# school vent/rant



## Hedgian (Aug 18, 2014)

This contains some sensitive material under the vent section just so you know.
This is actually kind of embarrassing so I'll start with the rant.

Schools just suck. In the US they just load you with homework and give little explanation on how to do it. It is a horrible system and there's not much else I can say about it since I forgot literally everything I had planned to say. Wow. 

vent:
If you had read my earlier post on good-ish news (update) you know I had to get 4 a's or b's to get Jojo 2 companions. Well that didn't work out too well considering I have still a lot of spanish and math and a bit of english to do and it's ALL due at midnight on the 23rd. I just can't do it. I am most likely going to have to re-home Jojo which I feel awful about to begin with. I just feel absolutely dreadful and like a failure for allowing myself to fall so far behind in my schoolwork. I am so stressed I am literally in tears nearly all the time and have been almost constantly working on my work. I can get everything done except math I think. I just can't do math and I am on the verge of just curling up and giving up. I am so sleep deprived it physically hurts to keep my eyes open and every time i blink I feel like I am going to pass out. On top of it I have done some things I am not really proud of in the past day (not going into detail but I am sure you can get a vague understanding) I don't know what to do now. I doubt my mom would understand. She'd just see I didn't get a's and b's and that I didn't earn the companions for Jojo. She won't see that I stayed up till at least 5am working on this crappy work then crying myself to sleep when I can't bare to keep my eyes open anymore. Should I just give up and start finding a new home for Jojo?


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## Jess <3 (Jan 23, 2014)

Your mom was probably trying to get you motivated with your grades by promising more rats but instead stressed you out instead. No matter what grade you get, if you explain that you tried your best and the importance of getting Jojo companions then she may come around.


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## Hedgian (Aug 18, 2014)

I have explain the importance and that's actually why I do have Jojo. He was originally going to be a companion for Blaze but turns out Blaze is extremely aggressive towards other rats (yet extremely friendly towards humans) 
And with my parents apparently I am never trying my best. They think I am this all knowing 15 year old that's suppose to get everything done and ace it. Whenever I say "I tried my best" they just say I didn't and that I am capable of more when I am really really not. I can try begging and pleading but I don't think it'd get me very far.


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## anawelch (Sep 25, 2013)

The american education system is a joke. I went to a very, very difficult school with kids whose parents thought that anything less than a 5.0 gpa didn't mean bull poop. And this was public school. It was harder than ever private school in the area and I lived in a very rich part of North Texas. In short, I know how you feel. I used to vomit when I would get bad grades because I was so afraid to tell my parents. I would go into hysterics and have a panic attack before I would receive my report cards. It got to a point where I was actually suffering in school because I was so stressed out. So I let myself take a breath. I destressed and began to set realistic goals for myself. If I got an 82 for the six weeks (our grading period) then my goal for the next six weeks was an 85 and so on. You can't let yourself wound too tightly. You'll just snap. Relax and get done what you can. If you don't make the grades you need to make then you need to approach your parents calmly and rationally and give them your plans for improvement. Make a detailed overview of what you plan to improve and actually go through with it. Make sure you are setting realistic goals for yourself.


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## Hedgian (Aug 18, 2014)

kindergarten through 8th grade I had gone to a charter school which works a grade higher than the grade (example: 6th grade would be doing 7th grade math) luckily it was a smaller school so it was easier for me to get help but it was still extremely stressful and triggered a lot of things in me. For 9th grade I went to a normal highschool. It was pretty basic but to me it was ****. I was not use to so many people I was so lost and stressed with my social life and my educational life I just gave up completely and barely passed any of my classes. This year I am going to an online school which is actually so much more stressful than I thought. It easier in the social department for me since I am essentially a hermit, but educationally it is extremely frustrating. It is hard for me to keep track of my grades when the teachers don't fix missings or never put in the work to begin with. (or have a complete bullcrap teacher that singles you out of everything and yells at you when your peers do the same exact thing) then with some classes all the work is jumbled and isn't labeled what I have to do with each week. I just figured out I don't actually know how much spanish I have to do. I thought it was just the 9 units but now that I look at it it may be 18 units which has just doubled my stress and since it's 2:30am I can't expect an email back from my teacher until much later. Then in my school success class I have everything turned in yet it shows half of it's missing and I haven't the slightest idea on who to email about that. (Ended up emailing my mom so she can figure it out since I am too sleep deprived to deal with it) 

