School

[Truffen]

With school getting ready to start in the next couple of weeks I figured I'd make a poll on it. Do you like school, or hate it?

I like everything about school except the work, tests, homework and everything else along that lines. I like to see my friends and I like playing for the football team. Other than that I find school boring, very boring. So my vote goes for its ok.

[Fuzface]

School sucks because I'm homeschooled.

[redwallfan91]

You would rather go to school? I'm homeschooled too, but I wouldn't trade it for public school, private school, or Christian school. It's hard, but not as hard as it would be if I went to school.

I don't mind school, so long as it's grammar, spelling, English, literature, reading, or writing. I don't like math or science, but other than that it's alright.

[Ferahgo the Assassin]

I'm attending my junior year of college this year. I guess that probably makes me one of the oldest active members here other than TBT. :/

As for whether I liked it or not... eh. Last year, at least, there were a lot of aspects of college that I quite enjoyed, but this year I'll be living several miles away from campus in an actual house, so I may miss some of those dorm-life aspects. Hopefully living in an actual house (instead of a 9x9 cell with two other people) will more than make up for it.

I was also having a bit of a problem with getting really bummed out with my major, but hopefully that will improve this year.

[Fuzface]

I hate homeschool because I'm only around others my age 3 or 4 times a week, and It's usally for something like Bible study, where I don't have a chance to talk to them and I'm to shy to talk to anyone because my social skills suck because I'm homeschooled....

[Wormerwing]

Residential High School. Louisiana School for Math, Science and the Arts. Sophomore. Meh.

I moves in Saturday.

As for liking, for me it's a tricky subject. I like my teachers, and would definitely not know/be able to hang out with nearly all of my friends, if it were not for my going to this school.

However, I'm not a big fan of the actual work part. Chemistry and most of the electives are great fun, though.

[Bladeswift]

In regards to school overall: there's very little learning going on at the schools I've been to. My junior high and high schools care more about the dress code than learning. If you are out of dress code (hair too long, not wearing a belt, wearing carpenter jeans instead of just regular ones) they will pull you out of class and make you sit in an office. For the entire day. Missing all of your classes. They know nothing and care nothing about education. They have sterilized it and made it into a factory line.

In regards to this school year specifically: I signed up for Physics, Philosophy, English, Government, and Teacher Aid. What I wound up getting was Physics, Creative Writing, English, Government, and Pre Calculus. So except for Government, I'm stuck with my worse subjects: writing and math.

In regards to the social aspect of school: I used to have a handful of friends when I was younger. Now it's my senior year and I have virtually none. I've invented a game I play to see how many words I actually speak while at school. If I say over 50, it's unusual. I have yet to break 100.

So no, I don't like school. I like learning. There's a big difference between the two.

[Furrtil]

Going off to college this year.... So I have no idea how it will be. I hope it will be good, not only can we borrow books and stuff like at normal libraries, we can borrow telescopes! Er, right.

I have yet to know my classes - we don't pick them until we get there. We only take three classes per term. I hope it shall all be awesome and wonderful and the Animal House people will keep their distance.

[Renegade]

I'm currently working to pay for grad school. Should have enough cash in about 2-3 years.

[LordTBT]

I'm homeschooled too, but I wouldn't trade it for public school, private school, or Christian school. It's hard, but not as hard as it would be if I went to school.

Well, this begs a lot of questions. What year of school are you in? Have you ever been to a real public or private school?
If public or private school is "harder", it doesn't sound like you're getting a real education to me.

We only take three classes per term

How many hours is that?

I'm currently working to pay for grad school. Should have enough cash in about 2-3 years.

Why not borrow some money?

Animal House people will keep their distance.

What amuses me is that people base their conception of college and university life from a 1970s movie. It's nothing like that. Not even in fraternities.

I may miss some of those dorm-life aspects

You won't. ;) I really don't miss too much about college. Right now I work daily, and when I come home from work, my job stays right where I left it. Nothing to study for, nothing to read, no tests. And I'm paid. Anyone who thinks college (or high school) was the best years of their life is mistaken. I wouldn't trade anything for my post-college life right now.

