Shawnie

ty everyone!! sorry again cory for the hijacking

KyWildFish

Even though I had a really tough (and long) run through school, I miss it. The geek in me loved learning and still does, when I have time. The other bull that came with school I dont miss. Stick it out, college is great.
Look at it this way Cory, I wake up every morning at 6 and get to work at seven. I wear "business formal" attire (tie and all that garbage) and end up covering it with a lab coat. I then go to boring meetings and get my ducks in a row. Sound familiar?
The rest of the day I spend playing with chemicals and ingredients making things taste better. I get paid to play with my food! If you bust your hump through all the boring stuff maybe one day you will find a job you love from it.

sirdarksol

I had an English teacher who constantly talked about her class being like a true college-level course. She gave us continuous pop quizzes, insipid assignments, etc...

When my wife and I got to college, we just laughed at this woman. Her "college level class" was nothing like a college class. While we got a lot of assignments, they were in-depth and interesting. Most English courses I've taken in college have had three or four tests, tops.

As far as taking college versions of classes, it all depends on if it's something you need.
I flunked out of calculus (mid-level college course) in high school, but was already three math courses ahead of my fellow seniors, so I could still graduate. I haven't taken a math course since, and I still have a better grasp of math than most of my friends. I understand math, but I don't like it, and I don't need it for creative writing, so I don't worry about it. On the other hand, I went through all of the English/Lit classes, even though I probably could have transferred my AP credits easily.

Angela_96

The ap classes are great to take, but I do agree w/ taking them over in college. Eventhough I have to admit my ap bio II was very close to my first year anatomy and phys. class... If it wasn't for that I would have had major issues passing the class.
I took ap bio, ap english, and ap government, along w/ 4 years of latin, and a couple of spanish..... I guess I was a geek.... but I loved the classes. There isn't nothing like translating an entire roman empire story as your year assignment... (the latin helps out a lot w/ my being in the healthcare feild)

Tavel

haha yeah. I had a few teachers that thought they were doing it like a college class. I got a chuckle when I got into my first college class. "hey, this isn't mindless droning, it's fun!"

High School math is a funny beast. They say it's the same material as the college courses...but it's not. My sister and I took the "same" course at the same time, Precalc 1 (or "Intermediate College Algebra" in high school). However, it took them 9 months to complete the material while my class did it all in eight weeks. We even covered more material, the high school class didn't even touch synthetic division, manual matrix operations, or a bunch smaller things.

The high school class was seriously deficient and that's why so many kids were having trouble with it, of course it doesn't make sense when you've only learned 80% of a topic! Math is one case where teaching more content makes the class easier because it's all operational, not cumulative (like history...).

I almost failed out of the same class when I was in high school...but magically got an A in college. then again, I also decided to re-do the entire math sequence in college from algebra onward (nothing motivates like crazy Korean professors telling you you're dumber than Forest Gump!).

It was then I realized high school was a total waste of time. I either didn't learn it, didn't learn enough of it to be useful, or learned it incorrectly! Hopeless.

Angela_96

I hated high school math w/ a passion.... the only class I did well in was geometry only because if you memorized the theroms you had it made.
Then, like a lightbulb when I got into college math turned out to be a strong point I think it had a lot to do w/ the teachers at the high school level. Now the profession I am in you have to be proficent in physics/math to do well, we use a lot of it w/ ventilators, lung volumes, etc

Angela_96

OH yea, on the reg topic... .
My school loving son turned into a hating son today when he brought home once again homework, lol....
He is in 1st grade and his homework was a list of 12 spelling words, writing numbers, shapes, and 2 stories in his reading book he had to read out loud to me.
That seems like a lot for a 1st grader, I couldn't imagine what they are sending home on a high school level.

Coryd55

Eh, I don't mind the jacking at all. I enjoy it. Makes the thread more enjoyable haha

rileyrk190

trust me you will enjoy college much more. At least at my high school you were forced to do tedious unnecessary homework and being such a small school, you had to see the same people over and over. At least at college you have more freedom, and can pick your friends..not to mention most schools let you have fish!!!lol

Slug

Dorm life is pretty cool. I never got much of it, my only regret probably.

sirdarksol

Kids are being expected to know more at every grade. When I was a kid, preschool was an option. Letters and counting were taught in kindergarten.
Now, preschool might as well be another required grade. A friend's kid nearly got kept out of kindergarten because he couldn't quite count high enough, and didn't know his letters well enough.
Another friend sends his kids to a daycare that's really a school in disguise starting at age 2. It used to be that this kind of thing was getting your kid a head start, now your kid is behind the curve if he/she isn't started in school this young.

