Schools?

[rossmum]

I'm aware we have a youtube thread; however, this is more than deserving of its own.

pfRUMmTs0ZA

I'm curious... how would you rate your school, and do you think anything's improved since this was aired? I can tell what's going on, though since I haven't been to the US (aside from airport stopovers) since I was a baby, I'm really not sure as to the true extent of things.

I must say though; it does worry me when I know more about the American Civil War (which is given only a passing mention at best outside of the US) than an American student of my age (5:00 or thereabouts). I also can't really pretend that what I see on the internet in terms of people's attitudes or even basic literacy don't bother me. Clearly there are plenty of smart Americans out there, but where does the school system sit in all of this?

I'd rather this didn't turn into an e-soap, let's get some intelligent discussion happening on these forums. By all means, if you don't live in the US, feel free to assess your own school system too.

[Kornman00]

That first male principle kicked ass.

Yeah, don't you see the pattern here in America? Failing schools, failing politicians, failing owait, America :-3

[Limited]

We kind of have that problem here in UK just on a lower degree. Imo its not funding thats the problem.

I feel the problems are:
Respect
Lazyness
Attitude

Respect for teachers is getting lower and lower every year. In that clip there was a dude running around on the desks, pupils ignoring what the teacher is saying. It happens here in UK, the teachers cant teach if the pupil is going crazy and wont even sit down.

EVeryone is getting lazier and lazier, now with more computers, more tv's and more video games. People would rather do all that than learn. This is also part of the attitude of the students. If you dont want to learn, you wont learn...

Attitude of the students, do they want to learn? are they trying to learn? You can tell from the video that those belguim students wanted to learn, were happy with their learning.

Learning needs to be relevent. I hated learning useless shit that was only useful for me passing a test and thats it, alot of things arent useful in later life, okay addin up is but learning indepth about Shakespeare and why he wrote his stories like he didnt, will NOT help me in later life.

I pulled myself out of a few schools, mainly because I didnt like it/ I got bullied. I went to a school where there were "unteachable" students. People with learning diffiiculties, people who were expelled and other trouble makers.

Did they learn? Yes because this school helped make it relevant and fun to learn.

On that 2003 test list, was UK even on there?? I didnt see UK :(:(

[thehoodedsmack]

Hey! Canada's #7? Sweet! Over here, we have some bad schools, but generally, where I live at least, our schools and students are prety well off.

[Stormwing]

my school is one of the better ones...people try to cheat to get here also. but it's far from spectacular.

I think regardless of student attitude or laziness, teachers and faculty are what really make or break the learning experience - regardless of the student in question.

Luckily the teachers I've had are pretty good in my highschool years so far...a few bad apples here and there. However...the bad ones can be pretty bad. They're usually too boring or simply can't teach, and thus the students can't give a crap and just do enough to not face serious consequences. I do the drawing and sleeping...a friend of mine played some GBA...others feign interest...etc.

The teachers who are awesome make learning much more interesting (whether you actually do well or not), but the teachers who aren't are pretty damn bad.

[Atty]

The problem is when you get to schools that are so huge that kids fall through the cracks, where you've got so many students in one school each teacher can't keep track. If you don't come to them with a problem likely she/he won't notice it on their own. That is the way it is at a lot of local schools here, we've had to build a new school and it's already going to be full to capacity when it opens this August.

[rossmum]

[longpost]
That's not how I remember school in the UK :smith:

My current school is pretty good by most standards. We did have a few lousy teachers, they were all dealt with accordingly and within 6 months absolute maximum. Our school generally ranks very well in tests, and though we do have some seriously troublesome kids (most of the year 10 "cool group", mainly... bunch of muscleheaded idiots who only got into the school off of ability they've since lost, as my school is selective). The teachers are pretty good for the most part (my Chemistry and Physics teachers in particular), and while we do have our problems, it compares very favourably to anything in that documentary, not to mention most schools here :| The comprehensive high school just down the road is a whole other matter, though even it produces some excellent students.