[Brocktree1]

I hate school. It feels like I socialize with a bunch of idiots 'sometimes'. (I think I'll be regreting this post in about an hour)

What sucks about school, is peer pressure. Gawd I hate it. I mean you can't go around announcing you like things like Redwall (unless you course you're prepared to get bashed by others) because it's considered childish. Makes me wonder what other things people hide like that. I mean I don't hide it really, but I wish I could talk about it to someone in real life, instead talking about it in some forum on cyberspace.

And that's just one example of why school sucks, and it's at the bottom of a huge mound of stuff.

Well, it's mostly the people. School just feels like one big play, with all of the acting and trying to fit in.

[Wormerwing]

I tried conformity for a good while. Realized I didn't like it. Stopped doing it.

Now, being a liberal bisexual atheist in a strictly conservative Catholic school really didn't work out too well. Found out who my friends were, to be sure.

That's the thing, though. Nothing in life's perfect, so you make the best of it.

EDIT: By the way, Analytical Chemistry Labs are some of the funnest thing I have ever done school-related.

[Goddess of Darkness]

being a liberal bisexual atheist
I knew there was a reason I love you so much. ;D

[Brocktree1]

I knew there was a reason I love you so much. ;D

*makes mental note to give Goddess of Darkness the award for "most wasted posts"... scratch that... "most entertaining Lper".. heh

Now, being a liberal bisexual atheist in a strictly conservative Catholic school really didn't work out too well. Found out who my friends were, to be sure.

Do you have the type of Catholic school where in which the teachers get onto you for not going to church?

[Goddess of Darkness]

*makes mental note to give Goddess of Darkness the award for "most wasted posts"... scratch that... "most entertaining Lper".. heh
Well, three and a half years, barely 800 posts...XD

Thank you, dear. Glad to know my insanity pleases someone.

[Brocktree1]

Thank you, dear. Glad to know my insanity pleases someone.

I've been looking for something to do lately so, just what are you on?:cornflow:

[Goddess of Darkness]

I've been looking for something to do lately so, just what are you on?:cornflow:
I dunno, our good friend QualityPharmacy just sends me stuff to test.


...Am I supposed to be crying blood?

[Brocktree1]

Am I supposed to be crying blood?

Depends... what are you crying over?

[Goddess of Darkness]

Depends... what are you crying over?
Well, these new pills they sent me made the extra arm the last batch gave me fall off, and I miss it. I had never been able to juggle before...

[Brocktree1]

Sad story. Well, you had better get to work on crying that river of blood so we can shoot that parody of the song "Cry me a River" that we'd been talking about for so long now.

[Renegade]

Why not borrow some money?

'Cause i already borrowed money to pay for my BSc. :o

My dad's gonna write off the debt, but i don't want to saddle him with grad school as well. Not because he can't afford it, but because i think that i ought to take care of my stuff myself. With some luck, i can get out of this country at the same time.

[Hisk]

After 3 months in a factory, I suddenly love school more than you can possibly imagine. Bet ya anything those who've answered "hate it" haven't done that!

[Renegade]

I've worked at a factory - I sympathize. I came out of it a strong, impartial dislike of middle aged women (especially if they're Chinese).

[Mackinsie]

I enjoy school. I've had classes and professors that I haven't liked, but overall, I've had good experiences. :)

I hate homeschool because I'm only around others my age 3 or 4 times a week, and It's usally for something like Bible study, where I don't have a chance to talk to them and I'm to shy to talk to anyone because my social skills suck because I'm homeschooled....
The socialization argument against homeschooling is a flawed one. Your personality may just be a shy one. I've known homeschoolers who were very well socialized and still incredibly shy. I've also know homeschoolers who rarely interacted with other kids their own age and were the most outgoing people you'd ever meet.

Going off to college this year.... So I have no idea how it will be. I hope it will be good, not only can we borrow books and stuff like at normal libraries, we can borrow telescopes! Er, right.

