What do you think about school?

[Beached Whale 57]

I'm still in school so I can't tell you whether I miss it or not yet, but I have mixed feelings about school. On one hand, it takes up a ton of time, and it's pretty easy to burn out if you're studying in a room for hours on end. However, I hope the end result will be worth it. Having knowledge and being able to apply it is a good feeling. 

I made some of my best friends in high school, and I still keep in touch with them even if we aren't in the same programs, so there's always that friendship aspect! 

The paying thousands of dollars a year part though? I could pass on that 

[smk.png 181]

I go to an online school, but I have a lot more work and the minimum time you have to spend is 3h 16m

[Midnight Solace 5,132]

School is hell depending on the teachers and education system. For me, it's driving me to suicide.

Edited November 30, 2018 by Midnight Solace

[Nsxile 27,626]

I certainly don't miss it.

[Lucky Bolt 35,106]

I just graduated, so ha! I don't have to think about it anymore! 

But I will say, it would've been better if I didn't have to take classes I didn't like. 

[Mini 454]

I miss school so much. It's so much more fun than adult life.

[Clawdeen 16,046]

I would have enjoyed school more if it weren’t for the other students. 

[ExplosionMare 18,106]

If school was focused more on actual learning rather than hurrying to meet a deadline, I would like it more. Some parts are actually fun this time around, at least, since I can pick what I study.

[Splashee 28,581]

School is a system to prepare young minds for things, and that is cool!

But right now, it is summer, please let school be over for now

[Pentium100 2,255]

My memory may be biased, but I didn't hate school or the university. Shorter hours than a full-time job, long vacation, some interesting subjects. Less money though, that part was worse and there were boring subjects or boring teachers. But all in all it was OK.

[EpicEnergy 23,240]

I wish I paid more attention in school rather than doing school just to get it over with and play video games as soon as I could.

[Ocean Breeze 5,144]

I just have a lot of good memories... and not so good ones as well.

[squishsquoosh 16]

I mean, it’s pretty good. I interact with the downstairs teachers a lot, they really like to talk with me. I also make new friends every year.  It’s also how I make money, considering I sell Kandi bracelets. There are a few things I’d like to fix about the system, though. Like the sexist dress codes & the ableism within. Luckily, I only have two more years of that and I’m outta there!

[J.J 926]

Information comes from "independent study." Knowledge comes from continuous reaffirmation of your understanding of this information. School is more so "work training", it SHOULD be more like this anyways... They want to train younger individuals minds into naturally waking themselves up at 7 am, and sacrificing 8 hrs of their lives bc it's societal conditioning... Nothing wrong at all about being patriotic and saying our pledge every morning, but the routine oriented schedule you follow is supposed to help discipline you, it's just the material that is in these little cult houses are outdated, irrelevant, and the social environment fostered by the "local cultures" creates an intense bias/favoritism that helps the less intelligent/less qualified thrive so they can hold on to their privileges/boast a privilege that other "ordinary students"(some of these students are bound to be WAYYY more academically successful) it basically means bc we need dumb dumb to run fast, he gets less homework/his homework gets easier or the entire class can be negated, you know the mandatory class that everyone else has worked their asses off to keep up in.. he gets to float off of one assignment often times.. then the academic spread sheet is falsely represented... We put the majority of these ppl in easier classes so we don't have to worry about our sports team failing, the likelihood of any of these  individuals playing "pro ball" is laughably low, "electives" need to take priority over athletic capability and even over ones ability to memorize the "general curriculum", promise needs to be looked at by which individual has the highest potential in career promise, we need to be teaching more "skilled labor" as part of our "general curriculum", and just as needed we need to have social/political programs for those with an even higher potential, the "information" we consume in classrooms is literally all available at our fingertips, ones ability to retain this information does not depend on our ability to listen to another individual reiterate this information to us. You have to look at students for their personality strengths, philosophy, and obviously general skills and ability to retain "information" through actual EXPERIENCE. I think they are trying to avoid making schools look like a work camp, but turning it into one may be what's best for the "students".. "They are still children, let them be children". I agree, but there are plenty of talented children, children that want to know more than they are being taught, and they need to have experience to learn some of these things... Bc all of the "good students" the ones with genuine interest and thirst for knowledge, they "in this day and age" (thinking of my own country) have access to the internet, at their literal finger tips... And there is information in our literal pockets that contests information in some of our texts.. now I think they are moving toward making the computer a mandatory part of human culture in 2022, (another career path that could be greatly explored) but not by reading BS from the school website or Wikipedia, but like learning how to use computers for coding and encryption, and other useful PC skills that could turn one of these average internet surfers into the world's next private investigator... Lol, we just have simplistic priorities nowadays, like lying to children by telling them the most ethnically tolerant country in the world is racist, or trying to make white kids figuratively give up their lunch money bc they have a family that loves them.. it's gross and annoying

