So where did you learn to read and write? How you've suffered!

Before you learn to do something worthwhile, you have to learn how to learn.

Takes a long time to do that.... about 13 years usually...

By the end of the first grade, I was reading beyond the 8th grade level.  I'd say that was valuable.  Mind you, I didn't understand all I read, but the foundation was laid.  I studied Latin which helped my English and French vocabularies (I speak both of them .... poorly) and mathematics and music which I consider to be 'languages' themselves.  My school had only your basic Arts and Sciences program.  We had a principal in our final year of secondary school who identified your strengths through standardized testing and your own interests, and encouraged students to go on for further study.  Over 90% of our graduating class went on to further education - formally, while the remainder apprenticed for a trade.  I learned about business in secondary school by playing cards (euchre) for money at lunch time and before and after school.  I could usually take a dollar and turn in into five or more by the end of the day. (Remember, this is the sixties we're talking about.)  I learned typing which I still use daily for research and communicating over the internet with family and friends.  I also learned survival skills against bullies and a few incompetent teachers (personally, they were nice people, but not suited to teaching.  Don't jump all over me for being mean.)  My younger son was told he had an IQ of 165.  He decided he didn't need school, dropped out, and attended the "College Of Hard Knocks".  Yes, you guessed it, he finished his high school by independent study, worked in a construction business, and now wants to sell real estate.  I have, over the course of a lifetime, taken over 200 post secondary courses culminating with a Ph.D.  (I'm not bragging.  A Ph.D. only means you've learned how to do research).  If my health was better, I'd still be working.  Now, I research and write.  I'm thankful for the elementary and secondary education I received.  Regardless of whether you went to a good school or a poor school, success is a matter of personal attitude and motivation.  This isn't a put down, just a personal observation.  Yes, I had a couple of teachers who were jerks and another couple who were incompetent.  Nothing answers them better than succeeding beyond what they've accomplished after you leave school.  (Revenge, if you see it that way, is a dish best served cold.  Attitude is the other side of Aptitude.) 

Actually, Warped, I believe that. And why couldn't you move at your own pace? I believe it's because of the public school system, that's why. The public school system that seems to demand that you not be the best you can be but rather just keeps you on the same level as everyone else. Apparantly it's easier for the public educators to teach when appealing to the lowest common denominator. We should abolish said system and go with a private school system that educates each person as the individual who they are. And doesn't coerce money out of people in order to do so.

I don't think you are unusual to have finished high school and wonder why  bother.

but the things you have learned will come back and you will be surprised.  My son just finished 4th year and laughed when he told me in one of his exams he was using a Shakespear quote.  He said and he went to write it out, he paused and had to recite the sonnet to himselft till he got to the line he needed.  He then said he smiled and whispered "thanks Miss Van" his grade 2 teacher that taught them Shakespear sonnets as part of a poetry year long course.

Could you have been happier in a more enriched environment?  Quite possibly.  A school like UTS in Toronto for very gifted students, particularily in math and science takes kids that really need to push themselves.  Or a more rounded program like UCC or any of the IB schools?  Maybe that might have been a better choice for you but perhpas there were reasons that your parents didn't go that way. 

For students who don't fit the norm, a great private school can make the difference for sure.  I disagree with jlin in her assessment of private verse public education.  I think it just depends.

there are fantasitc public schools and fantastic teachers.  On the other hand those same teachers have to deal with teacheing to a common denominator that falls below the bright student and they are the ones who suffer. 

I am sure there are also many poor private schools but in fact there are some absolutely fabulous ones.  One of my kids did public, one private.  There is no question that the quality of teachers in the private school far exceede the public.  The expectations for the work to be done was far higher in the private one.  That child got a far better education.  The other child though left private to attend an Arts school as that is where her heart lay .  Her education was good, but the classes didn't challenge her.  Kind of lilke you I am guessing.

Parents do what they think best and in many ways what they can afford.  Luckily most good private schools offer financial aid to allow gifted students from all walks of life an opportunity to exceel and be challenged at a high level.

Congratulations on surviving so far.

Now get a job and learn true futility.

Consider the 80's flick "The Karate Kid".  Johnny paints the fence and polishes the cars (Wax on. wax off) not realizing at the time that he was learning blocking moves.  So grade school may well be, as witch said, brain conditioning. 

Having said that, in Switzerland for instance, at around grade 9 or equivalent  to ours, students are skill assessed and moved into career-oriented curriculum.   Things become much more targeted.  So a student over there graduates from high school with a good start in career training.   When I had my first baby, my husband's cousin was there for the birth. At age 23 she was already a midwife over in Europe and had delivered many babies.

