Your Education.What was/is it like?

IMO mine was shit.I learned to read and write very young and got very bored after that.

Many of our teachers didn't give a shit what grades we got.
2 of em left us teacherless before our uni entry exams.And we were constantly told the school couldn't afford textbooks, printed papers or even accept money from us!

I chose that I wanted to go to law school at 17.But I wound up fairly uninspired by it.It was semi useful, semi useless.

So QUESTION
What was your education like?How would u have liked it different/better?
How would you change education for others?

PS This thread was inspired by Arnold Schwarzendickhead deciding to scrap schoolbooks for state funded kids.
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/5/20090609/twl-1230-debate-arnie-terminates-school-3fd0ae9.html
Well what would u expect from a drug cheating sex offender who's best friend's the new Hitler.
What a CXXT he is...!

 

I went to public schools, we always had more than enough books and if you lost it or damaged the book you had to pay for a new one. My teachers cared. I had a math teacher that forced me to take algebra again, I took it in 8th grade and again my freshman year. I had passed the class with A's and B's all year and made a C on my last report card so she made me take it again. The only way to not get an education is to skip class and/or drop out. The only thing I hated is that they forced everyone to take the SAT.

Umm college was a joke to me. If I wasn't learning anything I would skip the class. (I was rarely in class) I failed four classes because I never showed up. What annoyed me about that was three of them didn't have an attendance policy but told me I failed because I was never around....even though I did all my work and took all the tests. Blah. That's what makes me want to go back later and just get my BA in English. Screw the education department. Those assholes never knew what classes I was supposed to be taking.

 

1) Was raised to thrive academically
2) Competitive public high school
3) High standardized test scores
4) Private Uni now; tough courses/lots of credits & extracurricular.

I've had spectacular teachers and sucky ones. Regardless, I do much learning on my own.
It isn't easy, but I can do it and am grateful.

I'm for people finding what works for them, but I urge all to give a shot at education.

 

I still have haunting dreams about having to come back to school after uni.
You know of flying thro the practice exams then I can't find my notes or class timetable.
Wondering if I've missed exams etc.

Its really spooky..

 

My elementary years were plagued by overzealous religious teachers, junior high I had a few teachers who were absolutely awesome - they cared, knew how to teach, and were interesting. Then in senior high, all the teachers seemed jaded and burnt out.. I went from being a top performing student in junior high to adopting my teachers attitude and not giving a shit in senior, falling asleep in class etc.

I dropped out at 17.

If I were to make any changes, I would make it mandatory for teachers to give a shit, and I would allow students to choose more of their own classes at an earlier age.

 

Ress: I was thinking of making a thread like this yesterday! freeeeaky.

 

Yeah I've had that with people.
Was it the Schwarzngr thing?

 

No, it was a hmm-I-wonder-what-other-people-apart-from-Ress-because-I-already-know-what-he-thinks-think-about-education thing.

 

I went to a poor over populated school district. Inner-city schools. elementary and middle schools are decent for the most part, despite a couple really ghetto ones. High school; Imagine the movie dangerous minds or stand by me, but take it down a couple notches. That was my high school. Teachers excused mass stupidity because of how and where we grew up, and the kids believed it. Most of them didnt care.
There was a few who did, and I was lucky to find a few of them. I started school here in the 1st grade, had my first shitty teacher in 5th grade, and it got progressively worse. My second grade teacher, introduced me to the wonderful world of books. this is where I learned my passion for the english language.
I watched kids I went to elementary school with, and they used to be smart and bright, and they had dumbed down to fit in. It was so sad. Half of my graduating class had a 3rd grade reading level, and smart kids were alienated. Literally, the smart kids were taken out of a class and put together in classes together. all of them. thats when they started clusters. They thought kids wouldnt notice when they were changed around. some of us did. I did. The ones who were not so smart, they didnt put much effort into them. they kinda taught the base required and let them eventually drop out, or kept flunking till they were too old, or had kids, gone to jail, killed.. whatever.. It was sad to see.
I wasnt even one of the smartest there, and i learned all i could, and think I did alright.
you had to want to learn.

 

K-12 in all-white suburban district. It was alright. Not challenging in the least. I have always been self-motivated, but by the last couple years of high school I became a slacker because I realized what a joke the school system was.
My own parents expected me to do well because my siblings are older and very smart, but I never felt pressured by them at all. I pretty much knew my capabilities, and set my own standard. School in general is easy.
Went to private college, mostly covered by scholarships. I majored in English and Education -- education was a joke (dont major in that), through English I had a couple excellent teachers. All in all, whenever I expected academic challenge, more often than not I was let-down because the liberal arts are easy.
I took many sciences while I was majoring in chem (for a while I switched majors) and those were more satisfying -- I finally felt a sense of accomplishment when i did well, (whereas in the liberal arts, A's didnt require a considerable amount of effort) but ultimately switched back because i decided to be an English teacher

I wish education was more individualized, based on your capabilities - especially in K-12, the learning spectrum is so wide, its not fair to clump everyone together. and that at the college level, i wish you had a longer time to explore subjects before deciding on a major.
I dont know a practical way of changing it though -- i mean, you cant be in college forever, just to experience every field.

