View Full Version : Mom Jailed Over School Districting
This is an issue for all parents around the major urban areas here in Texas, too, especially for those who cannot afford to send their children to private schools but believe a good education is the way to a better future for their children in America.
An impoverished black woman broke the law to send her children to a rich white school. Is her punishment justice?
And so it goes...
Richard :munchin
Kelley Williams-Bolar: Mom Jailed For Wanting To Give Kids A Better Life
Salon, 25 Jan 2011
In case you have not yet heard about Kelley Willams-Bolar:
AKRON, Ohio – A Summit County woman will spend 10 days in jail after she was found guilty in a school residency case that could set a precedent for Ohio school districts.
Judge Patricia Cosgrove also placed 40-year-old Kelly Williams-Bolar on two years of probation and ordered her to complete 80 hours of community service.
On Saturday, a jury found Williams-Bolar guilty on two counts of tampering with records. She was also facing one count of grand theft, but the judge declared a mistrial on that charge after the jury couldn't reach a verdict.
"I felt that some punishment or deterrent was needed for other individuals who might think to defraud the various school systems," Cosgrove told NewsChannel5 after the sentencing.
Prosecutors said Williams-Bolar lived in Akron, but falsified enrollment papers in the Copley-Fairlawn School District so her two girls could attend schools for two years.
Prosecutors said the lies cost the district about $30,000. Copley-Fairlawn does not have open enrollment and out-of-district tuition is about $800 per month.
There are myriad responses to this case, ranging from the impassioned response of Boyce Watkins to the "fraud is fraud" response by Bob Dyer of the Beacon Journal. Titles all over the Internet have proclaimed "MOTHER IMPRISONED FOR SENDING KIDS TO WRONG SCHOOL!" implying that the only thing wrong was simply enrolling where she shouldn't have. Under the current laws of Ohio, Williams-Bolar committed a crime. This can't be argued. What can be argued is whether the actions by the court are right and appropriate for the defendant's situation.
My initial reaction to this was outrage. I sat at my computer, heart pounding, eyes tearing, because when you peel off all the layers, you have this: a woman (who works with special education children and was attending school for her teaching degree) is being vilified because she wanted something better for her children. And we can't possibly ignore the racial aspect of this situation. A poor BLACK woman on public assistance is being jailed for sending her kids to the rich white school. I'm not arguing whether this is how it should be looked at; I'm saying that is how it is looked at. It's questionable at this point whether the teaching degree she's been working toward will be allowed, because she has a felony charge against her. A family's life is in virtual ruins because of this situation.
And many say she deserves this.
Reading comments from residents of the town she "stole" the education from say that this is fair. They pay a lot of money for that school. Rules are rules. If you don't live there you have to pay $800 in order to attend and she did not do so. In black and white terms (no pun intended) this is true. But is anything black and white? Can we truly look at this situation and call it fair? Are we a country that would put a scarlet letter on this woman because of where she sent her kids to school? She didn't forge $20 bills and buy electronics and diamonds. She didn't pretend to be a victim of 9/11 and try to claim special funds.
She sent her kids to school.
To judge this simply as a case of fraud is to ignore the surrounding circumstances. Some say that, legally speaking, "circumstances" don't matter. But if you murder someone they specifically have to figure out if it was a crime of passion, was it self-defense or was it premeditated. Each crime receives wildly different sentences. The bottom line is that a person is dead. But somehow that's not black and white. They say Williams-Bolar was judged by a jury of her peers. Was she really? Was it a group of poor minorities trying to finally have a chance at the supposed American dream? Were these "peers" people whose families have tried for generations to rise from the injustice and inequalities that they -- literally -- had nothing to do with?
Show me these "peers."
I'm not saying Kelley Williams-Bolar was right. I'm not saying she shouldn't have to pay what she owes to the local government. I'm saying to make an example of a poor mother with a family on her first offense is unconscionable. To think this reasonable is to ignore the reality that we live in and the shades of right and wrong that appear in so many offenses.
By the way, America stole a lot of labor from my people. Are we going to get any of that "owed" money any time soon? No? Didn't think so.
http://www.salon.com/life/feature/2011/01/25/kelley_williams_bolar/index.html?source=rss&aim=/mwt/feature
Her kids are probably two years AHEAD!....:lifter
Stay safe.