I have yet to know my classes - we don't pick them until we get there. We only take three classes per term. I hope it shall all be awesome and wonderful and the Animal House people will keep their distance.
Fun! :) Are you limited to just freshmen core classes or do you get to branch out to other types of classes?
It will be easy to avoid the Animal House-type people. They rarely attend classes ;)

[redwallfan91]

Well, if you mean enrolled in an actual school, and attended for a semester, then no. I have not 'been to school.' However, my mum went to school, and I have many good friends and relatives who go to school, and I know that I would not trade homeschooling for any school. I have been to 'co-ops' with our group, close enough to a school-like environment to turn me off of it, and not being a 'social' person I wouldn't go for that aspect either.

I have friends, and I'm not shy, but I don't want to go to school just so I can be around people all the time. I would rather spend time with my animals, so yeah, I know that I would not like going to school. And as far as what 'year I am in school' that depends on how you look at it. I'm almost sixteen, and I graduate when I am 17, but I am in different levels of education in science, math, Welsh, english, grammar, and so on. Because we homeschool, our schedule is flexible, so I am farther along in one subject than another.

And even if I wanted to 'socialize', I could. Our homeschool group is a rather large one, 200 families in the county who homeschool, and they are involved in all kinds of things such as sports, classes, activities, any thing you can think of. But I am not into sports, I don't play basketball, American football, (can't actually, never learned) I don't play baseball with a team, and British Football is the only thing that I would have any interest in playing with 'a team.'

So, there you have it TBT. I don't have to go to school to know what it would be like, and I don't have to try hard to know what kind of person I am. Besides the fact that school would interfere with my work, so that would be tough as well.

EDIT: Oh, and pardon me for being stupid and not getting an education as good as I would if I went to public school. If you can't understand what I mean, well, perhaps you just have never been homeschooled. If you count 'hard' as getting up at six every morning and not coming home until two or three, or five or six if you are into sports, compared to being able to get up when I want, doing school as late as I want, being able to take breaks to do chores, take a week off if we have vacation in Autumn, Winter, or Spring, and being able to have plenty of time besides, well I would say that homeschool is easier. I get up at 4:00 AM Tuesdays and Saturdays to go to work, on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday I can get up when I wake up, nine or ten o'clock. I start school whenever, do some math before breakfast, eat lunch while doing Welsh, change the guinea pig cages inbetween music practice and English, all that I can do, when and how I want. I am not set to a strict schedule, and if I get stuck in one subject I can take the teacher aside whenever and ask for help. I don't have to wait until the class done being taught. That is wot I mean by hard and easy. If you still can't understand, let me know. Believe me, my education is not beneath that of public or private schools in America. I know plenty of people who go to school, and I'm not stupid.

[Chelki Sureshot]

There's very little learning at our school too, but dress code doesn't haven't anything to do with it. We don't have a dresscode. Well, technically I guess we do, but I've seen girls wear strapless shirts and get away with it. Our teachers just don't care if we learn or not. It's teach us enough to get us through the stupid state tests, and that's about it. And our school is so small there aren't a whole lot of classes to choose, and no programs to help students who are too smart for sped math but too dumb for regular math (coughmeandmyfcough). And the drama that goes on is disgusting. We're inhigh school people, not a life or death situation. Therer's no clubs to join, and in sports it's a 'who you are not how good you are' senario, which sucks for us soccer nerds..

Anyway. . .I guess that's all.

[Tsarmina 07]

It's teach us enough to get us through the stupid state tests, and that's about it.

That's what my school was like. They didn't teach us anything else. You also had to learn things like math very quickly, which made it almost impossible if you weren't naturally good at it, and only some people were able to learn what they needed to before the tests. There was also this teacher (actually a long-term substitute) who would just give us papers and then make us leave the class and go to lunch, ocasionally she would make us stay for a few minutes to hand in the worksheets, but she just wrote the answers on the board, so we didn't learn anything. The point of our school just seemed to be to prepare the really smart kids to go to ivy-league colleges, and they didn't bother to teach the rest of us anything. Our whole senior year was just college preparation stuff. The teacher who weren't teaching AP and Honors classes just weren't very good, like that terrible substitue I had for about a month.

