I feel solidarity with NPR listeners today.
As I drove home from the grocery store this morning, I turned on the NPR news-and-humor program Wait Wait Don't Tell Me.
They had reached the point in the program where they play a game called Ask the Listener. The idea is, a listener calls into the program, and then the host, Peter Sagal, quizzes him or her with a few questions about contemporary events. Then after the listener answers, Sagal explains the news nugget that prompted the question, which in turn gives the program's panel of comedians an opportunity to riff on the topic.
This post would be more interesting if I had been listening closely enough to have heard the actual questions being asked, but in truth, I was only half-listening. So I didn't quite catch the questions. But what interested me was the studio audience's reactions to the answers and related news topics. The answer to the first question (whatever it was) was "gambling". Sagal then went on to note that legalized gambling has become a $300 billion industry in the US. And he noted that Americans spend more money on gambling each year than on movies, music concerts and museums - combined.
Upon hearing that last fact, the NPR audience started booing, lustily (for an NPR audience). And as I was steering my car through the suburban neighorhood, I was booing right along with them.
The next question was something along the lines of, Which auto manufacturer's pickup truck model has missed its sales goals more spectacularly than the legendary Ford Edsel? And the answer was, the Tesla Cybertruck. At the news that Elon Musk's signature pickup model has been a colossal sales bust, the NPR audience burst into cheers - and as my car tooled down our street toward my driveway, I cheered, too.
In case you are not an NPR listener, perhaps I should explain that, as a general rule, the studio audiences on this program are not exactly vocal in the same way that, say, a studio audience on a daytime television show is vocal. To the best of my knowledge, there is no sign flashing in the studio telling people when to cheer and when to boo. They are usually the model of good-humored decorum.
It seems pretty clear that these two topics are touching a nerve among the (probably narrow) slice of Americans who are Wait Wait Don't Tell Me live attendees and radio listeners. Whoever they are, I felt a kinship with them this morning. It's kind of a comfort to know that there are people who more or less think like me out there.
There are a few (actually very few) Tesla trucks around here. What they remind me of is when our older son was in Cub Scouts and they were doing the Pinewood Derby. Where they gave the kids a block of wood and said, "go for it, carve a winner!". The Tesla truck body style looks like it was carved by a grade school kid from a block of wood.
ReplyDeleteSounds like the Tesla self-driving model isn't doing too well either. Needs some accident avoidance tweaking.
I'm not familiar with Ask The Listener, but it sounds like an entertaining opposite sketch.
I live in a deep blue county. I have seen a couple of cyber trucks (there is one living somewhere quite close to our home but I don’t know which street) but few. I don’t think of the Boy Scout Pinewood cars and trucks when I see one but of Nazi vehicles. The one that lives near me is gunmetal gray. They look evil to me.
DeleteCareful, Jim! You are on the road to becoming an egghead libtard!
ReplyDelete"Wait, Wait" is a gateway to Scott Simon's lugubrious essays about poor people, and then on to harder stuff like "This American Life" with its many sympathetic gay and trans contributors.
Get back to the National Review! Invest in some crypto! Turn on "Proud to be an American" and some Alex Jones. Monitor yourself carefully for the next month, and lie down if you feel an urge to vote for candidates named Mohammed or Jesús or, worse, some black woman!
lol! Jim is not there yet but there are signs for hope. If I could go from conservative GOP volunteer and donor to being a libtard, then Jim can probably make the leap also. I was a long subscriber to National Review many decades ago. One of their writers, Jim Geraghty, now writes for the WaPo and I have been surprised at the low quality of his analysis. Buckley is probably turning over in his grave at the decline in the intellectual quality. My WaPo subscription expired yesterday. So I won’t be wasting time anymore reading all the advice columns. Their news reports were usually pathetic and most of the op eds also. I mostly read George Will and the proliferating advice columns. But I will miss Carolyn Hax.
DeleteWhen I had a WaPo subscription, Carolyn Hax was the main thing I read, in addition to a few columnists who aren't there anymore. If you have a NYT subscription, "Asking Eric" is pretty good. He is a practical kind of guy.
DeleteYes, yes, the Washington Post, fair enough. But you're missing the earth-shaking news: Ross Douthat is leaving (has left?) the NY Times!!!