Well, then, let's not get pissed off at the illegal aliens who forge paperwork to get their kids in better schools either. Or car thieves who just want a better mode of transportation. Or anybody else who intentionally breaks the law.
[COLOR="Lime"]By the way, America stole a lot of labor from my people. Are we going to get any of that "owed" money any time soon? No? Didn't think so.http://www.salon.com/life/feature/2011/01/25/kelley_williams_bolar/index.html?source=rss&aim=/mwt/feature
lol to the google power-That's the weakest snivel in history. "America" doesn't owe anybody anything for slavery. "Your people"? What, Americans aren't your people? Racist.
Rent a cheap apartment in the school district.
Being outside the district means distance, means getting the kids to school, more hassle on everything plus you lie.
Every school system has "creative" living addresses for some.
I wonder, though, if the school system in question charges tuition for illegals?
nousdefions
01-26-2011, 08:31
This is why School Vouchers are a good idea. The parent gets the voucher and decides where their child goes to school. Under performing schools will either shape up or close down.
Cheers!:D
They lost all credibility to their argument when they brought up race.
It seemed to be going somewhere with a valid point until they played the race card. Then I just shut down. I'm tired of hearing it.
craigepo
01-26-2011, 08:55
That author, article, and perpetrator lost all credibility as soon as race became an issue.
I think the thesis of the entire OpEd piece worth pondering is to be found in the orange hi-lighted paragraph.
FWIW - I almost edited out the final paragraph before posting because I suspected there would be a tendency on first reading to lose sight of this forest of an issue for that 'lightning magnet' of a tree - an on-going controversy for America dating back to 1619 and the Trier, Treasurer, and White Lion.
And so it goes...
Richard :munchin
As long as people keep thinking "My People" they will be forever locked in the past.
But to get back to the original story. Where there is a will there is a way.
There are a number of low wealth people with kids in our private school. But more than a few of them have one of the parents who work a low pay, part time job at the school - discount. Others who joined the church - discount. Little of both - bigger discount.
Around here for public school you either move - or pick a school of choice. Then there is the creative address route. Kinda' like the kids on free lunch getting dropped off from an Escalade.
Buffalobob
01-26-2011, 09:48
It is an issue, that is for sure. When my children were in elementary school, slots in their school were so limited that sometimes lines would form for DC residents and there would be overnight campouts. We began to notice people who commute in from Maryland would drop off their kids every morning in front of the school. Finally, the license plates of cars were taken and the addresses run down and the parents charged for out of state tuition. The reverse was true for Maryland as some DC residents would try to game the Montgomery County school system.
Does the punishment fit the crime? Hardly seems so given the range of crimes committed these days.
Peregrino
01-26-2011, 10:00
I understand the desire to secure better opportunities for your children. She had legal alternatives available, she chose not to exercise them. She committed fraud. Race is a specious argument. So are the other red herrings about illegal aliens, everybody else does it, etc, etc. Economic disadvantage is not a uniquely black condition.
1stindoor
01-26-2011, 10:08
I think the thesis of the entire OpEd piece worth pondering is to be found in the orange hi-lighted paragraph.
FWIW, I re read the entire article twice...the second and third time focusing on that hi-lighted area.
...to make an example of a poor mother with a family on her first offense is unconscionable...
I have to agree, I don't think the punishment was merited. Pulling her children out of the school is punishment enough, add to that the possible loss of a job qualification, i.e. a teaching certificate, and I think the "example" is well made.
It may well be that the third and fourth traditions will be the most difficult to confront.
As for complaints against the "race card" that "they" play, I often wonder: who wrote the rules of the game, made and stacked the deck, built the card table, the chairs, and the game room?
Do people live in the past because "they" won't let go of it? Or do they live in the past because so many of us decide not to remember it?
It may well be that the third and fourth traditions will be the most difficult to confront.
As for complaints against the "race card" that "they" play, I often wonder: who wrote the rules of the game, made and stacked the deck, built the card table, the chairs, and the game room?
Do people live in the past because "they" won't let go of it? Or do they live in the past because so many of us decide not to remember it?
So, we should expect England to compensate us for her tyranny in the 1700's?
