School- Necessary or Waste of Time

[Imaginative Sarah]

Nope.. im homeschooled now =/ but i was in school a lil bit this yr... and i remember them having a freakin stupid class i was in well i got switched casue the other class seemed like it would be too hard coding computer and stuff and so i got into this ladys class and its crap teaching us about babys and stuff and im like wtf i don't even want kids..even so.. i could figure it out myself if i really wanted to i mean duhhh all the kids are doing it nowadays..well im not.. but you see the point... ughhh

[Menmeth]

It only gets worse as time goes on. For example, for a computer science degree expect to need calculus 3, abstract mathematics, finite mathematics, history (again, the same thing as in high school), English composition, alternate sciences (your choice of biology, physics, geology, and chemistry), and the list goes on... of which you will need none. You will however have to teach yourself over 95% of the programming skills you will need (expect professors to babble on about useless theory).

The end result: most of what you learn will be worse than useless trivia. It is taught in elementary school because it is needed in middle school. It is taught in middle school because it is needed for high school. High school is structured as preparation for further education (read college), and college does it because the structure honestly hasn't changed since universities took over from cathedral schools in the 1100s.

"The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education." - Albert Einstein

[Taro]

I believe everything in school is needed, as if you don't challenge your brain, you just take things too easily, and it could be looked upon as your brain practically going dormant.

Picture two people.
You had to pick to be one of them.
You could be the one who is exercising constantly, or the couch potato who can't comprehend the concept of a treadmill.

When you learn more, you do more, so you may not need to lose it, but there could be situations that are like useless algebra problems in real life.

In conclusion, I say yay school!

[Fork]

In my case, Yes it is.
Im in High school, a junior. I got suspended alot, therefore I already failed this year. I have an extremly low GPA like a 1.2. There is no way in hell im getting into a university unless i make like a 36 on teh ACT, which I take tuseday. If i wanted a high school diploma, I'd have to repeat 11th grade + summer school + go to 12th + summer school of 12th grade. And all for what? A high school diploma stating that i went to school for 12 years when i went for like 14? Anyway, There is the high school equivilency diploma called a GED. This GED is treated the same as a HSD in most cases, besides military. The HSD is pretty much useless in my case, as I am soon to be hired at BestBuy. I can go full time when i get my GED. Once I get my GED i am going to get emancipated, meaning i will be legal at the age of 17, when i get my GED i can go full time letting me work there making more money, and when im saved up enough, then i can get my own apartment or whatever. WHen i get my apartment and a part time job i will go to community college, get my assocites degree, and transfer to university no sweat. So in my case, High school is useless to me because I dont need it. Some people just need to understand that a high school diploma isnt all that, it jus shows that you learnd a few unncessary things. ^^'

[saiyouri]

To me it depends on the school district and the schools. Like for me, I went to a horrible school district. And I mean horrible. I was picked on by my own teachers, starting in 2nd grade when I moved to a new area where the teachers didn't know how to do their own jobs. Then even in middle school and high school I had horrible teachers who picked on me and ignored me as well. In high school I was yelled at and punished for doing nothing wrong and being quiet and keeping to myself.

My school was nothing but jocks and cheerleaders with a few of us, complete worthless rejects (that was us non popular kids and that is how some of us were treated). I dropped out in 11th grade, I was pregnant with twins and I wasn't even learning anything either. Everything I learned, I found out from my husband were lies and my teachers had no clue what they were even talking about.

With my children, I ran into teachers who just don't give a damn and we are in a different school district than the one I was in as a kid. We refuse to send them to my school district, so we will never move close to there no matter what.

My kids have learning and behavioral problems and school just doesn't get it through their heads that my children need more help than others. Because that involves doing more work, or actual work for once. The principals are complete morons who don't know anything. But at least my children are not picked on by their own children. But they are allowed to be picked on and beaten on by other children like I was.

So in all, it depends on the school district. If it is a bad one, like mine, then school definately isn't worth the time or money.

[ecco]

im so sorry to hear all that >_<
my younger sister has learning difficulties, my parents wanted to get her into a school that specialises in teaching kids with all sorts of learning difficulties and disabilities. but they were told there wasnt enough spaces, so she would have to go to the secondary school i went to. i could have cried... i was one of the smartest kids when i started at that school, by the time i left i was barely passing... they screwed me over as far as im concerned. i would have hated to see her go there, but luckily they did manage to get her into the special school eventually. if they hadnt, i hate to think what she'd turn out like. i think the school i went to would have destroyed her confidence... shes very timid and nervous socially, i think it only would have gotten worse there.

i really hope you can get your kids into a better school someday, or that the teachers at the one theyre at learn how to do their damn jobs

[saiyouri]

Thank you ecco. I hope they change soon too. My son has impulse problems and he tends to act up and hurt people when they tease him and he got a inschool suspension just for swearing and threating to kill some classmates of his because they wouldn't leave him alone and stop teasing him, but they knew he would act like this but I have a feeling he isn't in a special class for the special education kids like he needs to be in. Because this area doesn't really want to work with kids like that. Actually I don't think many places do. I wished they would. I had a learning disability and I still do today.
I'm glad to hear your sister didn't go to that school and got into a good school for her. That is something that you don't hear about often.

