School sucks

Re: School sucks

No bills = living with parents.

That's irrelevant to the question of school. You can be a 30-year old graduate and still have no bills.

My point is - I agree that high school imposes a lot of unchallenging, boring, pointless stuff on kids at the age where their brains are like sponges... what does the school do? Lock them up in minimum security institutions for six hours a day, give them rules that no reasonable adult would willingly be subjected to, push a lot of BS into their head.

I am not saying I know how to fix it, only that I can relate to kids that see it that way. And as I said, the only advice I have is 'hang in there, it shall pass'.
 
Re: School sucks

[quote author=Terry_Lasater link=board=Offtopic;num=1105403878;start=30#39 date=01/12/05 at 09:24:08]

Why is it the left one gets so much attention?  ???  ::)[/quote]

I i'm sure righties around the world get equal loving attention too ::)
 
Re: School sucks

[quote author=Kai link=board=Offtopic;num=1105403878;start=30#37 date=01/12/05 at 09:13:54]I'd give my left baby-makin-pod to be back in high school. Life was so easy. Enjoy it while you're there man. No bills, no deadlines (homework doesn't count), no taxes.

sigh....[/quote]

I'm in the same highschool as PDX_DVX. We both have all three of those things. I can honestly say I would rather be working a regular job, or at least be in college where classes are more career related.
 
Re: School sucks

I have to admit, while high school may limit your freedom and sometimes forces you to take bad classes, the amount of work is nothing compared with college. I remember doing six hours of homework on a Saturday and not thinking it was too unusual last semester. This wasn't busy work, either, like I got in most of high school. It was hard stuff. During finals week I was drinking five or more cups of coffee a day and I eventually got so acclimated to it that I moved on to ephedrine (others used adderal, ritalin, etc.)

I've worked a regular job, too (40 hours a week). It felt like a lot more work than high school and the expecations are real. You'll probably end up loving college, but make the best of how ever many years you have left. Try to have fun. Once you graduate, you'll realize that 95% of your concerns in high school meant nothing at all. Don't waste your time feeling sorry for yourself. Try to make the best of it. You can have a lot of fun in high school if you try, but it's easy to make yourself miserable too.
 
Re: School sucks

PDX_DVX:
You are absolutley right. High school sucks. It suck big, and I disagree with those who have been telling you to hang in there. Hanging in there is not good. It will futher suck your life away. Cumpulsory schooling is not good for ANYONE. It is dehumanizing and totally offensive. And I say this as a high schoool English teacher!

School is not a place to learn anything useful. It is a place designed to squash your dreams and standardize you. It is a place to inculcate obedience and train you to get a job working for someone else. Notice how schools never teach you how to start your own business, how to build a house, how to make a movie. They don't teach anything that would actually free you from having to work for somebody else. What school's do is train young people to become good, obedient workers.

I'm making a movie about this, actually. Anyhow, there are ways out of high school besides waiting for graduation. In California, you can take the California High School Proficiency Exam (not to be confused with the California High School Exit Exam) and if you pass, you're done with high school. You can check out. Countless of homeschoolers as well as many child actors take this exam. It's legal. You get a high school equivalency diploma. Notice, it is an equivalency, which is to say it is equal to a high school diploma! It is worth the same.

Now you need to be atleast 16 and pay $85 to take it. That's it. You don't even need your parents' permission, however, it's nice if they support you and encourage you to take it so that you can get the hell out of high school. Several of my former students took the exam and are now pursuing the things that truly interest them. Two of them are at CalArts pursuing art and music.

If you're a senior, you'll probably want to stick out and graduate since you're so close to finishing. But if you're a sophomore or junior, my advice is definitely consider it. You can talk to your counselor about it. They have all the information on this exam. If your counselor is a prick and tries to discourage you from taking the test, go online and do your own research on the exam. Schools don't generally advertise that this option is available because it's not in the school's interest. Indeed, most students aren't even aware that there's a test they can take to check out of high school. But it might be in your interest to take it.