Dozer523
01-26-2011, 10:59
Rent a cheap apartment in the school district.
Being outside the district means distance, means getting the kids to school, more hassle on everything plus you lie.
Every school system has "creative" living addresses for some.
I wonder, though, if the school system in question charges tuition for illegals?
Pete (I love you man) that just pisses me off.
We picked our house because of the school district. And for that we pay some of the highest property taxes in the St Louis Metro area. something like 64% of our property taxes (before federal taxes, state taxes -- in two damn states!--, sales taxes, a fricking $200 parking fee so D (bright Center of My Universe) can park in the school parking lot) and all the other damn fees and taxes etc etc.
Yup We chose to pay the extra so our kids could get one of the best educations in this area. (Or I have the satisfaction of doing my "wrath of God" impression when I can show we didn't get what we paid for. > I am sure I will never be hired in my home district<)
So I'm sure not impressed when someone piggy backs (STEALS) from the tax/fee base I provide.
They ought to make her work fro free in the damn lunch room.:mad:
They ought to make her work fro free in the damn lunch room.:mad:
Wifout her fro? :D
IMO, this question can get pretty deep pretty fast. On the one hand, as in nature this is a mother who did everything she could for the benefit of her offspring, some folks were recently lauding the merits of the "tiger mother," who also seems extreme in her methods to others. As Richard mentioned the author's clumsy use of the entitlement race card obscures a complicated question. How many of us would condemn a starving man for stealing food? On the other hand how would we judge a group of survivors in a life raft who threw one of the group overboard for stealing from the fresh water supply while the others slept? This instance is not nearly so dire, her kids had access to education, she tried to better their situation. If she had succeeded, her kids would likely end up with better math and english skills , however wouldn't they also learn the lesson cheating to get ahead is acceptable? I don't think she should be rewarded for cheating like this.
So, we should expect England to compensate us for her tyranny in the 1700's? Do historical, political, and cultural acknowledgment require economic compensation?
Are the two events even comparable? Was England really tyrannical or did some colonials perceive themselves as victims?
Wifout her fro? :DFWIW, Ms. Williams-Bolar, pictured in the news article referenced in the OP as well as here (http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2011/images/01/26/t1larg.jailed.mother.wews.jpg), does not have a "fro.":rolleyes:
Do historical, political, and cultural acknowledgment require economic compensation?
Are the two events even comparable? Was England really tyrannical or did some colonials perceive themselves as victims?
You know exactly what I mean.
1stindoor
01-26-2011, 12:24
Do people live in the past because "they" won't let go of it? Or do they live in the past because so many of us decide not to remember it?
Or do they because it's so profitable?
Explain to me the situation in how the school lost $30K, or was it a loss of "potential" revenue by another parent who could afford to send their child there?
Bet you the "other" parent(s) still sent their child to the school - the school is now just -1 student vs. +1 student.
The long term affect could have been, (1) child gets a better education, obtains a higher level of employment, get her mother off assistance. (2), with a higher education, learns NO FEAR and how to manipulate the system, becomes a public organizer and enters Chicago politics later in career, mom continues to receive assistance because, well, she can.
Any other scenarios?
You know exactly what I mean.Actually, I did not. As a historian, I'm duty bound to focus on the leaves and branches on the trees--sometimes at the expense of seeing the forest.
I am not trying to bump heads with you in your house, Dustmeister. I'm just making the point that the issues are complicated and intertwined. (Like a big tangled ball of used dental floss at the bottom of a stagnant swimming pool is how I put it a couple of years ago.)
I am of the view that there's a way to untangle and to reweave the tapestry of America's history in a way that allows us to embrace our past, celebrate our accomplishments, and acknowledge our mistakes without an undue amount of chest thumping or finger pointing. (And once I figure out how to do that, I'll be even more insufferable than I am already.)
Actually, I did not. As a historian, I'm duty bound to focus on the leaves and branches on the trees--sometimes at the expense of seeing the forest.
I am not trying to bump heads with you in your house, Dustmeister. I'm just making the point that the issues are complicated and intertwined. (Like a big tangled ball of used dental floss at the bottom of a stagnant swimming pool is how I put it a couple of years ago.)
