Melinda's parents' meeting with the principal and guidance counselor of Merryweather High demonstrates the failings of the school system to help kids in intense situations like Melinda's. Everyone in the room wants Melinda to "get better," to some degree. However, none of them has any sense of how deep her pain and depression goes, and so they cannot properly address the situation. Instead of getting to the bottom of what's affecting Melinda, the school officials...
Melinda's parents' meeting with the principal and guidance counselor of Merryweather High demonstrates the failings of the school system to help kids in intense situations like Melinda's. Everyone in the room wants Melinda to "get better," to some degree. However, none of them has any sense of how deep her pain and depression goes, and so they cannot properly address the situation. Instead of getting to the bottom of what's affecting Melinda, the school officials and her parents fall into blaming one another:
"Dad: Well something is wrong. What have you done to her? I had a sweet, loving little girl last year, but as soon as she comes up here, she clams up, skips school, and flushes her grades down the toilet. I golf with the school board president, you know.
Mom: We don't care who you know, Jack." (pg 114-115)
From there, the guidance counselor asks Melinda's parents about their marriage and an argument ensues. Melinda tunes out of the conversation, imagining it as a ridiculous musical number in which the adults lament their situation. When her fantasy version makes her giggle, her mother chastises her for not taking the situation seriously. Overall, the adults in Melinda's life seem too caught up in their own lives and problems to offer her the help she needs.
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