The Problems With School

[lemonlimetime]

I just went back to school and I'm already done to be honest. And I've been thinking about what I should make my next myTake about and so I thought "Why not the place I hate most?"

Okay, truthfully speaking in a way I kind of like school. But on the other hand I also don't? If that makes any sense. Either way school has some major issues that I and about millions of other kids really dislike about it. Here's some of them.

For starters, let's talk about the school supplies.

School supplies nowadays are terrible! They give you a list of a zillion things and honestly speaking we don't even use half of it. I remember my grandma saying back in the days all she needed to buy was a box of crayons and some pencils and she was good.

The main problem is it's a lot of things for just one person to take care of. Not to mention when you walk into each class on the first day you have NO idea what you're supposed to bring so you just take your whole locker with you just to be safe. They ask us to buy these HUGE binders and about two or three pocket folders for each class, which if you ask me is ridiculous. Teachers are constantly complaining about us losing things, well maybe it's because we have a ton of things to take care of!

Again though, we hardly end up using about half the stuff we buy. In my opinion the school should ask the teachers what the students need to buy rather than guessing and making us waste our money on things we won't even use.

And to my next point- homework.

I guess I understand homework in a way. We need it, of course. But what we don't need is a bunch of teachers giving us a boatload of homework every night so we can come home from a long day of learning and paying attention in class so we can work even more on something we don't even care about. Brilliant.

The main problem with homework is that a lot of time it just seems SO unnecessary. For example- when a teacher gives us a worksheet on something we barely covered in class and then doesn't even take a grade for it. To me, that is pointless. If the teacher thinks that we learn stuff through homework they are so wrong. Of course a few kids may be like that, but most everyone I know doesn't get any benefit from homework unless they're being graded on it.

To my next point, teachers.

You may have saw my myTake on teachers, and if you haven't I'll put a link below in case your interested.

Anyways there are some teachers who are just plain awesome and easy to like. Others, not so much. To be honest some of these teachers make you wonder how they even got the job in the first place considering they put no effort into their teaching, hate children, or are just creepy as hell. Of course this is not all teachers! But it is a really heavy portion of them.

The one thing that annoys me most is when a teacher complains about how they have a life outside of school and we're just sucking up all their freetime by making them grade papers. Well guess what- we have a life outside of school, too. And this is your JOB which means you get paid to be here. We're here because if we aren't, we're grounded. Again this isn't every teacher, just way too many of them.

Also, is it just me or is what they teach in school REALLY stupid?

Honestly whoever thought we need to learn most of this crap is a freaking idiot.

There are some things I understand we need to learn. Reading, writing, simple math, how our country was founded, etc. But other things are just SO unnecessary. For example- when in my life am I going to need to know about potential and kinetic energy? Really when am I?

Why can't we learn the things WE want to learn? And more importantly; why can't we learn what we NEED to learn? For example- how to pay taxes, how to use a credit card, how to provide for our families, how to get a job, etc. These are all things I'm WAY more worried about rather than Cleopatra or William Shakespeare. And what about what we want to learn? One kid is not going to want to learn the same thing as the next kid. We don't really get to decide what classes we want to take until high school and college (and even then we're forced to take things we don't want to). But why? If every kid is different why are we teaching them all the same things? I have no interest in things like math or science, but I really enjoy literature, so why can't I just take that longer than I take all these other classes I'm probably going to forget in ten years?

Teachers often say that we give no effort to do these things simply because we're just too lazy to! But why are we lazy? Probably because the things we're forced to learn don't peak our interests. If we took a class on what we wanted to do we'd probably be more interested and focused.

I guess there's a reason we're learning all this stuff, but to be honest I don't know what it is. Pretty much all adults I know who aren't a teacher say they never use this in their life. Ever. But like I said I suppose they have their reasons.

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There's obviously a lot of other problems with school but this myTake is long enough, so I'll just end it here. Thanks for reading and let me know what I should do next!

In case you're interested here's my myTake on types of teachers- https://www.girlsaskguys.com/education-career/a11530-8-teachers-you-may-remember

[SirenDep]

Does school really give you a list of the school supplies and you are obligated to buy them all? In Greece usually each teacher tells the students what he needs. Can't you buy only what you think is necessary, then buy additional stuff only when you need to?

Homework is necessary because it makes you read, think and work on the subject you talked about in school, so you can understand it better. But there exist teachers who don't understand when students have a big workload from other lessons as well, and they need to have free time to do hobbies and socialise. There are teachers who understand though, and if you tell them you feel pressured because you have many stuff to do, they lessen the homework.

I agree with you that there are teachers who dislike their job. If a teacher is seriourly inappropriate to teach and treats students badly, is unfair with grading or disinterested in making the students learn, you have the right to get the student council to report this teacher to the principal or you can go and complain as a whole. Though, remember that teachers are human too, and they might have problems in their personal life somethimes.