A darn good system if you ask me.

I'm going to side with warped_purity. It's not all crap. But a lot of it is. And the school has nothing to do with it.

Here, in New Brunswick, the whole system is under the thumb of a right wing "think tank" that knows nothing about education. And they've reduced the teachers to robots. Boring? Useless? You bet it is.

Across Canada, they've kept education costs down by forcing every school to sell chocolate bars as a major effort. They've dropped or reduced needed services. The courses are pruned so as to be careful not to offend even the most ignorant red neck parent. I was reprimanded once when I started teaching grade seven for mentioning Darwin. Same happens with history. The teaching of writing is terrible. Look at the grammatical errors and slanginess of warped purity's writing. That's not a criticism. He is a certified graduate of grade 13. Most are far worse writer than he is. I used to teach the same people in university. (where, incidentally, you will also learn damn little for the time and money.) I had to design my own - and effective - method of teaching writing - partly because NOBODY in 20 years of education ever taught me how to write.

The idea that private education is better is a crock. The private school teachers have exactly the same education as public school ones. Nor are they, in my experience the best of the BEd graduates. I have taught private school teachers. I have many times been a guest lecturer in Canada's leading private schools. I've given talks at national conferences of private school administrators. I saw nothing to dazzle me.

The difference is that rich parents can pay a hell of lot (tax deductible and, in Quebec, at least, subsidized) so they can offer lots of personal attention. As well, private school kids mostly come from homes that are well off. They grow up in a social atmosphere that encourages them to learn. Poor kids don't. That's why rich kids have ALWAYS done better than poor ones, whether the school is public or private.

Of course, there's a drawback. Attending a private school that is residential many times raises a child's chance of being molested. And that's not a careless remark. For a pedophile, a residential private school is a dream come true. And I have records of private schools that have hushed up such cases, and kept the teachers on.

Schools are also suffering tremendous damage from so-called "Accountability testing" imposed by big business in the schools. It's expensive, worthless; but it provides millions of dollars for greedy and, I think, immoral people in business. Check out the national ratings tests imposed on schools to rate them against each other. It's even more half witted and damaging - and ignorant - than the Maclean's rating of universities.

Yes. The schools are boring. It's not the teacher's fault. It's ours. We sit around while our schools are being dictated to by economic thugs. Here, in New Brunswick, one rich family effectively runs the ministry of education - no matter who is in power. A principal in a nearby town lost his career, was physically threatened, and forced out ot town by a gang of rednecks because he didn't want to play the national anthem every morning. The minister of education and the New Brunswick press (which is as vile as the press can get) came down on the side of the rednecks.

The schools aren't the problem. It's us.

warped_purity, I hope your university experience lives up to your hopes.  My reaction to univeristy was similar to joejack's above;  I found it at least as pedantic as high school - it wasn't until I did graduate studies that I felt free to really learn....but that may be as much about me, and 20 years of maturity between degrees, as it was about school. Or maybe not.

 I agree with most of what graeme says, particularly about private schools  - in BC their teachers really are paid less, and have fewer benefits;  the attraction is smaller classes of capable learners  (guaranteed by the admissions tests they had to pass) and strong home support.  It's just plain easier to teach at a lot of private schools, and my experience is that the best of the best seek out the public system because they want to reach out to the kids who really need excellence in teaching.  But that's just my experience, of course.

I will disagree, though, about the teaching of writing.  I've seen most English teachers devote painstaking hours and months to teaching students to write well, with many of them using creative and effective teaching strategies.   Some students excel, others don't.  I've seen some superb teaching of writing - but not everybody benefits from it to the same extent.   graeme - if you have developed a strategy for helping mediocre writers evolve into powerful ones, you should market it.  Seriously!  I for one am always looking for new ideas to improve my practice. 

Oh, I would hardly say it develops mediocre writers into powerful ones. But it does develop organization, slarity of style, understanding, and judgement. If  you're interested, drop me a note. I may still have some handouts around; and I can at least give you an outline.

Seeler - that's hilarious!!  I can't believe you did that!   I only remember something similar once.  My brother was a slacker in school - bright guy, zero motivation - wanted to be a rock'n roll star.   One day he had a history essay due, which he planned to blow off.  I was bored, and loved to write, so I wrote it for him.  He got a C, and was I choked!  I still suspect the teacher never even looked at the essay - just saw the name and stamped a C on it. 

graeme - thank you.  I will contact you via wondermail.  If you still have something available, that would be amazing. 