DeleteJean - there is definitely some programming on NPR which is not targeted to conservative squishes like me, although a lot of the content is pretty good. I've never really been hooked by This American Life, although my brother and sister-in-law love it. Have to admit, I've not caught the Scott Simon essays. For those NPR stations that play music, the music is often pretty good (there is a jazz station and a classical station around here). I like Science Friday, although it's been a long time since I've been able to listen to it.
DeleteEven though I probably lean a bit more conservative than many of their listeners (and on-air talent and producers!) I have a lot in common with them. I'm a college educated person who is interested in the world around me. And a lot of NPR programming is targeted to a pretty broad audience.
This just in: Pope Leo meets with Patti Smith! https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2026-07/pope-leo-xiv-patti-smith-meeting-singer-poet-vatican.html
ReplyDeleteTwo people with vastly different versions if "Gloria" finding common ground. An oddly sweet meeting.
I saw that too. They are both from Chicago. Patti Smith wasn't my kind of music, but I always had a soft spot for her. She was just who she was.
DeleteI also saw that, and was inspired to read up a bit on Smith. A committed artist. Seems Pope Francis had her do concerts for him twice. For her part, she seems to have been a bit of a religious traveler and, as far as I know, never has identified as Catholic, but has felt an attraction to Francis of Assisi, and so was excited when Pope Francis was elected. There was some kind of bond between them.
DeleteSome good news in an area that I’m passionate about - Rubio is restoring at least some humanitarian assistance, including some food and medical. It’s pretty minimal at the moment but it’s a start. USAID was the very first agency that Musk went after - with a vengeance. I’m wondering if it’s because he hates black Africans - not just in South Africa but all black Africans. A lot of humanitarian aid goes to the poor in Africa. The Ebola spread in Africa is also asking them nervous. Dismantling the medical infrastructure that had been built over many years may come back to bite them.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to hear that Rubio is at least doing that much.
DeleteMusk probably does dislike black Africans. His motto was "move fast and break things" and that is what he did. He turned his army of boy geniuses loose without knowing or caring how many people he hurt. Plus he was strung out on Ketamine. I will never forget what he said about "throwing USAID into the wood chipper".
Since Musk is the richest man in the world, he could do a lot of good with his money if he wanted to. But he doesn't appear to want to, maybe that would be "toxic empathy" or something.
DeleteMusk has said he has Asperger's, a classification no longer used for autism. He and some other pronatalists tout their autism (or whatever it is) as a superior phase of human evolution that looks only at statistics and outcomes without factoring in emotional attachments and concerns. Musk measures his superiority of intellect by the fact that he is the richest man in the world. He can out-run, out-lawyer, and out-gun any government or legal system that tries to make him take consequences for his actions. Grimes, Canadian mother of some of his kids, has been unable to get him to follow custodial agreements or prevent him from just taking off with one of the kids whenever he feels like it and sending it back when he gets bored. He refers to X, whom he was dragging around the White House, as his "emotional support human." He works employees to the bone; if you aren't sleeping in a cot in your office, you're fired. He mocks work-life balance. There's more than racism here. There's utter contempt for humankind.
DeleteI know very little about autism. But I recently watched a crime drama about an autistic woman who solves crimes in York England. Since her mind works differently she puts facts together differently than others. The actor who plays the young woman (the character is not a detective) is a 23 year old autistic woman with ADHD. It’s streaming on PBS and is called Patience (the name of her character). Part of the story is her emotional development and learning to make connections and forge relationships— colleagues, friends, and, eventually a boyfriend.I thought it was interesting - a somewhat different cop show. According to reviews, experts in autism say it’s well done. A tv reviewer at the Guardian totally pans it based on the first episode. I thought it improved as it went on. Has anyone else seen it?
DeleteAutism advocates have tried to separate themselves from Musk and his ilk. My kid has a learning disability that would be considered "on the spectrum." We had to work with him a lot on picking up cues and info that he often ignored or just couldn't see. There is tremendous pressure to get on a pharmaceutical merry go round, which is very hit or miss, and mostly just dopes them up like zombies. I am dismayed when TV shows try to make out people with spectrum disorders as oddball geniuses ("Sherlock") or to valorize a mental disability as a superior mindset as Musk does. The reality is quite different.
DeleteWe watched the first season and liked it. One of the main characters was Patience's boss, who mentored her. But she has a different boss in the second season, and we haven't watched it yet, didn't know if we would like it as well. She and the original boss seemed to work very well together.
DeleteI would recommend watching a subsequent episode rather than the first one to get a better idea of what the show is like.
