Filed under: Public School, School, Uncategorized | Tags: ADD, frustration, lessons, life, Public School, ranting, society
I have lived in the same small town for 19 years. I was born here and went from preschool on up to even my first year of college.
I’ll give small towns credit, they do bring people together into a very close-knit “family” of sorts, but living in a veritable social bubble did not prepare me for being a grown up. As I get closer and closer to college, I realize that I’m lacking in so much essential information about lots of things. This is mostly because I went to public school in a school system that focuses on testing rather than learning…and there are many things I wish I had learned.
Public school didn’t teach me to play outside. Recess ended at 6th grade (earlier for some), but the outdoors are crucial to a child’s development long after they shut you in and put you in front of a whiteboard. No wonder so many kids are being misdiagnosed as having ADD or ADHD…they’re anxious to get outside and run around!!
Public school didn’t teach me the darker side of things. There was always a clear definition of right and wrong, but there were times when I knew that the books were biased for or against a certain side. Yes, southerners during the Civil War were slave owners , but President Lincoln wasn’t a hero on a white stallion. Lincoln never even opposed slavery to keep up his approval rating…a true politician. I am now finding out the truth behind many events I thought were set in stone…and it’s an odd feeling.
Public school didn’t teach me to write in cursive. My mother always bragged about her days in Catholic School. The nuns were sticklers for penmenship and my mother, being left handed, was one of the best in her class. I have good handwriting; it’s no John Handcock, but it’s very neat. However, I can’t say the same for most of my classmates. Teachers have become more handwriting interpreters and have turned to Scantron tests to avoid having to read shoddy handwriting. Is that an “A” or a “Q”? I can’t tell.
Public school didn’t teach me that there are other people out there that are different than me. In a town composed of the Caucasian (I hate that word) middle-class, I never really got to experience different culture. I’ve been interested in different culture–small town hasn’t turned me into a bigot–but exposure would have been nice.
Public school didn’t teach me to protest and to change the way my world is. It more taught me how to just accept the way things were because I didn’t know any different. Honestly, it wasn’t all that bad…I just wish that now I had more of a fighting spirit like my hippie parents.
But mostly, public school didn’t teach me anything about Life! I’m leaving for college in a week and I don’t know what to expect. I’m surprised I even know how to write a check or put gas in my car. I can’t believe that I know the quadratic formula but I don’t know how to pay bills or build good credit. I’m being thrown (somewhat) into a “sink-or-swim” situation I have no flotation device. Sure, public school is a wonderful invention that enables every child to get a good education…I’m not doubting that. I just think it should be an option to take a class in practical, real life situations–one that doesn’t teach you to make a great souffle.
So, thank you Public School, for preparing me academically for the real world. I’ll be able to recite all 50 states and find the hypotenuse side of a right triangle, but don’t expect me to understand why I’m $10,000 in debt and don’t expect me to sew on your button.
