Please feel free to tell me what you think about the school trend of pushing prescription medication. You can also feel free to tell me I'm being stupid by making such a big deal out of it. Or offer some helpful advice to someone who is seriously considering homeschooling from now on. Just tell me like it is. I promise I won't get mad. :)

-- Lee M (lela@ficom.net), September 21, 2000

Answers

Amy,

Teaching my kids at home has never been my first alternative, believe me. Jim and I did discuss it for a while, but I knew that my patience and teaching skills would probably do nothing but end up failing Lauren. I thought she'd be better off in a school house surrounding with a teacher who knew what they were doing. It's so hard to drop her off each day and have to worry about all this stuff, though. It's just so damn frustrating and drives me crazy. Thanks for your input. At least you don't think I'm crazy. :)

Kathleen,

I haven't seen any follow-up articles listing what the medications were exactly. In all the news reports, they do not mention what the name of the drugs are. I'm beginning to wonder if they even know. But if I hear, I will definitely let you know. I do think you are right about this is how they get them hooked and started. I have just noticed that once it was done in one school, there were immediately two more schools where it was happening. It's like - if they are going to do it then so am I - type thing. It reminds me of the school shootings and how they kept happening all over the place once the first one occured. It's really scary.

Thank you both for your comments so far. I appreciate them.

-- Lee M (lela@ficom.net), September 21, 2000.

I don't think you're making a big deal out of it at all. My son is in the third grade and luckily, nothing strange has happened in his school. I guess I've been lucky. But I'm sure the day will come when something like this comes up and my child is involved. Sometimes I think private school is the answer, but unfortunately, the same types of things happen in private schools. My opinion on home schooling is this: I know I sure as hell couldn't do it, nor do I want to. And I also believe that children need to learn the socialization skills that they learn in schools. There are pros and cons to both home school and public/private schools.

-- Amy (amilagirl@yahoo.com), September 21, 2000.

I was amused you apologized from writing "random thoughts" because you stayed with one topic and made each point well. ;)

Anyway, I must say I'm as confused as you are. Do you happen to know what kinds of medication the students were giving out? Cholesterol medication, for instance, would be a weird thing, but I'm figuring it was some sort of pain killer or something that would get them high?

I know that some drug dealers will start off a new user by giving him/her free drugs, and then when the user is hooked and NEEDS the drugs, then he/she has to pay for them. Perhaps that is why the students were giving away the medication...so they could earn money down the road a bit.

Even prescription medicines can cause you to get high so I'm thinking someone had the great idea of going to Mexico, for instance, where you can buy prescription drugs over-the-counter, and selling them to their friends back home. That's merely a guess, but it makes the most sense with the information I have so far.

~Kathleen

-- Kathleen (kathleen@johndoe.org), September 21, 2000.

Hi Lee :)

I sympathize, I really do. My kids are teenagers now and the fears only get worse.

I couldn't have home schooled. I had to stop helping my older one with his homework in grade 6 because the house was like a war zone. He had teachers; he had a tutor once a week. If that wasn't enough then if he had to repeat a year that wouldn't have been the end of the world. (As it happened, he didn't.)

I don't believe in home schooling because of the lack of socialization and lack of different perspectives too. It does nothing to prepare the child for the real world IMO. Perhaps they do better in academic tests but how significant is that to life, really??

If you don't feel secure sending your child to school then there are bigger issues which you're only avoiding by homeschooling. You can't keep them hidden at home all the time. Bad things can happen out of school too. If your area is really unsafe, consider moving; if it's not better anywhere else, consider measures to change things. Speak to your Principal. Maybe volunteer parents could patrol the halls or something. Whatever.

My philosophy is, the worst thing you can do is shelter kids beyond what's age-appropriate. I don't mean let them go play in traffic; I do mean prepare them. You said yourself YOU were brought up not to take candy from strangers. I think of it as parallel to inoculation against disease. You can't keep all the viruses away from your kids so you use a vaccine. Teaching them to be street-smart (and have common sense, and to value themselves and their safety) is about all you can do; then just pray for the best.

Well that was long.. :)

Pauline

-- Paulineee (paulineee_@hotmail.com), September 22, 2000.