Job Corps Blues.....

It's amazing how many emails a day I get about Heather's Job Corps experiences! Seems people have plenty of opinions. If you have some opinions you just need to get off your chest, write to me at wsm311@aol.com

One interesting reaction I get is to Job Corp's mission to serve "at risk" youth. Here's what their web page says.....

Job Corps is the nation's largest and most comprehensive residential, education and job training program for at-risk youth, ages 16 through 24. Since its inauguration in 1964, under the Economic Opportunity Act, Job Corps has provided more than 2 million disadvantaged young people with the integrated academic, vocational, and social skills training they need to gain independence and get quality, long-term jobs or further their education.

Read that? ECONOMIC opportunity. I get $600/month disability because I have myasthenia gravis and lupus. That puts us squarely under the umbrella of "at risk". I don't have any money. I could not send Heather to college. Ideally a school like this is a great place for a kid like mine to go.

They say the students can work at their own pace. Heather finished up her level A paperwork very quickly. She also did it all for the NEXT level and handed it in. The level A teacher has been putting off one or two hours worth of clinics for weeks. As soon as the teacher lets Heather do this, she can progress to the next level. I'm wondering now if there is some sort of financial reason for the Job Corps or the teacher to hold her back?

I'm waiting one more week and then I'm getting mean. I've repeatedly written letters to the center director. I know he reads them as Heather has talked to him. He hasn't written back to me, though.

Just as when I had a foreign exchange student at our house and needed help with INS and the time I applied for disability, the best way to get help is to talk to congressmen. I guess that's my next step with Job Corps.

Hopefully they will let Heather finish level A next week. Otherwise I call in the cavalry. Government is supposed to serve ***US***.

The good news is that Heather got such good evaluations that she skipped over a step and is now in "silver phase". I think that means she gets a $50 bonus, a water bottle and a later bedtime ;-)

Heather is funny on the phone ;-)

Tonight I talked to Heather. I continue to torture her by telling her each gourmet delight that I cook. She holds the phone away from her ear, chants and makes rude noises to block it out. She then goes on to tell me what she ate. Tonight it was 10 year old canned ravioli scraped from the bottom of a rusty can ;-) I bet it wasn't *that* bad ;-) Snicker....snicker.....

Heather thinks for certifications, they should add millionaire. Ski patrol has never been offered, yet they hold out the possibility by putting it under certifications. The way you go about getting it is to work at the local ski area and hope they train you. It has nothing to do with Job Corps. Hmmmmm.....so why should you go to school there to begin with???

As for Millionaire, Heather says that theoretically she could go on to become one, so it should be listed as a possibility ;-)

I went through the list of certifications, searched online and wrote to some local groups. She can get them easier here at home. I sent her a bazillion links to cool outdoor jobs and internships right here in Vermont.

Heather could come home, live in her own house and do her thing.....as she was all along at her unschool university ;-)

http://www.homestead.com/peaceandcarrots/Orion.html

While I was talking to Heather, the RA walked by. Heather needed things from his office....like work slips and scissors. She's 20 years old, is not allowed to use a knife or scissors!!! They have to be borrowed from the RA....and used under supervision. Whoa..... I hope it's not so dangerous there that a berserk kid might suddenly grab them and go on a rampage! This is school....not reform school or jail.

I'm worried about my kid!!!!! She sounds more confused and brain dead every day. Is it the food? The rules? The mind-numbing mediocrity?

Today Heather looked through the yellow pages and decided to try the Unitarian church. I think it was a good choice and cheered her up. My favorite is always the coffee HOUR afterwards ;-)

So....please think good thoughts and send Heather some energy. This week she learns about Wildland fires and tries to deal with the administration about her continuing frustrations and issues.

What is REALLY offered??????

Oh, oh.....Heather is pretty darn upset again. The certifications offered by Job Corps were the #1 reason for her to go there. Now she has found out that they don't really offer what they say and for the ones you CAN take, most you have to pay for. Here's something copied directly from The Loring Job Corps web site.......

