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Hi guys,
I'd just like to use this blog to talk about some of my thoughts regarding my school, and I'm curious to hear about what you guys think about your own schools.
I'm a student at a "competitive" and "well-ranked" school. This actually means the school is mostly asian (as am I). The school itself is terrible. I'll start my complaints from most serious to least serious.
Teachers
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/4VxFD.jpg)
Teachers are the worst at my school. I haven't met many teachers who teach anything at all. Most are incredibly lazy and just loaf around, telling you to look in the book when you have questions, assigning inane, repetitive assignments, and just being unhelpful and useless. They also grade everything whimsically, giving C's and B's for no good reason. As a result, I've given up on trying to learn in the classroom and simply learn the material by myself at home. But obviously, this isn't very efficient since you waste 6 hours per day not learning anything at school. (Lunch is actually productive.) The asian kids, who have intense parents, force them to study at home, so they scrape A's and B's. Not to be racist, but the white kids, whose parents are less intense, just say "fuck it" and give up on having their kids achieve at such a fucked up school. I believe this is because of the labor unions in America. As a result, the lazy teachers tend to want to come to this school, where students will study for themselves and they can just sit back and relax. I'm not saying all teachers at my school are terrible, probably 10% are actually pretty good. For example, this year I had a great English teacher who gave us unique materials to work on and provided us interesting analysis. However, a school in which 90% of teachers are terrible is not a good school, no matter what the rankings say. The courses are incredibly hard, in an effort to decrease the number of honors students. As a result, getting a good grade on a test is incredibly hard and requires MASSIVE MASSIVE preparation. So, despite the fact I put in massive effort to achieve at this school, do I learn more? In my opinion, probably not.
0/10
Inflexibility
Our administrators are stupid fucks. There is almost zero flexibility in our scheduling. You cannot change classes once you sign up for them, and you cannot take advanced classes that you really should be taking. I consider myself pretty good at math, and I really want to take calculus and statistics. Unfortunately, the office won't let me, despite the fact that I am well qualified and have taken the prerequisite courses already. Similarly, other students advanced in physics, chemistry, or biology cannot take the challenging courses that they want. Why? Nobody knows. We also lack many courses that I am interesting in taking, such as computer science and economics. Still, many courses are available and you generally get what you sign up for, so I'll go easy in this category.
5/10
Atmosphere
The atmosphere at the school is not very good. Everybody is cordial and polite, but the competitiveness keeps friends apart to an extent. The animosity and deception that happens between crazy asian parents is also appalling. However, I've still met some good friends and we eat lunch together. So it isn't exactly unbearable.
6/10
Campus
Our campus is old, dilapidated, and disgusting. We have to share lockers, and our classrooms are crowded. The heating/cooling system is not very good either. Our track is filled with fucking potholes, and whenever I run, I feel like my ankle is getting irreparably damaged on each stride. Cafeteria food tastes bad as always, a slice of greasy pizza, and unsalted potato wedges that require a massive amount of ketchup to give them sufficient flavor to be swallowed. Definitely one of the worst campuses in the nation.
1/10
I've tried to get out of this school. I applied to an east coast boarding school this year, but was put on the waitlist and subsequently rejected. I've also considered transferring to one of the other high schools in the region. However, that wasn't really feasible so I didn't. I'm stuck in this shithole for a few more years. College won't be better, because this school is setting me up so I will get into a terrible college. However, as the saying goes:
"The circumstances of one's birth are irrelevant; it is what you do with the gift of life that determines who you are"-Mewtwo
I will continue to work hard despite my surroundings. Who knows? Maybe some day, something good might happen.
 
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lol this is what every kid says about their school.
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I found that high school teaching is much better than college teaching for me so far, then again I loved my high school. Good luck!
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if only everyone was as wise as you while going through puberty and living under their parents roof
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On July 02 2012 03:49 i99 wrote:
lol this is what every kid says about their school.
Seriously, hard to take the OP seriously.
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On July 02 2012 03:55 SeeDLiNg wrote:Show nested quote +On July 02 2012 03:49 i99 wrote:
lol this is what every kid says about their school. Seriously, hard to take the OP seriously.
Really? Most people are dissatisfied with their high school?