The thing about people "on the spectrum" is that they are all different from each other, and are affected to varying degrees, and in different ways. Some can live relatively normal lives, and some are quite disabled.
Spectrum disorders is a catch-all for a whole bunch of things, and, yes, they are all quite different.
DeleteSome people like the term neuro-divergent, which sounds cool and science fiction-y and less judgmental than "autism spectrum."
The ability to live "normal" lives is not a straight line. Stress and mental health factors affect the ability to maintain concentration and focus.
Everybody thinks they know better than you about how to deal with your kid and fix him cuz they saw a TV show about it.
Oops, sorry, that sounds like I'm condemning people who watch "Patience." Haven't seen it. Don'tbwant to. I understand no one here is telling me how to raise my kid.
DeleteWe like "Patience". One of the better police-procedural efforts to appear on PBS in recent years.
DeleteWe also like "Professor T". I think his 'divergence' is based more on past trauma than autism, although I 'm not completely sure of that.
Katherine, I just finished season 2. At first I wasn’t sure if the new boss would be as good as in the first season, but it works.
DeleteI stopped watching Professor T. It’s too dark for me. I’m an escapist and didn’t continue after a few episodes. Although I did watch Broadchurch which was pretty grim. I generally stick with the Morse type mysteries, and the almost satirical Midsomer Murders.
I read/listened to Naomi Klein’s book“Doppelganger. She mentioned how she lived in NJ for a while because her child was autisticand they had goid programs. She considers her child different but loves him and tries to adapt to him rather than trying to find a cure. I found out that Dr. Asperger himself was part of the Viennese medical establishment and that after the Anschluss, cooperated with the Nazi euthanasia program, recommending children for an institution where they were euthanized. He also made a case for savants to be kept alive because their talents could be useful to the regime.
DeleteMy all time favorite police procedural mystery show is Brokenwood, on Acorn. There are 12 seasons so far. It has some more lighthearted moments, quirky characters, and gorgeous New Zealand scenery. I've watched all of the seasons, and sometimes watch reruns of it if I just want to relax.
DeleteI’ve watched a number of the Brokenwood mysteries. I don’t subscribe to Acorn or Britbox but Brokenwood is on PBS now and then, including right now. But my husband wasn’t interested in them and since we only watch an hour/ day of tv usually we watch shows that both of us like. Is Acorn better than Britbox in selection? I might subscribe to one of them. Right now we have PBS, Netflix and Prime Video because of our Amazon prime membership. I would love to. It have Amazon prime but we need so many specialized medical supplies Amazon has been a lifesaver.
DeleteI would love to drop Amazon prime but….
DeleteIf you have Prime, Britbox should already be there. I think Acorn has better selections, but that's just my opinion.
DeleteSince we pretty much live in a shopping desert, we are kind of stuck with Prime too.
According to Wikipedia:
Delete"Professor Jasper Tempest, a genius criminologist at University of Cambridge, who has OCD and an overbearing mother, assists the police in solving crimes. (Actor Ben Miller, who plays Dr T), has stated in an interview that Jasper is also autistic."
Crime shows seem to like the "autistic genius" set-up. Fine, I guess, as long as people understand that reality for people on the spectrum is quite different.
Stanley, Naomi Klein's book is one I've been circling for a few years now.
We did the best we could to get The Boy into the best educational environment available, to work on socialization skills, and to walk that line between supporting without neglecting or hovering. There's so much negative feedback these kids get that runs counter to what you are trying to do to set them up. And, by extension, everybody thinks that your kid's weird behavior is just your shitty parenting and bad genes. Explaining is exhausting and generally useless, even if you have test scores and data.
Not sure I'm ready to have that all dredged up again by Klein's book.
“ Everybody thinks they know better than you about how to deal with your kid and fix him cuz they saw a TV show about it.”
DeleteWell, Patience is not a show about “fixing” either autism or ADHD.
The title character is an example of looking at things with a perspective that is often different from most. Something all of us should try to do— clear our heads of snap conclusions and be open to seeing what is there that we don’t see initially.
“ There is tremendous pressure to get on a pharmaceutical merry go round, which is very hit or miss, and mostly just dopes them up like zombies”. So true.
