Shit. Do you have any idea how hard it is to get that surgery? When I got it, insurance didn’t cover it. I had to fly to Thailand to afford it. Even with going overseas it was still about $18k USD including flights and everything. And that was in 2013 dollars. I worked my ass off to afford that. And that’s to say nothing of the endless psych evals, therapist letters, and myriad other hoops you have to jump through. It is NOT something you can just stumble into, even if you had an unlimited budget behind you.
And I’ll tell you, I was pretty young looking for my age. A bit into transition I was once walking down the street in the middle of the day on a weekday, and I literally had a cop stop me, thinking I was a high school student playing hookie from school. Meanwhile I was 24, having recently finished a masters degree.
My point is…if you could just walk into a high school and get surgery covered like that, and done no questions asked? I would have legitimately become one of those weirdos who fakes being a teenager and enrolls in a high school in their twenties. I probably could have pulled it off. I would have claimed to be a homeless kid, enrolled in a local high school, got the surgery, and then disappeared again. Compared to what I did go through to get it, that would be child’s play.
Of course, idiots like Trump don’t even realize how involved that surgery is. This is not some outpatient procedure you do in the morning and are up on your feet in the afternoon. Plan a month off of work. That’s what it realistically involves. Then imagine paying for it and finding a way to arrange such an extended absence from the very job that allows you to afford it, all while also paying your regular bills and keeping a roof over your head.
For those who need it, gender reassignment surgery is literally life-saving. I can say that from personal experience. But to see ignorant fools like Trump make light of a thing that you had to work so hard to get?..I do not have the words to express it.
I was once walking down the street in the middle of the day on a weekday, and I literally had a cop stop me, thinking I was a high school student playing hookie from school.
Wait what? Is it the police’s job to make sure kids go to school in the US? What if they’re from a family that can’t even afford public school tuition? That’s so foreign to me. Cutting class should be frowned upon but not to the point of being harassed by police.
There is no tuition at public schools. (K-12, ages 5-18 approximately.) There are private schools that some choose to enroll their kids in; often these are religious in nature. And these private schools do charge tuition. But children of a certain age are legally required to attend school of some form:
Most states do allow home schooling with various degrees of requirements therein. But yes, school attendance is required. If a 14 year old is just wandering down the sidewalk at a time they should be in school, they absolutely can be stopped by the police.
I genuinely believed (some number of) people would homeschool because regular school is too expensive. Interesting. American schools being free by default is really unexpected, especially given how expensive tertiary education is over there, and especially with the volume of complaints I hear about American school education being low quality. The free drinking water at restaurants thing is also unexpected to me.
It’s just weird that police have that responsibility there. I don’t get it. Getting questioned over being outside? I get that. Getting stopped? Weird.
In my part of the world (Lebanon) homeschooling isn’t really a thing. Public schools are seen as the cheaper, worse alternative, with many students who were kicked out of private schools continuing their education there. Teachers there get paid dirt and the buildings are often crumbling. Very few have a noteworthy reputation.
Most schools are private, not all that expensive, and usually religiously affiliated. That’s the default option. Then you have a very small number of expensive private schools mostly full of more affluent people.
The curriculum was last updated in like 1992 though which isn’t good lol
Shit. Do you have any idea how hard it is to get that surgery? When I got it, insurance didn’t cover it. I had to fly to Thailand to afford it. Even with going overseas it was still about $18k USD including flights and everything. And that was in 2013 dollars. I worked my ass off to afford that. And that’s to say nothing of the endless psych evals, therapist letters, and myriad other hoops you have to jump through. It is NOT something you can just stumble into, even if you had an unlimited budget behind you.
And I’ll tell you, I was pretty young looking for my age. A bit into transition I was once walking down the street in the middle of the day on a weekday, and I literally had a cop stop me, thinking I was a high school student playing hookie from school. Meanwhile I was 24, having recently finished a masters degree.
My point is…if you could just walk into a high school and get surgery covered like that, and done no questions asked? I would have legitimately become one of those weirdos who fakes being a teenager and enrolls in a high school in their twenties. I probably could have pulled it off. I would have claimed to be a homeless kid, enrolled in a local high school, got the surgery, and then disappeared again. Compared to what I did go through to get it, that would be child’s play.
Of course, idiots like Trump don’t even realize how involved that surgery is. This is not some outpatient procedure you do in the morning and are up on your feet in the afternoon. Plan a month off of work. That’s what it realistically involves. Then imagine paying for it and finding a way to arrange such an extended absence from the very job that allows you to afford it, all while also paying your regular bills and keeping a roof over your head.
For those who need it, gender reassignment surgery is literally life-saving. I can say that from personal experience. But to see ignorant fools like Trump make light of a thing that you had to work so hard to get?..I do not have the words to express it.
Wait what? Is it the police’s job to make sure kids go to school in the US? What if they’re from a family that can’t even afford public school tuition? That’s so foreign to me. Cutting class should be frowned upon but not to the point of being harassed by police.
An example of the law in Texas:
https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/FA/htm/FA.65.htm
There is no tuition at public schools. (K-12, ages 5-18 approximately.) There are private schools that some choose to enroll their kids in; often these are religious in nature. And these private schools do charge tuition. But children of a certain age are legally required to attend school of some form:
https://legal-info.lawyers.com/research/education-law/chart-age-requirements-for-compulsory-education-in-all-50-states.html
Most states do allow home schooling with various degrees of requirements therein. But yes, school attendance is required. If a 14 year old is just wandering down the sidewalk at a time they should be in school, they absolutely can be stopped by the police.
I genuinely believed (some number of) people would homeschool because regular school is too expensive. Interesting. American schools being free by default is really unexpected, especially given how expensive tertiary education is over there, and especially with the volume of complaints I hear about American school education being low quality. The free drinking water at restaurants thing is also unexpected to me.
It’s just weird that police have that responsibility there. I don’t get it. Getting questioned over being outside? I get that. Getting stopped? Weird.
In my part of the world (Lebanon) homeschooling isn’t really a thing. Public schools are seen as the cheaper, worse alternative, with many students who were kicked out of private schools continuing their education there. Teachers there get paid dirt and the buildings are often crumbling. Very few have a noteworthy reputation.
Most schools are private, not all that expensive, and usually religiously affiliated. That’s the default option. Then you have a very small number of expensive private schools mostly full of more affluent people.
The curriculum was last updated in like 1992 though which isn’t good lol