It's hard for me to set a goal for myself since what ever I say counteracts with what my parents think so I am always expected to live up to their standards which is too much for me which they should know by now considering how many break downs I have had in the past few years. It's also hard not to let myself get wound too tightly at this point since I have maybe 1 and a half days to get all of this finished and then the little bit of social life I have left is going haywire and I don't know what to do. I just want the 23rd to come already so I can deal with the consequences then sleep for 10 days before dealing with anything ever.


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## Hedgian (Aug 18, 2014)

I've pretty much given up for now. I've decided to just ignore everything and read for awhile to calm down and see if I am up to continuing work later and if not then I will shoot my mom and email saying I did my best (email because i'd of forgotten by morning)


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## Tesumph (Aug 12, 2014)

Yep, been there, am there, was there, etc. I get incredibly anxious about school. (if you've read my previous rant, my anxiety is partly the reason I ended up in hospital. Thanks school.) I eat, sleep, and breathe math right now, so if I can be any help in that department, let me know. I'm in pre-cal/advanced trig, pretty much finished with geometry and algebra. I often help out my friends and would love to help you if you think it's possible. c:


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## Hedgian (Aug 18, 2014)

Right now I am in geometry which I thought would be easy for me but boy was I wrong D: If you're really up to helping i'd be glad to accept the help ;u;


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## Tesumph (Aug 12, 2014)

I would love to. My homework this week is slightly lighter than usual, so I've got time. I'm better at alg and trig than geo, but I think I'm past what you're doing, so I should know it. Post your confusion here or a picture or message me, I don't care.


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## kksrats (Jul 25, 2014)

I've recently been tutoring one of my clients in geometry and I must say....I still hate high school geometry even 10 years after I had to take it. All of the stupid theorems and postulates regarding how to prove two angles or segments are equal or not equal is just ridiculous. Seriously, I still remember how to tell if those things are equal or not, but I couldn't rattle off any of the theorems to save my life, so why bother teaching it that way?! No one remembers definitions in math lol Anywho, I know how you feel and I'm glad you took some time to unwind after that. I'd like to say it gets easier, but I can't, you just get used to dealing with it eventually....I guess that I can say geometry gets easier after you get through the first half; triangles and circles are easy!


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## Pandorascaisse (Mar 12, 2014)

High school is the worst thing in existence. No, seriously. 

I'm not trying to be over-dramatic - not at all. But in Kindergarten through 7th grade I was an A+ student. They even considered skipping me grades. I was in honors all through middle school... but in 7th grade I started taking "advanced (high school level)" things. In 8th grade I took some regents exams, which for those of you who don't know, in New York we have exams where at the end of the year, that exam counts as an ENTIRE other semester added onto your grade. So if you have a 100 average all 4 semesters of the class, but you get an 80 on the regents exam because it was bull-hockey (and some of them were) - you don't have a 100 average anymore.

I started failing classes the minute they were high school level. It was so strange to me - I used to cry and kick and scream whenever I would get a B. It was because most of your grade is counted on Homework, which is (pardon my french) crap. Absolute crap. Not everyone has time every night to do ALL of the homework they give you. And if you don't understand and can't do the homework - for some teachers, it's too bad so sad.

When I was in 10th grade, I started taking AP classes. Boy, were they hard. But I managed to stay afloat in most - I had to fail others to get myself out because they wouldn't let me out. Literally made me stay in. The AP tests were hard, and I can say I learned very little in any of them... besides English, totally worth it. Staying afloat in them meant an 85, and because the "passing" grade was so high, many of the teachers were far more lenient. 

Then I started taking college classes... and lo and behold, I was turning into an A student again. 12th grade was my BEST year (surprise!) because I was taking mostly non-high school classes.

Now that I'm back to college, doing the exact same thing I did in high school, I'm making A's and B's. Mostly A's with a high B here and there. It's so weird to think about how much high school sucked... when I'm not doing anything different. Just keep your nose to the grindstone and keep working to aim for *college*. High school means nothing more than getting into a college of your choice. It will never have a baring on your life again once you are out of it. Find out what the college you wants GPA is, exceed it if you can or meet it, and don't worry about the rest.