8.5/10

Also, for those who are wondering why Finland got first: a few friends of mine live there, they have to take 6-hour tests for every major assessment area of every subject. Their education system is insane, but obviously it works :gonk:

[Roostervier]

My current school is alright in academics, old one sucked D: Though, I am in the smart classes... you wouldn't believe the literacy nor the spelling of the idiots at our school. My class pretty much holds the whole thing together, the rest fails :fail:. I am serious in this though, I see all kinds of wrong word usage, words like "ain't," among other things, and serious misspellings in their work. Not only that though, they aren't too bright in math either... I take back what I said about academics. If you aren't in X classes as this school, you are basically a retard; no joke. And a lot of these people aren't lazy, just incapable of learning. I've seen a lot struggle, they couldn't get it at all. On the other hand, there are a lot of lazy ones, and if you are from around here, you know how their parents are. It doesn't make it any better that their own family acts in the same way they do. It only encourages it.

Back when I lived in Indianapolis, there was at least an intermediate class. This is actually the first time I am realizing how huge a gap there is here. I am guessing the gap is also in how much money they make. Typically, never always, the poorer teenagers are less intelligent, and are fatter too. There are even studies proving that. Here, there is a big difference. My friend Sean is rich, he's in my classes. Most in the X classes are middle class, or middle upper class. Most everyone else is lower class :\. Of course, there are a few "out-liers," but for the most part that is the way it is.

[edit] Forgot to rate my school. I rate it a 4/10. There are only 3 cool teachers here though, most others are extremely strict, allow no talking, no fun, nothing. That is part of it. Another thing affecting our schools is the quickly developing feministic society that is America. School rules only allow men to be little pussies. Can't have any fun at school at all: no joking, because it "hurts others feelings." No competition. If there is someone better at something, they desperately try to even out the teams. No pushing around, just having fun, because "it could lead to something serious." Tapping someone's shoulder until they scream about it is apparently bullying now. It is making school completely dull. They say that learning should be fun, but how can it with rule after rule of bullshit?

[Dole]

Everything went downhill after they allowed women to become principals. Period.

[mR_r0b0to]

At first my school was awesome, lots of liberties, no uniform, fun teachers who really care, nice curriculum where you actually learn stuff. And it's really secure, we leave our stuff outside our lockers, and we actually jam our lockers so it's easy to open. Also we were AWESOME academically, we owned at UIL and contests and stuff.

But then during my sophomore year they made in open enrollment, which means anyone can enroll, first come first serve. There used to be an entrance test of some sort. Parents of stupid kids who can't pass it complained that they pay taxes for it even though their kids don't go there.
Now anyone can go here, even if they don't deserve to be. The freshman class when I was a sophomore SUCKED at everything.
Now teachers are leaving ;_; (these teachers have been at the school since its start in 1993)
We get like 5 new teachers next year.

Still I like it. 7/10... would've been 10/10

[Kornman00]

I blame people fucking. If less people would fuck (or the same people just fuck less) then the student population would die down thus decreasing the need for moar teachers, more supplies and more money, yada yada, yoda.

I say we pull a China on population control! Speaking of, that makes me want to play splinter cell D:

[Roostervier]

Everything went downhill after they allowed women to become principals. Period.
/thread win

[Varmint260]

INCOMING LONG POST

I can't give my high school a good rating, since about half of the teachers suck at what they do. I'm being pretty blunt, but I can come up with examples from many classes.

In English, the teacher does NOT enforce handing things in on time, has her own weird marking system (where an assignment that gets 7/8 is somehow worth 1/2 because on her marking sheet there are two marks for the assignment??? I don't get it), and she just lets anyone go off to the library to play RuneScape.

