All wrong. They have it all wrong. They expect kids to be motivated to "learn," to want to read a textbook filled with one-sided monotonous and dry answers only to use this "information" to fill in circles and blanks. What does "A+" even mean anymore? Does it mean that one took the time to know word-for-word what their audience wants? Is one "smart" because of a high GPA? Public high schools are the last place where education is found today. A test is a test of your true strength, your willingness to give in to what is deemed "success." I can only remember being taught that an answer is only wrong until its proven right...not that Louis XIV WAS an absolutist and there's nothing I can say to bother that "fact." It's not just one fact. I was assigned an essay. "Analyze the aims, methods, and degree of success of the Counter-Reformation." That's what they gave me. I gave them back my personal opinions, backed up with facts and managing to cover each of those topics. I clearly stated my purpose. They gave me a 60. Previously, the lowest grade ever given to me on an essay was an 88, followed by a 92. If it wasn't structured as a five-paragraph, perfectly formulated paper with every little puzzle piece fit in exactly where they wanted it, it was shit according to them. If an audience finds a paper strong regardless of structure and and format and it proves the necessary points, thats a success to me. But no, they are one-sided. They want it their way only. Their way/highway. Is that education? Kids are being taught that there is ONE WAY to do everything and ONE OPINION that is correct. It's all straight out of textbooks and curriculum filled with material that the students comprehend no more than the teacher. I live it. I deal with it painfully. I take my As and occasional Bs. They mean almost nothing to me. Now Ive had the last straw. We are going to live miserably until the "education" is put back in, well, "education." You can't teach a Christian Priest to worship Allah or Moses. They won't accept it...it's not them. You just can't throw together a "class" of people and try and set them equal. If I am in the same class of people who needed to ask what "el" and "la" meant on a Spanish test when they were supposed to have known that five years ago, then there is some fucked up shit going on that I'm not aware of. And what does the teacher do when asked this? She tells them. Knowledge is not a piece-by-piece substance. So, these kids walk away with an A+. They are now "smarter." This. is. education. in. the. US. Like it or not, the people succeeding are the ignorant. What used to be called success in school by definition is no longer obtainable. Kids need a choice. Learn what you want to. There are no teachers that can teach me something new (as in their own subject) and keep their jobs. It' not in their curriculum. If they represent that, I surpassed that a while ago. I go to school each day when I should be learning. There is never one way. We ALWAYS have a choice. Hey government, you wanna know why the US is falling in education so badly? OTHER COUNTRIES ACTUALLY SEND KIDS TO SCHOOL FOR A GOD-DAMNED EDUCATION...all our kids get is brainwashed. I live the nightmare that they call education via school. I lose knowledge each day there. I need to change this. I will. I have a 4.5 GPA. The smartest kid I know has a 3.8, and he is deemed dumber than me. It's wrong. Numbers don't tell shit, and neither do the red marks on a "test." Maybe to these kids I barely know anymore, ignorance is bliss. Maybe they don't want to know that what they are "learning" is absolutely bogus and that what they can really do, they will never know. Ignorance is bliss. Becoming ignorant and not doing something about it...that's not.
