As something related to my role as PTA goddess, I met with the heads of the Alternative Ed. program at our local high school. It was pretty interesting, in a Blackboard Jungle kinda way. They made a big point of saying that these kids "aren't special ed.," which of course pissed me off, though I can understand wanting to destigmatize the kids in the program, who for various reasons not related to ability are flunking out of high school. The head of the program said the kids are either "very angry or very sad or some combination of both." I was impressed by the staff, who were very obviously fond of and proud of their students. What I could have lived without was some of the implicit criticism of the parents: the program head (henceforward PG) said that he likes to deal directly with the student, not the parents, and it was clear from his tone that he blamed the parents in many cases for the kids being f*cked up. Which may possibly be true, but no one ever really knows what goes on in someone else's life, and I've been on the receiving end of enough appraising looks and commentary about spoiling my own kid to bristle at these assumptions.