Yesterday was SO awesome! Two state representatives and two state senators were at the main branch of our library in the morning so I got to hear them talk about the budget they had been working on that didn't end up getting passed. They were all democrats so I wasn't surprised that I disagreed with them about lots of stuff they said. But I find it far more interesting to listen to people who I disagree with talk because it forces me to really think.
Afterward I asked all of them if I could take a picture with them(for Ben Rush purposes) and got to talk to them in the process. Three of the four were definitely uncomfortable talking to me since I'm just a kid. They took no time at all getting away to talk to the other people there(all of whom where over the age of 50). But one of the senators had no problem at all talking to me. =)
It turns out he's a high school teacher so that kind of explains it. The interesting thing was, though he was the most open to talking to me, he was also the most loud spoken against homeschooling. =P
When I ask him if I could take a picture with him "for a school project" (I really didn't feel like taking the time to explain GenJ and Ben Rush to him so yeah...) he asked me what school I go to. The moment the word homeschooled escaped my lips he sorta gave me a funny look. Then he made it very clear that he does not in any way support homeschooling. He said that parents take their kids out of school and claim to homeschool them but don't do anything with them. This annoyed me so I couldn't keep quiet about it. I explained to him that it is true that there are people like that, but they are the minority and they give all homeschoolers a bad name. He sorta nodded and then said something about homeschooling being good if the parents are actually intelligent but mostly it's a bad thing. Since I didn't figure I could change his mind I just redirected the conversation over the some of the stuff that had been discussed about the budget plans for public schools and we talked about that for quite awhile. My goal was to prove to him that homeschoolers ARE getting a good education. And I succeeded. At the end of our conversation, he said that he could tell my parents were doing a good job because I was very intelligent! That truly made my day. I succeeded in at least for a moment giving someone with a bit of power a good impression of homeschoolers.
Then I went home and wrote a "Public Meeting Summary" for Ben Rush. I'm beginning to think there is actually a chance I can finish all the Ben Rush requirements and get myself some college scholarship. It'll mean a VERY busy summer, but it's totally worth it.
5 comments:
Gah. I'm so jealous of you. =P You're doing SO much stuff for Ben Rush, and here I am, just trying to do my FIRST THING. Gah. =P
And *duh* you're intelligent. As if we all didn't know that. =P lol
That is so cool that you got to meet them, and got a chance to prove to that one guy that we homeschoolers ROCK. =P
ttyl! Love ya!
~Maddie
Awww, Maddie, don't be jealous! What first thing are you doing? Because at first I was just trying to do a civics course and wasn't working on other stuff but the civics courses take forever so you have to work on other stuff at the same time so you keep getting stuff done. And I've discovered that the more little things I get done, the more hyped I am about the whole thing. So work on some little things that wont take much time. Like, write a letter to the editor or, wait, don't you write book reviews on your blog? Book reviews are one way to get points. You should turn in the book reviews you write.
But just try to keep working on little things that you can finish because seeing your points go up motivates you to keep working and then the bigger things that take forever, you can just work on slowly.
Way to go Mel! Way to prove him wrong rather than try to argue the point! Awesome! And, I liked what you wrote in your other post too. You and Esther amaze me with your political knowledge. Way more than I had at that age!
Thanks Sharon!
Maybe Esther and I have more political knowledge than you did at our ages, but GenJ wasn't around then. I would know nothing about politics and frankly, I'd care nothing about knowing anything about politics if it weren't for GenJ. So YAY for GenJ! =)
So... More than a day late on this comment, but I had time, and this post deserves a comment. =P
It's AWESOME that you just proved the guy wrong rather than arguing a point. One of my favorite things to do. ;) It sounds like you had fun, and you're getting so much done for Ben Rush! =D Good job, girl keep with it. =)
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