What you get taught in school is basic knowledge in many fields. There is much more knowledge out there and it's your choice to pick a subject you like and expand your knowledge in it. You all have to learn the basics, then in university you pick what you want to learn. It seems there aren't many people who read literature and search for knowledge outside of school books.. The problem is that not all kids learn the same way and not all teachers make their lessons interesting. Teachers should take in account that there are kids with different talents in a class. Someone might be able to approach a subject by writing an essay about it, another might be good in painting the subject etc

[lemonlimetime]

In America they give us a (very large) list of everything we will need for the year and sometimes we use most of it and some years we don't. The lists aren't made up by the teachers for some reason, which I find extremely weird considering the school board or whoever makes it up doesn't know what the teacher wants us to have.
As for what we get taught I agree with you on some points. We should know basic knowledge in every field, but I don't understand why if we fail too much in a certain era we fail the entire grade. Every kid is different so they really shouldn't grade us all the same.

[QuestionMan]

Schools need to be reformed so that they teach you what you need to know in life not some bs art history and other useless courses.
A lot of teachers I had didn't want to be there. It was their plan Z if everything else failed.
We need teachers that are actually passionate about teaching and not there because they couldn't get any other job.
If I were to create the curriculum right now it would include math, science, history, geography, business, computer tech, English, health and physical education. All other courses are irrelevant and should be taken by an individual in their spare time if they are interested.

[lemonlimetime]

Agreed

[ihatethiswebsite]

It seems odd that schools don't teach you how to mortgage a house or find the best insurance or whatever else. That is something somebody is guaranteed to deal with in life. Like nobody is gonna use that history stuff or complicated math lol

[Bonnie12I27I12]

i dont know about you but i like being educated in as many subjects as possible. if you really pay attention and try to find things you like about every subject you'll like school more. but i totally agree with what you said about teachers. my English teacher would give us a story to read and no due date. you could do it whenever. then she would randomly give a pop quiz and if you didn't read the story you'd get sent to the office. i hated those teachers that called home even in high school. trust me, my mom doesn't care that i forgot my math book. she really doesn't.

[complicated_soul]

I agree with some parts.

I actually like buying supplies. It makes me want to study, lol.

And, yeah, I had this one teacher that everyone, and I mean everyone who had her complained about.

She did not know how to teach and the students had to go to different books or online, etc to learn the materials for tests.

I really dislike the textbooks. The ones that we have to carry everyday. The only reason why I dislike it so much is because we don't have lockers in our school, so it gets hard.. specially climbing up to 4th floor. And sometimes I forget or leave the textbook under my chair and gah.

[YourFutureEx]

Well, you'll have to do the homework. You can choose to not doing it but then, you'll not achieve success in life.

The problem is bad teachers having hideous personality, unfair assessments and the education system. All they need is money, not the overall evaluation of the students.

[lemonlimetime]

Yeah there's really no way out of the homework because I ain't getting in trouble

[zagor]

Uh, because it takes about five minutes to learn how to use a credit card? Why would they bother teaching you stuff you're going to learn anyway? School should help you become a functional adult, and that includes learning about history, common culture, and things that will be referenced later in your life. And yes, that may include kinetic energy.

And if you are going to vote someday, it is best you learn something about math and science and history and psychology so you will have a clue as to what you are being told.

[lemonlimetime]

Well I don't see why we should learn something we're going to forget in a few years

[zagor]

You never know what you're going to be doing in a few years. Some of that stuff might be useful someday - you never know.

[lemonlimetime]

I suppose that's true but I already forgot half the stuff I learned in all of elementary so I highly doubt I'll remember it ten years after I graduate college but I guess you never know. Heck I forgot everything I learned in last years history class. Not to mention I don't want to learn this stuff. I'd much rather learn a second language or how to cook rather than the crap they're teaching us. I don't know I guess I could use this stuff for more than Trivia Crack someday

[zagor]

Why don't you take another language then? Unless HS has changed, as I recall there was a lot of choice beyond the basic required classes.

Of course I was someone who liked math because I was a lazy student and it came easy to me.

[lemonlimetime]

I can't lol. And the languages they offer at my school don't appeal to me. My school only offers Spanish and I think that's it. I think it used to offer Chinese but I'm pretty sure not anymore.

[zagor]

Only Spanish - that's lame. I take it you go to a small school.

[lemonlimetime]

Actually it's one of the better schools in our area. They just don't specialize in second languages. Yeah it's kind of stupid.

[zagor]

When I was in HS they offered Spanish, French, German and Japanese. They probably have Chinese now too.

[lemonlimetime]

Wow your school sounds awesome lol. French, German, and Japanese are the top four languages I want to learn (and Korean is in there). While my school only offers Spanish which I really have no desire to learn

[InconspicuousBox]

You know who's awesome? Those condescending teachers who talk down to you as if you're a terrible person because you broke one rule or did one thing that didn't strike their fancy.

[lemonlimetime]

Tell me about it. I don't know why they expect every kid to be this perfect little angel

[InconspicuousBox]

Or why they think doing one bad thing makes you the scum of the earth.

[lemonlimetime]

Exactly. Last I check no one was perfect.

[elric]

Very true. Good job seeing it, most kinds these days seem to out of it to notice.

[PizzaGuy22]

college fkn sucks
I miss high school already

[zagor]

Wow, college was 1000x better than HS. Unless you like being treated like a child and having someone else responsible for you and telling you what to do.