Poll: Are Kids today taking School for granted?

[Kasper Gundersen]

I live in DK, and actually I guess that most people just take it easy. Of course some people take school seriously, but still has their own private life when they need to. Still, I doesn't take school too seriously... That however doesn't mean that I'm slacking in class, mind you, I'm still taking notes and try to listen in on what the teacher is saying (You all know that, that can be quite hard at times ), but I guess that has a lot to do with our education system, where we're quite free to choose what we want, and usually gets a second chance (the fact that my grades aren't the best in the world, is simply because I'm stupid )

 

[Drakane]

Won't lie, I had a lot of fun in high school drinking, skipping school, and getting C's in class. Now all I am is a CPA. Hate to break it to you, HS don't mean shit as long as you graduate, the paper matter more then the grades.

 

[s0p0g]

as it sort of IS granted (we have a right to education (as in stuff taught at schools, and at the same time a compulsory education, thus not going to school is impossible if meant to be legal unless it's very very very... very well justified) i say yes

although it's not really right, as many seem to not give a shit about it and actually curse it.

 

[Squidden]

Of course they are taking school for granted.

I hate waking up every morning because I have to go to school. Sure, it provides me an opportunity to have a comfortable life, but I can't stop hating it for everything that it is.

It might be just because our school system is royally fucked up.

 

[JMeganSnow]

Here in America (specifically New York) I try my hardest in school and get high moderate to Good grades (amazing in Social Studies. ) but I noticed many, seem to not give a damn in the world and just hang about, getting drunk, getting low grades, talking when teachers talk, just overall just not seeming to care that High School will have effect on their lives.

This would be because High School really *won't* have much of an effect on their life. For most people, modern schools are simply a holding pen that puts off the time when they would normally be acquiring *job skills* and starting to earn money. So why should they take it seriously? They really are not ever going to be asked to recite a William Blake poem or use the algebra they memorized.

Everything I know that has actually been of any use to me, I learned in my own time, on my own recognizance, and I know it far better and more thoroughly than *anything* I was taught in school. (Oh, and by the way, I took AP classes and got a 1490 on the SAT, so don't think I wasn't paying attention in school, either.)

And for those students that ARE planning jobs in academics, technology, law, and medicine (the fields where a degree *actually does something for you*), they'd be far better off if their classes weren't
pointlessly cluttered with people just waiting for the bell to ring.

See, that's why you take all honors and ap classes, so those people aren't actually there.

However, depending on your school, you can also burn yourself out on mind-boggling amounts of basically pointless homework. I had a friend who did this. She would have 6+ hours worth of work *every day* at home.

Granted, if you're smart, planning a career in one of the fields I mentioned, and you plan ahead, this is the very best sort of thing to do because you can sometimes enter college as a sophmore or even a junior. That's $15k+ of debt you ain't taking on. Which makes starting your career after college much, much easier, particularly it gives you a fighting chance of having the time to find something you REALLY WANT to do instead of having to take the first steady work that comes along just to pay your stupid loans.

Ideally you want to exit college with the smallest amount of debt humanly possible. If you're looking at a LOT of debt, you may want to seriously reconsider your desire to attend college and instead look at what you can do to educate yourself and monetize your abilities on your own, because you will be tied to that debt for the next 10 years and it will eat a huge chunk out of your productive lifespan.

And you don't actually need a college degree to do 99% of the work out there. Granted, convincing an employer of this may be more difficult than if you had a degree, but it's not impossible and employers who rely too much on degrees as a sorting device that requires no thought are not people you want to work for anyway.

 

[Spartan448]

I have to say, to the OP, that the kids in your school sound a lot like the kids in my school.
I sympathise

 

[Terminate421]

No, they have to force someone to pass middle school, even if they have failed the eigth grade 3 times.