I am of the view that there's a way to untangle and to reweave the tapestry of America's history in a way that allows us to embrace our past, celebrate our accomplishments, and acknowledge our mistakes without an undue amount of chest thumping or finger pointing. (And once I figure out how to do that, I'll be even more insufferable than I am already.)
Hey, I know how you are, Bro-I've known you a while.
:cool:
I just think blacks who are pissed off about slavery are as goofy as rednecks who think the South will rise again.
Wait..Wha?!?!
:D
1stindoor
01-26-2011, 15:34
Explain to me the situation in how the school lost $30K, or was it a loss of "potential" revenue by another parent who could afford to send their child there?
Bet you the "other" parent(s) still sent their child to the school - the school is now just -1 student vs. +1 student.
The long term affect could have been, (1) child gets a better education, obtains a higher level of employment, get her mother off assistance. (2), with a higher education, learns NO FEAR and how to manipulate the system, becomes a public organizer and enters Chicago politics later in career, mom continues to receive assistance because, well, she can.
Any other scenarios?
Playing the Devil's Advocate...there's plenty of Scenarios that could have been the result of this event.
The rest of the students at the school had to make do with less because two children were utilizing equipment/assets that they did not pay into. Therefore, others learn that it's okay to lie, cheat, steal in order to further your own means. Afterall, it's a public school and therefore anyone should have the same rights to it. They in turn learn that applying these same principles in college and afterwards will reward them with votes as Democrats.:D
Hey, I know how you are, Bro-I've known you a while.
:cool:
I just think blacks who are pissed off about slavery are as goofy as rednecks who think the South will rise again.
Wait..Wha?!?!
:DThe way things are going, I'd be happy if Americans across the spectrum of race, ethnicity, social class, education, geography, and sexual orientation would simply PULL UP THEIR [GERUND DELETED] PANTS. (And while they're at it, take the drywall screws/golf tees/napkin rings out of their ears.)
But I'm not bitter.:)
Playing the Devil's Advocate...there's plenty of Scenarios that could have been the result of this event.
The rest of the students at the school had to make do with less because two children were utilizing equipment/assets that they did not pay into. Therefore, others learn that it's okay to lie, cheat, steal in order to further your own means. Afterall, it's a public school and therefore anyone should have the same rights to it. They in turn learn that applying these same principles in college and afterwards will reward them with votes as Democrats.:D
You made cough, laugh and spew Lipton simultaneously, Bro! :D
Therefore, others learn that it's okay to lie, cheat, steal in order to further your own means. Afterall, it's a public school and therefore anyone should have the same rights to it. They in turn learn that applying these same principles in college and afterwards will reward them with votes as Democrats.:D
o.k., but don't make me laugh so hard, I assume we both agree then cheating is wrong, just wanted to get that right in my head.
Denver has several public schools, East High is known for being one of the better ones. It has all the familiar activities any HS might have, (sports, debate, drugs, sex, gangs, etc.), but also has high education scholar placement and a staff with history. Many families have moved to the neighborhood and then made application for children in open enrollment, (specific to time lines), just so they could attend Junior/Senior years before applying to college.
Kent HS, across town, (private) is another great school, but comes with a $$$$ price tag each year per student. No breaks for siblings.
But then again my lawyer went to NY City College and then some backwater law school for his degree. Advancement comes in many forms.
Cheating is still wrong......
FWIW, Ms. Williams-Bolar, pictured in the news article referenced in the OP as well as here (http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2011/images/01/26/t1larg.jailed.mother.wews.jpg), does not have a "fro.":rolleyes:
I don't think that there's a "child of the 60's, age of the fro" out there who coulda passed on that typo.
I've also had a nearly "gonna die if I don't" in response to an employee who mistyped a complaint about a "cow orker" voicing my concern about what the verb "ork" might mean. ;)
Dozer523
01-26-2011, 23:14
I don't think that there's a "child of the 60's, age of the fro" out there who coulda passed on that typo.
I've also had a nearly "gonna die if I don't" in response to an employee who mistyped a complaint about a "cow orker" voicing my concern about what the verb "ork" might mean. ;)
Wifout her fro? :D
For what it's worth . . . the word I mis-spelled is 'for'. Sad how quickly we jump at the chance to crack funny.