I'm going to community college this fall, I hope it will be better and I'll actually learn something. :rolleyes:

[Sagrived Switpaw]

I'm not a huge fan....it come's with sports....alas...*cough* It come's "before" sports.....*head shake*

[Bladeswift]

Hopefully living in an actual house (instead of a 9x9 cell with two other people) will more than make up for it.
If it doesn't, I imagine living with your lover will. :P

So except for Government, I'm stuck with my worse subjects: writing and math.
I rest my case.

Believe me, my education is not beneath that of public or private schools in America.
Not that that's saying much...

It's teach us enough to get us through the stupid state tests, and that's about it.
Let's see...we spent an entire week during junior year learning how to take a standardized test. (As in, how to circle bubbles, how to go through the process of elimination, etc.) Then we spent several more weeks filling out online quizzes designed by the Board of Education that were supposed to prepare us for the test. Nothing on the quizzes had anything to do with what we had been learning during the school year. Even the teachers were exasperated. My favorite question was a biology one saying "Based on the picture, what adaptations does the deer have to survive in its environment?" Only there was no picture.

[Ferahgo the Assassin]

You won't. ;) I really don't miss too much about college. Right now I work daily, and when I come home from work, my job stays right where I left it. Nothing to study for, nothing to read, no tests. And I'm paid. Anyone who thinks college (or high school) was the best years of their life is mistaken. I wouldn't trade anything for my post-college life right now.
This is also what I've heard from other people, and it's certainly what I'm hoping. I was kind of disappointed to hear from the general populous that school years are supposed to be the best of my life. :p So far I haven't minded college much, but it's not exactly what I'd call the height of living, either. I'm looking forward to getting it out of the way completely and being free to travel and work a real job in something I enjoy.

If it doesn't, I imagine living with your lover will. :P

True that. :)

My favorite question was a biology one saying "Based on the picture, what adaptations does the deer have to survive in its environment?" Only there was no picture.

I remember hearing about that... actually, I remember that a lot of the questions you told me about from those things were really stupid.

[Goddess of Darkness]

God, I remember the bloody WASL. There was a piece of paper they gave us for the math section with some formulas and things on it, including (for some reason) how many yards are in a mile. I didn't use it, because the math in there was about 4th grade level, but a friend of mine later said he missed a question because he couldn't remember how many yards were in a mile. Apparently the people in the room he was taking it in weren't ever given the help sheet. Standardized test, my...er, yeah.

And I missed the first day of the writing portion due to being sick out of my brain. All the previous years, they'd had many make up days after the actual test time. But the year I took it they decided would be the first year they would have NO make up days. Without telling anyone. So I got there for the second day, wrote my bloody essay (which I was pretty proud of) and handed in my booklet, only to be told for the first time that since I had missed the first day I had to retake the ENTIRE writing section either over the summer or the next year. I was still pretty sick, so I was mad as all hell. I had dragged myself in and written an essay that would never even be read. Ironically, the essay had to do with the horrors of losing something you've written.

Basically, the WASL is a test of how well you can take the WASL. You don't have to know the material, you have to know how to BS it in just the right way.

[Renegade]

It's almost funny (at least to me) how you guys complain about standardized tests. Here in Singapore, standardized (government) tests start at the age of 12. Kids are "streamed" at the age of 10 - EM1 for the smartest students, EM2 for the average ones and EM3 for those who are considered... not academically inclined. Being EM3 leaves a horrible stigma - people will think you're lazy/hopeless/useless etc. And that's when you're only 10!

[redwallfan91]

Not that that's saying much...

I didn't say it was, but TBT suggested that I had a worse education that that. Believe me, I know that my level of education is higher than most public schools, I'm just defending that fact that TBT questioned.

[Barkstripe]

It's ok.

I am...er was...homeschooled. Just finished grade ate so I'm going to a Catholic High School. I'm not catholic, but the nearest school other than that is nicknamed "The Phamacy" so my parents didn't want me there...


So, pretty much, Homschool was ok, and I'm not sure how "real" school will be.

