I haven't been writing much lately, and you can blame that on school. My schedule is so booked up and my teachers tend to give enough homework to drown in. I've been getting really frustrated with school lately. One of the things that got me to think was this article I read (I can't seem to find the link anymore) asking if we need high school or to what extent do we need it. It got me thinking about what I'd like to see change when it comes to school.
To give a background on my situation, I have four classes this semester: Social Studies, Pure Mathematics (aka: Pre-Calculus), Language Arts (highest level) and Chemistry. Now, out of these four there are only 2 that I'm somewhat happy with. They are Social and Math.
My Social Studies class has been a wonderful experience for me. My teacher has managed to incorporate technology into the course. However, I find that the course content barely scratches the surface of the issue. The course is based around the question of "To What Extent Should We Embrace Nationalism?" They grasp at straws in order to connect some of the subjects to the main point. It's like reading an essay in which the writer forgets to connect his thesis to his subjects until the end, and then scrambles to connect it as he runs out of time. I prefer the way my old school worked with Social Studies. In grade 9, we would take a general Social Studies in order to get us all on the same page. Then in grade 10, we took geography which focused on the economy, the land itself and politics. In grade 11, we took a history course. It focused on subjects like the French Revolution, Canada history in general, and the wars. I can't really recall what happens in grade 12, but I think we get to choose what kind of social we want to do.
Math has generally been good this year. My teacher is understanding and knows how to teach. There's not too much I'd change in that class.
Language Arts. Ugh! Basically all we do is analyze writing. It bores me to tears, and most of the books suck. I feel like I'm not learning any particular skill in that course, and I'm sad to report, but improving one's writing skill (as far as creative writing) does not seem part of the curriculum. We did a bit on poetry, but I'm not a huge poetry fan or poet myself. I feel as if I'm falling behind; in my last school I have a friend who's also an author and she's able to take a course dedicated to creative writing.
Chemistry is by far my least favourite course...in fact I pretty much hate it. My teacher does not know how to teach in a manner that allows students to learn and retain what they've learned. We have fill-in-the-blanks notes, that are never properly explained and her use of technology is just switching from an overhead projector to a computer. Nothing else is different, and I find that a waste of resources.
The general grievances I have include things like my student services person (I don't quite know what to call her) being a little bit of a bully. She stands her ground and attempts to make me feel like I'm the one that's wrong, but as soon as I bring my parents in the equation she backs down and acts like I just didn't ask the right questions.
I think if the school create or offered things like a creative writing course, or a history course, or more specialized courses. I think they've done a wonderful job with the sciences by adding medical sciences and forensic sciences and so forth. If they expanded that idea to include other courses, I think that would make school a lot more interesting. The majority of our schedules are taken up by the core courses since we only have 4 full day courses a semester, and some half day courses. Once again, drawing on my experiences at my previous school, I liked how we had 5 or 6 classes a day and had them everyday for the entire semester. You had a lot more choices and opportunities to try something new, and to take a break from traditional courses which can be a bit boring and draining.
Whew! Well, now that I got that all out, I do feel a bit better. NOTE: I have been having a bit of a bad week, so if it seems harsh keep in mind that that's what I feel right now. School hasn't been all too bad, although I find that teachers try their best not to know their students. In my Social class the use of technology like email and wikispaces makes it easier to contact a teacher and maybe start a conversation. If teachers could progress to the point of knowing their students and maybe the issues surrounding their life at the moment, it could potentially make school a better experience.
-A. Siemens