Our eldest son was never diagnosed officially with anything. But he had poor emotional intelligence, little ability to “read” the room, and many social problems growing up. The popular boys he wanted to accept him turned him into their favorite target for bullying. It made him very angry and he often lashed out at us at home because we were his safe place to express his feelings. We spoke with a couple of psychologists who were not helpful. They just wanted to put him on drugs. We said thank you and left. No drugs. Our youngest too — he didn’t have social difficulties but he was very physically active. One of his teachers literally asked me “Does he have ants in his pants?.”I almost pulled him out of that class to homeschool but I didn’t because I needed the break I got when the boys were at school. Plus I worked from home most of the time as a freelancer. So I talked to the school counselor He was totally miserable in that class. The counselor talked to the teacher who eased up on our son and we limped through the year. The next year he was in a different school. One of his other teachers had wanted us to drug him too. Again, we ignored the advice. We are very glad that we did.
I volunteered in our kids’ schools at times and observed how teachers reacted to kids who didn’t fit their desired personality traits. Most were boys. I read a book way back then called something like “The Little Boy” book by the mother of four sons. Her thesis was that our schools often fail boys because the boys are usually (not always) less able to sit still, have poor fine motor coordination etc. We ended up moving our sons to an all boys Catholic school. They deliberately built in lots of physical breaks like going to the library, gym, music and art, picking up milk and juice for lunch ( the kids brought bag lunches from home — no cafeteria) all of which were in different buildings. They were not only allowed to run to these classes, they were encouraged to run. They had long morning and afternoon recess plus PE every day, and a long lunch break. Most public schools are getting rid of all these things, including the art and music. . Our sons’ public school forbade running even at the single, very short recess each day. Several friends were given similar advice (drugs) for their kids. After a while I decided that kids who don’t fit some cookie cutter definition of average, (“normal”) kids are labeled in some way and parents are pushed to put them on drugs that most don’t need but which turn them into zombies who are easier for teachers to manage in the classroom. Just my opinion after raising three sons.
Everyone who has a kid who is "off" has a variety of opinions and experiences, I guess. I hope your son is doing ok as an adult.
DeleteOur sons went through school before the “ spectrum” was defined. Autism then referred mostly to kids with really severe symptoms, unable to talk, repetitive head banging etc. There was no spectrum but our eldest might have been diagnosed as on the spectrum if there had been. I don’t know enough. In that era the big thing was “ hyperactivity “. Outsiders, including a “mothers helper”, hired for the summer after his brother was born 19 months later- hired because #1 was so active ( also my husband’s parents) suggested our eldest was hyperactive when he was two. My mother in law apparently told extended family that he was a terror and that it was all my fault. The cousin who told me about this had gotten close to us, knew our son, and said that my m- I- l was wrong, but she and my f-I-l were of the “children should be seen and not heard” generation. A couple of teachers said the same about our youngest son. When I took our eldest to the pediatrician, a father of five, and reported that people had told me that our #1 son might be hyperactive, he observed for a while, and asked a lot of questions. I have never forgotten what he told me “Normal is a range, not a point. Your son is very active, He’s at the top of the active range but I see no signs of clinical hyperactivity.”.
DeleteOur three sons were noticeably different, wildly different, in personality from the very first days of their lives. This diversity should be expected, and embraced.
Jean, All of our sons have done well as adults. Thank you, God! They are wonderful husbands, fathers, and human beings. Our eldest continued to have challenges as a young adult, especially after his first marriage broke up. He is a natural optimist but he was close to suicidal after that. One of his closest friends from college, who is German and lives in Germany, even contacted me to tell me how worried he was about our son and asking what he could do to help — he offered to come to the US to stay with our son, who had moved to Fort Lauderdale to get away. But he met wife #2 there and it has been all good since. Second marriages can be lifesavers. That is the important success . They’ve been together for 19 years, 14 since they married and moved to LA. The eldest never achieved his desired career success as an independent producer.. He struggled and got clients here and there, but it was never dependable. Covid’s impact on Hollywood was devastating and killed many careers, especially non- union careers. His wife is the primary breadwinner. But they are fine. They are the family moving to Spain, primarily for overall quality of life, but pushed to do it earlier than planned because of the trump administration’s overt racism. They don’t feel safe here anymore, especially worried for their son, who is on the cusp of teenage years. Black teenager boys can be targets, including of cops. . He is big for his age too and looks 16. Our son is almost 48. It’s been a long road, lots of challenges and worries, but it turned out ok.
DeleteOur kid was supposedly messed up because he was an only child, we were too old to be parents, we didn't read the right parenting books, blah-dee-blah. Heard it all. People love to project their pet ideas on others.