Our School System sucks.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Honestly they always did, mostly because noone shows the kids the benefits of it, so only a haldfull of kids would get the the taste for knowledge and to the rest schools feel like torture.
And the teachers who suffered years upon years of the torturous "read these thousand page books and remember it all" treatment actually want the students to go through the same thing, perpetuating the off-putting nature of education.
I learned two foreign languages as a little kid from cartoons alone, but no teacher I talked to on this matter will ever admit that is something worth looking into, and even tho I urge people who have trouble with foreign languages to get some cartoons because of their clear, simple and repetitive language noone did because that's just plain silly.

So we are at an impasse, the mindset is you can't learn anything unless it comes from a book big enough to break your foot, and people are completely turned off by the impending mountain of misery.

It's time to do some innovation and progress on the matter, give the kids a good taste of what awaits them with knowledge and they will surpass us all.

 

[Cakes]

Here in America (specifically New York) I try my hardest in school and get high moderate to Good grades (amazing in Social Studies. ) but I noticed many, seem to not give a damn in the world and just hang about, getting drunk, getting low grades, talking when teachers talk, just overall just not seeming to care that High School will have effect on their lives.

Many skip classes, go about doing stupid things, and just never seem to get the memo that they aren?t going to be successful. I school has made these PSA things about staying in class, doing work, etc, and while they?re cheesy, there true.

I feel like you are greatly exaggerating the importance of High School. Obviously you should complete it, and hopefully do well, but...back in his high school days, my older brother was not so interested in his education, and barely (I mean barely) finished. He's now quite successful. They seem to push this idea that if you suck at High School, you're going to die miserable and alone or something. It reminds me of how in grades 2 and 3 my teachers tried to convince me that cursive was absolutely essential, and if I didn't learn it I'd spend my adulthood drunk in a ditch.

No matter it seems how much they push that school is important, it seems like many kids just don?t care and then walk away with their pants slightly down and thinking they?re ?gangster.? It just sickens me and I almost fear for our generation.

I think you should spend less time worrying about superficial things like the length of your classmates pants.

I can?t speak from experience but I assume it?s not as bad in foreign countries.

It depends. I've heard that school in Djibouti is less rowdy, but that's probably because teachers can beat you there. You're also acting as though kids haven't always been like this - people have been complaining about disobedient kids forever.

 

[joshthor]

its not kids today. its kids every generation. school is boring. the school systems need to do something to fix this.

Alternately spoiled brats should learn that not EVERYTHING in life is or can be fun, and make a little effort. Fun does not equal useful.

people learn better when they are engaged in the subject. teachers need to exploit this by making interesting classes. they dont need to let kids run around doing whatever, but they need to find some way to engage students.

"life isnt fun" isnt a good way to teach a class.

 

[Thyunda]

Here in America (specifically New York) I try my hardest in school and get high moderate to Good grades (amazing in Social Studies. ) but I noticed many, seem to not give a damn in the world and just hang about, getting drunk, getting low grades, talking when teachers talk, just overall just not seeming to care that High School will have effect on their lives.

This would be because High School really *won't* have much of an effect on their life. For most people, modern schools are simply a holding pen that puts off the time when they would normally be acquiring *job skills* and starting to earn money. So why should they take it seriously? They really are not ever going to be asked to recite a William Blake poem or use the algebra they memorized.

Everything I know that has actually been of any use to me, I learned in my own time, on my own recognizance, and I know it far better and more thoroughly than *anything* I was taught in school. (Oh, and by the way, I took AP classes and got a 1490 on the SAT, so don't think I wasn't paying attention in school, either.)

And for those students that ARE planning jobs in academics, technology, law, and medicine (the fields where a degree *actually does something for you*), they'd be far better off if their classes weren't pointlessly cluttered with people just waiting for the bell to ring.

Actually, the shit we learn isn't going to help us. The methods we're taught with which to learn them DO help. They're just examples for us to work off. School tends to measure how well we learn, as opposed to what we learn. Sure, I can't remember the first thing about Seamus Heaney or whatever the prick's name was, but I know how to apply the same tactics to other, more important examples to glean necessary information. Looking for 'themes' and hidden messages in poetry also helps me decipher political speeches and such - as conspiracy theory-ish that sounds.

