What is your opinion on school?

• Retard wrote on 2012-03-06 11:35

  Quote from Sekwaf;798051:

  I like to learn, discovering new things gives me a thrill. That said, do I like school? Not particularly. Now I'm only in my freshman year of HS, and I'm also in the most advanced program we offer, have I learned anything this year? Can't say that I have aside from some small details about biology. Why you ask? Two words. Standardized testing. I believe the single most beneficial thing we can do to fix the educational system (and trust me, it's broken) is to remove all standardized testing. I have some teachers who have huge stores of knowledge that they can't teach because it's not going to be tested. Schools are focused too much on outward signs of knowledge (test scores, high GPA's, etc.) when they should be focusing on either increasing or fulfilling people's urge to learn.
  
  TL;DR: Schools focus too much on statistics and test scores (standardized testing) rather than giving people the urge to learn and giving them the knowledge THEY WANT TO KNOW.

  
  
  STATISTICS IS GOOD! COMPETITION IS HIGH!
  
  IF YOU WANT TO LEARN MORE, THEN LEARN MORE ON YOUR TIME, NOT OTHERS.
  
  
  (Also HS frosh >.>)
• chaolin wrote on 2012-03-06 11:43
  I'll post later as I'm sick and going to bed atm. ANTICIPATE IT.
• Leopher wrote on 2012-03-06 14:14
  Very vague question by the OP, but I'll give it a shot.
  
  The short version of my opinion on school is that learning and knowledge are intrinsically good, and so education, whether it is useful for anything else or not, is also good. While one could get into the many ways education fails today and how it could be better (which I don't care to do at the moment), I still think that having some education is better than none. Always.
• Claudia wrote on 2012-03-07 02:26
  I love my high school. It's extremely small and close-knit, which as i've learned has its ups and downs. Granted, i'm (shockingly, apparently) a more happy-go-lucky person and I really value the day-to-day interactions I have with people.
  
  Some of the things i've learned are useful...most of the things, not so much. As an upperclassmen i'm starting to get to the point where I have more freedom (as a senior, almost full control) over what classes I get to take. I'm the kind of person that's curious and wants to learn, so this is awesome for me.
  
  Other people don't like it, and I can respect that.
  
  Oh yeah, everybody thinks i'm the biggest kiss-ass in our grade. Dunno where that came from. Some of my teachers are very approachable and likable people.
  
  idk that was all over the place.
  TL;DR: I like school.
• Shanghai wrote on 2012-03-08 05:33
  Depends on the school of course. If you go to a school like mine where the average GPA is always 3.20 or higher, there's a lot of competition. Our school is very prestigious, and we usually rank at least the top 10 in most of our VPA/sports categories in nationals. SATs are a big thing at our school, and everyone usually re-takes them if it's lower than 2000 or something at least. Almost everyone takes at least some sort of after-school here, and having 4+ AP classes is pretty much normal at our school. Very elitist. But our teachers care (for the most part) and our electives are fun.
  
  As for me liking school or not, only the subjects I'm particularly interested in (which is pretty much everything except for Math) are well, interesting and likable. School's annoying with the workload though. And kissing up to teachers is impossible here. Only actually learning the material will get you on-par with everyone else, and understanding it too.
• Claudia wrote on 2012-03-08 05:54

  Quote from Shanghai;800144:

  Depends on the school of course. If you go to a school like mine where the average GPA is always 3.20 or higher, there's a lot of competition. Our school is very prestigious, and we usually rank at least the top 10 in most of our VPA/sports categories in nationals. SATs are a big thing at our school, and everyone usually re-takes them if it's lower than 2000 or something at least. Almost everyone takes at least some sort of after-school here, and having 4+ AP classes is pretty much normal at our school. Very elitist. But our teachers care (for the most part) and our electives are fun.

  
  
  To add on, this is probably an accurate description of my class. 217 students and you need a 3.2 u/w to rank in the top half...but GPA is calculated on weighted. There's a huge focus on academics but there's a lot of music/art stuff and athletics are okay, I guess. After-school activities are mostly sports, but i've done International Economic Summit in the past, which is really amazing.
  
  I'm not a huge fan of the demographics of my school, though...without METCO/base, our school would literally be ~95% white. A lot of the kids in my grade are your stereotypical (sometimes Jewish) rich white kid who whines at the thought of having to actually do work. The worst part is they're not even stupid white kids, somehow they have top grades and get into top colleges, maybe because mommy and daddy foot the bill. I just work really hard and try to ignore them.
• Chockeh wrote on 2012-03-08 06:07
  Highschool was easy.
  College is easier.
• Shanghai wrote on 2012-03-08 06:58

  Quote from Claudia;800167:

  To add on, this is probably an accurate description of my class. 217 students and you need a 3.2 u/w to rank in the top half...but GPA is calculated on weighted.

