Being in it Not Together

My eldest and youngest have taken ballet. The oldest took the bump and grind kind, with loose and enjoyable classes with the annual show full of spangles and jazz numbers accompanied by music that never really sounds like jazz, a concept confusing in its own right.

A victim of relocation, my youngest attends a more rigorous place. Probably just a lot of yelling and bone breaking. I don't really know because parents aren't allowed to see the practices. The head dancer is from a foreign country, which means he has no sense of humor and little tolerance for 4 year olds dressed up in poodles. I sat in the waiting room, listening to the other parents discussing the benefits of sending daughters to private, all girl high schools.

I bit my tongue.

There is only one private co-ed high school in the city, and it costs like body parts in tuition. So I guess unless you want to move to the suburbs, roll the dice with the underfunded city schools, or shell out the limbs, why not talk yourself into the wonders of single gender education. Each girl gets a big sign around her necks that say "Protected by Daddy" on one side and "Boys are Stupid" on the other. Then the little adult ladies can head off to college and hit the book store for Cliff Notes on Boys and Other Strange Creatures.