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Old 08-29-2017, 12:38 PM
 
Location: TN
1 posts, read 652 times
Reputation: 15

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I often think back on my own school experience & I long ago realized it wasn't ideal. I passed each grade just fine, but I clearly remember 2nd grade as the year I started to hate school. I'd fake sick to stay home, hated getting up so early each morning (very difficult time falling to sleep), & it was all around not fun to sit at a desk for uninterrupted hours. I can promise you that not one of my teachers would have thought I hated being there though! I was THAT golden child, quietly doing my work & keeping the class average up. I've gone back to my old elementary school, run into teachers in daily life, & they still cite me as a favorite (having kept things I made on display even after all these years).

How many kids are like me? Quietly despising the classroom?

I know now I was definitely held back because of that. I didn't try. Everything was too easy, I was never challenged, & today I'm finally starting to overcome those roadblocks, but I look back & think, "I could be so much further in life right now."

I seriously don't want that for any other child!

Are any parents out there seeing issues like this in their kids? If you are I'm honestly begging you to make a change. I wish my parents were able to do that for me back then, but school was just what you did. The modern-traditional classroom was it. We didn't have the charter, magnet, home, alternative, school explosion yet in the early to late 90s. No money for private.

I know for a fact that my life could have been different for the better. Then again, if I didn’t have those experiences I wouldn’t have become an unofficial educationally minded family advocate...

I feel like a lot of parents send their kids to school with no thought involved & that's doing ALL children in the school systems a massive disservice.

When a child comes from a family that truly doesn't care the basic public school would be where they go & if there were fewer kids in there to start with, they could (possibly) have the time & bonding experiences they actually need.

Why is it not the goal to get them into a different mindset? Why is it okay to just shuffle them along, hoping some kind of information gets into their heads? Hoping that they won't end up in debt, that they won't pirate everything, that they won't be nasty narcissistic monsters?

Why do we so resolutely stick to this classroom model like it's the way life has been forever? IT HASN'T. This is new & it's not working out so well. You can say it's 'good enough', but that shouldn't be what we strive for. All the options out there are a testament to people realizing that our NEW system isn't working for too many children.

WHat is wrong with people!?!?!?! Is it pure laziness or what?!

It seriously drives me crazy to see kids bent-backed, overloaded with heavy book bags, getting on the bus early in the morning, getting off again in the afternoon, & then sitting indoors for the rest of the day. Like they did from 7-2 or whatever. And then we wonder why we've got so many fat kids; gee, it couldn't be because they've been raised to be potted plants could it??

But I digress.

Anyone else look back on their school years & wish their parents had made a change? Anyone have a kid who needs a change?
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Last edited by toobusytoday; 09-02-2017 at 07:09 PM.. Reason: Removed curse word attempting to get past filter
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Old 08-29-2017, 03:58 PM
 
Location: midwest
1,594 posts, read 1,399,706 times
Reputation: 970
I distinctly recall getting up one morning in 8th grade getting ready for school and being on the verge of tears, asking myself how I would get through another day. It was SO BORING!!!

But there was no way out!

I conclude that SOME children must somehow learn to sabotage their own minds to get through it.

I was saved in 4th grade by accidentally discovering science fiction. Nearly everything I learned about science came either directly or indirectly from science fiction. The SF books told me what to research and I could sit in class and ignore the teacher with an attentive look on my face while thinking about something completely different from whatever the NUN was blathering about.
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Old 08-29-2017, 06:05 PM
 
Location: midwest
1,594 posts, read 1,399,706 times
Reputation: 970
Error in previous post. 3rd grade not 8th grade. 8 yrs old. Sorry
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Old 08-30-2017, 08:36 AM
 
35,512 posts, read 17,676,943 times
Reputation: 50476
I also was bored out of my mind by elementary school. In 2nd grade, I discovered that I didn't have to do the classwork - when the papers were handed back graded, there were always a couple that didn't have names on them and I'd come claim one of them. I was smart enough to know not to claim a paper with an "A" on it, I'd claim one with a C. That lazy teacher must have known for a fact I wasn't doing anything, and I wonder what went through the minds of the kids who were righteously trying to claim their paper and there wasn't one for them? Also, why in the world couldn't those dumb kids remember to put their names on their papers? But I digress.

In 4th grade, we were diagramming sentences and the class just couldn't get the concept. So the teacher said she'd write the correct diagrams on the board, all you have to do is copy them down for an A, so everyone could understand the correct diagrams. I didn't do it. When asked why, I said it was too boring. My mom said so you'd rather sit there and do nothing rather than copy sentences off the board and I said I wasn't doing nothing. I was thinking. Which is absolutely true. I was imagining and remembering. Stuff that was far more interesting than those deadly boring sentences, because geez, WHO CAN'T DIAGRAM A SENTENCE??? I was baffled that the class couldn't pick out subject and predicate.

Whew I feel better now.

