- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
Posted by: SevenSEVENseveN
yah man liek we shud al drop out ov scool bcuz lerning isint fun enuf 4 me.
In all seriousness... I think the school system, especially in New York City, is a load of crap. I went from a" decent" private middleschool, to the most prestigious public high school in New York City, if not the whole country. This place, Stuyvesant (after our good dutch friend peter), was a nightmarish example of bad beaurocracy. Coming from a school with a grade size of 40, to a school with a grade size of 800 was quite a jump, and seeing as how most teachers had about 150-200 students, it was easy to get lost. The teachers, a lovely lot, were mostly disgruntled individuals, unable to excell at their passion, but able to get a job teaching it to high school kids, if you were lucky. The other teachers couldn't give two -blam!-s what they were teaching, hell I don't even think half of them knew. Like Mr. Lostal, from Spain, knew barely any english, "taught" Math (after spending 2/3rds of the class explaining how important spain is to him, and how he only sleeps 3 days a YEAR so that he can devote his life to his "beloved matematicas"). This is supposed to be the premire math and science school in the COUNTRY. So let's say you wanted to change your class because it sucked, well that means that you first have to go to the guidance office where they tell you what to do. Which means you have to get a special pass from the dean, even if it's your lunch period. Then you wait for the INTERN to figure out who the hell you are, and then interrogate you on why it's important that you switch classes. After this, YOU have to fill out an immense form, and take it directly to the department head so he can go over it and sign it. Keep in mind this guys is either teaching a class, or out to lunch, NEVER in his office. So after bumbling around for a while, you find this guy, and now HE interrogates you as to why you want to switch classes. Onnce you convince this guy to sign the piece of paper, you gave to take it back to the guidance office, find the same INTERN, and she will put in the request for you. IF it goes through, it takes a week anyway. After this whole process you've probably had to miss about 5 classes, which will automatically mark you absent. The absences will be reported to the deans office, and they will see that you were in school that day, so the classes get marked as cuts. Which your parents recieve an automatic notice of in the mail. The only way to avoid diciplinary action is to get all the passes, notes and papers signed by everyone involved, take that to the deans office, convince him that you ACTUALLY weren't cutting, but changing your classes, which they all look down upon because it brings paperwork their way. Then they give you a note to bring to the attendance office, the people there automatically assume it's a forgery, so they call the dean, and usually by that point he's not there, so you have to wait until he is, and then finally you are cleared of those classes being missed. But wait, the teacher also has to be convinced that you had a proper excuse (most of whom don't believe in excuses), so that they don't take points of your final grade.
I'm glad I left that school after 3 years of complete failure. Took me another 2 years to graduate from an alternative high school. Now I can start my life.
[Edited on 8/23/2004 11:06:58 AM]