Skool

So Jerry and I start our classes this Saturday. Its from 9:30am - 4:30pm with an hour break for lunch. I've heard mixed reviews on it overall. Jerry is actually looking forward to it because he wants to learn about these children and tips and tools. We both are looking forward to meeting other parents in our area who are adopting from foster care as well.

I am not so optimistic about the curriculum though - its making me think of the pre-cana we had to do for the church before we got married. Though supposedly tailored to our situation - old and living together - it still was almost too general to be effective. It gave pointers on how to talk about money and chores - if we are engaged and haven't talked about that stuff yet, we are in much bigger trouble. It was taught by an "inter-faith" couple - a Catholic and Lutheran - which made me raise an eyebrow. First of all, calling a Catholic and a Lutheran "inter-faith" is like saying an H2 and a Chevy Suburban are different cars - the inconvenient truth is that an H2 is just a Hummer shell on a Suburban chassis. My point is this - Catholics and Lutherans are pretty much the same except for that whole pope thing. Secondly, even if we let the poor Lutherans have their own religion, why is a Lutheran teaching a class required by the Catholic Church for Catholic couples?

I'm worried that because it is a general program for oodles of parents run by the government that it might be too general and I will have a hard time relating. Also, I wonder how much of it will be the "feed your child at least every 14 hours" and "do you have running water" and "you have to buy the kids their own clothes," that we have already encountered. Will all of the materials be old photocopies from the 80's? Think of government literature you get for anything - the census, lead paint disclosures, tax forms, the bizarre videos in the airports about security. Will the whole thing be a bad PSA? I picture videos of parents and children sitting on steps wearing bad 90's clothes laughing and chatting. I don't know where this image comes from. Remember the driver's ed videos? Those things were from the 70's and i took drivers ed in 1993!

Yes, this is a piss poor attitude. Maybe now that I am the instructor of a general education course that is required its making me think. I work hard so my students will stop staring with glazed over eyes and drooling in their boredom, some actually making me think they have learned to sleep with their eyes open. So I will be a good student and go with an open mind, and hopefully will be singing the praises of the training by Saturday afternoon.