The Teach for America VP of public affairs writes about the U.S.'s "Jim Crow public education system." He explains that Zip code means everything in terms of schooling--in the words of one administrator, "the correlation between student achievement and Zip code is 100 percent"--and if you are a poor American, you have very few choices. Huffman gives the example of Kelley Williams-Bolar, the Ohio mother of two who was recently released from jail. Her crime was falsifying her address to get her children into a better school district. Williams-Bolar, Huffman argues, is just one of many parents in this country who understand that their children's future depends on their education. But she, like so many other parents, is also being hung out to dry by the public education system. "She didn't have the luxury of waiting a generation while intellectuals argue about poverty or culture," Huffman writes. "She looked at her options, she looked at the law and she looked at her children. Then she made a choice. What would you have done?"
And so it goes...
Richard :munchin
'A Rosa Parks moment for education'
Kevin Huffman, WaPo, 31 Jan 2011
Last week, 40-year-old Ohio mother Kelley Williams-Bolar was released after serving nine days in jail on a felony conviction for tampering with records. Williams-Bolar's offense? Lying about her address so her two daughters, zoned to the lousy Akron city schools, could attend better schools in the neighboring Copley-Fairlawn district.
Williams-Bolar has become a cause célèbre in a case that crosses traditional ideological bounds. African American activists are outraged, asking: Would a white mother face the same punishment for trying to get her kids a better education? (Answer: No.)
Meanwhile, conservatives view the case as evidence of the need for broader school choice. What does it say when parents' options are so limited that they commit felonies to avoid terrible schools? Commentator Kyle Olson and others across the political spectrum have called this "a Rosa Parks moment for education."
For me, the case struck an additional nerve. As a young teacher nearly two decades ago, I taught bilingual first grade in Houston. Some of my students were in this country illegally; by my third year, a number of them also lived outside the school and district zone. Given their substandard neighborhood options, some parents drove 30 minutes or more each way just so their kids could be in my class. I was supportive of, and flattered by, their efforts. These were good parents, doing the best they could for their families.
In this country, if you are middle or upper class, you have school choice. You can, and probably do, choose your home based on the quality of local schools. Or you can opt out of the system by scraping together the funds for a parochial school.
But if you are poor, you're out of luck, subject to the generally anti-choice bureaucracy. Hoping to win the lottery into an open enrollment "choice" school in your district? Good luck. How about a high-performing charter school? Sure - if your state doesn't limit their numbers and funding like most states do. And vouchers? Hiss! You just touched a political third rail.
Williams-Bolar lived in subsidized housing and was trapped in a failed system. In a Kafkaesque twist, she was taking college-level courses to become a teacher herself - a dream she now will never realize as a convicted felon. It's America's version of the hungry man stealing bread to feed his family, only to have his hand cut off as punishment.
The intellectual argument against school choice is thin and generally propagated by people with myriad options. If we let the most astute families opt out of neighborhood schools, the thinking goes, those schools lose the best parents and the best students. The children stuck behind in failing schools really get hurt.
But kids are getting hurt right now, every day, in ways that take years to play out but limit their life prospects as surgically as many segregation-era laws. We can debate whether lying on school paperwork is the same as refusing to move to the back of the bus, but the harsh reality is this: We may have done away with Jim Crow laws, but we have a Jim Crow public education system.
As Dan Domenech of the American Association of School Administrators told NPR last week, "The correlation between student achievement and Zip code is 100 percent. The quality of education you receive is entirely predictable based on where you live." And where you live in America today depends largely on income and race.
Consider the recent results from a test of 15-year-olds around the world. Headlines noted the embarrassing American mediocrity (31st out of 65 countries in math, with scores below the international average). Even worse, our results are profoundly segregated by race. White and Asian Americans are still in the upper echelon. But African American and Latino students lag near the bottom quartile of world standards. As we think about our game plan to "win the future," our black and Latino students won't be competing with China and Finland - they're on track to scrap it out with Bulgaria and Mexico.
Some on the left will say this is the pernicious result of poverty. Solve poverty, and you solve the Zip-code-equals-outcomes issue. Some on the right will blame culture. Stop teenage pregnancy and crime, and the outcomes look different.
Like millions of parents hoping to do right by their kids, Kelley Williams-Bolar thought that schools were the answer. She didn't have the luxury of waiting a generation while intellectuals argue about poverty or culture. She looked at her options, she looked at the law and she looked at her children. Then she made a choice.