 

Went to a good private school, found it way too easy.

Went to a shitty public university, found it frustratingly easy.

 

Well well well...

Kindy.
Primary.
High school in NZ ---> Very very good public school. Great teachers, great students, great place (great accents )
High school in Aussie ---> Very very expensive private school. Okay teachers, boring students, strict place (twangy accents! ....I've gotten used to it now )

Uni in Aussie ---> Fantastic. They leave you alone to do you're own thing, you do what you want... Only hassle is travellin' 3 hours a day.

 

My first two years of school were great, second grade sucked because I had a teacher that set off my first crazy episode and we moved from that town here, 3 and 4 were pretty good, then I snapped again in 5th...Honestly other than my few psychotic semesters, elementary was alright and most of the teachers were fantastic.

Then middle school wasn't terrible, but the math teachers (with the exception of my 8th grade pre-algebra teacher, I would kick ass at math if she was my teacher the whole time), and in 8th grade, we got our first taste of having a coach for a history teacher. Needless to say, I taught myself US History.

High school was a joke. Half the teachers were teaching fields they had NO clue about, just because there was a shortage of teachers and the school didn't want to hire any more. My algebra teacher failed his own test the year after he taught my class and had to be switched to history. My US history teacher didn't teach us period, sort of like 8th grade US history. My geometry teacher just sucked, then I had her again for algebra II. My math is pretty behind because my teachers sucked. I don't recall writing a single paper for my English IV AP class... Yep, lots of my teachers just stopped caring.

 

my education was what I put into it, not very good. I didn't like school very much so I did what I had too to get by. My good friend did great and ended up getting a great education.

 

"Never let formal education get in the way of your learning"

 

don't really remember much of elementary school - just that i was a bully :biggrin: and i was far ahead than everyone in math.

middle school i started to decline in my studies. had some cool teachers. i was one of the fastest kids in school in the 1/2mile run. 8th grade when we had to take the MCAS, we spent most of the year learnign how to take the test rather than learn anything usefull. then we we had to take the test, our english teacher wasn't in school for the test, so we all just cheated on it.

high school - i went to a private catholic school. had some awesome teachers, a few i still keep in touch with. very inspirational and they have helped me develop into the man i am today. i played a few sports, varisty lettered in all of them. league all star awards etc...and i played ont he chess team.

university - i went to a private military college in VT. with all the BS aside, i had a fun time up there. pretty grateful for my knee injury which allowed me to actually think abotu the decision i was making - and i decided not to join the Marines. i fucked around and wasted time and did nto study as i should have - now i'm feeling the pain of not doing well. workign on fixign that.

 

elementary and high school were ok. the teachers seemed to actually care for the most part, although they focused almost entirely on teaching the stupidest students while letting everyone else fuck around or sleep in the back of class.

college was about the same except the teachers didn't seem to care as much.



i really liked shop class.

 

I was the subject of every bad experiment the WCSD (my school district) tried to catch up with the national average.

 

I went to public school for K-12. I used to get into a lot of fights up until high school. I grew up in a small snooty rich town and I was always the only student of color in the classroom so that got to be awkward and old.

I was a really good student - always managed to get good grades.

High school was great.

I go to one of the top womens colleges in the world. I love it here despite the raging man-haters. The connections I've made since being here are just insane. Girls come here from all over the world and its nice to meet interesting people who dont all have the same story. I have friends who are royals in their country and others who come from extreme poverty in Africa but are here to get educated so they can go back to home and try to make a difference. The diversity is probably the top thing this place has going for it.

I'm almost done with my bachelors in psych. and sociology then I may travel around and try different things before going to graduate school.

 

i went to public school from kindergarten. in fourth grade i realized i was smarter than my teacher and more well rounded in my education. i diverted my focus to music and art while still passing with flying colors. in high school i realized my teachers didn't actually care and i could pass with just the bare minimum. getting in to college became my focus and i became the leader of many clubs including yearbook and newspaper. i traveled to France and Italy many times and became fluent in French. In my sophomore year i started dealing drugs, but i balanced it with a job to make it look like i had expendable income legitimately. i passed at the top 10% of my class while making more selling drugs than most of my teachers were making and i got a 2200 on my SATs.

i realize that i was quite bored of my teachers' lazy attitudes. i challenged myself in and out of school and learned quite a lot more than the average student. most students were clumped together somewhere in the middle while the smartest took AP classes and the dumbest just got dumber. in my school district its actually assumed that smarter students require less resources(i was on the budget committee for my junior and senior year; elected by the town) and in contrast mentally retarded students get twice as much attention. its a frustrating system to be subjected to... when i got to college it was all very easy and i coasted for a while before dropping out because of drug problems.

anyway, i'm going back to school in the fall now that i've cleaned up from my drug problems.


also, i think waaaay to many kids are convinced tehy have learning disabilities and its actually just a problem with the system. there really can't be that many kids on adderral. that stuff is seriously poison for one's work ethic.