Recreation Certifications & Trainings Offered:


ADVANCED FIRST AID

CPR FOR THE PROFESSIONAL RESCUER

HEARTSAVER CPR

ANAPHYLAXIS WORKSHOP

WILDERNESS ADVANCED FIRST AID

EMT-B

COMMUNITY WATER SAFETY

LIFEGUARDING

LIFEGUARDING INSTRUCTOR

WSI

S-130/S-190 WILDLAND FIRE

REGISTERED MAINE RECREATION GUIDE

REGISTERED MAINE WHITEWATER GUIDE

SKIING INSTRUCTOR

NATIONAL SKI PATROL

ROPES COURSE FACILITATING

http://www.ljcc.org/outdoor_recreation.html

======================

Heather pinned down an OR teacher to discover some of these have NEVER been offered and some are offered no longer. The training and certification page seems to be a big sham.

Is Heather upset???? BIG TIME!!!!

We just talked more than an hour. Heather is back to feeling like she is wasting her time. This next week she does Wildland Fire and is looking forward to that. When that's done, there's not much offered until kayak season. This is a huge bummer!

Is it legal to advertise courses that aren't even offered? Now the question becomes....do we become rabble rousers and make things happen? Or give up Job Corps and find a better way to do this?

The reality of Job Corps

Some folks have written to ask me what it's like. Maybe Heather can add to this.

Every time you go off center and come back, your bags are checked and purchases looked through. There are many things you are not allowed to have or buy. Each day there is room inspection. Your bed needs to be made and room clean. You have a big locker and must keep anything of value in it and locked away. From early morning to 4 pm, you are locked out of your room. You had better remember to take it all with you.

Sometimes trips are scheduled, but the kids don't know what kind of trip. If you go prepared for skiing and it's a snowshoe trip.....tough luck....you can't get back in your room for the snowshoes.

Yup....the food is free if you go to the cafeteria. Too bad they aren't fond of fresh fruits and vegetables ;-( You had better think tater tots are gourmet fare.

To use a phone, you have to be able to catch an RA on duty and not busy. You make the call in their room among noise, kids going in and out, etc....

Want to go off center? You have to sign out. If you want to spend the weekend away you need to arrange permission ahead of time.

Sometimes this all seems worth it to go to school "free".....sometimes free seems expensive in other ways.

Heather's mom speaks again.....

We were pretty disgusted with Job Corps, but there may still be some hope. Heather had a talk with the center director today to express some of her concerns and frustrations. Perhaps it made a difference. We will see.

I have been deluged by people telling me that Heather does not belong at Job Corps and I should yank her out. We will see.

The advantages of school are....ski trips, snowboarding, roller blading, ice skating, rock climbing, rafting, kayaking, canoeing, etc.... There are also supposed to be a bunch of certifications available such as firefighter, Maine guide, EMT, etc.....

The disadvantages of this school include.....prison-like atmosphere, crummy food, restrictive rules, very little computer access, broken telephones, lack of communication, way too much status quo instead of innovation, etc....

I think some of the teachers and others could benefit by learning to be motivated and upbeat. Some are snoring along, providing very little initiative or leadership.

Ugh.....all the reasons Heather was unschooled to begin with. If she had made her snowshoes, kayak or built her house under this system, she wouldn't even have started yet. Forget about having it all done by 18 years old!!!! Stifle, stifle, stifle......

It's tough being a long-distance mother. I wish I could SEE Heather to interpret her body language and eyes. All I can do from here is guess. Heather is sooooo frustrated, but has a beam of hope that things will progress and get better. We will see.

Fun at school

Weeeeeeeeee!! School is fun :-)

I've been downhill skiing, snowboarding, ice skating and rollerblading within the past week. All of them are related to my vocation and some of them are requirements. Today they had to cancel the cross country skiing unfortunately. There's always next week though!

I'm learning to be a good little suck up. I just learned that although I was only on wing 10 (the newbie wing) for 8 days, I was the student of the month. I have a certificate coming to me for that one. :-)

I've been getting perfect room scores evepretty much every day. If I keep it up, I could get room of the month for wing 9. I then get a certificate and a little perk gift. This place is very into incentives. As soon as I complete level A, I get a few more perks, including a Rec Works water bottle.

