Picking Battles...The Email

I have tried to figure out how to handle the Geography Assignment that was given to son #3. I decide that I would have him do the assignment, filling all the expectations, showing he is “Competent” which is one of the new buzzwords in education these days, along with rigor, and vigorous-but having him do it from a fictional point of view. He will make up a boys name, pick a country, address, and learn about that culture. He will do the assignment from that fictional boys point of view. Now hopefully his teacher will go along with this. Here is the email I have sent her.

Mrs. XXXXXXXX,

I am hoping that you will accept a modified version of this Geography of Me assignment. When XXX brought the paper home to show me he made the remark, “I have a really intrusive Geography project to do.” Naturally that got my attention. With all the things that have come out about the IRS, and the NSA among other government agencies collecting data, and have been proven to use such data against people, this assignment gives me pause. Even if that wasn’t happening, having a book compiled with everything about my child, including actual address, longitude/latitude, favorite past times, activities and other personal identifying information all in one place, really makes me uncomfortable. If any of these books came into a predator/pedophile hands, it could make any of our kids’ easy prey. I am having XXX do this project as a fictional character. In this, he will be researching and learning about a different country and customs, while making sure to meet all Five Themes of Geography, to hopefully demonstrate that he is at least ‘Competent’ in doing this assignment. I hope this will be acceptable. I look forward to your response.

Kathy Dunton

She is probably going to write me off as being whacked. And I probably am not going to get her vote for School Board. But that is what happens when you have to choose and pick a battle. It will be interesting to see where this goes, for me anyways.