[Goddess of Darkness]

It's almost funny (at least to me) how you guys complain about standardized tests. Here in Singapore, standardized (government) tests start at the age of 12.
We take the WASL for the first time in 4th grade. For me, that meant 8 years old. We take the WASL a total of 3 times, plus several other big standardized tests, usually at least one a year.

[Renegade]

Here kids are tested so much, almost most kids get some form of private tuition. Believe it or not, some start as young as 6 (or younger, depending on the parents). Usually, when they're younger, it's called "supplementary lessons" - not that it makes a difference. We have the highest rate of myopia in the world for good reason.

We take the WASL for the first time in 4th grade. For me, that meant 8 years old. We take the WASL a total of 3 times, plus several other big standardized tests, usually at least one a year.

But are you sorted and grouped according to your score after that?
Here, the first... sorting, if you will, is at age 10. The second is at 12 . Do well, and your next government exam will be at 16. Do badly, and you'll take one at 16 and another at 17. There's usually the 10-year series to help you along - but they have been discontinued recently due to copyright issues.

[Goddess of Darkness]

But are you sorted and grouped according to your score after that?
Here, the first... sorting, if you will, is at age 10. The second is at 12 . Do well, and your next government exam will be at 16. Do badly, and you'll take one at 16 and another at 17. There's usually the 10-year series to help you along - but they have been discontinued recently due to copyright issues.
I'm not trying to imply that your testing isn't more extreme, I'm just saying it's ridiculous here in a different way. Most of the silliness of the tests in Washington is that they really aren't even used for anything at all. :lol:

[Renegade]

Most of the silliness of the tests in Washington is that they really aren't even used for anything at all.

Why not?!? 0_0

Not saying that sorting people helps (not necessarily, anyway) but if they don't use it for anything, why bother?

I guess the point i'm trying to get across is the amount of importance people place on the tests here. Doing badly as a child will even affect your credibility with adults (most adults, anyway).

[Rimrose]

Standardized tests in the US are used to judge the school and the school district more than the actual student. That is why teachers are so focused on preparing students for them. Schools are given federal funding based on test scores (among other criteria) under the No Child Left Behind program.

But are you sorted and grouped according to your score after that?
Here, the first... sorting, if you will, is at age 10. The second is at 12 . Do well, and your next government exam will be at 16. Do badly, and you'll take one at 16 and another at 17. There's usually the 10-year series to help you along - but they have been discontinued recently due to copyright issues.
I am not aware of any school district in the US that sorts students out based on their test scores. In some instances, students are placed in a gifted or a remedial program, but those decisions are based on more than just one test score.

Even the SAT and ACT (tests that most students have to take to get into college) aren't the be all and end all as far as your life goes.

Standardized tests should be a snapshot of what you know at that particular moment in time, not the measure of your worth or intelligence.

[Baby Rollo]

Jesuit schools are the scariest. The brother of one of my teachers went to one and he learned how to box because the Jesuit brothers beat would beat up students if they misbehaved.

[Renegade]

Standardized tests in the US are used to judge the school and the school district more than the actual student. That is why teachers are so focused on preparing students for them. Schools are given federal funding based on test scores (among other criteria) under the No Child Left Behind program.


Yikes. Having kids take tests to get funding sucks.

Here, every standardized test matters because it affects the ranking of the school, and at least among the better schools, it's fiercely contested. That, and the consequences of doing badly, of course.

[Alice in Mossflower]

I hate homeschool because I'm only around others my age 3 or 4 times a week, and It's usally for something like Bible study, where I don't have a chance to talk to them and I'm to shy to talk to anyone because my social skills suck because I'm homeschooled....

Lack of social interaction is why I really have never supported homeschooling unless the homeschooled child (or teen, in your case) has activities like youth group that they attend outside of the home. But I'm still a teen myself, so I suppose my opinion really is not considered in that area...

Though honestly I think that parents need to listen to us more as times have changed and, belive it or not, we actually have some sense rattiling about in our skulls.

That was really off-topic, wasn't it?