I'm trying to be extra extra good, so I can skip blue phase and go directly to silver phase when my teachers evaluate me in a week or so. Silver phase allows me to have a later bedtime and a few other perks. I'm gunning for silver phase so I can start my application rolling for the onsite apartments. You have to be on silver before you can apply. Once into the apartments, I'd have my own computer with internet access in my room. As it is now, I only have access to computers during certian portions of the school day.

Being in the apartments has other perks, such as being able to cook your own food. The food down at the cafeteria is kinda gross. Not only is it institutional food, but it's federal government food. Who knows what they do to it back behind the kitchen walls...

Time to get back to school work. :-)

Heather doesn't sit still long enough to update....

Between hanging out with the Mormons, ski trips, rollerblading, ice skating, going to WalMart and irritating the school administration, Heather has no time left ;-)

I'm sooooo tempted to say things I'm not supposed to! Let's just say Heather has been asked to muzzle herself by the powers that be. The rule doesn't apply to me....so I will write about it in MY blog ;-) All I need is the energy to do it.

I miss my baby!!!!!!! We have travelled together for many years. Being a grown-up and shipping my baby off to school is very tough on me. But....if Heather can put up with the beaurocracy, I think she will have a great time on this adventure. Growing up in the sticks, she never had access to a roller rink or Super WalMart. Now she can see what it's like ;-)

Missing

I'm not home sick, I'm travel sick. I miss traveling. I've been sitting here looking at my old journals and pictures from Florida and the AT. What I would give to be hiking from Key West to Newfoundland right now....

The feeling of exhilaration after completing a 38 mile day, the sound of pine needles crunching under my feet, the smell of sand and salt water wafting over the breeze ... The people I met, the things I saw, the experiences I had were all so wonderful.

I'm like a dog. I LOVE to go for rides! It's a very unnatural feeling to be stuck here on center without going for rides or trips anywhere. The only time I get off center is activities with the mormons and when I go to Wal-mart. I signed up for a walmart trip the other day just to go for a ride off center - I didn't need to buy anything. It got me 2 hours of looking around outside Loring.

I'm still kicking myself for not having finished at least the AT last year. I wish I could have. My current life goals plan includes me doing the ECT within the next 5 years, no exceptions. I'll be here at Loring long enough to get all of my Outdoor Rec levels and the many certifications they offer. (Wildlands firefighting coming up in the next 2 months!) I may go to the college for outdoor rec at UMPI, since room and board would be free and my tuition would be federally covered.

I'm really looking forward to all of the leadership training. Because I'm outdoor rec, I facilitate the team building exercises that all of the new groups need to go through their first week on center. It's fun! I start actually facilitating next week. We do ropes courses and team activities like "Negativity bomb" and "spiderweb" It's fascinating watching the group dynamics develop.

Well, back to my essay.

Typing

I moved over to another computer to do my typing. This one has earphones so I can listen to music. Yippie! I'm sad though, they boot us out in 7 minutes for lunch. I'll have to go back to using a regular computer later today ... this lab is closing up so they can take the regular students in here to a museum.

I've been avoiding my "real" classroom since I got into my vocation. It's easier to use other rooms to study in, and other computers to do my typing. I'm extremely glad they let me do this!

Last night I was cavorting with the Mormon missionairies. I'm taking a college class (I could even get college credit for it) about the Bible. Fascinating stuff. The family that teaches it is extremely nice too. The mom gave me and some of the other students some fancy scriptures. I now have a regular king James version of the Bible and a matching book that contains the Book Of Mormon, The Pearl Of Great Price and the Doctrine and Covenants. They're all cross referenced and have little thumb tab index thingies on the side to make it easier to look up stuff.

I will never be able to believe anything about Joseph Smith and some of the other Mormon tenets, but I really do enjoy their religious slant on other things in life.

Whoops, bell rang. Time to go.

Being bratty at school

I'm trying to be good, I swear! The beurocracy is irking me at the moment though. I just spent almost two hours retyping some answers my teacher thought needed redoing. I can't type her exact words, but the gist of the conversation was that she thought I did a very thorough, correct job explaining the topic at hand. However, she marked my paper as wrong because as she was grading 4 other student's papers on the same subject, mine was the only one that was worded differently. She wants me to word my papers in the same way the information is supplied in the binder, so she knows that I'm actually reading it. It doesn't matter if I already know the subject matter and can explain it eloquently. They want it in the format of the binder.

