Heh, I went to a state grammar school, got sucked in by the whole idea that it was the best place for the smartest kids in the area. Then as you go through it for seven years, you start to notice all the underhanded stuff going on. The preferential treatment given to certain kids whose parent's have the right connections. Those kids who looked like they might not get good enough grades were often expelled just before the exams, citing any excuse they could as a reason for expulsion. After the A-levels, quite a lot of the people in my school got quite low marks yet we turned up right near the top of the Times best schools list based on exam results, that from what I could tell could only be purely fictitious. Money was spent on frivolous projects while desperately under-funded areas continue to decay. Teachers who had fallen into this job and knew that all their eccentricities wouldn't be accepted in a normal state school and they certainly weren't good enough to command the wages of a private school so they clung onto the place as much as possible. They were the worst teachers of the bunch, they'd mumble and go off on tangents that weren't even interesting and several would just choose a random kid in each class to pick on. I even remember one teacher who left us in the middle of the school year and didn't tell anyone until the last day, when he revealed he was emigrating to New Zealand. He left practically no notes for the replacement teacher to follow. The few that were good teachers who knew what was going on were either too timid to do anything about it or actually left in disgust on a few occasions. We lost so much of our science department one year we had the IT guy teaching physics and that was mostly because he was trying to cover the fact that he still didn't know how to use Windows computers very well after the years of using Acorn computers (I think we gave those up around 2000).
Having said all that, I gained some excellent mates and plenty of good memories and there were a few teachers who, despite not being there for very long, left a decent impression.

Well, there is one bad thing in the UK.

If you are a scientist who teaches science, you don't teach just your specialism... oh no, you teach all three subjects. Other subject teachers don't have this - they teach their specialism, but for some reason scientists do There is no choice, you get all 3 subjects, which hardly seems fair tbh, since lets face it - each one is the same as any other individual subject.

During my training I was teaching GCSE biology to exactly the same level that I had TAKEN the subject to myself... which I found amusing. Luckily I am one with a "natural" affinity for biology (even though I did chemistry to degree, and physics to A-level), so I wasn't too bad. However, it does mean you may have science teachers who are only teaching to the same level themselves were taught in that subject... hence their knowledge, presentation and confidence may actually be a bit on the shaky side.
Compare that to an Maths teacher, who teaches only... Maths. Why not Geography and Psychology? Or a French teacher who teaches History and Chemistry?

I was pretty much disgusted with the way it was dealt... I was a chemist, not a physicist or biologist, so why (when other teachers did not have to make this shortfall in subjects up) do we have to teach 3 subjects, 3 curriculums, 3 different areas entirely? This could be a reason why you will have science teachers who just don't know their stuff well enough to either make it interesting, or answer questions past what is posed in a textbook!

Enjoy your education folks...

Eh, what are you talking about, Chips? I experienced nothing of the sort when I did science. We had three seperate science departments with their own teachers. I'm not sure I understand...

Edited by - The Evil Thing on 1/18/2006 11:26:19 AM

Okay, you may not like it but someone has to say it.

All of you kids bemoaning how school "sucks" should really take a minute to think what you're saying. An estimated 150 million children have no access to any form of education whatsoever; not just in developing countries but all over the world. I'd imagine they'd be fairly happy with top-quality easily-accessible state-provided education until they reach 18.

You're obviously all well off by global standards; PC's don't come cheap and the amount and value of items in the Christmas thread only serves to back that up. It just appalls me sometimes to see how much is taken for granted - state education, clean running water, good employment prospects and not having to walk a bazillion miles a day for food and water to name but a few.

I'm not talking about anyone in particular here, nor am I referring to all of you in education. I know that a fair number of you appreciate if not enjoy the experience and you can ignore this whole post, if you haven't already. It's more the "I hate school because it means I can't play on my expensive new consoles and they won't even let me use my iPod inside" type that this is aimed at...

It may seem like a drag when school drags you away from the TV/Playstation/XBox or whatever (/sarcasm), but you are incredibly lucky to even have the chance to an education, let alone one of the quality afforded by your respective nations. Perhaps you should be more grateful you even have a f**king school to go to...

Edited by - Accushot on 1/18/2006 4:14:00 PM

I'm happy with school. it adds variety. I'm not happy with the teachers though. theres a difference between being though and making it so it's impossible to get higher then a C in the class. I know students who make straight A's in other class and yet in one class they seem to fall short. and those of us who find school to be an experience that requires effort... it's not pretty.

Edited by - The Shroud on 1/18/2006 6:57:50 PM

You can say "oh but the starving AIDS orphans in Africa have it so much worse" for pretty much any subject. Everyone's allowed to complain, just because it's possible things can be worse doesn't mean it isn't bad.
Otherwise what you said was right, there's no excuse or reason to complain about school if your main problem is that it rips you away from beating your highest score on FL or whatever new-fangled game you kids play these days (I get to say that sort of stuff now I'm 20 )

@accushot:
Pain is not negated by the presence of a greater pain somewhere else in the universe.
I just thought id say that


Edited by - Arania - PFY on 1/18/2006 11:14:13 PM

my elementary school sucked so bad... the principal was so fricking cheap, and she spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on a new floor that nobody needed!

junior high was much better!

stiletto! my schools sucked too, but not as much as you say.

some people say that crime didn't exist before GTA

All my schools sucked so badly that I acted so bad and had to change so many schools. Ihave been to 5 different schools and changed schools 6 times

don't you just love trading with imbeciles?

just got my AS back... AAAB. more like.. BAAA~ (econs phys maths chem in that order)

school sucks, hmmm?

ask yourself.. just how much better would your life be without school?

besides, there's hardly any of you teens had to put with a really miserable school. I went to a catholic boarding school for boys, run by monks, where we were beaten every single day and didn't have the slightest shred of dignity or privacy. Any infringement of rules was dealt harshly, any slacking was dealt with harshly, any show of independence or rebelliousness was dealt with harshly. Yes, beatings, rulers across the knuckles, strappings, getting the stuffing kicked out of you by prefects, being made to stand out in the cold in your underwear for hours (while being publicly humiliated) and if you were really *lucky* being molested by sex-starved pervert monks. One of whom is currently doing 20 years for abusing young boys (fortunately not me)

so y'know, a bit of adolescent whining 'cos school takes you away from whatever video-game you're currently into doesn't really cut it, does it?

Hear, Hear!!

Good call Taw.

Public school teachers aren't out to get anyone, you're just paranoid. Just stick with your group of friends (unless they are the wrong sort) and ignore the others that feel badly enought about themselves that they need to pick at you. If you don't have friends, well... you might want to re-vamp your outward dealings with real people. i am sure you get along quite nicely with virtual friends but eventually you'll need to interact with the real world (after school - duhn duhn dhuuuuhn!). So change your wardrobe, get a hair cut, and get a job so you stop living off mom and dad.

I get this whining off my son (11) all the bl**dy time, I hate school, why do i have to go to school, blah blah blah. Then i tell him all my horror stories from when i was at school and make him bl**dy grateful he didn't have to go there!

wow I sounded just like my dad then. scary