In Math, we have our worst teacher. She's militant, and she figures that a good teacher just does two examples for an entire section and then can reasonably expect the students to understand every question and remember every bit of Math they've learned since starting high school. The fact that over 50% of the Math students at my school drop out of her class every semester and out of those who stay, less than half who stay actually pass the course... well, this should mean something. However, she just maintains that we just don't study enough, and that's the same excuse she uses every time someone doesn't meet her standards on a test (ie, you don't get 90%. Which is everyone since even the most intelligent students that understand everything end up with around 70%). You didn't understand one of the homework questions? You have to study more. You're only studying two hours every night? That's unacceptable. Three hours is a minimum, daily. So, some students just break down in tears, thinking it's their own fault. That's right, I said at least 50% just dorp out. The rest try to learn, study a ton, listen to every word she says and then fail the class. Why is it that I can understand most of the course material, get 80% on the Math12 Provincial without studying, and somehow almost fail her class? Now, the only reason why they haven't fired her (even though 90% of the parents have lodged complaints) is because this is a small town and they can't get anyone else to come in and do the job.

That's the big problem in my town. If a teacher does a bad job, they can't fire the teacher because there is no one to replace them around here. If we get a moron for a teacher, they stay because they are the only ones that'll teach a course.

That said, there are some cool teachers. The History teacher is a comical genius who shares my love for Red Dwarf, and he makes every bit of History and Social Studies entertaining and fun. Plus, he gives marks to students who make an effort, even if their answer is wrong. What we do is we have class discussions about why that answer doesn't make sense, or why that's what didn't happen, and everyone comes out of the experience knowing more and enjoying the class more.

Now, some teachers like my Chem teacher, are excellent at teaching those who want to learn, but for those who are unwilling to even pay attention, he has difficulties. Me, I like learning Chem, and I do very well in his classes. However, some students just enjoy spending the entire class talking (despite repeated complaints from the teacher) or annoying the teacher. Unfortunately, this is partly his own fault because he doesn't ever get mad. And since he doesn't ever get mad, no one takes him seriously. In my town, you practically need a police officer backing you up before anyone takes you seriously. Hell, even the police officers aren't taken that seriously.

Some teachers who know their stuff simply teach those who are willing to learn and the rest who are disruptive get chucked out of class and they land in Learning Assistance. However, LA is a pretty pathetic class at my school; it's essentially a do-nothing block for those who go to school because they're paid to show up, but not to achieve anything. Wait, what? Yes, they're PAID to go to class, even if they don't do anything besides sit at a computer and play video games all day.

Now, I have put up with this school for five years, and in two hours, I have my very last final exam that means I can kiss this school goodbye forever! I am free, right? Nope. This school, for those who plan on taking a heavy university courseload, holds graduates back even after they've left. My sister graduated from this school three years ago, and she's in her second year of study at UBC. Wait a minute, but she's been at UBC for three years! Oh yeah, the reason why is that she had to do an extra year of first-year university courses to make up for how pathetic our high school is. She didn't fail any courses in her first year at UBC, oh no, she actually had to take a full year of them that made up for courses you can't get at my high school (I mean, hell... no Physics 11 or 12, no Chemistry 12, no English-Lit 12, no mechanics, no nothing!).

My rating for my school is a bare pass, a 5/10, because it still gives approximately a third of its students enough to successfully do Post-Secondary education. However, shouldn't a good school have at least 90% of its students becoming productive members of society instead of druggies and criminals (we have tons of both)? Should teachers who only teach one or two of their students and leave the rest to fail be fired? Hmmm?

[KennyownsU]