Makes sense, doesn't it? (mutter mutter grumble grrrr)

I used an entire piece of paper to redo one answer. It follows:

Question 9A
By Heather Anne Martin
January 26th 2004


The questions is:

“How long, typically, will two pints of liquid fuel, burning, last?”

The answer supplied in the binder is:

“Two pints of liquid fuel will burn approximately 2 hours at a medium high flame.”


That is a misleading answer. First, two pints of what type of fuel? Some stoves (Such as an MSR
XKG) will burn an hour longer on two pints of Diesel than they will on Gasoline. Second, what
type of stove? An MSR Whisperlite will burn 2 hours, 40 minutes on two pints of white gas. The
old backpackers standby, the Optimus Svea, will burn for 10 hours on the exact same two pints.
The difference? Burn times vary dramatically depending on stoves, conditions and fuel...in this
case, the Svea burns three times longer on the same amount of fuel.

The binder doesn’t tell me this. It doesn’t compare burn times for different stoves, nor does it
tell me that certain fuels will burn longer then others. It doesn’t offer lessons on picking out a
fuel efficient stove, nor does it have a chart that explains different fuel and stove burn times. It
doesn’t offer a good core base knowledge. Instead, it gives me a meaningless statistic without an
explanation on how stoves and fuels differ.

This is exactly why I don’t agree with only working from the binder. If I were new and learning
only from this binder, I would seriously over pack fuel for a trip, based on the skimpy knowledge
it gives me. The binder needs to be updated.

I’ve included a few copies of the burn time information I found from other sources. It’s
interesting how much brands and models within the same brand differ. My personal favorite is
the Optimus Nova stove. It burns 5 hours on two pints of gas and can boil water in a few
minutes flat or gently simmer and bake for hours. It has lots of really cool features that I’ve
come to immensely appreciate....for instance, when I’m done cooking, I simply flip the fuel bottle
onto its other side. This causes the remaining fuel in the line to bleed out and burn off. When I
disconnect stove and bottle, I have no dripping mess like I tend to notice with other stoves,
especially Whisperlites.

To conclude: the binder isn’t an all-knowing source. Nor is the information contained therein
always accurate. It needs updating. I’d be happy to help if you desire. In the meantime, I’ll
supply my required essays with information contained within the binder, but I’ll surreptitiously
be reading from other sources and double checking the binder information.

Heather goes to church.....

For the second time since she has been in school, Heather went to the Mormon church. I think it's a great choice, even though I have mixed feelings about it. Of all the religious affiliations, I admire Mormon family life the most. I have many LDS publications on food storage, home production and preparedness. I have always believed in having LOTS of food, fiber and fuel stored up.

I grew up Presbyterian and my step-father is a Presbyterian minister. When I was in college, I belonged to the Baptists, Methodists, Lutherens, Catholics and Episcopals. I wanted to try everything and I enjoyed the different activities sponsored by each church. Heather was brought up Unitarian, but baptized Presbyterian one Easter while visiting my mother.

I have to admit, I'm not much into organized religion. For years we have studied with the Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses because they are the ones willing to walk back to our underground house ;-) I like learning everything.

My personal philosophy is that there is one God and there are many ways to go about having a relationship with God. I do not believe any religious persuasion has the corner on truth. All have been corrupted by people. The thing that scares me about being a Mormon is following Joseph Smith. I see God as the only true authority....anything else and you are following the interpretations of mere mortals.

I grew up in New York State, so went to the LDS Palmyra Pageant each summer. Now I live in VT....birthplace of Joseph Smith. Twice now I have been to Salt Lake City, Utah. I love church square, the friendly people and the beautiful flowers. I just have no desire to join a club. It will be interesting to see what choices Heather makes.

Heather has found a nice bunch of folks to go to church with. They are also great about picking her up at school for potlucks and classes. I have encouraged her to begin food storage at school. She says she feels "naked" without it.