Never lived in a dorm, but my wife (girlfriend at that point) did. Parts of it were cool, but parts absolutely blew (like her roommate's obsession with alcohol). The friends were awesome, but the drama sometimes was too much. We were both glad by the end of that year. She moved back home and commuted to school from that point on.

Chief_waterchanger

SDS, I think you are absolutely correct on kids being behind the curve if not taught very early now. I also think that's why parents should take more of an active role.

My young cousins, at age 4 and 6 (2 years ago) lectured me on why I should, at the time, quit smoking and what it done to my lungs and why it harmed those around me. (I have been quit for 2 years .)

They are bright kids, but are only average in their schools. (Even here in the hills of TN, yes. )

Maybe this will turn out good for the country, having people educated earlier and harder.

KyWildFish

I dont know. Life is what you make of it. Think of all the opportunity in this country that gets wasted on a daily basis. So many people dont know how good they have it. This applies to education. Some of my smartest friends have made some really bad choices and it makes me sad to see them where they are, as opposed to where they could be.

I haven't had that much exposure to younguns education today. I can say that being born into the computer/internet age only will help them be better than us old farts. It's weird to think that I lived in the age of no internet, casset tapes/VHS, and parachute pants. Just think what the future holds, these kids will look back and say "I remember gasoline cars, CDs/DVD, and crocs"

sirdarksol

Sadly, despite all of this, America is way down the list on education. We used to be really close to the top, usually only beat out by Japan or something. We're now at something like 37. Because it's not funded by the government, the pre-pre-school programs are completely out-of-pocket, and the good ones are really expensive. Thus, we're seeing the gap between middle-class students and lower-class students grow ever wider.

I agree that there's a ton of wasted opportunity in our country, though I don't know that the internet age will make kids better. It gives them the opportunity to be better, but many squander it by spending hours texting what amounts to "hey how are u doin?" to dozens of people they barely know.

Coryd55

I don't think that forcing kids to know more earlier would be beneficial. I think they just need to rework the system a little bit and make it more efficient.

SDS, it depends on how one uses the internet. It can be helpful but it can also hold you back, as well as things like textin. Especially during school, it completely distracts kids and they miss the whole lesson.

Tavel

I tend to agree that throwing kids into school earlier and earlier won't solve anything if the schools are still deficient. It's like whipping a donkey and expecting it to run like a horse.

The schools have to be reworked to eliminate that whole "high school is a joke compared to college" thing. High school should be just as tough as college, that means making high school harder...not college easier, lol! Seriously, my mother and sister are teachers and I am genuinely concerned for our country's future. Our schools are a joke, plain and simple.

(it's probably like that because the people operating the schools have been stuck in the magical land of acadamia for their entire lives. They're the kind of people that love school so much they never want to leave, and they're afraid to because everything else is so much harder. They've never experienced the world they're supposed to be preparing students for. does that make sense?)

THEN we can consider pushing kids a little harder, maybe forgo the ridiculous 3 month summer break? 4-6 weeks is more than enough to recuperate and prepare for the next year.

But all told, it won't matter at all if the society doesn't start shifting away from the mindless fumbling with all the reality shows and stupid movies. People won't act smart unless they feel compelled to, being stupid is so much easier.

As for the internet, the internet is just information. It can be information about the political situation in darfur, or the cute boys on gossip girl...it's all just information. The users decide what information to access, therefore their intellectual disposition is already determined and the internet doesn't influence them.

smart kids will be smart with or without the internet, it will just be harder for them to get the information they crave. Dumb kids will be dumb with or without the internet...

Christian Patti

No. That break is the only time I get my bills paid or get anything done period.

Chief_waterchanger

I agree. Even when I was in school after about 4-6 weeks of the break from school I got bored and was ready for a change, even if that meant school.

sirdarksol

Exactly. It presents an opportunity, but most kids waste the opportunity. As Tavel said, it could be something really deep and thought provoking, or it could be a gossip site like MySpace. Sadly, the kids I knew when I worked at Taco Bell went the MySpace and texting route.

KyWildFish

Its easy for us adults to be like "x-time is enough for kids to be on break" but lets be serious. I would love more than anything to be a kid again. I had a lot of hardships through my childhood and had to grow up too fast. From that I learned that we should give kids ample time to be kids. You can learn outside the school environment too. A lot of the kids in this forum are learning every time they visit and can learn other places that arent a classroom too. A long summer is great for kids, and I think it should stay.

