I find it somewhat sad...

[suprarx7nut]

^^Kudos on your attitude towards the situation. Sounds like a less than stellar upbringing, but it's never too late to learn!

Just reiterates my feelings on the whole education failure. Children need to be given a reason, a motivation, a meaning behind the knowledge. That can come from many sources, but I really don't think it's something that is to be left in the hands of JUST the teacher/school system.

When the school is failing to offer advance placement classes and failing to find an applicable level for children to learn at, then the finger can be pointed towards the system.

 

[SWD Fredester 3]

Sadly, this was me. I don't really know how it happened - whether the whole single mom of 3 with 2 jobs deal distracted her, whether she honestly couldn't care less, whether I was convincing enough of an innocent to make it seem like I could fix any bad grade or if she was just a bad parent/me a bad student - but I can only recall ONE single time (and the rarity makes it stand out) that my mother actually told me to do my homework and looked it over.

There were two occasions where, for some panicky reason I don't remember, she straight-up did my homework for me. I think I'd been out sick and she just decided to "catch me up." One other time, my sister helped me with my cursive, and yet another, my brother drew some pictures for a report I did on the Titanic.

These are the lone memories I have of family involvement.

Every night, I'd come home, write little stories in my notebook, play with some toys and that'd be it. My motivation to do homework came from not wanting to be chastised by a teacher and get embarrassed, or seeing a TV character doing homework and thinking, "Huh, looks cool when she does it." Sometimes the subject interested me and I did well, sometimes it didn't, and I didn't.

I started flunking classes left and right for refusal to do work in 7th grade. Got put into the work study program. Meetings held, a "counseling" session or two. Then I started being moved around from state to state between my mom's house, my dad's house, and my mom's job relocations, and was advanced to the next grade TWICE, even though I'd failed the year before -completely-. I still don't know how this transpired.

Eventually my mom decided to home school me, bought a single book that I never opened, and she went to work all day. I played on the computer.

. . . Looking back, I'm pretty sure it was me who was the doofus. I had a lot of opportunities that I wasted. I re-enrolled to the 9th grade, a year behind everyone I knew, dropped out before Christmas and got married.

Now, I read history books, online articles and (occasionally) Supramania, for the debates. Trying, very slowly, to repair some of the damage I've done to my education. I may never have a certificate of any kind, but at least I can study on my own so that I'm not a total dunce. I hate the thought of being stupid, and how long I was.

But it should be noted I don't BLAME her. I don't blame the school, either. I was told a million times by various superiors in school that if I didn't pay attention and do my work, I'd regret it. It was MY choice not to listen.

Good for you, I applaud you. It is never to late to start.
I have found that education is grounded in self worth-self esteem and self motivation. Taking responsibility for who you are, what can be gained, and what can be shared. It is making a contribution to yourself so you can contribute to others.

 

[DBN]

^Nice to see someone who actually want's to repair their life. I failed the 7th grade because of laziness. Then I was told in order to pass I needed to go to summer school and pass both my classes. I not only passed them but I got a B in both subjects. Next year I was back in the 7th grade in the stupid class. Don't ask me how this happened. So I waited for a "test" that would allow me out which it did but it still didn't put me in the 8th grade. I went on to get a 3.2 GPA, I believe, to finish out my second try of the 7th grade. I know it's my fault that I failed in the first place but a promise is a promise. They aren't meant to be broken.

 

[Drake69]

You know what? The 7th was a turning point for me as well. I don't know if I was the slacker there or the school had it in for me, but when I hit the 7th grade I had a problem with everything. English, Math, Biology, Sociology, PE, EVERYTHING. I had been bullied the year before and dreaded even going to school, I'm sure part of it was that, but my real nemesis was this a-hole English teacher that I refuse to even speak his name.

Somewhere in the first few months of the grade year, he decided to flunk me. This is what he ACTUALLY told my parents, knowing it was either summer school or repeating the grade over (English and Math were priority grades then, you didn't go on without at least D's). Of course, he failed to mention this little tidbit until after I went through summer school, but during the regular year I would do my homework (often with my parents right there watching me), take my quizzes and tests and such, and STILL flunk everything, no matter what I tried.

Of course, I ended up in summer school, and I passed it with straight A's, then completed the 8th grade with 5 A+'s and one B. You see, I had reading comprehension at college levels by the 3rd grade, no one can figure out why. I tested 162 I.Q. in the 5th grade and should've been in Mensa when I hit high school. I took four years of straight A's in Latin and could translate Greek in my 3rd HS year, so what was my problem? That English teacher was one.

And pure laziness was my other. I went to VCU, stagnated for 2 1/2 years and then dropped out. Had I been able to afford VaTech where I wanted to go? Probably would've been a frickin' engineer making $250grand. Why? The will to do it just seemed to sap out of me. I don't blame my parents. We could've been richer and I probably would've turned out the same. So I don't know.

So, I haven't decided to go back and finish my degree yet, I work on Cisco routers, switches, and hubs, and STILL haven't taken my damn CCNA yet, and have been on a computer since the Commodore PET and have no certifications to show for it. Eventually I'll figure myself out. :3d_frown:

 

[DBN]

GL man you'll figure it out. I think we might have just got lost in the system to tell the truth. I'm fresh out of high school and wanting to go back lol. Just seems so much easier. I'm still trying to find myself. I recently got laid off from my pos job and am trying to figure out whether I want another job or to go to community college or both. Most likely both.

