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Life learning doesn't follow our schedule

Re: School should stick to academic topics, Feb. 20 letter

The letter writer complained that her daughter's middle school teacher had explained the meaning of the word abortion. Her daughter had come across the word in reading class and "Along with many other students in the class, she did not know what an abortion was. Her teacher briefly explained it to them," according to the letter.

I had a similar abortion awareness experience when my daughter, then in elementary school, asked what an abortion was as we were driving along in our car.

We had just driven past a shopping center which housed a clinic in which abortions were performed. There were antiabortion protesters out on the sidewalk with various posters displaying pictures of aborted fetuses and a lot of wording condemning abortion. My daughter had read the posters and wanted to know the meaning of the word abortion.

I was, of course, not pleased that I was pushed into explaining a word that I thought my daughter did not need to know yet, but it showed me that my schedule was not going to dictate what she learned that day or ever.

Crane killer needs to explain actions

At 8:50 a.m. Sunday Feb. 20, my two youngest children and I watched a pair of sandhill cranes plucking turtle eggs from my yard where we had watched the turtles lay them a month earlier. My youngest was upset that the eggs were being eaten. I explained to my 10- and 11-year-old children the food chain isn't always the happiest ending for some species. About that time, one of the cranes stepped onto Massachusetts Avenue. We were in shock when the white van came speeding along and the thump could be felt in my home when the van struck the crane. We watched as feathers flew and the white van almost flipped over as it swerved into the median.

What happened next is the hardest thing for me to explain to my children, as I can't understand it myself. The van took off, never came back to see what it had hit.

The sandhill crane is a creature that has been struggling for survival. They mate for life, the surviving crane just hangs around calling out.

Sandhill cranes are very large birds, this one was about 47 inches tall and about 25 pounds, or about the size of a small child. The impact broke the grille of the van. I've got a piece of it I'm saving to see if I can match it up somewhere, sometime. Just so the person can explain to my children why they took off and left the scene of an accident involving the death of a protected species. I certainly can't explain it to them.

Teacher's explanation just part of job

Regarding the subject of abortion being introduced in reading material at Pasco public schools, the public needs to know that the teacher who was put in that classroom situation, besides being an excellent educator, is an extremely devout Christian. It's a shame that the parent of that child didn't call the teacher directly to discuss her misgivings.

Is it any wonder that the the state of Florida is in such desperate need of teachers? The subject of abortion in this selected piece, was not the focus of the story. But the issue of choice is just another fact of life. Many subjects such as these are touched upon, each and every day, on many of our public school campuses. We, as teachers, are called upon to answer children's questions, but not give our own personal opinions. This teacher was just doing her job. And a fine job she does, day in and day out.

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[Last modified February 23, 2005, 00:35:16]