Yeah, my school is on the border of being runned by the state, where we will lose alot of money and activities. (sport, pep rallies, and assemblies.) We just got a new principle, third one in four years, because the last one sexual harrassed a student and made our entire school board look like assholes. We have a bad community that the great percentage doesn't support us. Had a chance for more money being put towards the school, but the millage didn't pass. The voting ratio was 3:1 against us. The millage would have been put towards a new building, but we now have a 40 something year old building that leaks when it rains, and ceiling tiles drop and hit students on the head. The teaching staff is some what good, but I have had the better end of the stick than most. But my Pre Cal teacher was pretty horrible. He couldn't control a class and barely gave any examples, then gave problems to the class that we haven't even seen or heard of. The learning level of the courses differ a lot. Last year I couldn't take Pre-AP physical science, so I was put in a regular class. The work in there took me at least 25 minutes of the period while people where barely passed the fifth question. Some expect to cheat off of others, and some just didn't give a crap. The scheduling system is flawed, to where last year the entire school had to get a revised copy of their schedule. That is 1000 students+. Some kids don't get to eat till one o'clock or later, but the food is all shitty and to get a decent meal to have to be first to the lunch line and pay at least four to six dollars. The disciplinary action is horrible. A students was late to class and he got in-school suspension for five days, but a student skipping class got one day of detention. Plus we have little security at our school and there are fights every other day a week, and the fire alarm is pulled twice every month. Had two bomb threats in the pass two years and some people where selling/smoking dope.

[KennyownsU]

I say we pull a China on population control!

There is a population control in China. They are allowed to have one kid. But that does really stop them from having more.

[Dole]

There is a population control in China. They are allowed to have one kid. But that does really stop them from having more.
When he says "pull a China," he means we should emulate that policy. Therefore, he knows they have population control.

Their first child is free, and for every child a couple has after that they have to pay a tax.

[KennyownsU]

Crap thought he said 'put'. Sorry about that.

[FRain]

The Peninsula School District has quite some nice schools. They try to make it so you can have fun while learning a whole bunch. One or two teachers leave each year, or we have a big huge switch around. I remember in elementary school we had a 4th/5th teacher be just a 5th teacher, and a 3rd be a 4th and the Highly Capable teacher retiring. A first grade teacher did 1st/2nd. But anyways I loved elementary, loved middle, and so far loving hi-school.

[Kornman00]

you know, I bet bush is just crazy enough to propose and get away with that kind of thing too :-3

o hai America

[Teroh]

Thank god I go to a good school. I think I have learned a lot, and that I am smarter than most kids my age here in America.

[Patrickssj6]

I say we pull a China on population control!
Actually there is no problem with a large population..as long as you can supply them.


oh and don't tell me that "What happens if Chinese people adept western technology? If everyone there would drive an SUV..."

A. America, it's your own fault and B. Each American citizen releases 22 times for CO2 into the atmosphere than Chinese citizen.

ONTOPIC:

Well the school system is even worse in Germany in some places. I'm now going back to Germany and I wanted to go to my old school but it was full (1500 students).

In Germany after the 4th grade you get divided into 3 school systems.

Best to Worse:
1.Gymnasium (me...the school that was full)

2.Realschule (around 2000; have the most students)

3.Hauptschule (asylum, high violence and they can't find teachers that want to teach under those horrible conditions there)

4.Sonderschule (rare)

All schools are next to each other....5000 students on one spot....not good.

I would laugh my ass off if Korn gets beat up by turks :lmao:

[legionaire45]

I go to a charter school in California called High Tech High Los Angeles. I like the school, and compared to most of the other schools in the area (I live pretty far, like 8 or so miles from my school, so that area is pretty big), which are usually several thousand student schools that are way overfilled. HTHLA has less then 400 students and an awesome campus, it is a "green" building and is pretty large. The teachers here are great, some of the best I have had. They expect a lot out of you, but hey, setting the bar high forces students to leap higher. They know what they are talking about and for the most part are reasonable about homework and project loads. I initially thought that a few of them "didn't know how to teach" but over the year(s) I figured out that it wasn't them, I just wasn't realizing what they were teaching in their lessons. I didn't really do too much studying this year, which didn't help either.

I would give my school a 9.5/10. The reason it isn't a full on 10 is because a few members of my class are...lets just say they are fucking retarded. They routinely piss off the teachers by talking back, being idiots, breaking stuff, etc. After a single year we went from having 30 working iBooks to having barely 8 "working" ones (and by working I mean somehow they managed to destroy the batteries so you have to sit next to the laptop cart to use them and type on their keyboard, which usually have most of the important keys missing).

