Em is taking eighth grade civics. We all know what that means: weekly hunts through the newspaper for articles that have some kind of connection to civics/government. Every Friday the students are expected to turn in a brief summary of the article that they have chosen. It's a traditional way to try to get the students interested in the news. It doesn't work, of course.

Anyway, so last week Em chose an article in the Washington Post that reported on the Virginia legislature's vote against the gay marriage ban. She asked me if I thought the article was related to civics. I said, "of course!" Voting, politics, government – it seemed to be perfect.

The teacher didn't agree. She gave the summary back to Em on Monday with a large NC (no credit) written across the top. "Inappropriate. Please redo."

It is possible that the teacher gave out guidelines at the beginning of the year. I'm waiting to hear. Chris tells me that his eighth grade civics teacher did have topics that were off limits: abortion, gun control, gay marriage, a few others. "Those topics have been covered quite a bit; let's look at some other topics in this class." If this is the case with her class, I will probably just simmer in silence. But I haven't decided. However, if the class was not given guidelines regarding the topics, then I will have to do something. I'm not sure what that something is yet.