DeleteKnowing very little about your son other than that he’s a musician ( wonderful!) I think that his initiative in moving to Oregon is a hopeful sign. He’s still in his 20s isn’t he? Hang in there!
DeleteHe'll be 31. Met his Oregon friends thru a freelance music project they did for a video game producer during covid. Now they bemoan how AI has taken all those jobs. His GF is a graphic artist, and AI is killing her jobs, too. But he seems to be happy out there. Glad things have turned out well for yours.
DeleteAI is decimating Hollywood and related industries. Like music and graphic arts. . That’s why the screenwriters and SAG-AFTRA unions had strikes for many months in 2025. Our son knows a lot of people who have lost jobs there. But I suspect this current contract is the last gasp, especially for the screenwriters, and probably for the not big name actors. I hadn’t thought about the graphic artists, but of course they are threatened. And musicians.
DeleteStepping into the unknown with AI and praying for the best.
Hoping for the best for your son too. If he has good friends and a good girlfriend he’ll make it. And west coast states are more open to non- standard personalities than the east coast. I don’t know about the Midwest .
Our son had good friends in Florida from middle school age here who held him up when he was sinking after the divorce. We are literally planning to leave them bequests in our will because they started him back on the road to emotional health. They spent a lot of time at our house growing up. . Brothers from Africa, refugees who had to get asylum due to civil war in their country. . We want to thank them in our will for keeping him going during his darkest days. Then he met his wife, and it’s been mostly good since, except for the death of his career. In Europe he’s going to be working with his German friend, virtually supporting a (third tier) soccer team in Switzerland. He will be doing the preliminary research for players they might try to recruit in order to climb back up to first tier. Not much in salary but he loves soccer. Fortunately his wife has been really successful in her career and her company will let her work virtually from Spain. Their cost of living will be much lower and high quality, especially housing, healthcare and health insurance. The insurance difference alone will save them about $15:000/year out of pocket. And free college tuition in a few years. Plus they love Spain almost as much as they love LA. Derek’s non- standard personality was welcomed in LA ( not the uptight, proper professional DC vibe) and he made many friends there as an adult. . His wife gave a big party for his 40th. We were there at the time. It was a secret. Several friends flew in for it. When he realized what was happening he literally cried. A 6’6” athlete type cried in front of all his his friends.
They will miss the friends in Cali but have made friends in Barcelona during the summers there so they won’t be starting from scratch. They will make more through the kids’ school. And two good friends of his in Germany, one from his high school here, and the maid of honor from their wedding. She’s married to a military officer and she’s a vet on the base in Germany. Plus his brothers wife’s family is in France and they’ve met them a number of times. Just found out that a cousin’s daughter and husband, a bit older than our son, are moving to Portugal. Plus very close friends from Florida moved to Spain two years ago. So some family and friends there. Youngest will move to France in two years. . But still, a big mid- life transition. They leave on Saturday.
His wife left her previous employer because they wouldn’t allow the virtual work from Spain even though she had done it for five summers. They wanted her in LA most of the time.
I’ve become increasingly tolerant as I’ve aged. I’m of the opinion that a healthy society integrates as best possible and supports all its many members no matter what their nature. There is no optimal human, only an optimal society for humans. Maybe diversity of people is part of the plan. After all, all the cells in my body aren’t identical. If they were, I’d be a sponge or something.
DeleteSometimes kids just need more time, which the one-size-fits-all approach doesn't give them. Both our sons have summer birthdays. The youngest one, very late summer, August 31. Now the cut off date for kindergarten is set back to, I think, June. Back then you could attend public kindergarten if you didn't turn five until October. The older son has a June birthday. The school district had a grant to run a "developmental kindergarten" for kids who didn't meet all the benchmarks they tested for, so he ended up in that group. Basically it was a year of pre-school. They pushed the drug idea at us, ironically because they thought he was letharthic. Recommended we see this pediatrician 50 miles away. So we did. He didn't listen to us, and wanted to treat him for hyperactivity. We blew off his advice, and our son did regular kindergarten the next year. He got along well. With the younger son's birthday being so late we just sent him to preschool when he turned five, and he did kindergarten when he was six. That worked out well.
DeleteI think it is different for girls, our oldest granddaughter has a June birthday and she got along fine starting kindergarten at five. She was not quite 18 when she graduated, and was an honor student.
I never wanted to homeschool our kids, not qualified anyway. But I understand why some families do that when they see the system as excessively rigid.