 

 

 

[ExplosionMare 18,106]

I can't stand how difficult it is just to prepare for school. It feels like every time I get my forms filled out and do everything I need to, something is always missing. You would think just getting enrolled wouldn't be all that bad, but it feels near impossible at times. I've also had times where I was put in unnecessary classes due to being misinformed and I really hope that doesn't happen again. 

[Espy Vibe 4,568]

I already graduated high school some years ago and don't really have any intentions to pursue further schooling but the biggest problems I had with school was how rushed curriculums were and the actual useful subjects for modern day life being cast aside as "optional" for graduation.

Something that I've learned from myself is I love to learn! I just don't like to rush through something when I barely understand the last topic of a subject which leads into the current one. Even with tutoring its not enough and the teacher has to catch us all to prepare us for final tests, which may or may not have what we've learned. Most of the time, they're full of stuff we've not gone over yet or I personally hadn't completely grasped.

As for life-relevant subjects, I actually really enjoyed Business & Law and Personal Finance. (The latter I've heard is cool that my school even had that class compared to rival schools which didn't have it.) Those were quite relevant, important and interesting.

Funny enough, I did poorly in English but I got the highest score out of anybody in my class on my graduation project. The essay, I got a 98/100 and the presentation I got a 4.5/5 (I made the presentation the night before I was to present it but I showed up a bit late to the judges so they cut off half a point).

It's a miracle I even graduated.

But oops, heres my answer:

Education is necessary but half of it is learning the foundations of how to learn and the other half is doing the learning. As long as you're actually interested and engaged with it anyways. 

Not sure if that makes any sense but yes yes 

 

[Fluttershutter 2,646]

I agree with Rick.

 

[Lnx1ynight16 1,381]

On 2022-08-09 at 11:07 AM, squishsquoosh said:

I mean, it’s pretty good. I interact with the downstairs teachers a lot, they really like to talk with me. I also make new friends every year.  It’s also how I make money, considering I sell Kandi bracelets. There are a few things I’d like to fix about the system, though. Like the sexist dress codes & the ableism within. Luckily, I only have two more years of that and I’m outta there!

I also love to make Kandi too! My friends love my Kandi and I made some Kandi for them

[Clawdeen 16,046]

Elementary to high school sucked. College was a blast. 

[Lnx1ynight16 1,381]

Elementary school: I love it

Middle school: I hate it and I don’t feel like saying why. 

High school: I like it

[Casey Pones 103]

I can only speak to my own experiences. I have never found a school, college or university that I truly enjoyed. And I think they and education as a whole let me down and left me feeling bitter.

My whole life I was given the message that education was important, that it would mean the difference between a well-paying, exciting and gratifying job and slaving away for life in a burger bar or as a cleaner. Those two were portrayed as the lowest legal jobs in society. 

Well I did the whole education thing for my whole childhood, got dragged through exams, even put myself though some higher education. But when I applied for jobs... nothing! No one thought I was qualified enough for anything, not even burger bars or cleaning! I applied for both. Now I look back on all those years I slaved away in schools and I think... "What was the point of all that? Where did it get me? I did education and I ended up with less with what I was warned about."