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I guess I'm lucky to be in my school :D even though it's ranked pretty low D;
Your school seems like it sucks, but then again I've heard my friends say the same thing about my school...good luck anyways ^.^
Spoilered my 'comments on my school' so I won't take anything away from your blog 
+ Show Spoiler +Teachers: They do their best to teach, sometimes they lack the discipline to calm the jocks down and makes it hard for me to learn, but overall they do a good job teaching and marking as fair as possible (but, you can see favoritism in certain teachers ). Although my school is ranked...kind of low, I still think it's the students, not the teachers (the students at our school aren't exactly 'academically capable') Flexibility: The counselors work super hard to get us into the courses we want, and have waiting lists (and these actually do something) and if we want to switch, they'd do their best. Props to them ^0^ Atmosphere: I'm asian too, I have a large group of friends that I can relate to (we're all gamers) but a substantial amount of the students in my school are into drugs/partying/smoking but overall, it's pretty good. Cafeteria: awesome, delicious, I eat there as often as I can, they make really good food :o
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I think this guy is going to have an epiphany soon.
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Teachers at my high school were inadequate as well. But then again, this made my high school years some of the greatest in my life. You just dink around all day but still get As since the tests and homework were easy as hell. Then when APs came around, you independently study from the textbook then take the test. Great GPA, AP college credit, study well for SAT, enroll in some school activity, do some community service every week, then go to university.
However, from a societal perspective, primary & secondary education in the USA pretty much blows and needs a massive overhaul.
But personally, I fucking loved high school. I remember visiting my relatives in Seoul during the break and seeing my cousins going to school and after school study 'til late at night. They're out by 7am and come back home around dinner time then study till they sleep. Fuck that. Thank god my parents accidentally (yes, I was supposed to come later :D) had me in the USA during their grad education instead of Korea. Divine intervention (or too much wine) preserved me from the ill-fate of my fellow korean breathren. And also the fact that I don't have Nazi asian parents. But I was forced to learn the piano. lol.
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You are fortunate to attend a high school where the student body is "cordial and polite." Daily harassment and sporadic outright violence are common in many schools. Shitty teachers are a universal constant. Same for cafeteria food. If I had to guess, freshmen and sophomores get lower priority for advanced placement classes.
You are frustrated with the school because you have no frame of reference for what constitutes a good school. You will thank your parents years down the road.
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My school was small.. around 500 students grades 9-12.
We had a lot of funding from the township and state, so we were able to have a lot of nice facilities. They remade the middle school literally a year after I graduated from there.. but also, made a new highschool first!
So in grade 10 it was finished, and we had a whole new building.
My teachers were really great imo... it was more or less the other way around from yours. I'd say one out of ten was the lazy, book type and most were actually attempting to teach and get us hands on.
Lunch wasn't terrible. They tried a lot of new things throughout the years and the food was managable. Of course, some things I still didn't eat --> it's cafeteria food.. --> but some wasn't bad. We had a salad bar every day as well to make salads and had fruits, along with a main course, a "submarine" sandwich bar, etc.
The atmopshere wasn't bad at all, we had our groups and most people got along.
The campus, again, was really nice and new. New lockers, new gym, new auditorium, etc.
Sucks that you have such a silly high school 
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On July 02 2012 04:25 defenestrate wrote:
You are fortunate to attend a high school where the student body is "cordial and polite." Daily harassment and sporadic outright violence are common in many schools. Shitty teachers are a universal constant. Same for cafeteria food. If I had to guess, freshmen and sophomores get lower priority for advanced placement classes.
You are frustrated with the school because you have no frame of reference for what constitutes a good school. You will thank your parents years down the road.
Maybe you are right. But is it remotely possible that my school is bad in a different way?
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On July 02 2012 03:53 Superiorwolf wrote:
I found that high school teaching is much better than college teaching for me so far, then again I loved my high school. Good luck!
how come you found high school better than college?
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On July 02 2012 04:13 Kuja wrote:
I think this guy is going to have an epiphany soon.
Haha, too true.
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On July 02 2012 03:55 SeeDLiNg wrote:Show nested quote +On July 02 2012 03:49 i99 wrote:
lol this is what every kid says about their school. Seriously, hard to take the OP seriously.