 

[Drake69]

GL man you'll figure it out. I think we might have just got lost in the system to tell the truth. I'm fresh out of high school and wanting to go back lol. Just seems so much easier. I'm still trying to find myself. I recently got laid off from my pos job and am trying to figure out whether I want another job or to go to community college or both. Most likely both.

Do yourself a huge life-favor. Get a college degree, ANY degree. I don't care if it's Sketch Drawing the Nude or Costa Rican Economics, GET A DEGREE IN SOMETHING, PREFERRABLY SOMETHING YOU LIKE.

Why? Companies hire grads faster than they do dropouts, and hire dropouts faster than unattendeds. TRUST ME ON THIS. Get a paper that states, quite clearly...

"I WASTED 2/4 YEARS OF MY LIFE AND PARENT'S (OR SELF) MONEY ON THIS SHIT PAPER SO I CAN WALK INTO CHEZ'-CORPORA'CION <French sp?> AND NOT HAVE MR. JOHNSON LOOK AT MY RESUME AND FINELY DRESSED ATTIRE AND LAUGH ME OUT OF THE HR OFFICE IN FIVE MINUTES."

You'll thank yourself later for it... :icon_bigg

 

[kabanimk3supra]

Education is and has always been very important in my family.

My mom schooled me before I was even old enough to go to school.

She always took me to the library and made me read, she even signed me up in a reading program in the library.

I hated reading so much, but I appreciate her so much now that I see how other people failed miserably.

She got me hooked on phonics when I was in preschool and always made me read to her, and got me a head start on math as well.

I did excellent throughout my schooling, mostly straight A's.

This all changed in 11th grade when I got a car. I started hanging out with the wrong people, and not putting any effort or even caring about school.

I still went to school and everything, but I did the absolute minimum to graduate.

Now that I look back at it, I feel like I robbed myself of my education.


I see grown adults (and kids) on a daily basis, who don't know the difference between "sale" and "sell" or "waste" and "waist".

They cannot even properly compose a freaking sentence.

When I interact with these people, I appreciate what she did for me most.

I'm in college now, and I'm loving every minute of it.

I think it was just a rebellious phase in my life back then.

For those of you who are like these people I have mentioned, It's not too late. You can always learn, and it's never too late.

 

[tissimo]

The world is ending in 2012 so who cares?

 

[bmoss85]

The sad truth is that the American public education system is pure crap. They continue to crowd classrooms and lower standards. You know the whole no child left behind crap. I'm definitely not the brightest crayon in the box, but my children will not be subjected to the piss poor standards of the public education system.

 

[kozzman555]

i find it somewhat sad that my balls arent getting the attention they deserve....now where'd i put that peanut butter......




in all seriousness, youre right. the lack of any kind of historical intelligence boggles my mind. i LOVE history. one of my favorite books is "the histories" by herodotus. im a big fan of thucydides, caesar, tacitus, and xenophon. when i get out of the army, id like to be close to getting a degree in education so i can be a HS history/literature teacher

 

[Drake69]

...a big fan of thucydides, caesar, tacitus, and xenophon.

Caesar FTW. Even more fun translating him from the original Latin.... :naughty:

 

[DBN]

Man I don't see how you guys translate stuff like that... Guess it's not my strong point. I'm a little rusty on my history but I like that the most and if i sit there with it I can recite it like it's nothing. In my government class I always passed the tests no matter if I studied or not.

 

[Drake69]

Dude, it's a language like any other, the only difference is it's not spoken (until you piss off a Greek-born Latin teacher and get a barrage of it thrown in your face. Fun stuff, you get to learn "more substantial" Latin words that way....:naughty. It takes the patience of Job to sit through, but it actually is more enlightening than reading already translated texts because what you get is more of the original meaning than before. It's like reading Shakespeare and not knowing a thing about word-play, double meanings, or puns.

 

[DBN]

^LOL how I felt in my english classes... I can read and write fine I just cant do the translating thing. I'm going to try though.

 

[kozzman555]

Dude, it's a language like any other, the only difference is it's not spoken (until you piss off a Greek-born Latin teacher and get a barrage of it thrown in your face. Fun stuff, you get to learn "more substantial" Latin words that way....:naughty. It takes the patience of Job to sit through, but it actually is more enlightening than reading already translated texts because what you get is more of the original meaning than before. It's like reading Shakespeare and not knowing a thing about word-play, double meanings, or puns.

yeah thats one thing that always pisses me off when people do shakespearean plays. they always fuck up what the words actually meant back then, and they try to fit it into our more modern definition of words. my favorite example is the famous romeo and juliet line, "Wherefore art thou Romeo?". most of the plays will have juliet standing up in a castle looking the fuck around trying to find romeo. that not what it means. the phrase actually means "oh romeo, why do you have to be romeo, son of montague? why cant you be some other random romeo instead of the son of my father's enemy?" thats what it means. thats why it fits in with romeo's line of "rose by any other name still smells as sweet". both basically come to the conclusion that a person's name doesnt mean anything, its who the are

/end rant

^LOL how I felt in my english classes... I can read and write fine I just cant do the translating thing. I'm going to try though.

if you want some shit to translate that will totally fuck with your head, read some chaucer lol. what words meant then is totally diff from what a lot mean now lol

Caesar FTW. Even more fun translating him from the original Latin.... :naughty:

hell yeah, caesar's commentaries and the conquest of gaul are two of my fav books