Good luck,
Victor
 
Re: School sucks

[quote author=Tlalconetl link=board=Offtopic;num=1105403878;start=45#47 date=01/12/05 at 16:02:17]PDX_DVX:
You are absolutley right. High school sucks. It suck big, and I disagree with those who have been telling you to hang in there. Hanging in there is not good. It will futher suck your life away. Cumpulsory schooling is not good for ANYONE. It is dehumanizing and totally offensive. And I say this as a high schoool English teacher!

School is not a place to learn anything useful. It is a place designed to squash your dreams and standardize you. It is a place to inculcate obedience and train you to get a job working for someone else. Notice how schools never teach you how to start your own business, how to build a house, how to make a movie. They don't teach anything that would actually free you from having to work for somebody else. What school's do is train young people to become good, obedient workers.
[/quote]

Tlalconetl, you listen to Doug Stanhope's stand up, don't you(i have all his audio cd's on my ipod)? ::)

anyways, PDX, I really dont miss a lot about highschool, but paying your own bills, rent, and working fulltime at a crappy job and trying to to fit filmmaking somewhere in the equation isnt much either. Yep, highschool sucks, but like the old saying goes: "Be careful what you wish for." If I could do it all over again, I would to do things I definitely cant do now without risking jail(cough-chase teen pie-cough)-but thats just me. ;D

Oh, and remember the people who you hang out with now, because 3-4 years from you wont see them ever again(miltary, college, etc. or a lot worse). I cant remember the last time I've seen someone I used to go to highschool-which is actually a goodthing, and, for the times I do see them-a lot of them got really, really fat(seriously-I was overweight my whole life, until the last 2 years-I never want to be out of shape ever again).
 
Re: School sucks

Personally, I lacked the maturity at that age for such a decision. I dropped class after class at 21 in college. Decisions I regret to this day. Schools can be dehumanizing, and they are far from perfect. But I doubt they are "designed to squash your dreams and standardize you." Many of the teachers I had taught me to think for myself.

Imperfect? Yes. An factory of conformity? Maybe. Evil syndicates designed to destroy the essence of your soul? Hardly. You get out of it what you put in.
 
Re: School sucks

I guess I just had a case of the Mondays....After this month however, 1st semester will be over, and things will be alot better.........
 
Re: School sucks

[quote author=sugahsean469 link=board=Offtopic;num=1105403878;start=45#48 date=01/12/05 at 16:40:06]

Tlalconetl, you listen to Doug Stanhope's stand up, don't you(i have all his audio cd's on my ipod)? ::)

[/quote]

Never heard of him. But if he's against cumpulsory schooling, then he must be cool.
 
Re: School sucks

[quote author=Jim Brennan link=board=Offtopic;num=1105403878;start=45#49 date=01/12/05 at 16:42:23]Personally, I lacked the maturity at that age for such a decision.  I dropped class after class at 21 in college.  Decisions I regret to this day.  Schools can be dehumanizing, and they are far from perfect.  But I doubt they are  "designed to squash your dreams and standardize you."  Many of the teachers I had taught me to think for myself.

Imperfect?  Yes.   An factory of conformity?  Maybe.  Evil syndicates designed to destroy the essence of your soul?  Hardly.  You get out of it what you put in.  [/quote]

Chances are you lacked the maturity BECAUSE of school. School doesn't teach maturity or independence. Quite the opposite. It is a factory of childishness. You can't even go to the bathroom without asking permission. Do you realize how completely humiliating this is?! Do you have to ask your mom and dad to take a piss when you're at home? Of course not. Schools don't trust students to even take a whizz. That's one little example of how schools deny students true responsibility and independence.

I don't mean to sound like an A-hole about this, but as you can see I have some very strong opinions about school. School sucks. If you're lucky, you'll have a teacher who realizes this and teach you that success--any kind of success--can be achieved WITHOUT formal schooling.

peace
 
Re: School sucks

Tlalconetl,

No offense, but you seem so pessimistic and cynical that I believe almost nobody would listen to you. That's exactly what PDX doesn't need to become!