I am quite satisfied with my highschool. THe teachers aren't the greatest but everything else is decent. 7/10
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In many rural areas in the world, kids don't have schools. I bet they enjoy making matches/toys/bicycles/whatever 12 hours a day, every day of the year.
You are in need of a much more accurate referential.
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If you don't know it before highschool, you won't learn it in highschool.
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Russian Federation142 Posts
On July 02 2012 04:51 Roe wrote:Show nested quote +On July 02 2012 03:53 Superiorwolf wrote:
I found that high school teaching is much better than college teaching for me so far, then again I loved my high school. Good luck! how come you found high school better than college?
Probably because he got a degree in philosophy, language or other such retarded shit. What a fucking idiot.
Rating this blog a 5 because yes, everything you said is true for nearly every school in the states. You have to understand that no serious person wants to become a high school teacher and none of them have any fucking brains.
When you get to a university, things will change. It's extremely difficult to get a PhD in a serious field so you can bet you're going to be learning from the best. Just make sure to choose the most difficult major you can so you don't end up reliving your nightmare of talking to incompetent advisors/department heads or retarded lecturers who ramp up the difficulty in new and innovative ways because their course is way too fucking easy otherwise.
User was warned for this post
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On July 02 2012 06:40 serge wrote:Show nested quote +On July 02 2012 04:51 Roe wrote:On July 02 2012 03:53 Superiorwolf wrote:
I found that high school teaching is much better than college teaching for me so far, then again I loved my high school. Good luck! how come you found high school better than college? Probably because he got a degree in philosophy, language or other such retarded shit. What a fucking idiot. Rating this blog a 5 because yes, everything you said is true for nearly every school in the states. You have to understand that no serious person wants to become a high school teacher and none of them have any fucking brains. When you get to a university, things will change. It's extremely difficult to get a PhD in a serious field so you can bet you're going to be learning from the best. Just make sure to choose the most difficult major you can so you don't end up reliving your nightmare of talking to incompetent advisors/department heads or retarded lecturers who ramp up the difficulty in new and innovative ways because their course is way too fucking easy otherwise.
micronesia would like to have a word with you.
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On July 02 2012 06:04 Otolia wrote:
In many rural areas in the world, kids don't have schools. I bet they enjoy making matches/toys/bicycles/whatever 12 hours a day, every day of the year.
You are in need of a much more accurate referential.
It's all part of the SYSTEM, MAN.
Kids in the U.S. are taught how to work mediocre jobs and consume items that are manufactured by corporations with overseas production facilities, and these same corporations (with some help from banks, domestic and international) have the U.S. government in their pocket.
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I was a white kid in high school - my parents never said fuck it. Although I got A's by myself with no prodding from my parents - but yeah, I had to learn the information myself too.
Maybe it's a problem with the system. But learning to learn on your own is a skill you should have in the real world. You're not going to have someone holding your hand all the way through life, so high school is a good time to learn that you have to learn some things on your own.
Shrug. High school was shitty because I had no freedom. I'm about to graduate with an undergraduate degree in Biochemistry and move on to Medical School - all because I learned not to expect anyone to teach me anything, just to guide me in the right direction to teaching myself.
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Only problem I have with high school is that you're surrounded by idiots. University does a good job filtering a good portion of them and then 1st and 2nd year finally kills off the rest. Unfortunately, after graduation, I'm going to have to deal with these people again.
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United States24680 Posts
On July 02 2012 06:47 jpak wrote:Show nested quote +On July 02 2012 06:40 serge wrote:On July 02 2012 04:51 Roe wrote:On July 02 2012 03:53 Superiorwolf wrote:
I found that high school teaching is much better than college teaching for me so far, then again I loved my high school. Good luck! how come you found high school better than college? Probably because he got a degree in philosophy, language or other such retarded shit. What a fucking idiot. Rating this blog a 5 because yes, everything you said is true for nearly every school in the states. You have to understand that no serious person wants to become a high school teacher and none of them have any fucking brains. When you get to a university, things will change. It's extremely difficult to get a PhD in a serious field so you can bet you're going to be learning from the best. Just make sure to choose the most difficult major you can so you don't end up reliving your nightmare of talking to incompetent advisors/department heads or retarded lecturers who ramp up the difficulty in new and innovative ways because their course is way too fucking easy otherwise. micronesia would like to have a word with you.