Also, when I moved out I found there were a ton of things I had no idea how to do for myself. If the point of education is to prepare us for life on our own then it failed me. With all the problems I have, what good are things like times tables, playing the recorder, cursive writing or the Tudor monarchs?

And I'm not the only on who thinks so. Although I don't agree with everything the School of Life says, I do agree on their proposition for reforming schools.

And documentarian Keven Perjurer mentioned the problems with education in his video in Kid Cities

Here is a list of things that I think schools should change their curriculum to. I'm not saying general knowledge is a bad thing. In my adulthood like to learn things just to fill in the gaps in my knowledge, especially with history. But these are things I think all schools should include and focus on. In ascending order...

15 How to use a phone
I know teenagers are infamous for doing this in school anyway but still what does the +44 at the beginning of numbers mean and how do you type that into a phone? Do you add it onto the end, do you replace numbers? And what do the various sounds it makes mean? It it busy, was I disconnected, is the number invalid?

14 Human history
I know schools already teach history but I don't remember it being a very complete history or well organised. My brother was taught the Tudors every year for 3 or for years in a row.
Normally when we start a movie or video game we're given a prologue to bring us up to speed and give us the feeling we're acclimated. Not with life.
For so long I thought WW1 and WW2 were the same thing and didn't know what the Soviet Union was. I think history should be taught as a way for us all to understand how our world got to where it is. It should start us off with the stone age and give us an overview of the whole thing up to the present, teachers of each year picking up where our last one left off.

13 How to use public transportation.
Unless you have a car this is essential. And yet I found I had no idea how to read train timetables, figure out which line I wanted or which platform they stopped at. Busses were even harder, at least trains list all the stations on their route and announce the next stops. I was shocked when I found out busses don't do that like they do in movies and tv. I got stranded once in bucketing rain because I got off to early because I thought the bus didn't go near where i wanted. One time I was standing in the snow trying to figure out the sign on the bus stop and didn't see my bus coming so it went right past me. Also it took a few tries to learn it's not enough to stand at a bus stop, you have to flag them down too.

12 How to repair things.
Since we all surrounded with appliances, devices and machines, many of which are responsible for life as we know it, know how to fix them ourselves or at least their minor problems would be useful and save us some money over calling a repair man. My fuse-box has tripped many times but the closed thing to an education I received on that was that scene in the power plant in Jurassic Park.

11 How to clean
At one point I saw some footage of a girl's school where they were supplied with mock apartments and taught how to clean them. I thought it was the most sexist, condescending thing I'd ever seen. But now I think, why don't they tech us this? Cleaning is something everyone who can't afford a staff of servant needs to know. I've been confounded by so many cleaning things... what do all the little symbols on laundry items mean? How often do I change sheets? What kind of cleaning agent do you use on certain stains and moulds? The tumble dryer has a thing called a condenser?

10 How to cook and get our food.
I know this is possibly covered in home economics but none of my schools ever had it.
Since we are what we eat I would consider it very important how to do this so we don't fall in the trap of ordering takeout every night. Because there are so many things that can can happen with sharp utensils, hot metals, boiling water and risk of food poisoning. Also since we need food to survive we should all know where to get it, which ones are healthy and buy it cheaply. I know to avoid UPFs but I don't know what constitutes one. And do you know how many people mistakenly think GMOs are bad for you?
And close on the heels of this...

9 How to take care of our health.
This is a more intimate and vital issue then maintaining our devices. How much exercise we need, what kind and how do to it. The whole workings of our bodies and how to care for them. What kind of nutrition and how much of it. What our risks of infection are, where they come from, what they do to us and how to prevent them. Upon being given our body we are left with no care or instruction manual. And I would put our mental health inhere. Things happen in life, and it can be hard to know when you need mental support let alone what kind or where to get it.

