn't proud of shirking.  In an ideal world, I would be there doing my best to be a fair juror.  Really though,  I'm probably doing more for society by staying home and teaching my kids that day.  Sophie is learning to read, we're almost finished studying the planets and Grace and I are getting ready to start sacrament preparation.  I think I'm okay with letting someone else fill in for me this time.  Sorry Mrs. Southard!