HORROR stories..what's yours??

[DocBill]

As I begin writing this next book, I am looking for stories about how public education is letting down students. I am seeking examples, anectodtes, stories, etc. At the same time, I am also hoping to find some positive stories from schools, private, public, homeschools, whatever. If you believe that your time is wasted in school..now is the time to say so.

 

All names will be kept 100% confidential.

 

 

Please e mail your acounts to:

 

drwdavis@prexar.com

 

subject heading: "Book"

 

Thanks

 

Bill

[JaKiri]

Bloody Eton

[DocBill]

But could you expand on that a bit?

 

Bill

[Ryoken]

My economics class. The entire coure could be tought in a week at most!

 

That's this semester's horror story.

 

oh, and with an average effort of 3/10 during a year (effort differs in some classes) an 80% average is easily obtained.

[Radical Edward]

in the UK, public schools are the same as private ones, Schools run by the country are called state schools. how is the situation in the US regarding naming them?

 

incidentally eton is a public school for boys in the UK. it is where the likes of Prince William and Prince Harry went. A freind of mine went to eton, and he had to get permission from William's (armed, apparently) security guard to break out of the school at night so he could go to the pub with his friends. he had to tell the guy that he was going to climb over that wall there at about 11pm, and not to shoot him.

[Radical Edward]

incidentally, my problem was having a year to two years of my primary school destroyed by bad teachers, one of who believed that all children should be taught at the same pace... and an army always marches at the pace of the slowest. as a result, I was held back with all the kids who couldn't even read or write, while at the same time I went home and worked my way through Lord of the Rings... sigh.

 

It is actually one of the things that always annoys me, that chindren who are regarded as 'disabled' or hindered in some way by their lack of 'intelligence' for want of a better word always het the help, where as those children who are exceptionally clever are effectively held back, and disabled by the system itself. So many people cry foul and call it elitism, but why should clever children be denied the opportunity to skip a year and really be stretched. It is to this problem that I attribute alot of my laziness, I never had to work at all right up until my A levels, and then at degree level I just couldn't be bothered anymore, and still don't make an effort. still, I'm doing a PhD though... heh.

[JaKiri]

I skipped a year at my prep school. Still didn't do any work though. And when my mother became head of maths in the final year I was there (she has mathematics and geography degrees) having previously been heads of history and geography, I had to tell her what to teach because she had forgotten it all.

[Raider]

The first year of school I, along with the rest of my class, was given a placement test. It basicly worked like this: the teacher calls out words and you write them down how you think they should be spelled based on sounds. I had already begun to read things on my own by this time, and understood that words were not always spelled how they sounded. We wern't suppose to know that. To the point, the correct spelling of a word was deemed incorrect on this type of testing. I never came to grips with the idea that I had to get something wrong in order to get it right. I took the test trying to spell things the REAL correct way as per books I read, as opposed to just by sound.

 

This prevented me from being skipped any grades, so i've been left with the story i'm sure you've heard many times before. Trapped in first grade as a senior, moving along with the lowest common denominator, etc...

[Radical Edward]

Originally posted by Raider

 

much craziness

 

 

where on earth do they employ this bizarre policy?

[blike]

in the UK, public schools are the same as private ones, Schools run by the country are called state schools.

 

We call schools that are run by the state "public schools". Before college, you pay no tuition to attend these schools. "Public" state schools require tuition though.

 

A private school is a school owned by someone other than the government. Typically, you get a better education at a private school because everything is not watered down for students as mentioned in some of these stories.

[fafalone]

Which is why UM > USF.

[Guest -?-]

Often Im graded on my social status opposed to my level of intelligence. Teachers give out daily "participation points" and then neglect 80% of their class. Im have alot of friends so its assumed that Im an idiot. My teachers this year are ignoring last years 4.0 and stereotyping me as the athlete that isnt capable of reading a book. Im far from being the smartest kid, but teachers and really public schools are failing to enable one to reach his or her full potential.

[fafalone]

Make it known. Go talk to your teacher about an advanced topic in their field after class.

[Guest -?-]

I have. Ive talked to teachers, counselors, and the principal on occasion. Basically there are too many kids (2500 in my highschool, 600 in my class) to single out kids. So if Im already in the advanced class, the school doesnt offer anything more for me.

"thats called college" was my teachers reply to that. I said it before in another post about school being unmotivating. I cant stand being average, but my options right now are really limited.

 

 

Are schools striving to be average? They have numerous classes setup for students who are below average. (not students with learning disabilities, students who perform below average.) Like special education or "slower" classes, so these students can reach the "average" level. They offer nothing for students who are above average, for the students who want to learn and over achieve. Point - schools are offering classes so below average can achieve average, and not offering classes restricting above average to average.

[fafalone]

Try talking to your teachers about independent study.

[Guest -?-]

I have, they wont let me. They said because they cant create a curriculum (sp) to grade me on, and they wouldnt be able to check my work. Alot of teachers in my school arent necessarily qualified to teach whatever class they do. My Chemistry teacher doesnt teach , she reads a teachers book that maps out her entire year for her. Assiginments, tests, etc. She knows the material because she has the answers on paper explained for her.

[Ryoken]

I know what I am about to say may be a little different from what you were expecting but...

 

You have friends, some with excellent computer skills, well, hack the A/V system, and brawdcast a tape of yourself speaking about all of this, even on the PA. Keep in mind that highschool is not the deciding factor of your future as everyone has been lead to believe.

 

I am not saying you should do this, I just wonder what kind of a response would come out of it.