8 History of racism.
No I am NOT advocating for any kind of racist ideology to be taught in school. But what I think needs to be taught is which races have suffered discrimination, what those wrong racist beliefs were and what is found offensive. Otherwise it could lead to all sorts of unwittingly hateful moments.
When I was young I had one of those electric cars you could ride in. One day I wanted to dress it up as a police car. I made a sign to go on the side with a star but those are tricky to draw so 2 triangles on top of each other. so there I was trundling through the neighbourhood in a toy car with something like the star of David under the word POLICE. Fortunately I got away with it.
You know that bit in Family guy where Stewie's talking about dogs in a dumpster and Brian says ""Don't joke about it, that's like the holocaust for us!" That was the first time I'd ever heard that word.

7 How to socialize.
I know it's said that school is where children develop their social skills but not always. Some of us don't just pick it up. We're not alone because we choose to be. It's because we have no idea how to strike up a conversation with someone we don't already know or what the boundaries are. And it's not just for companionship, humans are social creatures, deprived of human contact we literally go insane. This could be a matter of mental health. The world needs a real School of Friendship.

6 Safety signs.
I took a course in this as an adult. I couldn't believe I had gone this far in life not knowing that safety, warning and hazard signs were all strictly designed around universal rules and colour  coded. I always thought the green thing that looked like a fire alarm was a fire alarm with a different choice in colour.

5 What your country is and it's values.
I don't mean in a propaganda sense like Soviet Russia. But since we live in this country, shouldn't we know what kind of country is in terms of government, electoral system and what values it has? I imagine it's easy for Americans, they love to crow about it every 4th of July. But it's not so for countries that didn't have a crystallizing moment in their culture to mark. I'm British and for all my childhood I thought the Queen ruled the country just like the monarchs in the Disney movies I saw. And no one told me the value of democracy, civil government, the rule of law or trail by jury. I picked those up from episodes of the Simpsons, and that was just pure luck!

4 What the laws of your country are and what to do if you're in legal trouble.
When you sit down to play a board game, you're explained the rules and what you're not allowed to do. You'll think the law you actually live under would be the same. Especially since you could get into real trouble without even knowing it. One time someone said they were going to sue me for slander based on the thing's I'd been saying about them. I had no idea how to handled this unfamiliar situation, how to get a lawyer, if that's what they're even called in this country. Also could I be sue for slander when I had in fact been telling people the truth? One time my neighbour handed my a document threatening to take me to court over the tree branches hanging from my garden. I didn't even know I could be held legally accountable for that.

3 How to think for ourselves
Time was I sort of thought that out there was some kind of council of scientists, probably working under the UN, who divined through science what was and wasn't true and then those facts were put into all the school textbooks. I think I was shocked when I learned that scientists could differ on opinions and scientific "facts" could be overturned.
Until 2 or 3 years ago I had gone my whole life thinking critical thinking skills meant vital skills for thinking. I had no idea they were about questioning things.

2 How to get a job and manage money.
When you think about it, the whole point of education is to get a good job.
And yet we are told nothing in all our education of how to find work. What a CV is, how to format one, write a cover letter, interview skills, how to find a position.
As such I've been stumbling down numerous avenues of employment and finding nothing but dead ends.

1 How to deal with life.
This is what should be taught in school above everything else.
Life is full of labyrinthine corridors fraught with uncertainty, pitfalls, heartbreaks, disaster, failures and things that can make us want to give up on life altogether. And yet we have been given no education to deal with all this. We all have been thrown into the pool of life and expected to sink or swim.
If we are here in life, if it is the purpose of education to prepare us for life, then it should be their #1 priority to teach us how to handle life. To understand ourselves and what we really need, to deal with what the next catastrophic event might be and to find our way through the murky, messy, at times deeply depressing thing called life we've found ourselves in.

[ZiggWheelsManning 11,990]

You pay attention to educational stuff, take tests, get tutoring from friends and you choose what to do in the future.