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## Mrs.Brisby (Jan 4, 2014)

Since we're all on the subject of how much high schools suck. How about the teachers? I mean i've had good teachers but some of the people they hire are just pathetic. I took three years of Spanish and I can't speak a single word of it because all three years consisted of crossword puzzles and word searches while occasionally watching Anthony Bourdain visit Spanish speaking countries. If you weren't already fluent in Spanish the only way you could pass your finals was with the help of google translate. I had another teacher, a history teacher, who almost cost me my high school graduation by giving me the wrong final and of course it was all my fault and he wasted no time lecturing me in front of the entire class.


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## kksrats (Jul 25, 2014)

We had such a high turnover rate for Spanish teachers where I grew up, you were lucky if you had the same teacher for the entire year but you could bet they'd be gone next year. My Spanish education consisted of watching movies in Spanish with English subtitles. I've learned more living in a predominantly Spanish speaking city for two years than I did in however many years of Spanish classes I had. I lived in a very small town, so competition for teachers was slim and you could end up having 2-3 generations of family taught by the same horrible teacher.


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## Pandorascaisse (Mar 12, 2014)

Kksrats, same goes for where I went to school. Small town... most teachers went to the school or had been teaching there for 30+ years. We had good teachers... we had bad teachers. 

I'm very lucky that central New York (in general) has a very good French program. I took French for 6 years, and though I can't speak it well that's not because I wasn't taught how - that's because of my own anxiety. I had two teachers that went back and fourth... but I know our Spanish kids suffered horribly. There were far more Spanish teachers, new ones, subs, and their teachers were having babies and on maternity leave at least once or twice in those 6 years. We had our two French teachers both go out on maternity leave, but the difference was that they got FRENCH substitutes and we had the same one for the whole time. The Spanish kids got whoever they got.

I know I had one history teacher who made us do presentations and recorded them and we got grades for how "presentable" we looked - that we weren't aware of. We all got grades on TOP of our paper saying if we looked good enough or not. It was pretty creepy. 

Other than that and our GYM teachers, though, we had pretty good teachers in most departments. Our math department was 1/2 and 1/2 on good and bad. Our school was a pretty lax one - my graduating class was around 120 or less. Nothing major. But I was lucky. I got caught in a grace period with no teachers leaving or coming in. When I was in 12th grade we got a lot of new teachers for the younger children... brand new teachers + 1st year students... I've been hearing it's horrible and confusing, not just for the students, but for the teachers too.

They can make it better or worse. However, when it comes down to it, even "good" teachers are bound by a "bad" school system. There's nothing they can do to change it if they want to keep their jobs, other than make accommodations for their students and try to present the information in a better manner or teach more creatively. Even then, for some students, depending on their learning style, it can be awful to learn that way too.


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## Hedgian (Aug 18, 2014)

(1st through 10th) 
Considering I went to a charter school majority of my life I had basically the same "extra" teachers (extras as in music, spanish, art etc any class aside for my core classes) I got a long really nicely with majority of them but some of my core class teachers (which changed every year except 7th-8th) I didn't not get along with thus I failed those classes. I failed them because I was to distracted by trying not to get the teacher pissed off at me that I wasn't able to focus on my work. In 5th grade we had to correct other people's math homework and my friend had gotten her's back with a note saying "too messy" so she asked me if it looked too messy and I simply said "no" nothing else and that's all I had said the entire class. Of course the teacher goes into a fury like I had killed her unborn child or something and I tried to defend myself but she'd have none of it...

My spanish teachers however, I have had maybe 5(?) spanish teachers throughout my school life. (Technically 4 because we switched teachers with the other class like a month into the year.) My overall spanish teacher experience has been rather pleasant. 1 that I had had 1-7th I was really close with and was probably the only teacher that likes me the entire time I was at that school. 7-8th I had my all time favorite teacher for spanish. She may have been a little strict with me at times but that was just for my own good since I had a really hard time getting my work done. Sometimes if I needed help she'd just let me come down to her office and we'd eat m&ms and do work. She's probably the only teacher I miss after leaving the school. In 9th grade I had another rather pleasant spanish teacher. She was very friendly and put a fun twist to the learning. We rarely did actual worksheets or had homework. We did a lot of activities and it was fun. (She also gave us coffee and candy and hot chocolate <3) This year I don't really know my teacher. Since I do online school it's a little weird. I know all my core class teachers but the spanish one doesn't do her classes the same so I haven't talked to her other than 2 emails I sent her. 

