I also need special hand lotion and my nails are cracking all to hell.

Is this the universe's way of saying drink more milk, wipe with less bleach?

(Not really related, I had a student in my Advanced Comp class tell me he couldn't complete his rough draft on the death penalty -- he is for it strongly -- because he couldn't find enough outside research to support his claim.... I told him it was perhaps the universe inviting him to consider a change of opinion. He disagreed.)

OHHHH Since I'm bitching about students. I have a kid who is latino (and whose father, I think may have been armenian... the kid is 15 and has "Armenia" tattooed on the back of his neck, thus pissing off the latinos and offending the aremnians). He's a gangbanger and a tool and just a little shit. His girlfriend is pregnant. At what point do you look at this idiot, who only attends school because and I quote "The gov'ment makes me" (to which I replied, "do you really care what the government thinks? All evidence points to no") and think, "He's a great baby daddy candidate!"

Kat, my nephew didn't get past ninth grade, got his GED in juvie jail at 17. He's a convicted felon. He's an pill popper who hasn't held a job for longer than three months in his life. He's had a least one overdose. His 17 year old girlfriend had his first daughter and then two weeks later, some other stupid girl had his second daughter.

Cash, I know. The story of this kid is NOT unique. In fact, I have another girl who is on her second pregnancy (at least with the same guy) and can't wait to marry him. Yet he's an abusive ass as a 17-year-old, steals stuff at school and in general is a tool. What makes him a great candidate to have kids with, to the point where you get pregnant not once but twice before you finish high school?

I love teaching high school. This part of it enrages me.

Kat I swear swear by Neutrogena hand cream in the little tubes. My hands get so dry they hurt if I don't moisturise them after washing them, and it's the only thing I've found both unscented and strong enough to help right away.

Y'know, it's sad when Levi Johnston starts looking like a responsible parent. ::shudder::

I'm trying to understand why the UK has government-funded religious schools to begin with. I can't find anything that makes sense to me.

Well it does not really make sense, but there are historical reasons. I'll let someone from the UK, but think of all the arguments we get for vouchers in the U.S. If we had a voucher system they would be used to pay for religious schools. And the UK has an established Church... Why do we have the healthcare system we have? It makes no sense, but there is a long history that lead to it.

Yeah, I'm reading up on the history of the UK school system, to try to understand.

I really wish I could just start smacking girls in the back of the head and that, somehow, this would help. I couldn't be in that environment, Kat, without doing violence.

I know girls date assholes but I just wish they could make the discovery BEFORE they decide to have kids. Grrr.

State funding of religious schools often developed to enable control of religious education.

In France, where secularism is one of the three pillars of the public school system, they also fund private schools, including religious schools.