So if he/she can make the best of a situation, good or bad, he/she will be happy and free...

-Nealy
 
Re: School sucks

...and I thought I was 'out there'. I don't agree 100% with Tlalconetl, but it's close.

What really gets me is this: When there is an 'issue' at school that the kids have a problem with, and they dare to let their opinion know, they get a detention. Then I go to school and discuss it with the administration, and it turns out that my kids have pretty much the same opinion on 'the issue' as I do (yes, we talk about stuff at home), and the administration politely agree with me. Why don't I get detention? Why don't they apologize to the kids for 'wrongful conviction?'

BTW, I am a trained teacher (physics & technology), and part of the reason I don't teach is that I couldn't work in environment like that. Besides, IT jobs are better paid...
 
Re: School sucks

I hear you one the speaking out issue. Pretty much the supreme court has upheld that students have the right to free speech in schools regardless of what an administrator tells you. There was a case not too long ago where a student wore an armband in protest (of something I can't remember) and was punished but the supreme court over ruled the school system.

Tlalconetl, some people would think that such an environment promotes respect and personal responsibility - much as the military (to a far lesser extent of course). I'm not saying I agree with that or disagree but the topic is far from clear and generalizations do not adequetly cover the topic - especially since we are dealing with individual, unique human beings not automatons.
 
Re: School sucks

Nealy, you grew up in Czech Republic. I am sure a lot has changed there since I was a high schooler, but I'd be interested in your view on the difference between challenge/responsibility given to students there and in USA.

And, while you are at it, have you ever seen the movie 'Skola zaklad zivota'? In English it would be something like 'School is foundation for life'. If you haven't, you should ask your mom to get it for you. It's a classic, from before WWII, and it's amazing how little has changed in over sixty years... It's basically about the same thing - what's useful and what's pointless, how is discipline enforced, how the system suppresses individuality, ...

I guess we won't solve it tomorrow.
 
Re: School sucks

[quote author=tuliptrees link=board=Offtopic;num=1105403878;start=45#54 date=01/12/05 at 19:31:12]Tlalconetl,

No offense, but you seem so pessimistic and cynical that I believe almost nobody would listen to you.  That's exactly what PDX doesn't need to become!

So if he/she can make the best of a situation, good or bad, he/she will be happy and free...

-Nealy[/quote]

Pessimistic? Cynical? No way. You'd be surprised if you ever met me in person.  And no offense taken. School is just bad. Plain and simple. Once you understand the type of damage schools inflict on students, you wonder why any parent would so freely give up their child to them.

In America, you have the right to go to school. But you don't have the right NOT to go. BTW, some of the great American intellectuals never went to school (or barely had an elementary education). Ben Franklin is a case in point. The man taught himself EVERYTHING. Math, science, printing, writing. You name it. And if he had been alive in the 20th Century, I'm certain he would have taught himself filmmaking too. Ben never even graduated from high school.

Stanley Kubrick was a mediocre student. Indeed, he disliked school. But he was a great photographer and later, a great filmmaker. Moreover. He didn't learn filmmaking in school. He was entirely self-taught.

You can learn anything and teach yourself anything if you are genuinely interested.

paz
 
Re: School sucks

Tlalconetl I hate to sound like I am disagreeing with you here (my opinion is pretty undecided at the moment) but for the sake of being the devils advocate:

I'm not entirely sure how you are connecting independence and maturity with not going to school. Most people who don't go to school or drop out are miserable failures in life. It is the very rare person who actually makes something of themself in this sort of situation. If it were normal we wouldn't tell stories of how Einstien failed math in school etc. I don't think it is therefore a viable route NOT to go to school. It is useful though we know it isn't perfect. Mature people are those who can deal with the system; those who can see the bigger picture. It is the mature people who succeed. Whether schools stifle maturity is a very complex problem and I haven't seen any real evidence to support and conclusion yet.

Keep in mind that freedom does not come from the ability to do whatever you want. It comes from structure and rules.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top