So a public school teacher told me this afternoon that in thirteen years of teaching, she had never had a child illustrate a picture book the way my son had, so it had upset her, and she wouldn’t tolerate it. I let her know that in thirteen years, she has never had a child as amazing as my son, end of story.
Here is a little more detail:
The teacher drew pictures of Santa, and he was supposed to write the story behind it.
He started off with Santa not wanting to get up, so a bear hit him over the head with a bell (instead of ringing the bell while standing over him). Then they tried to steal his pants (instead of helping him get his pants on). Next, the reindeer chased Santa, and a dog tried to eat the reindeer, and Santa crashed his sled, got stuck in a chimney and went to jail for trespassing.
All very appropriate to the pictures (if you were to see them) – but none of them fitting the "perfect sheep like mold" setup by public schools. The teacher tried to tell me that it was violent, and tried to use the fact that she had never had a child in thirteen years, teaching 3 sets of students each year, ever write a story like that, and she was deeply disturbed.
Her version of "creative" was when one child said that Santa had to say "Ho Ho Ho" three times before he did anything. I’m thinking that OCD is not creative, it’s a disease – and was left pondering what a sad existence she must have to think that "Ho Ho Ho" is creative, and think my son’s creativity "disturbing". I made sure to point out what a tragedy it was that she never had a child as creative as my son.
I then proceeded to ask her if she lived in the same world that I live in, if she had ever watched the loony toons, and finished my diatribe by letting her know, that without any question, the one thing I will not let public school do to any of my children is to file them into round pegs and strip them of their creativity and their identity.
Other than that though; the school system as a whole is doing very well to help him work through his anxiety, hyperactivity, and boredom regarding the pace of going to public school. They have definitely been willing to work with him at his own pace on some of the issues that he does need to work on, so I have to give them the level of appreciation that is due.
But dampening his creativity, and molding his identity into what they think a "good little child" should be, is something that I will never let happen! Ever!