Redistricting roosters

I'm going to tell you a story. A few years ago, before moving here, we tried our hand at homesteading. You know, grow your own produce, laundry lines all over the place, bulk foods in salvaged containers, and some random "beginners'" animals. We chose chickens.

We chose to get our baby chicks in the mail. Don't laugh... it's actually really common! The only catch is that chicks have to be packaged by 2 dozens in order to survive. There have to be that many in the box to keep the temperatures up, and to keep the chicks packed tightly enough not to get slid around to death. So, here's what you do. You can order as many hens as you want, 3 or 23, whatever. Everyone wants hens, only. The shippers make up the difference in roosters, to bring the total to 24. The roosters are free, you don't pay for them. They're basically packing material. The shipment arrives, and the roosters are typically allowed to live with the hens until they start to actually consume valuable resources (eat food) or behave in a way that is a threat to the valuable hens (behave territorially.) At the first sign of aggression, or when the farmer wants to cut down on the food bill, the roosters are promptly "culled." (killed.)

Funny, this seems an awful lot like school redistricting! A school functions best with a certain number of students. This makes the bottom lines work out in terms of teacher: student: space ratios. Of course, not every neighborhood has the perfect number of students to meet this ratio internally. Thankfully, there are always these conveniently transient areas, typically areas which have already lost their own neighborhood schools making them a) less desirable for homebuyers and b) more likely to be populated by transient and/or marginalized groups who won't fight back. Need 40 more bodies? Take a corner of one of these neighborhoods. As long as they don't start getting... needy.

So what will get a rooster child "culled?" Not that different from the bird variety. Remember that the resources are really for the hens, and that anything you get is a favor. Show deference at all times, and accept your limitations. Remember, the hen house is called a hen house for a good reason, just like a "neighborhood school." It's there *for* the neighborhood. You may also attend. The rooster should learn to blend. Be involved in the school, but only as involved as you can be on your own. Ideally, get driven to school. When we first had struggles with the bus, authorities strongly suggested we drive our kids, since the "bus is a problem." I've since learned that almost all the other families with "good" kids (white, dual parent, middle class) from our area do drive their kids. Playtime is for the neighborhood kids, because if bused kids don't board immediately they'll get left, while the neighborhood kids can stay and play. Many activities are only announced or signed-up-for on site, so those are de facto also for the neighborhood kids. Know your place. If you have money, you can pay for entry to some of these, even from outside the neighborhood (pay for enrichment classes or aftercare, to keep your child at the school playground to improve their odds of breaking in, socially.) This is also strongly encouraged for those who may pass as hen-like.

Do not call attention to where you're from. Do not mention Southside events or multicultural events in the same vein as the neighborhood families mention Fall Creek events. It's not the same. You're not the same kind of member. To call attention to being from the Southside is "pushy." Most importantly, whatever you do, behave *perfectly!* Everyone knows, as a teacher told me, that "the bused kids are almost always the problem kids." Stay off the radar.

If you follow these rules, it can bide you time. Of course, in the end the roosters who do survive will become big enough that they simply need to eat more and developed enough that they will crow and move *big.* Eventually, if they live, they'll become too hungry and loud to blend. It will become apparent that they really just aren't hens. If they're cute and harmless, they may reach maturity, but that's as far as it goes. Nothing can help, then.

So, put like this, the farmer seems really callous, or even cruel, right? We can blame the farmer for doing this to the roosters, who did nothing to choose to be roosters. They just are who they are, and are slaughtered for it. It's easy to hate the farmer. Even easier to hate the "society" that supports the farmer. Let's all bash the mean old farmer! (Go ahead... I'll wait.)

My kids aren't born roosters, they really are hens (humor me now, I'm going to stretch this... lol.) I have made a decision to link their fate to that of the roosters, to be raised together, ride the bus together, etc. I can't put the same stigma on them and I can't change their inherent traits, but I have chosen to link my hen chicks to the roosters to the extent possible, to make the point that they have equal *inherent* worth. I have placed my hens in front of the roosters. The roosters didn't ask me to, so they aren't culpable for what happens to my hens. The farmer (the principal, the PTA, etc.) has advised me repeatedly to pull the sweet hens out of the way. So, if the hens - my children - are harmed, *I* did it.