Nowadays kindergarten is more like first grade, all day and pretty academic. When I was a kid, and even with our sons, it was a half day and less about reading and math already. The system has changed but five year olds haven't.
DeleteKatherine, early childhood educators know that boys almost always develop school skills later than girls, including sitting still and fine motor coordination for handwriting. Maybe that isn’t an issue now since apparently few public schools even teach cursive. Many of the books I read when our sons were young recommended holding boys back if they are at the end of the birthday 12 months. Maryland has a Dec 31 cut off for :indergarten. We didn’t hold back #1 with an early Oct birthday, partly because he was as tall as a first or second grader already and partly because we were dumb. . We did hold #3 back, having learned ( Nov birthday). He still had ants in his pants troubles with his third grade teacher, but the teachers before that were pretty good at handling it. When he transferred to the all boy Catholic school for 4th with a November birthday that technically should have had him in 5th grade, the boys’ school headmaster told me they discourage fall late birthday kids from entering first grade ( the school doesn’t have a kindergarten (he held back his own June birthday son) and that our son wouldn’t feel like a dunce being the oldest because he would actually be in the middle. Almost all the boys in the class he joined had been held back by their parents at the schools recommendation. They had studied their early childhood education books😉
DeleteIn some Scandinavian countries academics like readings, spelling and arithmetic aren’t taught until age 7. They said young children’s development is variable and that boys often leaf girls, so that is delayed ( by US standards) for all students. Very few kids are diagnosed with learning disabilities of any kind there because the slower developers have caught up by age 7.
boys early development often lags girls….not leaf.
DeleteTalking about all this is exhausting. Suffice it to say that we had our kid tested in 3rd grade by two separate centers for learning disabilities and did not just take people's word for things. I also spent many days helping out in classrooms so I could see what was going on. My takeaways from our experience:
DeleteTests can indicate areas where problems might arise but are not good indicators of what therapies might help a kid.
Meds are very hit and miss, though many teachers say they're working because they sedate kids.
Calendar age is not a good predictor of school success.
The student population and attitudes of other parents affects the quality of education as much or more than the school itself.
Parents have to develop very thick skin to deal with everybody who's going to tell them there's something wrong with their kid and why. It is hard to see someone you love ostracized.
Parents need to be vigilant about the emotional fallout their kid gets from being ostracized.
Kids with learning disabilities have at least one thing they do well. They'll want to do that ALL the time, so they need to be pushed to develop other interests to find pleasure and satisfaction in.
Kids with learning disabilities are remarkably self-critical. They internalize the "not good enough." They know in excruciating detail where they've screwed up; they just can't fix it without help.
There was a kid in my kindergarten class, Ricky. He couldn't sit still. If it was "circle time" to hear a story, or time to lie down on mats for rest period, he wiggled, squirmed, got up and ran around. He was sent to the principal's office everyday; we kids thought it was because he was bad, but in retrospect I think our teacher, who was pretty wise, wanted to give him a break in a different environment. I have it in my memory that he was held back from advancing to first grade, or maybe his year in my class was his held-back year. We had a teacher's aide in that class; maybe it was for him.
DeleteJean—I agree with everything you say, especially this “ Parents need to be vigilant about the emotional fallout their kid gets from being ostracized.”
DeleteThe eldest son did not have trouble learning — his problems were rooted in his lack of innate social skills, a deficit of emotional intelligence. He didn’t read the non- verbal cues.
Schools are not equipped to help kids develop emotional intelligence.. As long as they are advancing academically at an appropriate speed, and the kid isn’t a discipline problem,, the other kinds of problems are ignored. Not on the radar. When I talked to his teachers I got nowhere. They didn’t see any bullying.
Related to this discussion, I have read that the administration wants to eliminate the Head Start program entirely, or at least enact severe funding cuts. Head Start is a decades old preschool program for disadvantaged children. They work on things such as learning readiness and social development. Eliminating it would affect as many as 600,000 children, leaving many kids at a worse disadvantage when they enter school.
Delete"we kids thought it was because he was bad, but in retrospect I think our teacher, who was pretty wise, wanted to give him a break in a different environment."
DeleteDepend on it: The teacher wanted to give herself a break from Ricky. And in doing so, the rest of the kids saw him as "bad." I'd bet cash money that little boys avoided him and little girls tried to ingratiate themselves by tattling on him. Better way is to ask kids, "How can we help our friends settle down at rest time?" It may not have stopped Ricky, but it might have promoted the idea that settling down is a common problem instead of making Ricky the bad kid.