Heather has a friend who is Creole. She plans on going to the Adventist church with him. I will have to look that up. I never tried one of those ;-)

Sickie goes skiing

Heather continues to be sick. For 3 days I told her she had bronchitis and she thought she also had a sinus infection. The nurse said the fluorescent yellow and green snot didn't mean anything! Ooooohhhhhh...to get my hands on her...... Well, Friday Heather went to the eye doc for glasses and took a detour to the hospital walk-in clinic. Yes indeed....she has sinusitis and bronchitis!!! At least now she has antibiotics to go with them.

Thursday Heather went downhill skiing for the first time. She still has all body parts intact ;-) And she loved it.

Since Heather is a second grade drop-out, she never had the joys of forced schooling. This is now getting her into hot water.

We learn because we want to know something. And if you want to know something....it's only natural to read everything you can get your hands on.....right????? NO!!! Guess not.

Heather did most of her school reports over Christmas vacation. She had to answer questions by writing short papers. Heather spent hours and hours researching each subject on the internet and with our extensive book collection. I thought her papers were great ;-) Guess what the instructor wants? A few words copied directly from their workbook. All kid's answers are supposed to look the same.

ACK! Here I have an intelligent, curious, motivated kid and they want to dumb her down and fit a mold. What's truly pitiful is the info in their binders is neither current nor fully correct. Heather spends more time arguing than learning new stuff. She has a new appreciation for her unschool and uncollege background ;-) Nobody ever said beaurocracy makes sense. My personal opinion of narrow minded administrators and teachers cannot be said out loud here ;-)

Those who can DO....and other people teach. No great person ever became that way by copying stuff from one page to another. You'd think the school system would encourage creativity, intelligence and initiative....but instead they strive to produce limited knowledge clones. Sigh....

I have to keep remembering that the US style of schooling was brought about by the industrial revolution. It was intended to produce obedient factory workers. For years I scoffed at the homeschool parents who ranted about public schools. I considered it a waste of time and just went about doing things better. I sense myself becoming more publicly radical.

Heather is going to the Job Corps first of all because it is FREE. She looked into several colleges, but did not want to have student loans when she got out. After all....she already has a house of her own building, free and clear of any mortgage....plus a camping van, kayak and lots of outdoor gear. Debt sucks.

Heather was searching for a carpentry apprenticeship for the winter when she stumbled on a Job Corps website. When she saw the Outdoor Recreation offering, she was hooked! It's the first in the nation and from what Heather says, the gear available onsite is fantastic ;-)

Sigh....Heather and I were never meant to be team players in a beaurocracy. If you have any wisdom to share, Heather would appreciate some encouragement. Write to her at Royalepain@aol.com Be nice to her.....she can't help who her mother is ;-)

Heather is STILL sick!

I kept hoping Heather would be able to update. She has very little internet access. She has been to the wellness center a bazillion times, plus they took her to the hospital for tests one day. This is one heck of a flu going around at school! Now Heather sounds like she is getting bronchitis to go with it. I think she has missed a week of school....but so has half of the campus.

Heather's next adventure is trying to get into an apartment. There are dorm rooms and apartments. Heather misses cooking.....especially spicy food ;-)

Besides writing to Heather, you can actually call her toll free after 5 PM to 10 PM. The # is 1-888-216-2034 When the automated voice starts talking, ignore her and quick dial 7417. You will get The RA's room. Ask for Heather.

You can also call the main # and dial 6024 for the lounge or 6023 for the laundry room. Heather actually prefers talking in the laundry room ;-) You have to ask for Heather....I think there are about 30 kids in her wing, any of them may answer the phone.

Heather's math

My temp is down. I've been alternating 1000 mg's of tylenol and 400 mgs of ibuprofren every few hours for the past few days. I've been subsisting on cough drops and cloraseptic spray. Hopefully I get well soon. I even puked today. Ick ick ick.

Back when I was well, I failed my math test by 2 questions. I'm pretty proud of myself actually. After a lifetime of avoiding math like the plague and never ever doing any studying, I did better then the majority of kids on campus when it came to math. I weirded out the instructors with my scores though. I scored 100 points higher on applied math then I did with pure computation. They can't figure out why I would know math problems when they had words in them, but not when it was just straight numbers.

I'm going to be studying up on all varieties of math now, so I can ace the test when they give it to me again. It's actually pretty fun.

I'm going back to sleep.

