School!

Originally Posted by DOBERMAN_07

I loved middleschool and everything that came before that, but I hate HS. The fake-ness of that place was absolutely disgusting so I never attempted to care about it...

Originally Posted by Curbside Prophet

IMO, the people who complain the most about school tend to be the less ambitious. I'm not judging anyone's comments here, but in retrospect, and considering all the opportunities available to our youth today, there's no reason not to find a comfortable niche in school.

Originally Posted by Laurelin

Obviously you HAVE to integrate with the real world eventually. You just have to monitor your kids and be sure you instill them with a good sense of morals at home so that they grow stronger from these things and become better people.

Originally Posted by Laurelin

I was in AP classes and was basically never around the other students. They seemed scared to talk to us.

There were annoying people and shallow people but I didn't pay attention to them. I didn't care. I just stayed with the art, band, orchestra, choir, theater group and had fun.

Originally Posted by CrzyBritNAmerica

I agree with you CP.

You sound a lot like me and my friends in high school. We were all AP kids and nerds! I think one of the biggest things that got us all together as a group of friends was/is Harry Potter! LOL. They're the group I will be reunited with for the 7th book release! Wow, I really am a nerd huh?

Originally Posted by Weebles

I was an AP kid and in band too, but I don't think that makes me a nerd. It's totally cool to be smart. Or at least it is in hindsight.

Originally Posted by iwantmypup

I was just wondering , what are you guys' ideas on school .

Originally Posted by iwantmypup

When you were a kid did you hate it or love it?

Originally Posted by Mr. N

Well... this is a topic that I could rant about for hours upon hours. However, I figure most readers wouldn't read 15 pages of my opinions on the matter, so I'll just give the short version and if you guys have any questions then you can just ask me to clarify and/or explain in depth.

My views on schools have been strengthened ever since I started subbing at a local high school.

I honestly don't understand why high school is a requirement now days. I'd say that at least half the students have no desire to be there. They have no desire to attain knowledge... so what do they do during class? They're disruptive. They don't pay attention, and they distract those who are actually wanting to absorb the knowledge.

Furthermore, I don't understand why half (this may be a bit of an exageration... but not much of one) the students are passed to the next grade. Our government and society are too worried about hurting a child's feelings... so instead of holding a student back (so he/she can actually learn the material) they are passed on to the next class... and now that student is much further behind the rest of the class because they never actually learned the basics. I taught this one class for 2 weeks while their teacher was away. I was teaching these high school students stuff that I learned back in 3rd - 5th grade. I have to stop and ask myself, "What are these students doing here?" What they're doing is wasting tax-payer's dollars, getting a diploma, yet not gaining any knowledge because they realized that they don't have to actually do the work to pass the class.

And why do they still pass the class, even though they have no business being passed on? Because the government stepped in and told the school that each teacher is only allowed a 5% fail rate for all of their classes combined. If the teacher has a higher fail rate, then that teacher gets in trouble or loses his/her job. I don't see the logic behind this. If 50% of the students make no effort to learn the subject, then the teacher should not be punished for the students' apathy. Like my grandpa used to say, "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink."

I have many problems with the various school types (and these are all based on personal observation, so make of it what you will):

Public Schools - The kids who actually desire to learn are held back by the students in their classes who do nothing but distract them because they don't want to be there. The students are taught what to think, rather than how to think. The schools are full of things that have no business being in a school. And they have no real punishments. If a student misbehaves, that student gets a piece of paper stating that they misbehaved. Oooh! Watch out! Little Johnny just learned a huge lesson by that one. I think there should be some actual punishments. I'd love to see the schools reinstitute paddlings. I'd have no problem with the school spanking my child (so long as I was notified before hand and was present during the spanking). I'd also love it if they'd allow the teachers to carry a tazer, and as soon as a student steps out of line, the student would then get tazed. I can promise you that after the rest of the class saw little Johnny spazzing out on the floor after getting the crap shocked out of him that they would each think twice before misbehaving. (And yes, I'm aware that the tazer thing wouldn't actually work because each teacher has a different standard and measurment on what deserves a shock and what doesn't. I'm just using it as an extreme example.)

As for Private Schools - The classes are much smaller, so if one student doesn't learn as quickly as the others, that student is made out to feel like a complete idiot by his/her peers. Furthermore, since the classes are smaller, the more advanced students get split into different classes from the not-as-advanced students. This causes the not-as-advanced students to feel inferior to the advanced students and they will begin to act like a "stupid class" rather than acting like smart kids who just need a little more time to grasp various concepts.

Home Schooling - Many parents do this for the wrong reasons. If homeschooling is done to completely shelter their child from the real world, then the parents are setting up a hard life for their child... because once the child moves out and enters the real world, that child is hit with a massive culture shock. Also, a lot of parents have no business educating their children. Reason being, the parent(s) is/are not smart enough to get the information across to their child(ren). If the home schooled student is not incorporated in some sort of activity (martial arts, boy/girl scouts, etc...) then the child grows up with little-to-no social skills. On the one hand, the child could receive a more advanced education, but if this is gained at the cost of learning necessary social skills, then the parents did their child a dis-service.

Each different style of school has it's positive and negative sides... which is why if I ever have children of my own, I will debate in my mind which school system I believe to be the best for each child.

*See, I told you I could go on and on. This is a very short version of my thoughts regarding schools.

Elementary school was fun. Middle school was the begining of most of my educational problems. I was in a private school, and I was in the "dumb class" (or so we called ourselves). I didn't learn the much needed basic concepts for the more advanced classes I was introduced to in high school. This made high school much more challenging that it should have been. I love high school though. I went to a public school (10th - 12th grades) and became a band nerd. I loved the social aspect of high school, but I didn't really have any desire to learn. I would've been one of the kids who I'd say have no business being in school. I never studied, I never did my home work, I did just enough to get a passing grade, but nothing more. I had no desire to learn, and I had no desire to go on to college. However, once I moved out into the real world I realized that the only way I'd make enough money where I wouldn't have to live from pay check to pay check was to go to college and get a degree. Once I started college I actually had (and still have) the desire to actually learn. And now, I really wish I would've focused in high school and actually paid attention. Oh well... live and learn.