Not Your Grandmother’s PTA

This
phrase has been a rallying cry in the world of mothers of elementary school
children for years now.  It’s as if
they’re trying to convince those former lawyers who took a detour in their
career paths to have children that they won’t be bored out of their minds while
stopping by in this land of classroom volunteering and bake sales.  Come on, we promise we won’t make you
come to luncheon wearing gloves and lift your pinkie as you sip tea.  Just come to a meeting, please???

Well,
it’s true that we aren’t doing things these days that our Grandmothers probably
had to do back in the day when it came to supporting their children’s
education.  I mean, when my
Grandmothers were raising elementary school children, this country VALUED
education.  As opposed to now, when
we underfund our public schools and then cut the budget even more in a lean
year.  Callifornia, here I come!

In
fact, I’m pretty sure my Grandmothers – or my Mother, for that matter — were never asked to rally to protest budget cuts, or to sit on committees
designed to evaluate why our schools are failing at teaching kids to read, or
asked to draft comprehensive discipline plans for elementary schools.

But
I’ll tell you something:  I WISH I
were a member of my Grandmother’s PTA. 
I wish FOR ONCE all I had to do was make banana bread and bring it to my
nice neighbor’s house, who’s just made a pot of coffee, and we all sat around
and discussed what color roses we wanted to plant out front of the school at
gardening day next month.  I WISH!

Instead,
I’ll be at all those committee meetings I mentioned above, plus making a bunch
of banana bread.  Wanna cup of
coffee?

PS – Please consider attending the march on Sacramento!

http://californiachildrensrally.com/

An original post by Sarah Auerswald.