Heather

Heather is a Sickie ;-(

This is Wendy....Heather's mom. She asked me to let folks know she likes school, but has the flu right now. Seems like half the school has the flu!!!! Well.....you know how Heather likes testing high....today her temp was 102 deg.....only second highest. Another girl was 103.

You can always send her a get well card or other real letters to:

Heather A. Martin
Loring Job Corps Center
36 Montana Road
Limestone, Maine 04750

More TABE

Scores:

Reading: Perfect score. I test at mid-college level.

Math: Utterly failed. I tested at a 4th grade level. They're pretty sure it's because I failed to fill in the right bubbles, and that it's not from me being that stupid. I tested at a 4th grade level.

Everybody keeps asking me if I'm an R.A., wing leader, or staff. The TABE testing lady asked me what the heck I was doing in Job Corps. She said I was a very atypical student.

I shadwoed OR yesterday. They make us do 200 sit ups and 50 push ups every other day, as well as run 1 mile in 10 minutes. Everything is pretty fun so far.

TABE Testing

I took my TABE tests today. Arrrrftghhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


I got a perfect score in reading. I got all 50 questions right. Because I got a perfect score though, they automatically reject it. I have to retake a higher level reading TABE, the equivalant of upper college levels.

My math TABE was a disaster. I've only taken one or two standardized fill in the bubble tests previous to my job corps experience. I have really bad test anxiety because of that, especially in math...it's not my best subject. But, I started off good. I was humming along, filling in the blanks, making notes of qhich questions I skipped so I could come back and do them later...

I started to double check my answers. I got to question #6, which I had marked down to come back to later because it had been too difficult. When I looked at #6, I realized I must have skipped a row and accidentally started filling in the right answers in the wrong boxes. Everything was screwed up! I got another answer card and started to fill it in.

My book said I had 3 more questions to answer, but the answer card didn't have the space. It turns out I had been filling in the right answers in the wrong block of the test. ARGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!

I got another answer card. Started to furiously fill it in, trying to copy the right answers into the right boxes. Don't know if I did, because the bell rang before I could check.

I don't know my math score yet, but I've been told I failed. I want to know how much of it is computational error and how much is due to the fact I was filling in the wrong boxes. I hope they let me retake it. Otherwise I'm stuck in math class for 3 months before they'll let me near a TABE test again.







I go take my swim test in half an hour. Hope Everything goes well there. :-)

Back At School

Here I sit, procrastinating again. I'm currently in the computer lab. I'm supposed to be typing an essay on an opinionated environmental article I just read. Instead, I decided to surf the web and update my blog :-)

Things are going well here at school. They have me fast tracked. While the rest of the group I came in with 9 days ago still has a week of orientation to go, I start my Vocation tomorrow. Heh heh heh. :-) Sorry, I can't help but gloat. It's a good feeling to be smart enough to be put into classes ahead of my peers. It's a good thing I didn't go to school. I'd have an ego bigger then Australia. As it is now, my ego is about the size of Alaska. (Australia could fit two Alaskas in it)

Tomorrow I job shadow, then the next day I'm into Outdoor Rec full-time. They just assigned us all into different groups for our upcoming skiing trips. This is so exciting! They're all impressed I'm almost done with Level A and C paperwork already. The only problem is, now I'm going to have a lot of down time. I'm going to try to convince them to let me take Carpentry and/or mechanics to fill in the OR holes.

I'll write more later, now I really have to buckle down and do my paperwork. Right after I check some things online.... :-)

Plastic Flamingo Boycott

I'll be leaving for school tomorrow. I have no idea when I'll be able to access a computer to update. I'll leave you with a link to an amusing site:

Plastic Flamingo Boycott!

I'll probably update within the week.

Hi again

I dissapeared for a few days to go to Boston with mom. Her Doctor called at 4:45pm on the 29th and wanted to know if we could travel to the Lahey clinic for a 8:30am appointment the day after. We went, and mom got to be tortured by three different doctors. We came back yesterday at midnight. We got home so late because mom had to make a stop at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock hospital on the way home to get IV diruetics so she could breathe.

I go back to school in 2 days. Yay!

My brain power is still non-existant. I just woke up. I've been tanking up on sleeping in. Soon, I get up at 5am every day.



My brain power is still non-existant.