CWC, if you were bored so fast after a few weeks you could have always challeged yourself. Summers arent just for laying by the pool collecting cancer, the free time I had I used to the fullest.

Chief_waterchanger

Due to personal and family reasons I could not have done much with my summers. I'm sure there are those that are bored that could have done stuff rather than being bored. The thing the all boils down to is the three mindsets...

1) Educate the kids more and prepare them more for life and college and teach them to learn and how to educate themselves so that the human race as a whole gets smarter and makes advances quicker.

2) Let kids be kids and see how that plays out.

3) Be indifferent because you are no longer a kid and aren't on the school board to have to worry about those things.

I think the first option best suits my thoughts, but society as a group tends to choose the 2nd option.

KyWildFish

Im not arguing that kids shouldnt be taught more, thats for sure. I was knocked over when I got to college. There needs to be more prep for college in that regard, at least for kids aiming to go to college. My high school's prep was very sub-par and the AP classes hardly compared to college (enough that my University laughed at AP credits). I took a few AP classes but found them no more challenging than advanced classes, only with more homework (which is totally not college). I decided that AP was a waste and enjoyed highschool for what it was. It took me a semester and a few bad test grades to learn how to learn, but I got it. If I had got that kind of prep in highschool, I would have transitioned so much better.
I do consider that college is not for everyone. Only 17% of American people have a degree. For those people who dont want to go to college should they be forced to learn the pre college prep? I dont think so. They would only be bored in class and hinder the folks wanting the college prep. This population should be given options that would prepare them for life post high school. The Japanese do this. You are tested at about middle school and sent to different schools based on those scores. The "high school" kids they compare to ours are only thier brightest and best, they dont mention the ones in trade schools which make up the majority of thier population. My best friend teaches in Japan, otherwise I would have been none the wiser to this.
I personally liked my long summers. They gave me time to explore somewhat non-academic aspects of life. I learned over my summers that I was not only gifted at math and science, but with sculpture and visual arts as well. I spend many days at the throwing wheel or behind a chisel and it expanded my horizons and my mom's collection of my quirky creations.
That being said, I did more than academic stuff on my free time. I played hockey quite a bit and spent a lot of my time in the summer traveling and playing in camps. I also had a gang-of-idiots that I ran around with and created some of the fondest memories of my life. I think its wrong to pen kids up in an institution all year for the best years of thier lives. Let them live, they will do thier part in advancing the race as you put it. Developing technology is not what makes us human, it goes so much deeper than that (and thats a HUGE discussion Im not trying to start).

As for our friend Coryd55 who started this impressive thread, enjoy school. Almost all the adults in here have said they miss it. But also remember the feeling of that last day of school before summer, it will be here before you know it and makes going back worth all the while.

(end book)

sirdarksol

This is an excellent statement.

When I was a kid, I got to go to these great, science-based summer school programs because I was a "gifted kid." These classes cost my parents quite a bit of money. I think it was continued options like this, as well as the constant influx of books that I had as a kid, that helped keep my inquisitive brain on the "learning is fun" track that's it's ridden my whole life.

But that took two things: It took me being in the advanced science, math, and English track in elementary school, and it took my parents having enough money to send me to these classes.

If we could give these chances to every kid who wants them, that would be great. Smart kids don't only come from rich families. They come from middle class families and from lower class families, who may not be able to afford the things that my parents scraped together for me.

Dino

I was classified as gifted back before there were tracks or classes for such in the public schools.
My parents sacrificed a lot for me to have the education I did once I got to college.
Also, I am an only child.
If my family had been bigger, I doubt that I would have been able to get my degree in the time that I did, as I would have had to have interspersed working full time with classes.

Saddly, my dad was a high school teacher with a masters 45 ( masters degree plus 45 more hours of schooling) and we never had a great deal of spare money.

KyWildFish

My dad was a drunk and my mom was a highschool secretary. I was on my own when it came to college. Unfortunately I am a white male so not many scholarship opportunities were out there for me and my school more than doubled in cost in the time I was there. I had to work full time through college and it was very difficult. I ended up with some student loan debt and an extreme case of exhaustion but I did it. I had to change my major (twice) and ended up taking 7 years which probably didnt help either.
Also being labeled "gifted" makes me feel wierd. Its sounds like "special" or "touched" which arent exactly accolades. I do agree with SDS in that opportunities should be equal for all kids despite thier families incomes. In all my advance placement classes I was the po' kid and definately had some inadequacy issues. I went to a fairly wealthy highschool so that only worsened things. Not that your ancient or anything, but Dino didnt you have any scholarship opportunities or was there nothing like that in the North Pole?