I'm Afraid It's Already..

...starting.

If you know me, you know its no secret one of my boys did extremely poorly in school last year. He was being picked on and he just couldn't make himself do the work....I couldn't make him either and I tried EVERYTHING!

Punishment, rewards, incentives, negation, negotiation, helicopter parenting, tutoring, yelling, jumping up and down...You name it, I tried it, but nothing worked.

He wasn't a troublemaker. Although, he has a mouth he often forgets to turn off.

Gee, I wonder where he got that from...

He didn't get into any physical altercations.

He didn't get sent down to the principal for behavioral issues.

I never got phones calls about his classroom behavior. (Although, I did get phone calls about his missing assignments and lack of work...usually when it was too late to do anything about it)

He's a good kid who just can't teach himself how to persevere through hours of lectures and worksheets.

He's an athlete. Well, he was an athlete until his grades sank so low they were the Titanic's new neighbor.

Now he's in a program that allows students to work at their own pace. They read, take notes, and then test. He doesn't change classrooms. His teachers come to him. It's a relaxed environment, as long as he's working.

Sounds perfect!

At first, when it was suggested, I went bat-shit crazy. I was angry, but the more I heard about the program the more I thought it was right in his wheelhouse.

Until today.

It's the first day of school. We'd already been through schedule pick up. Got his books and his ID. All set!

He came home today and the first thing he showed me was that he got a new ID. It's purple. Made to stand out. Made to label him as a kid who couldn't do well in a traditional classroom setting. Made to isolate him from the rest of the school. In his words, "It's so everyone knows I belong in ***."

This program has a separate entrance for these particular students. They eat lunch before all of the other students in the school. They are released out of this particular set of doors.

Absolutely NO interaction with the general population of the high school.

The more I think about it, the more upset I get. I haven't quite gotten to the point of angry yet, but I can feel it brewing like the humidity lets you know a storm is coming.

He's not a deviant.

I don't want him to become a deviant.


He doesn't even have a chance to eat lunch with this friends.

I'm sure he's not the only student that's not a deviant that's in this program, but he's the only one that's mine.

Did I throw him to the wolves?

While I understand that everyone's high school experience is different, do I want his to be one of isolation and labeling?

~Kim