Blood and Joints, Really?

I am truly astounded. And not in a good way.

I recently had a conversation with my son. We don't have too many of those. We were waiting for an appointment, so we had time to sit and chat. Most conversations are something of a trial with him. At his age, of course he knows everything. And of course, I know nothing. Typical teenager of today's society.

But back to the conversation. I am not sure exactly how the topic came up as we were talking about his dog. He said to me something along the lines of how there should be more blood between joints to cushion them. What? I asked, totally confused about what he was talking about. He said you know the blood between your joints to cushion your bones. Then I was very confused. I asked him if he really thought that blood is what is between joints. He said yes. So at this point I tried to give him a very quick short biology lesson. I then asked him if has ever studied the human body in his science classes. No is the answer.

Now, my son is in high school. (A very short history - he lived with his dad until just over a year ago when I got custody back.) I'll repeat. High School. And he has never had a biology or science class that covered the human body.

What has happened to our schools? I started learning human biology in grade school. I believe somewhere around the third grade. My sister did as well. We sat at the dinner table every night and compared notes on what we learned in school about the various functions of the body. Yes, we had some mighty strange discussions at our dinner table. Never ruined any of our appetites, though. Well, at least my sister or me... I can't say for sure for my mom and step-dad.

But when did it become okay for our schools to drop this kind of information? When did it happen that our children were no longer taught the basics about the human body? What other information are they not teaching our children in school? Is this all schools, or just the one that he went to while living with his dad?

With our children not learning things that should be considered mandatory, how can we ever expect them to grow into intelligent adults? How the heck am I supposed to send my child to college (At this point that is provided he actually graduates high school with good enough grades to even go) when he would have to take remedial classes just to finish his high school education?

I want to know where our standards went. Why do we not expect more out of our schools and teachers? The curriculum? The students?

If my son were younger, I would yank his butt out of public schools. (I put him in a private school when I had custody and he was much younger.) I would put him back in a private school or home school him. I find it completely unacceptable that my son doesn't even know what cartilage is, or what tendons and ligaments are. I am not sure at this point what my options are. At his age, he is more interested in his "own life" than learning anything. Because of course, he already knows everything that he needs to know.

So have you asked your children about what they are learning? Or more accurately, what they are not learning. You might want to.