We have a robotics team as well, I haven't been involved with it since 9th grade (I'm going into 11th) so I can't say much about it. More or less I ended up doing everyone's busy work while I was in robotics so I'm not too fond of the program but I still root for the team. The guy who was in charge left thank god, he honestly didn't have much of a clue what the hell he was doing. He also happened to be in charge of my Solar Car Group, which was also a project he fucked up. I'm not going to rant about it though, not the point of this thread =P.

[~ZMT~Trace]

I think the problem is the teachers, I was in the gifted classes, and all of my teachers just didn't care, such as my math teacher, when the class began, she said what pages to do in our journal, and then just got on her cell phone and computers and shit, and when she remember she was teaching a class, she'd yell "shut up" because no ones doing their work and just "hanging out". Also, I think parents have a lot to do with education too, because if you have parents that just don't care about you, they become uncaring about education and their future.

So my rating on my school would have to be a 4/10.

Edit: After watching more of the video, I want to cry. At 5:00, those were what, High school students? For fucks sake, I knew what the bills of rights were for when I was in 3erd grade.

[Warsaw]

I'd have to give my school a 7 out of 10. There are a lot of bad teachers, but they are balanced out by a near equal number of good teachers. Most of the student body leaves much to be desired though, especially considering we have quite a few illegal immigrants (no offense to them, but most of them don't care to be at school and are ruining it).

[Varmint260]

Another big fun setup at my school is that you have a student body that is made up of 60 Grade 12 students, 12 of which are interested in doing their work and you put all the hardest Grade 12 Provincially Examinable courses in one semester. People like me think "no big deal" and after two months realize they're slipping. People who are below those 12 students drop classes after two weeks. It just doesn't make sense to place all the hardest classes all in one semester because that is almost encouraging students to drop classes just to stay in one piece. Yikes!

BTW, "you" in the context of this post refers to the "powers that be" that "manage" my school ;)

[Roostervier]

I'd have to give my school a 7 out of 10. There are a lot of bad teachers, but they are balanced out by a near equal number of good teachers. Most of the student body leaves much to be desired though, especially considering we have quite a few illegal immigrants (no offense to them, but most of them don't care to be at school and are ruining it).

If they are illegal immigrants, they shouldn't care whether you think they are ruining your school; they should be happy they are even in the country.

I didn't mention this before, but I think money has nothing to do with it. Besides us already having the proof shown from that other principal, how is it going to help? Give the kids more things to goof off with instead of work hard with? Also, if they are doing bad, and you give them new things, they aren't going to care. It encourages their behavior. It seems the teachers are as ignorant as the kids are. Maybe if they lowered spending and got the kids to do better first, then spend some money, that would be somewhat of a better strategy. But definitely not this bullshit of, "Oooooooh boy... we need 35 thousand, bitch." Sounds like some greedy teachers to me. I have no idea if it would actually increase their pay checks, but by the sounds of it, it would. I realize some good teachers work their asses off and deserve that kind of pay, but that one black woman talking about money sounded like she uber failed at teaching. And those stupid ass white ladies walking around, "Money can fix anything." Show them the part of that video, now, where the school bought all that new shit and it made things worse. I hate people like that. Just teach the kids, and don't make them bored senseless so they can't even stay awake to listen, and quit worrying about the green.

[Chronos]

Attitude of the students, do they want to learn? are they trying to learn? You can tell from the video that those belguim students wanted to learn, were happy with their learning.

Well.. Seeing I'm from Belgium I could give you a bit more info on that matter..
I can say that most students here, that I know, really care about studying a lot. And yes, there are always certain individuals who think different and are most of the time to people that don't get really nice jobs. As we're promised that we'll get a good job and earn loads of money IF we get get good results in school.

That's why most of us, students, 'like' studying here in Belgium.