I don't know about Nova Scotia. But I have lived in both PEI and NB. In both places there is no serous discussion. It's always trivial. There's gossip, and secret reporting of people who express an opinion. People act like feudal serfs who pretended triviality and lack of opinion for fear of the feudal baron and his gang.

The newspapers are beneath contempt. And all reporting is affected by the fear of serious discussion. As a result, people know little about their own province, let alone the rest of the world. And any attempt at discussion is made difficult by the terrible lack of information and preference for gossip and telling on people.

It also means they are easily manipulated by corporate influences, notably but not exclusively the Irving family who,  I'm quite sure, get regular reports on my blog.

I wouldn't call it fascism. It's more like feudalism. And it has to do with living in a society in which everybody is just too well known to everybody else. So everybody is scared to have an opinion - unless it's about who is the best defenceman in the league. It's a society much like school is which everybody wants to like what everbody else likes so everybody will like tham.

I suspect Nova Scotia, being bigger, might be a little better. But not much.

Well, conGRADulations, puppypaws!  And if you are able to memorize a bunch of stuff,  write it all down on a test, and then forget it all, then you might not be ready for real life, but you are definitely ready for university!

It's funny - it's supposed to about learning how to learn, so that we all become lifelong learners, and so that we can reflect and think critically about our world and our place in it, and maybe even make a positive difference in it....but somewhere along the line the folks who design the curricula decided it was more important to stuff kids so full of information that they have little time to even remember it all, never mind reflect on it and truly learn from it.   Not that that's true for every class and in every case, but there's so much more to learning than can be tested on a provincial exam!

 Haha but WP that one is classic!

And you say you didn't learn anything in high school!

That could be true 

Did you miss the part about capitalization, or are you writing in the style of e.e. cummings?

  . . . just JOKING

When I finished my Ph.D. in theology it meant mainly one thing:  I'd learned how to do research.  It won't make me rich, but it has added value to my life experiences.  The most valuable course I took in high school, that I still use today, is typing.  Schooling is fine, but you shouldn't let it interfere with your education.  I've learned how to be a dad, and a grandfather, and a friend, and all these helped me in my educational pursuits.  My college lecturing experience was outside the theology field in Nursing Pharmacology (from a science and social service background, as well).  Use your high school education not as an end, but as a beginning to move out and forward into other areas of learning; either academic or technical.  When yo finish a diploma or degree, as yourself, "What do I want to study next?"  Learning is a life long venture.  Now, I can learn because I WANT to learn, not because I HAVE to.   I've earned at least one degree (two in one decade) in every decade since the 70's, and not all in the same field.  Study what YOU want to study, not necessarily what others want you to take.  Look upon the future as an amusement park ride. Strap yourself in, scream in delight, and have a great ride. 

I don't think Warped is literally trying to say that no education would be preferable, he's just saying that today's educational system sucks, which is a generalization but probably true in a lot of cases.  A lot of people agree that an accelerated, more serious early education and less obsession with university for everyone might be a good thing.  On the other hand, many of the reforms that created today's education system were slightly misguided attempts at relieving the pressures of an overly tough, strict and almost industrialized education system like the one in the Pink Floyd video.  Education can never be perfect for everyone.  What's probably the best is to have a number of options available.  I, for instance, have gone to a gifted school, a surprisingly non-snobby private school (three classes, rented in the basement of a church, run by really cool educators with slightly radical ideas), been homeschooled, and an arts school, none of which had the problems Warped is describing.  However, without those options, I can imagine how someone with a different way of thinking might find it hard.  Unfortunately, as progressive as many educators think they are by not teaching you actual grammar, the sad fact of it is that the educational system is still run according to the principles of the industrial revolution, as some sort of uniform, systematized assembly line for productive citizens.

The area I agree with Warped the most is on being held back.  I have had a post-secondary reading level since grade 6.  My love of history in general has put me at a far higher level than...pretty much all my classmates (except perhaps my thoroughly polarized friend Nelson).

I feel that I could have capitalized on that much better if the education system had catered to it.  Alas it was not ment to be. 

Another thing I disagree with sometimes is school politics.  Then again I disagree with many country politics as well...

As-salaamu alaikum

-Omni

Because it's expensive and so, in its effective form, is restricted to a few of the wealthy - wasting the potential of millions.

like health care, i drives up the cost for all of us, while leaving most of us with minimal opportunity at great cost. That's not a loss of minds that our society can afford.

Nor does private school necessariy produce a more intelligent product. It is as likely to produce graduates who see themselves as entitled to be wealthy and to have power over others. The best private schools in the world produced Prince Charles. No doubt a nice guy. But not one of the great minds of our time.