Other than the teacher I mentioned earlier I think I have only had one other bad teacher. This year my history teacher is absolutely horrible. First let me explain how the virtual classes work. Every tuesday we have this classes we need to attend (or watch a recording) and it has this spot where the teacher can display the lesson, it has a chat box for the students, and a bunch of other features. Well with my history teacher he asks us seemingly stupid questions such as stuff about sports which isn't at all relevant to the topic since we're learning about the industrial revolution (this is like the 3rd year in a row for me and I don't know why since I have been passing my history classes) one question was "Know any football teams?" (we sat there for like half an hour discussing it and the classes are only 1 hour long) and I simply said "Don't really care for sports" 1 person before me had said something similar and the teacher said nothing and a couple people after said something similar and he actually laughed at those. But ooh no not me. "That's not what I asked Anna." in the first class we ever had someone was having troubles with something while the teacher had asked if we could access something and I was JUST trying to help and of course, I get yelled at. In the same class he gave us a group assignment (worked on via google drive) and half of us didn't understand so I asked him about it and he just said "read the instructions" wow thanks that helps SO much sorry I didn't think to read the instructions BEFORE I asked you, oh wait, i did. The next class he actually _complained _about how many confused students he got emails from. He even straight up told us to not ask him about assignments to ask our peers. You're the _teacher _for god's sake. My peers probably know as little as I do.


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## webspinnr (Jul 27, 2014)

I wouldn't of survived middle and high school without my grandma who was a math teacher at another school. She was the only one who could ever get through to me and help me understand. School is rough. Hang in there. Plow through and you'll come out on the other side knowing how to handle unbelievable stress and impossible situations. Which come to think about it might be the whole point. That's insidious.


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## ksaxton (Apr 20, 2014)

Wow I'm sorry you're so stressed, high school is evil! I got to the point where I decide to give up stressing about high school because at the end of the day the stuff I was learning didn't matter. I just did anything I needed to to get the grade and pass. I was one of those students who put in very little effort and yet always got good grades. I went to an evil private school where the curriculum was crap and the teachers were just there either for money or to lord over the students and exercise control (what I lovely Christian school I know!)


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## ratty213 (Aug 16, 2014)

School is the worst. I was and still mostly am an A student. From 1-6 grade I went to a private school that was very strict. I had A+ in every class especially math. Then when I went to a public school and the math teacher was terrible she yelled at me the first week for asking a question on how to do something. I hated her so much, I got Cs in her class. I even went during my lunch to make up the work but she would tell me the work wasn't good enough but wouldn't tell me what was wrong with it. I had gone from and A+ at a better school to a C in the public school. When my PSSAs came back I got advanced placement in everything INCLUDING MATH which the teacher told me my work wasn't right hmm....

Now this year for science I forgot to turn something in in time and she marked it as a temporary 0 on the portal(a place where u can view your grades) so it dragged my grade from a A to D in one day. When I saw my grade on the portal I almost threw up. My dad would of flipped at a B let alone a D. I am still trying to negotiate with the teacher and she says that she still needs to enter in the real grade and she will consider extra credit. School sucks.
Sorry I also needed to rant about this bull crap they give at school


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## PawsandClaws (Jul 22, 2014)

It is really unfortunate that the kind of teacher you have really affects your grade. I loved my English teacher and received top grades in that class but whenever she was replaced, I felt like I was being picked on by the new guy. I agree that school is a miserable experience. Things improve so much in University. I love the independence of it all and how it never feels personal. I did excel in school but felt that as I grew older, I enjoyed it significantly less.


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## Hedgian (Aug 18, 2014)

Everyone can use this thread to rant about their school problems. Maybe the government will see it one day and realize they need to change something and quick.


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