What would you have done?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/30/AR2011013003556.html
An once again people on the plantation continue to vote for the people who keep them there - and then wonder why things don't change.
Is it ok to lie and falsify records to improve your lot in life? Maybe we should ask Bill Hillar.
Is it ok to lie and falsify records to improve your lot in life?
That seems to be the message this woman is giving her daughters. Integrity is secondary to all else.
What happened to parents who actually make sacrifices for their children? Seems they want the best for their kids as long it doesn't crimp their own lifestyle. I'll bet that mother has the latest fashions hanging in her closet, a smart-phone, and cable television. There's $800 for tuition, easily.
In a Kafkaesque twist, she was taking college-level courses to become a teacher herself - a dream she now will never realize as a convicted felon.
And who's fault is that?
A Rosa Parks Moment?
Oh please.
Ms. Parks did not lie, cheat or steal to make her point. Yes, she broke a law, but quietly and firmly and with much dignity. Her actions did not rob anyone of anything, except perhaps a seat on the bus.
edited to add: Ms. Parks had integrity. This other lady has none. There's no comparison.
-Susan
There were numerous people caught lying by this district. All were given numerous opportunities to move their kids, pay the owed tuition, etc. to make things right. Only this winner chose not to. You reap what you sow.
This "victim" crap is really getting old.:mad:
Peregrino
02-01-2011, 20:12
This "victim" crap is really getting old.:mad:
Thank you. Unfortunately, not sympathizing with "the poor beleagered mother who's only trying to improve the lot of her children - as any good mother should" is racist. Just ask the real racists and their allied apologists. FWIW - I was as economically disadvantaged growing up as anyone I knew. Being white wasn't an advantage - it just meant we were ineligible for the government handouts. My mother put herself through nursing school while raising five children, all without anything more than a couple of Pell Grants.
Bad schools? Try attending Charlotte Mecklenburg (NC) schools during the first years of court ordered desegregation. The glowing stories of peace, harmony, brotherly love, and academic excellence for all are revisionist history; i.e., pure, unadulterated, bullshit. I still have gaps in my education that peers whose parents could afford private schools never suffered. Let's not forget the roving gangs and race riots. (I still LMAO whenever I recall the student delegation C-M Schools sent to Boston to "show them how to get along".)
I got out of it the same way many others (of all social/economic/racial backgrounds) did - I joined the Army at 17 and never looked back. Then I spent years working my way to where I am today. Thank God for the Army and Special Forces; they reinforced values of individual achievement, teamwork, and keeping to the moral high ground that my parents did their best to instill in me while I was growing up.
What lesson is this mother instilling in her children?
Granted that I have never been in Ms Williams-Bolar's situation...
...but given the same circumstances...
...and...
...for the same reasons...
...I might've tried the same thing.
Or maybe not.
Just sayin'...
My Dad used to say that before judging another person's actions, you should walk a mile in their shoes...then you'd have a pair of shoes and sore feet.
Richard :munchin
1stindoor
02-02-2011, 08:32
...then you'd have a pair of shoes and sore feet.
Richard :munchin
...and you would be a mile away from them.
I'm also tired of the "victim mentality" and the "racist" card being thrown out there.
Granted that I have never been in Ms Williams-Bolar's situation...
...but given the same circumstances...
...and...
...for the same reasons...
...I might've tried the same thing.
Or maybe not.
Just sayin'...
My Dad used to say that before judging another person's actions, you should walk a mile in their shoes...then you'd have a pair of shoes and sore feet.
Richard :munchin
My Daddy ( and Granddad) always said, "What's right is right, what's wrong is wrong, and you know the difference. So stand up like a man."
How 'bout all those clowns who got busted in my pre-phase for cheating on the land nav? Judgment?
Dozer523
02-02-2011, 09:41
She's studying to be a teacher. Probably planning to get a classroom in one of those hoity-toity schools (good luck with that -- she ain't got no seniority)and "make a deal" with the principal so her kid can go with her.
She doesn't get it. She's the child's First Teacher. We expect parents to do their part; yet she wants the best teacher and school for her kid -- she should do better herself.