That might once have been true, but it's not now. Most schools don't teach in a comprehensive, method-oriented manner any more, so any virtues they might once have had are rapidly disappearing.

There are exceptions--but they are just that, exceptions.

Mine must have been one of the exceptions. It wasn't exactly reputed for being excessively successful...hell, it almost got shut down. But the teaching was brilliant. I just kinda figured every school was like that.

Although, my primary school once called me 'stupid and childish' for not believing in God. And instructed me to stop using advanced vocabulary. For example, during a newspaper style project on Jesus' betrayal,
"Peter sheathed his sword."

"What does sheathed mean, Conor?"
"Means put away, Miss."
"Then why didn't you type that?!" -cue 'correcting' my 'mistake'

 

[JMeganSnow]

Mine must have been one of the exceptions. It wasn't exactly reputed for being excessively successful...hell, it almost got shut down. But the teaching was brilliant. I just kinda figured every school was like that.

In my personal experience, which is, of course, limited, the "not particularly successful" schools tend to BE the exceptions.

 

[TWRule]

There's not much to take for granted with school. To most kids, it's a place they are forced to go on weekdays to be indoctrinated with information they don't care about (and rightly so).

Whether they are taking the value of a proper education for granted due to their negative experiences with school (i.e. not proper education in the U.S.) is the real question, and that obviously varies from person to person but ultimately I'd say yes (generally).

 

[Giantpanda602]

I try listening to my teachers, I really do. Hell, it doesn't even really matter if you do. One of the smartest people I know reads through most classes. I don't think I really take it for granted. If anything, I hate school because I feel frustrated that the only way we can think to educate people is by forcing them to learn in an unideal environment. You know what they do with the kids who hate school and how they live enough for them to kill themselves? Force them to talk to some counselor so you feel alienated. Yea, I'm sure that helps them a lot.

 

[Laser Priest]

Not all of them. No more than usual, really.

"No more than usual" is to say "The vast majority, yes."

 

[Sacman]

Yeah, but it's not like it matters... all school(In Americaland anyway)teaches you is how to do is socialize... so grades don't mean a whole lot as long as you graduate, unless of course you're looking to go to a fancy pants prestigious university...

 

[ChildofGallifrey]

I sympathize OP. My high school was pure garbage. They did some sort of rating with the state school board my senior year, and we were something like 2 points away from being deemed "academically unacceptable". Does graduating with honors from a terrible school just make me an upper echelon idiot? I wonder...

I don't know if they 'taking school for granted', per se. I think it's more of a difficulty in studying things that you're not interested in. Mature people will suck it up and do what they have to do to get through their classes (some more than others), but a great number will just skim by with the bare minimum effort.

I'm no better. When I first started college, I found it hard to apply myself in classes that I didn't care about. I made good grades in my theatre classes (studying to be an actor), but the rest I found it nearly impossible to even go to most of the time. I dropped out, for obvious reasons. Now that I'm studying at an acting studio in NYC, actively studying nothing but what I want to do, I'm doing fantastic. I do quite well in my classes, and I'm always either the first or second one there (sometimes before the staff even gets in to unlock the door).

Obviously, there are things that everyone needs to know no matter what career you have in mind, but some people just can't be bothered with it if they don't see it directly affecting them.

 

[Fanta Grape]

Re-title the thread and then I'll post a proper response. Laughing too hard.

What was the title before?

OT: Yes. Too many dumbasses in my own school don't give a rat's ass about work or anything like it. I actually look at what I'm doing and how it will affect me in the future, and the others? They cut class, get suspended constantly, get low grades and are overall, brain-dead morons.

He wrote granite instead of granted.

 

[Saelune]

School is shit. When school actually works right, then maybe. But right now school is run badly, and makes no sense.