Well it doesn't really have to be me...
Some of the most brilliant people I ever met were teachers. Some of the dumbest adults I met were also teachers... generalizing doesn't accomplish anything.
Not really relevant but I think it should be pointed out that the most brilliant person in a field is rarely the best teacher of the information of that field.
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United States10328 Posts
On July 02 2012 06:27 Thrill wrote:
If you don't know it before highschool, you won't learn it in highschool.
I disagree.
In the US, I feel like the norm is: High school teaches more than middle+elementary school combined, while college teaches more than all of grade school combined.
Anyway... OP, I'm sorry your teachers are so terrible (though I can't help but think you're exaggerating quite a bit.)
Things like "Most are incredibly lazy and just loaf around, telling you to look in the book when you have questions, assigning inane, repetitive assignments" seem pretty common in US high schools, while "They also grade everything whimsically, giving C's and B's for no good reason" seems like hyperbole. And as for "getting a good grade on a test is incredibly hard and requires MASSIVE MASSIVE preparation"... college is all like that.
Almost all administrators are "stupid fucks" (well, not exactly, but pretty close) who give you "almost zero flexibility in [your] scheduling." But please do realize that if administrators were to be flexible with everyone's class schedules, they'd likely end up with impossible class sizes and such. (It really is a slippery slope here.)
That being said, not allowing you to change classes is... certainly very unfortunate. Have you considered trying to take college courses instead? (Will your school let you? :/)
It's strange that your (Californian, it seems? Probably Bay Area?) school would be in such bad shape physically, though...
And finally, I'm preeeetty sure that your school isn't "setting you up so [you'll] get into a terrible college." I'm sure there are people from your school who go to top-tier universities... Realize that if you're working your ass off to get to where you are, they're probably working three or four times harder (and have luck on their side. But that doesn't mean luck isn't on your side; luck favors the prepared!)
(edit: if you want to learn math on your own, check out MIT OCW, Khan Academy, Art of Problem Solving, cut-the-knot, math.stackexchange.com, etc.... and if you want to learn programming/compsci, the internet is probably the best place to do so.)
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You're complaining about high school? Dude, my high school's roof f***ing collapsed. and not only did we have competitive asians, we also had competitive white kids because a lot of their parents were university professors. All this in the middle of a boring ass town with nothing to do but stare at cows
trust me man, high school sucks for just about everybody
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#firstworldproblems
More seriously, schools are a rather inefficient way to learn. Self learning, home education, and correspondence (Including the internet ) are much better at teaching. If you personally can put the work in to study on your own then it doesn't matter what school you go to. I feel sorry for the people who had to go through ordinary schools rather than home school like me :3
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On July 02 2012 12:44 micronesia wrote:Show nested quote +On July 02 2012 06:47 jpak wrote:On July 02 2012 06:40 serge wrote:On July 02 2012 04:51 Roe wrote:On July 02 2012 03:53 Superiorwolf wrote:
I found that high school teaching is much better than college teaching for me so far, then again I loved my high school. Good luck! how come you found high school better than college? Probably because he got a degree in philosophy, language or other such retarded shit. What a fucking idiot. Rating this blog a 5 because yes, everything you said is true for nearly every school in the states. You have to understand that no serious person wants to become a high school teacher and none of them have any fucking brains. When you get to a university, things will change. It's extremely difficult to get a PhD in a serious field so you can bet you're going to be learning from the best. Just make sure to choose the most difficult major you can so you don't end up reliving your nightmare of talking to incompetent advisors/department heads or retarded lecturers who ramp up the difficulty in new and innovative ways because their course is way too fucking easy otherwise. micronesia would like to have a word with you. Well it doesn't really have to be me... Some of the most brilliant people I ever met were teachers. Some of the dumbest adults I met were also teachers... generalizing doesn't accomplish anything. Not really relevant but I think it should be pointed out that the most brilliant person in a field is rarely the best teacher of the information of that field.
Well you're the only teacher I know on TL.
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I went to a Blue Ribbon high school, so my experience is quite different.
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On July 02 2012 20:59 TOloseGT wrote:
I went to a Blue Ribbon high school, so my experience is quite different.
I'd like to mention that my high school also frequently gets this "blue ribbon" thing.
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I agree I should probably complain less.
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EPT
