Proof that We Are in Trouble: Stupidity in Schools
Published November 14, 2007
As a high school junior, I'm constantly being reminded by various school officials that my high school is second best in the state of California. People actually move to my town to be in our "awesome" school district. I don't know who is testing us, but they better find out why their data is seriously wrong.
Our schools are not great. Day after day, I suffer from stupidity. I don't know who's at fault--teachers, parents, students...probably everyone. It makes me sick. Things that the school does are bad enough, but the students may be far worse. I don't even want to go to school. Although, it can be quite entertaining watching everyone fail when I have a 96% in the class. Does that make me a bad person? Nah. They were all jerks, anyway.
This one may not be a big deal, but it bugs me. A lot. My AP English teacher uses the word "Ain't" all the time. I mean, if he was a math teacher, fine. But an AP English teacher? Come on. This guy's responsible for having me prepared for the AP test in May.
This is the reason why my AP American is a C+. It should be a B. I'm upset. My AP American teacher hinted that there would be a pop quiz the next day on John Marshall. I wasn't worried. Why should I be? I know all those cases. Marbury vs. Madison--I could recite it in my sleep. I went over everything. It was all highlighted in a purple highlighter. So, what was the magical question? Tell me the cherry story. WHAT? Apparently, one day, a stranger came into town and needed Marshall's help or something. Now, tell me, will I need to know this on the AP exam? Why am I being penalized for knowing the REAL material? I'm not going to want to learn if I get quizzed on that sort of thing.
I'm sorry, but no student is ever going to pay attention unless we read interesting stuff. One book to throw out the garbage: Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver. I read it Freshman year. I hated it. I had friends who burned their book at the end. I see freshmen in the halls, and I ask them what they are reading. When they say that evil book, I look at them and say, "I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry." At least, have us read the classics. Shakespeare, maybe? If we are stuck with this material, students are going to flunk Freshman English. And that sucks.
I don't know about other states, but in California, no prescription drugs are allowed on campus (and, yet, birth control is being given out. Problem, anyone?) Not even stuff like Pepto-bismol and Advil. Really? Come on? Nobody I know follows it though. Schools always complain about kids being absent, because they lose a lot of money. But, here's the thing, I don't get my ________ medicine, I'm going home. I'm not going to run out of ________ class to throw up in the bathroom.
Maddy is 17 and starts her senior year of high school this fall. She is an active writer for her school paper and excels in AP classes. She has a twin and loves the Pittsburgh Steelers. She has a radio show (part of the BC Radio Network) on Wednesdays at 5 PM available at BlogTalkRadio.
- Proof that We Are in Trouble: Stupidity in Schools
- Published: November 14, 2007
- Type: Opinion
- Section: Culture
- Filed Under: Culture: Education, Culture: Humor and Satire, Culture: Personal History
- Writer: CallmeMaddy
- CallmeMaddy's BC Writer page
- CallmeMaddy's personal site
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Comments on this articleComments
30 Years ago the California School system
was the best in the country.
It ranked #1 compared to other states.
Now I noticed it ranks around #47.
I've been wondering what happened.
Acheivement test scores for Los Angeles are about the worst in the country. Only Atlanta beats Los Angelas as the worst.
Is this what bilingual education does?
I sense your frustration but hang in there and keep your grades up. Soon you will graduate and have to deal with stupid people that are all grown up! Then you can feel like that little boy in the Bruce Willis movie.....you know the one where he sees "stupid people".
Your school sounds like my former-also California-high school...only there they knew everyone was stupid because our test scores spoke that truth. Right now I'm in my my fourth year at a rather prominent California university studying to become a high school history teacher and in my education classes our discussions frequently to exactly the issues facing the school system you've pointed out. You can mostly blame No Child Left Behind for the low standards though as well as the single thing to define whether or not a school is "smart" being a yearly standardized test, which is far from the best form of assessment. I'd say that's its just short amount of time until you're out of the world of incompetence and stupidity that high school can frequently be, but that's not really true. I've had some very incompetent professors and I don't know anyone who hasn't. The good news is though, if you choose the right university (the more liberal ones usually) you get to evaluate your professors and describe in as much detail as you fancy just how horrible they were. I'm happy to say that I helped get a complete moron of a professor fired just last year with my absolutely scathing evaluation. So, I wish you luck in forging on through the stupidity and hopefully you'll find the chance to evaluate those supposedly "above" you in college as satisfying as I have.
-Sarah
P.S. I wandered here from your ff.net account and if you ever want to discuss education, issues of reform, curriculum, or anything of that nature feel free to contact me I'm Simply Sarah.
Hey Sarah,
It won't let me PM you. [Personal contact info deleted]
Thanks!
Maddy
Hi again,
Well, I'm not sure if you included a way to contact you since you can't PM me. It says personal info deleted so I'm assuming so. If you do want to get in touch with me for any type of discussion I'll have one of my e-mail addresses up on my profile for the next couple of days.
Hope the stupidity isn't getting you down:)
Sincerely,
Sarah
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I sense your frustration, but hang in there and keep your grades up. Soon you will graduate, and will not have to deal with such frustration any more. I myself am concern about a certain law that a school has passed such as banding hugging. If someone is grieving you can not comfort that person with a hug?! Unbelievable.