But to the OP - I think a lot of learning can be done hands-on, but a lot can't. A lot has to be done sitting in a chair with a pencil in your hand. How would you change the educational system, besides having dynamic teachers who can do a little more hands on stuff?
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Old 08-30-2017, 11:32 AM
 
Location: midwest
1,594 posts, read 1,399,706 times
Reputation: 970
Quote:
Originally Posted by ClaraC View Post
In 4th grade, we were diagramming sentences and the class just couldn't get the concept.
That was SO STUPID. I could never figure out what that was supposed to accomplish.
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Old 08-30-2017, 08:29 PM
 
12,578 posts, read 8,809,297 times
Reputation: 34385
I was another who escaped in my mind through sci-fi and science. School to me was incredibly stifling. Every day in school drained me of energy and killed brain cells. It was pure torture to sit in reading class while someone slaved away over t----ttt----thhhhh----ta--he---theee. Theee k---ku----ku---at. Kat. The kat. And so on. I'd be chapters ahead by the time they finished a single sentence. I recall getting screamed at by the teacher "How are you going to learn to read if you keep reading ahead and don't keep the place?" DUH!


College was a paradise. Sure classes were hard, but I was free to learn. My mind was free at last.


And even today, 40 some years later, while I can answer "why do I have to learn X?" questions, not once, never, ever, had any use for diagraming sentences outside English class. Not even in college.
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Old 08-31-2017, 08:37 AM
 
3,167 posts, read 3,977,124 times
Reputation: 8796
Quote:
Originally Posted by ORose View Post
I often think back on my own school experience & I long ago realized it wasn't ideal. I passed each grade just fine, but I clearly remember 2nd grade as the year I started to hate school. I'd fake sick to stay home, hated getting up so early each morning (very difficult time falling to sleep), & it was all around not fun to sit at a desk for uninterrupted hours. I can promise you that not one of my teachers would have thought I hated being there though! I was THAT golden child, quietly doing my work & keeping the class average up. I've gone back to my old elementary school, run into teachers in daily life, & they still cite me as a favorite (having kept things I made on display even after all these years).

How many kids are like me? Quietly despising the classroom?

I know now I was definitely held back because of that. I didn't try. Everything was too easy, I was never challenged, & today I'm finally starting to overcome those roadblocks, but I look back & think, "I could be so much further in life right now."

I seriously don't want that for any other child!

Are any parents out there seeing issues like this in their kids? If you are I'm honestly begging you to make a change. I wish my parents were able to do that for me back then, but school was just what you did. The modern-traditional classroom was it. We didn't have the charter, magnet, home, alternative, school explosion yet in the early to late 90s. No money for private.

I know for a fact that my life could have been different for the better. Then again, if I didn’t have those experiences I wouldn’t have become an unofficial educationally minded family advocate...

I feel like a lot of parents send their kids to school with no thought involved & that's doing ALL children in the school systems a massive disservice.

When a child comes from a family that truly doesn't care the basic public school would be where they go & if there were fewer kids in there to start with, they could (possibly) have the time & bonding experiences they actually need.

Why is it not the goal to get them into a different mindset? Why is it okay to just shuffle them along, hoping some kind of information gets into their heads? Hoping that they won't end up in debt, that they won't pirate everything, that they won't be nasty narcissistic monsters?

Why do we so resolutely stick to this classroom model like it's the way life has been forever? IT HASN'T. This is new & it's not working out so well. You can say it's 'good enough', but that shouldn't be what we strive for. All the options out there are a testament to people realizing that our NEW system isn't working for too many children.

WTD(uck) is wrong with people!?!?!?! Is it pure laziness or what?!

It seriously drives me crazy to see kids bent-backed, overloaded with heavy book bags, getting on the bus early in the morning, getting off again in the afternoon, & then sitting indoors for the rest of the day. Like they did from 7-2 or whatever. And then we wonder why we've got so many fat kids; gee, it couldn't be because they've been raised to be potted plants could it??

But I digress.

Anyone else look back on their school years & wish their parents had made a change? Anyone have a kid who needs a change?
[CENTER]Save[/CENTER]
I think it's really weird that you attribute some failures in your life to second grade.

And yes, public school education is not good. But why do you think there are all these choices? Where we live there are two choices - public or private. And private is super expensive (more than college tuition). We wanted to do it, but just couldn't find one that was affordable. Our local public school is just OK - it's getting better recently, with some forward-thinking administrators. The answer is not for people to abandon public schools, but to for parents to actually participate in the political process and stand up for what they want. Here, no one votes in the school board elections, no one goes to the meetings, they don't speak up or ask questions when something happens in the school, and they will rarely even send an email to the teacher. They barely even know what's going on in the school. If only parents would more involved and aware of what's really going on in schools, things would certainly change for the better.
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Old 08-31-2017, 09:04 AM
 