[ecco]

yea, my parents had to fight the system like crazy to get her into that school. my mum was super stressed out about it for about a year, and that makes her agressive, which she always ends up taking out on me cos im the one thats always around her heh. so that wasnt too fun, but im very glad that my sister got the place there in the end.

thats terrible. they should have punished the other kids as well at least, for bullying him. schools always lie about that... they say they dont tolerate bullying, but its complete crap. all they manage to do is make the victims lives even harder >_<

[saiyouri]

Oh, god ya they do. He always gets picked on, and in his last school it was like everyday he got picked on and he would snap and attack the kids, but he was always the only one who got in trouble. But the others never got in trouble. I think one time the other got in trouble but that was a pretty decent fight too. Which is sad because he got picked on everyday by one girl and nothing was ever done to her, because she wasn't a special ed kid. I hate how people are racist (not sure what word to use) against the kids who have special needs, no matter what they are.

[ecco]

yea, it is completely unfair the way schools handle bullying. if a person is provoked like that all the time of course they are going to snap and fight back eventually! that or they become a total recluse and the social side of their life becomes ruined, or they become depressed etc... its horrible!

one thing that made me extremely angry was how these kids upset my sister at her primary school cos they kept calling her "granny". she has a skin condition also, i cant remember the name right now but its the one michael jackson had - that makes you lose the pigment in your skin. and where she has it on her scalp, part of her hair grows white. and i bet nothing was done about that... it made me want to go down their and give those kids a talking to myself! (im small, but apparently intimidating... i bet it would have shut them up if someone actually had a go at them for being so mean to her!)

is there anything you can do to change the schools attitude towards your son? or at least to get them to take the bullying more seriously?

[saiyouri]

Well we moved to a new district so nothing like that has happened yet. But if it does, I do plan on yelling and cursing out the principal again. I have done that in the past and told a teacher to do their job for once because of how they treated my son. It did make them think because we sat down and got something scheduled to talk to everyone involved in teaching him to try and set up a plan to work to help him out better. So if something happens in this area, I am going to do the same and try to get them to fix their problems there. I moved into a really nice home and my husband and I love it alot. A place we don't plan on moving out of for a very long time, which will probably be when we get a house of our own, and that won't be for quite a few years.

[ecco]

ahh that sounds good, then ^^ i hope you dont have to resort to that, though, but if the need arises im sure you will do right by your son, i hope they can do the same too!

[Somalina]

Personally I think the general education system in Britain, and the Western world as a whole, is extremely poor. There are some areas better funded than others, and some schools are brilliant, but on the whole, it's terrible.

I think we're supposed to be learning things useful in later life, I believe that's the intention of the education system. But we're not. The education system has become so industrial in its function that we're now simply being taught how to pass exams rather than anything than can really be applied in the future.

I don't want to get too political - well, I do, but I won't - but it's all derived from this competetive attitude in today's society. It's no longer about the quality of our education, it's just about the quanitity of A* students churned out of the other end. It doesn't matter if students are just regurgitating everything their told without really undertsanding it, because it's all about statistics and impressions, how well it reflects on the school.

And now the economy has face-planted so we're not going to see things get any better. Optimistic, huh?

[elliryanna55]

I think school is needed they need to go through elementary school then they should have somewhat of an idea what theyre gonna be when they get older they should be able to pick classes in middle school I dont like the fact that I cant pick classes I have all a's one b and (all because of PE) an f I can partici[ate in gym if I wanted to but I just dont want to I respect the coach I just dont like him then in high school you take more advanced classes of what you want

[TGPretender]

I know people in different countries so I've been exposed to a few educational processes different than my own USA based one. To be honest, I find them more appropriate.

The American school system, in my mind, is a little screwed up. We're not really setting kids up for life. We're setting them up for college. Most countries do not force children through twelve years of schooling. Actually, the people in other countries I've spoken to find it excessive. I believe schooling up to about middle school (years 6-8 or 9 depending on the district) is necessary but the rest? Not so sure.

I think it would be better if the emphasis on higher learning was weakened. Not everyone is cut out to be a scholar. There is no shame in being a laborer or working class, and we need those people just as much as doctors of lawyers. The pressure put on this country's children is ultimately bankrupting us.

I went to college because my family insisted that I would get no where in life if I didn't. But you know what? I did not want to go to college. I wanted to explore my life, figuring out what I wanted and what I could do with myself. College didn't give me time to do that.

Now, someone who already knows what they want, by all means go on and do it! But parents need to understand that not everyone is cut out for that. Some of us are meant to be plumbers and some of us know that by the time we're sixteen.