dwenius

Last year, Nina's kindergarten class had a gecko, a corn snake, and goldfish for pets. I was present one Friday afternoon during "open house" (wherein parents can spend the first half hour of the day with their kids in the classroom) while Nina fed the corn snake a small, microwaved, dead mouse. Later, she made shake-and-bake crickets with a bag of vitamin powder for the gecko. Both critters ate heartily, with no concern for the spectators, some of whom were loudly freaked out that their children were handling dead mice. Later in the year they raised silkworms all the way to mothdom, and also mealworms up into beetles.

This year, her first grade class has a cockroach. A Madagascar Hissing Cockroach. And so once again I am struck with the realization that I am paying quite a tidy sum (more than I ever paid for a whole year of in-state college tuition) for the pleasure of sending my daughter to a wacky progressive school, where she will be directly-- gleefully, even-- exposed to vermin.

Not just any vermin, mind you.

Vermin that hiss.

Of this, I approve.