Location: StlNoco Mo, where the woodbine twineth
9,999 posts, read 8,495,705 times
Reputation: 14545
I didn't like school. I hated when the Jerry Lewis Telethon came on because that signaled that school started the next day. It took too long to get off my summer sleeping schedule and I hated wearing brand new clothes, even hated the smell of them. I liked to take naps in school and didn't want to be disturbed by the teacher so I always picked a desk way in the back where I could hide behind a fat kid. I would sign my name on the attendance list on the teacher's desk when I came in and then go to my desk and put my head down and snooze. I was invisible for the hour, teacher didn't even know I was there. Once when the bell rang and we were all leaving the classroom the teacher saw me and asked, " Who are you? why haven't I seen you before?" I was like Jack Lemmon in Mister Roberts when James Cagney spotted him for the first time. I faked being sick so many times they must have thought I was a hypochondriac.
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Old 08-31-2017, 09:52 AM
 
Location: State of Transition
102,052 posts, read 106,836,948 times
Reputation: 115779
Quote:
Originally Posted by ORose View Post
I often think back on my own school experience & I long ago realized it wasn't ideal. I passed each grade just fine, but I clearly remember 2nd grade as the year I started to hate school. I'd fake sick to stay home, hated getting up so early each morning (very difficult time falling to sleep), & it was all around not fun to sit at a desk for uninterrupted hours. I can promise you that not one of my teachers would have thought I hated being there though! I was THAT golden child, quietly doing my work & keeping the class average up. I've gone back to my old elementary school, run into teachers in daily life, & they still cite me as a favorite (having kept things I made on display even after all these years).

How many kids are like me? Quietly despising the classroom?

I know now I was definitely held back because of that. I didn't try. Everything was too easy, I was never challenged, & today I'm finally starting to overcome those roadblocks, but I look back & think, "I could be so much further in life right now."

I seriously don't want that for any other child!

Are any parents out there seeing issues like this in their kids? If you are I'm honestly begging you to make a change. I wish my parents were able to do that for me back then, but school was just what you did. The modern-traditional classroom was it. We didn't have the charter, magnet, home, alternative, school explosion yet in the early to late 90s. No money for private.

I know for a fact that my life could have been different for the better. Then again, if I didn’t have those experiences I wouldn’t have become an unofficial educationally minded family advocate...

I feel like a lot of parents send their kids to school with no thought involved & that's doing ALL children in the school systems a massive disservice.

When a child comes from a family that truly doesn't care the basic public school would be where they go & if there were fewer kids in there to start with, they could (possibly) have the time & bonding experiences they actually need.

Why is it not the goal to get them into a different mindset? Why is it okay to just shuffle them along, hoping some kind of information gets into their heads? Hoping that they won't end up in debt, that they won't pirate everything, that they won't be nasty narcissistic monsters?

Why do we so resolutely stick to this classroom model like it's the way life has been forever? IT HASN'T. This is new & it's not working out so well. You can say it's 'good enough', but that shouldn't be what we strive for. All the options out there are a testament to people realizing that our NEW system isn't working for too many children.

WTD(uck) is wrong with people!?!?!?! Is it pure laziness or what?!

It seriously drives me crazy to see kids bent-backed, overloaded with heavy book bags, getting on the bus early in the morning, getting off again in the afternoon, & then sitting indoors for the rest of the day. Like they did from 7-2 or whatever. And then we wonder why we've got so many fat kids; gee, it couldn't be because they've been raised to be potted plants could it??

But I digress.

Anyone else look back on their school years & wish their parents had made a change? Anyone have a kid who needs a change?
[CENTER]Save[/CENTER]
Back in the 60's, a movement for alternative schooling began, and gained in popularity. Even some public school systems eventually established alternative schools as an option. The Seattle school system has had an alternative school since the late 60's/early 70's. There may have been options in your community that you weren't aware of. When were you in gradeschool?
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Old 08-31-2017, 08:22 PM
 
12,578 posts, read 8,809,297 times
Reputation: 34385
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mnseca View Post
I think it's really weird that you attribute some failures in your life to second grade.

And yes, public school education is not good. But why do you think there are all these choices? Where we live there are two choices - public or private. And private is super expensive (more than college tuition). We wanted to do it, but just couldn't find one that was affordable. Our local public school is just OK - it's getting better recently, with some forward-thinking administrators. The answer is not for people to abandon public schools, but to for parents to actually participate in the political process and stand up for what they want. Here, no one votes in the school board elections, no one goes to the meetings, they don't speak up or ask questions when something happens in the school, and they will rarely even send an email to the teacher. They barely even know what's going on in the school. If only parents would more involved and aware of what's really going on in schools, things would certainly change for the better.
There are several reasons why people don't attend school board meetings or speak up. One, we've learned it's wasted effort falling deaf ears. Second, the retaliation our kids will receive if we upset the apple cart so to speak. While I agree that more parental involvement would improve schools, I'm not sure the schools will actually allow active involvement (as opposed to those who rubber stamp everything and do fund raisers.
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