Consensus on the census

I'll bet you didn't know that last week was a special week---Census in schools week! How fun! There's a week for everything! It was a Massachusetts Department of Ed thing (though maybe it was happening in all states?), pushed down to towns and cities because Massachusetts was one of the most under-counted in the last census. It was then pushed down on the schools from the superintendent because the city where I teach was one of the most under-counted in the state. It's no surprise, really; the city is a sanctuary city for illegal immigrants. Almost all of my students have parents who are immigrants (and many of my students are too), but I have no clue how many of them are legal.

So, I taught a few lessons in the afternoons about what the census is, why it's so important to do it (new schools! playgrounds! enough hospitals!), and encouraging them to tell their parents all about it. We spent most of the time talking about what happens when the census takers come to your house and the fact that they only want to count you and don't care if you're a citizen or not.

I gave my class a few small census-related homework assignments, the last of which they had to interview an adult about the last census. One-third of my class chose not to do their homework, because my class blows. Out of the rest of them, some had parents who weren't living in the country yet, a few reported that their parents filled out the last census and wrote about that, and the rest found out various reasons why their parents didn't complete the last census. Sadly, a bunch wrote that their parents didn't have time or didn't know it was important. And one, THE one who gets me through each day because she actually wants to learn, and whose parents I assumed knew the importance, had a disappointing interview. Her response to the question "Did you know that your answers to census questions are kept confidential and not shared with others?" "My mom said it is a liy." And furthermore, "What did you learn during your interview?" "I think it is to count poeple but if you didn't come with immergration papers after the census they cent people to their countrys back." It's awfully frustrating knowing I took time out of our jam-packed day trying to get the kids excited to encourage their parents to take part, and this is what we're working with.

Also, there's like 60 something school days left, and I couldn't be happier.

Also part 2, I'm watching Ryan Seacrest interviewing Miley Cyrus on the red carpet Oscar before-show. Who knew she sounded like such a redneck?