[soccerbummer1104]

thats just sad.. lol.. we have the worst education in the country (south carolina, in general, but my school is the first and only school in the nation to get the blue ribbon 4 times) Im not that great in english, but thats just me, and i have NEVER made lower than 80% on any standardized test. and im always in the 99th percentile in the math. My school is actually great. Very accademically oriented, adn last year, only 1 fight. restrictions here are pretty tight, btut they dont realy bother u. The teachers let you have fun in the halls, and if the in class activity permits, but every other time, its be quiet. Disrupting class enough is a write up=5 days detention, no excuses and no way out. you miss detention=2 more days for each day missed, miss again u are suspended. Now i will admit, we have something liek 30 differnt AP cources, even though computer programming, and AP photogrophy. On the other hand, the CP cources here.. are.. meh... and alot of people here think that the cp cources are easier, and they make C's in them, when in my opinion the more advanced cources have the better teachers, which makes learning easier and fun. Personally i think that news clip is doing the CP cources, and nto showign the smarter kids, due to the fact that a positive news clip doesnt catch attention quite as well. My school also has its own private tech center. We have automotive engeneering, 3d CAD design, welding, cosmotology, premed, printing.. etc etc. we have a lil bit of everythign for everyone. The problems in my school arnt the teachers, its the students not trying to learn. I do fine, straight A's, im going into the 11th grade and taking BC calculus, ap english, ap chemistry (already had normal chem, taking another more in depth corse)personally, i made a 1200 on the SAT in the 7th grade. ill take it again this year, but the PSAT was easy as shit. i made a perfect score on the math portion, and above 80% on the other two sections. personally, i dont think its the school, its the teachers, and the diciplinary code, and the will of the student to learn.

[Warsaw]

If they are illegal immigrants, they shouldn't care whether you think they are ruining your school; they should be happy they are even in the country.

They aren't happy to be in the country either. A good majority of them want to go back...:confused2:

[Rob Oplawar]

I hate that guy, and I hate his mustache. I don't really know why. I think it has to do with the way he reports everything as an "omg look at what these people do, look how bad this is" sort of thing.

[DOMINATOR]

the main problem with the school system now is the "no student left behind" crap. it lowers standards thus lowering overall education. teachers teach so students pass whatever state exam so the school district gets more money. this teaches the kids they only have to just get by this one easy exam and their done. thus leading to laziness.
it should be don't pass go don't collect 200 dollars. Don't like it? Too bad, that's the real world.

edit: i posted before watching video

[Roostervier]

They aren't happy to be in the country either. A good majority of them want to go back...:confused2:
I'd be the first one to send them back on a bus (or airplane, what ever the fuck kind of transportation, lol), don't worry about that. I hope they do go back, too.


the main problem with the school system now is the "no student left behind" crap.

I think you are right. It does lower standards, and it sounds a lot like this "no competition any more" crap. It doesn't make people want to work harder when, if they do good, they get something, but since they (this time meaning, teachers and/or principals or school officials) don't want to make the kid who did bad have hurt feelings, they give them something too. Then it is all just the same and there is no point.

[Dole]

the main problem with the school system now is the "no student left behind" crap.
In my friend's school, they're obligated to automatically pass the minority kids on the condition that they attend school. Whether or not they participate or just fall asleep, the teachers don't care.

Meanwhile, they crack down on the white kids to make sure they do the assignments and do them well, otherwise they'll typically get zeros if they miss a point in the criteria.

[rossmum]

That's true anywhere. Equality my ass.

[Bodzilla]

my old school sucked. i only went well at it because i abandoned the teachers. i taught myself maths out of a text book and in 2 years of working i could count all the questions i needed to ask on my hands.
coupled with my Maths and my desire to be the Best at wood work i managed to receive pretty good results :)

However our school has a collosal problem with Reverse-Racism. a few years ago there was a fight between an aboriginal and some white dude. both kids received the exat same punishment (suspended for a week).
then some no good fucking reporter Darren Hinch got hold of the story and labelled the school the most racist school in the state.
since then it just became Black > white in everything. Punishments, rewards, tolerance. i've seen black kids go mental in class's, swearing throwing chairs and desks at students and teachers, getting in massive brawls and getting off with rediculously light punishments.

i'm not racist, but when u live in a town like mine, and went to a school like mine it becomes fucking hard not to be.