  
  
  We don't do weighted GPAs, it's all unweighted... So an AP is going to screw over your perfect 4.00 if you don't get an A. We don't have some sort of ladder ranking system for students though. Since everyone just does so well by default.
• Claudia wrote on 2012-03-08 07:03

  Quote from Shanghai;800233:

  We don't do weighted GPAs, it's all unweighted... So an AP is going to screw over your perfect 4.00 if you don't get an A. We don't have some sort of ladder ranking system for students though. Since everyone just does so well by default.

  
  
  I see. Our grade is kind of half and half...there's a group of kids that don't really try, don't care, who have <3.0.
  Then there's the other group that's like, "OH GOD WHY AREN'T YOU TAKING ANY AP'S?"
  
  e_e. I'm taking 7 (technically more than what's allowed, ROTC counts as a major, guys!) majors that are all honors next year, and people keep telling me "OH LAWD YOU CRAZY"
  ...Doubling up on AP sciences ISN'T?
  
  some people go hard.
• Veu wrote on 2012-03-08 07:05
  Like you said, there are so many loopholes in the school system. My old teachers gave me a hard time after getting into ISS, and after I switched to a new schedule I would wear aeropostale and just sit by the good kids and even if I'm failing, the teachers will raise my grade somehow. It sounds ridiculous, but that's how it works here. But I still have one class that hasn't changed, and my teacher's been failing me with a 69 for two six weeks now. Obviously, my teachers are very judgmental and your whole high school grades can depend on what social status you have.
  The whole idea of the school system is flawed too, at my school you can pass all year but if you fail the end of course test for a class you fail the whole year, and if you pass you have to have passed in all your grades as well. Using a test as a way of proving your knowledge is wrong in my opinion, you can know everything but the test can have tricks and they purposely try to fool you, so instead of learning the subject, you study the test itself.
  Discipline is another thing too. I understand that wearing short-shorts isn't right for school, but the office tries to make our school look good, by banning holes in your jeans and even too baggy clothes. Your hair shouldn't be coloured, and you can't have piercings. I don't understand how these things can prevent a learning environment from happening. Having purple hair and snakebites won't change your ability to learn, and if someone is concerned about it being a distraction they can easily move if they're that focused on learning. They called me truant once, because I left on the wrong bell. We have two bells, each two minutes apart, at the end of the day. I got a referral for leaving two minutes early, and the coach even threatened with court.
  The classes themselves aren't great either, if you want to take art, chorus, band, interior design, or any other 'non-academic' course, they only count as half of a credit, causing your high school years to double. All because they want math-team athletes running about the hallways. With that, any sport is worth double credits, making someone like me (they obviously won't have skateboarding or surfing as a sport) feel like a scum.
  This is a really long post, and it's mainly a rant on how my school is run, but I overall hate how society is going. You have to have money, a good social status, and ability to memorize text out of books to get anywhere in life.
• Claudia wrote on 2012-03-08 07:09
  wow, no offense, but your school sounds really fucked up. What kind of school do you go to (serious)?
• Chockeh wrote on 2012-03-08 07:11
  Honestly, these posts are kinda scary. I went to a normal school I guess.
• Science wrote on 2012-03-08 07:18
  My school is alright, but overall I think the school system is flawed.
  
  A person around here can be ridiculously smart and not get the grades/schedule of a smart person, mostly because of how the grading works. In the same way, a person who just trains themselves to memorize information can do well without any real ability to process information.
  
  Also, I hate how extracurriculars make the biggest difference when it comes to your college application. I was fine with just playing soccer in school since I enjoyed it, but I ended up having to join clubs and other sports just to find a spot in a good university.
  
  I don't mind it though, mostly because it's almost over for me, and since I enjoyed the experience as a whole, even though the main purpose of school(learning) is what I did the least of.
• Veu wrote on 2012-03-08 07:37
  Claudia, I go to a place in the bluff. Which isn't that great for anything, but I'm stuck in the district. They're known for being great at academics, but I can't even spell that without spell check. It's just because all of the other schools suck and were the best of the losers ._.
• Totoro wrote on 2012-03-08 09:14

  Quote from Chockeh;800247:

  Honestly, these posts are kinda scary. I went to a normal school I guess.

  
  
  [FONT="Arial"]LOL me too >___> 1/4 of our school is super competitive, presidents/captains in clubs and everything @___@ The other 3/4 doesn't really care >__>
  Overall, I think a good school is a good foundation for college, work, and life :) [/FONT]