[Petunia]

Though I go to a regular school, I don't really develop social skills either. I guess I'm just a shy person, and that suits me just fine. I do like to perform, though. It's kind of weird that I like to hang out with smaller groups so I get to know them better but prefer performing for larger audiences and people I don't know.

[Josiah the Warrior]

EDIT: Oh, and pardon me for being stupid and not getting an education as good as I would if I went to public school. If you can't understand what I mean, well, perhaps you just have never been homeschooled. If you count 'hard' as getting up at six every morning and not coming home until two or three, or five or six if you are into sports, compared to being able to get up when I want, doing school as late as I want, being able to take breaks to do chores, take a week off if we have vacation in Autumn, Winter, or Spring, and being able to have plenty of time besides, well I would say that homeschool is easier. I get up at 4:00 AM Tuesdays and Saturdays to go to work, on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday I can get up when I wake up, nine or ten o'clock. I start school whenever, do some math before breakfast, eat lunch while doing Welsh, change the guinea pig cages inbetween music practice and English, all that I can do, when and how I want. I am not set to a strict schedule, and if I get stuck in one subject I can take the teacher aside whenever and ask for help. I don't have to wait until the class done being taught. That is wot I mean by hard and easy. If you still can't understand, let me know. Believe me, my education is not beneath that of public or private schools in America. I know plenty of people who go to school, and I'm not stupid.
But you also can't skip class. ;)


I'm in first semester at college, and my classes with interesting and engaging professors are good, but of course there are a million fun things to do. The best part is of course meeting new people. I've barely been here a week and I've met a ton of cool and interesting kids from all over. It goes without saying that the weekends are the best. ;)

What amuses me is that people base their conception of college and university life from a 1970s movie. It's nothing like that. Not even in fraternities.
Psh, where did you go to school? ;)

[Badrang3]

But you also can't skip class. ;)


I'm in first semester at college, and my classes with interesting and engaging professors are good, but of course there are a million fun things to do. The best part is of course meeting new people. I've barely been here a week and I've met a ton of cool and interesting kids from all over. It goes without saying that the weekends are the best. ;)



And that's what I've always enjoyed about school: the being with people my age and having a generally good time amongst them. After graduation, I took a year off to work and make a few bucks and generally figure out my life. What I found was that I missed the companionship of peers as well as the stuctured time line of school. I still don't know what I want to do career wise, but it beats sitting by my lonesome. Not to mention martinis always taste better in the company of others.

Edit: Oh, and learning is fun too. ;)

[Furrtil]

Standardized tests are always much longer than necessary and hopelessly boring. When a question from a state-mandated test in eleventh grade asked me, in essence, if 3+4 was the same as 4+3, I wanted to give up right there and then. Well, I suppose it was harder because it actually asked us if triangle plus square was the same as square plus triangle, and who knew the commutative property applied to triangles as well? :eek:

I do think the SAT should be a longer test taken over two periods, or something of the sort. Perhaps two 2.5 hour sessions on two different days? It's way too long of a stretch as it is, but having those three hours and 45 minutes determine the rest of your life is a bit harsh. Of course, SATs aren't everything and if you are totally awesome in all other ways, you'll be fine, but it makes it a lot harder. I was lucky because I take tests well, but I know a bunch of people that weren't.

Originally Posted by TBT
What amuses me is that people base their conception of college and university life from a 1970s movie. It's nothing like that. Not even in fraternities.

Yes, and I am going to the college that inspired that 70's movie. True, things have changed and have surely been exaggerated in the movie. Still... there's an unofficial mascot named Keggy the Keg that dances around and shows up at football games.

Still, I know I'll be fine. :)

[Alice in Mossflower]

I am very bad at test taking, especially the stadardized tests... yet I almost always seem to score above state average in all but two categories...
which actually really annoyed me because my middle school math teacher would get mad at me because I got really good grades on the stadardized tests but I only got lower B's to low A's in her class (which is really stupid, c'mon lady, a freakin' B never hurt anyone). But I actually have an excuse: we used this thing called Accelerated Math (AM) and you worked at your own pace, which has never worked for me because with mathematics if I don't have someone pushing me to learn then I won't.