My Letter to the First Lady....

In my life, I have written hundreds of letters to various government officials, none of which I've ever sent. That's one of my weird quirks.. I will get super involved in researching, writing, and rewriting my letter.. and fail greatly at the buying a stamp and putting it in the post.

Yay modern times and email! So here is my letter that I sent to Mrs. Obama. Click here to send your own email.

Dear Mrs Obama,

I am writing to you as I appreciate that you have used your position to directly address some of the issues impacting the youth of our nation. I know you’re busy, but I hope you have a moment for this.

My concern is our education system. I am troubled by the fact that my son, who is in the 4th grade, has never had a text book. I am sure that you are aware that there are several methods by which people learn best; some by hearing, or seeing, or doing, or a combination those processes. By eliminating text books, one of those systems is being completely eradicated. There is no copying and solving, the current system is a photocopy in which the child just fills in the blanks. This doesn’t work for all kids. Sure, most get by… but is just getting by really enough?

My son has learning disabilities. He has Asperger’s Syndrome, ADHD, and Anxiety Disorder. While the school is great in addressing his social issues, they are failing him academically. With 1 in 150 children being autistic, it seems to me that the education system would address that autistic children learn differently because their brains process information differently, therefore they must be taught differently. I am not educated as a teacher. I know this about my son, but I am not trained to address it. Without a textbook to assist in homework, I have great difficulty addressing his homework in a way that ensures continuity of information. I am amazed at the new terms and procedures that they have created to teach simple mathematical practices.

I was fairly disgusted to learn that $300 million is being allocated to restructure the standardized testing system. I understand the need for standardized testing, but the sad truth is that schools stream their curriculum to the tests, and the other things are being forgotten.

In a time of such huge financial crisis, is this the best way to spend that $300 million? How many textbooks could that money buy? How much would it cost to buy every child in America a math book? To me, this seems a much more critical issue.

I used to dream of owning my own home and getting my son a dog.

Now, I long for textbooks.

Thank you for your time,

***Psam***



OMG---- I found a typo after sending... instead of eradicated... I used irradiated. hmmmmmmm oops, no way of even pretending I meant that... infact, the absolute opposite of everything I was trying to say... damn it.