[Dole]

You really could've done without that last sentence.

[soccerbummer1104]

meh i ckind of agree with him, im not racist, but some of them can get so fn annoying because tey get away with so much crap, mainly cussing, not sitting down in class, talking in class, throwing stuff around in class.. sheesh.. u should hav eheard the math class next door to my AP computer science cource this year. every day for an hour the teacher was just yelling at them to shut up and sit down. although at my school, the staff is nicer to the preppy white kids then they are the blacks, due to the fact that the teachers know what students are hard workers, and if they thik they rare going somewhere in life, they like the student, and are a little more lax on them. but over all were on about equal grounds accept for the id policy. We are required to have on aour id visable on the upper torso at all times. if you jsut sit in the hall, the administration staff, white and black stopp every black kid there is and ask to see their id if its not on, then walks by a group of 20 white kids from middle to upper class sociery, none of them wearing their id's, .. no ?'s are asked. But besidesthat we are a pretty non racist school. Their arnt any racial fights accept at the beginning of every year at the first home football game the mexican and black gang always get in a gun fight (i dont go to the first home game anymore), even though no one usually gets shot. Its usually just a few shots in the air and they scream out their gang title, then its a big fist fight, then the cops come and they run like chickens with their heads cut off... but besides that, not realy racial. we dont tend t inter mingle i should say, but if something funny happens, we usually crack on each other with no hard feelings.

[PlasbianX]

My school system sucks ass. Im guessing its the same as neuro's since we are in the same state, but:

1st off, you are given this dumbass test called the Ohio Graduation Test. It covers stuff you learned all the way from Kindergarden to ... 12th grade.
Now, how the fuck do i know 12th grade stuff when i was a sophomore when i took the test?

2nd, the test is sorta hard, sorta easy, sorta dumb. If ya dont pass the whole thing (its like a 60% needed to pass) you gotta retake it. Somehow someone always seems to fail it, but ya get like 6 tried to take it.

Now, if ya dont pass the test, ya cant graduate. Wow, test me as a sophomore on some stuff i havent learned to determine if i graduate? Pfft, not only that ya need specific amount of credits to pass. And not only that, at my school you have to take certain classes or you cant pass even if you are a 4.0 student.

It sucks. I did pass my OGT with atleast 96% in each subject or better, but still, it sucked.

[ExAm]

My school won an award recently, something about best up-and-coming school. I go to this small school made up of five portables (three if you discount the office module and the bathroom module), and it's pretty cool. Small school, about a hundred or so students, and small class sizes, so there's plenty of attention from the teachers. Sadly, most of the students don't utilize this advantage, and struggle through. Most of them read in a choppy monotone, and mispronounce several words per paragraph. It's pitiful. My GPA is a 3.6. You're telling me only a few people at my school can break 3.0? Aside from the students being complete idiots and, literally, not caring about their grades, the teachers are great, and they teach their material very well. If you ask me, the whole problem here is the students. They're idiots. Probably a result of lazy, bad parenting.


My old school, on the other hand, was just pathetic. It was even smaller, which isn't a bad thing, but the teachers took this hippie approach, caving to those who asked to have easier assignments, and generally doing nothing but reading stories and setting up meaningless projects.


But that's not the worst of the schools I've been to. In first grade, I went to a school called Pacific Village. I was there for a while, then homeschooled, because it was so bad. They did nothing, and only answered questions we asked. All I did while I was there was draw, wander around outside (there was a fucking goat tied up outside), and do various things. A few kids and I took a go-cart for a joyride (I was impressionable), and got in serious trouble. You wouldn't believe this place. I was basically forced to learn for myself throughout those two schools. It's funny though. I'm smarter than 95% of the kids at my current school. Go figure :/