Raine_n_Roses
02-02-2011, 10:12
My son and i lived in Austin. the school district we lived in was overcrowded.
So i opted for a private school. We moved closer to school, which rent was a little more from where we moved from. The school was 550 a month.
I was on orders with TANG worked M-F 8 hr days. On weekends i worked for a Home Health company, Minus the drill weekends for the Guard. So i had 3 jobs to keep him in that private school.
Plus my son was the first biracial kid in his class, along with the first Saudi students for the school, the mother was working the same amount to keep 3 kids in the private sector. Neither one of us accepted Welfare assistance.
Always can find the right way to do it. Just have to get up and do it.
Entire post.Your comments about Rosa Parks raise an interesting question about integrity and dignity. Would she offer an unsubstantiated supposition about the clothes in a stranger's closet?
I think there are two topics that are getting conflated; the mother's decision to break the law and a badly written inflammatory blog entry. IMO, this conflation is undermining the current discussion.
Just my two cents.
GratefulCitizen
02-02-2011, 16:57
"Despite all our efforts to teach our children good manners, they go ahead and imitate us." (author unknown)
Kids tend to imitate what they see, not what they're told.
She's not doing her kid any favors by breaking the rules.
The best she can do now is accept her consequences without excuse.
I didn't like the results of the public school system for the first week of kindergarten for kid #2.
We've made all the necessary sacrifices to pay for putting our kids in private school ever since.
My parents didn't like the direction I was going upon entering high school.
They rented out our house and moved us for a year so I would be able to attend a different school and still be eligible for athletics, by the rules.
My grandmother was raising 4 children as a single mother in utter poverty in 1950's northern Iowa (Pete knows the town).
She still scraped up what was necessary to put her kids through private school -- where both daughters graduated as valedictorians.
It can be done without breaking the rules.
...unsubstantiated supposition about the clothes in a stranger's closet?
You're right. My supposition was uncalled for and I apologize. My cynicism is based on my own experience of being the treasurer of a "worthy student" fund for a private school and disbursing tuition checks every month for children whose parents have declared financial hardship. These same parents have the audacity to show me their new cars, their his & her iPhones, and other luxuries, completely missing sight of the fact that their lifestyle creates their own "financial hardship" when it comes time to pay tuition.
this conflation is undermining the current discussion.
Not my intention. My point (obviously badly made) was that this mother resorted to breaking the law, when perhaps personal sacrifice might be enough to get her children a better education. Several people here have already given examples of their own parents' sacrifices to do just that. As for this particular case, my supposition was out of line. Perhaps this mother has done all she can financially for her children.
My cynicism has gotten the better of me. It's unbecoming and I apologize.
v/r
Susan
Occasionally, it is helpful to re-frame a discussion a bit.
From a cursory reading, there is little doubt that the mothers in these examples were legally wrong - fraud is generally considered wrong.
However, they were both faced with something that we are all faced with at one time or another in life - an ethical dilemma. As mothers, I suspect that they both felt duty bound to help their children achieve a better life.
I also suspect that most will acknowledge that the motives of the mother's were good - the mothers each sought to improve their child's education - and correspondingly - the child's opportunities in life.
However, the methods for achieving their goals were obviously suspect and clearly fraudulent. Indeed, many on this BB have demonstrated that success (from tough circumstances) can be (and has been) achieved without fraud.
Many on this BB can relate actual life experience to illustrate that the means don't always justify the end, etc., etc., that it IS possible to achieve success without fraud - in fact - perpetuating fraud in order to achieve a child's graduation from a fine school - may ACTUALLY damage the child in the long term.
My question is, how do we reach the disadvantaged? How do we share the values discussed by many on this BB? I suspect that these mothers are not a drug addled miscreants (well, fraud aside)...so, how do we reach these sorts of disadvantaged folks and convince them that hard work AND honesty is the preferred route to real opportunity? There are broader questions raised by these school choice issues - school choice is merely one vehicle that drives this type of valuable discussion. That is, are the notions of hard work, honesty AND integrity truly alien to what seems (to me) like so many?
With an important election cycle coming up - and the longer term outcome of that election arguably determining our success or failure. I can't help but think about how important it might be to reach these disadvantaged folks - and convince them that values do matter - for their sake and ours. How?