I did, until I went away to university.

I was very bright, tended to "get it" the first time something was taught, and had ZERO tolerance for the endless repetition that had to be done for the dummies.

I can remember getting in trouble for telling the teacher, "You already talked about that, last Thursday." And other kids would chime in, "Yeah, you did. Let's move along." And of course, the poor teacher could not come right out and say "Sorry, guys, I have to keep saying it over and over until the dummoids have got at least a partial grip on it."

She couldn't even let the bright ones do something else while she repeated herself ad nauseam to the dummies.

Even in elementary school, I would have a book in my lap and read as the teacher droned on, or else draw, write a letter, or do something else to amuse myself when the teacher would go over some concept for the forty-leventh time. I didn't talk or bother anyone, but I definitely tuned out. But I still managed to score As in everything but math, which I did my best to ignore altogether.

I know we have some teachers here - how did you deal with this? Teaching the dummies while not boring the bright kids half to death with repetition?

Hopefully it won't be long before every kid gets his/her own personal AI being to help guide and educate the little rug rat, and let the parents have real lives...

Of course I kid...

But how cool would it be to have an AI companion that kept you safe, answered all your questions and pointed you to good, wholesome learning. Sort of like Google with arms, legs and an AR-15.

The guy that wrote Zen and the Art of motorcycle maintenance was an English professor I believe.

He observed the kids they got A’s were fairly bright, B’s less so and C’s less so. But he noted that the kids getting D’s and F’s – those were the ones to look out for because they were the truly brilliant kids in the classroom.

I liked school and was pretty much a straight A student. But I really don't think school or teachers are on the caliber of what we used to have in the 60s and early 70s. I usually went to summer school just because it was better than hanging around my dysfunctional family. In high school I liked it because it gave me extra credits so I only had to take 1 class my senior year.

Back in the 60s in California you had to take the Constitution Test to graduate from 8th grade. I mean you spent the whole entire year in Social Studies prepping for that test and if you didn't pass it you had to go to summer school for tutoring until you did. I think the state stopped that a year or two after I took it. But I still remember so much. And I can still quote the entire preamble. I know that I learned more about the constitution than most of our politicians (especially the orange ones) know now. We need that so badly now. The people who spout the word "Constitution" the loudest know the least about it. I will still never get over Sarah Palin being asked what she thought the worst Supreme Court Case was and she said "I'll have to think about it and get back to you." She couldn't even come up with Roe v. Wade.

I remember the teacher going on and on about how wonderful it was, and I was bored witless.

I appreciate it a lot more as an adult than I ever did as a student.

Nope. Loved it.

Fortunately, I mostly avoided the "vain repetitions" stuff. Got put into what was then called the "gifted and talented" program pretty early (3rd grade -- I'm not bragging, I swear, it's what happened no matter what you may assume about me now!), which was loosely structured independent study, and that worked out really well for me and the other kids I was with. Stayed in that kind of situation through high school.

Still, memorization has its value. I got an award for the fastest ever at the school to do the "20x20" test (write down every multiplication value from 1x1 to 20x20 in a grid) -- 22 seconds, at Sam Levy Elementary School in Torrance, CA. I memorized those, but doing so I actually figured out on my own how to do multiplication really fast in my head, of any number x any number. It's been really useful -- who needs a calculator? I recently bought a new car, and the finance guy had given me a probable interest rate, and monthly payment based on it. He came back and bit later and said he'd gotten me 1/2 percent lower interest rate...without batting an eye, I told him the new monthly payment (actually I was off by 3 cents, but close enough). He looked at me and said, "How the heck did you know that?" 3rd grade math, buddy, that's how :)

Probably no wonder I got my master's in math, huh? Yeah...geek. :)

In fourth grade the other fourth grade class challenged us to a 'multiplication bee', where the goal wasn't to spell a word but to come up with the product of the two announced numbers within the time limit.

Gogg-gam but I was proud of myself and I boastfully announced that I would uphold the honor of Mrs. Rauch's class! I felt a slight bit of nervousness as we filed out of our classroom and walked the few feet to the entrance of the other classroom. The other class was already lined up against one wall and we lined up against the other, and I boldly put myself at the end, to be first.

The other teacher looked at me and said, "6 x 3" I stared blankly back at her. I had not memorized 6 x 3. What the hell was that! 6 x 3? What???

TIME!!

I sat down in the middle of the classroom, all eyes on me, humiliated...

Had she said 3 x 6, of course I would have nailed it...

But I still loved school.

When you're in the moment, being happy, you're not looking at a stop watch.

That said, my greatest length of time, sustained over-the-top, complete joy, happiness and satisfaction, occurred from September 1961 to May 1962, otherwise known as Senior Year at Rancho High. Junior year was pretty damn satisfying, too.

Yes. I went to eight different schools growing up, and I was always the new kid who didn't know anyone. I took a lot of bullying, and experienced no real bonding with either teachers or students. I was embarrassed by my poverty and my nervousness. When my father was involved with the school administration, my treatment was even worse, because people hated him, and they told their kids he was evil, so the kids bullied me even more. I think I learned almost everything I knew in libraries, hiding from bullies.

I never went to school until I went to college. Everything before that was a warehouse of pain. Even so, I hated church more.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/24/2017 07:47PM by donbagley.

Loved it.

The problem for me was that I didn't earn my degree due to difficulty with algebra. Tomorrow, I'm going to point out to my counselor that I got A's in everything else--even the highest grade in class in many, including Linguistics. Going to see what I can do despite the math problem.

Denying a diploma based on algebra deficit seems like disqualifying a marathon runner for missing fingers on his left hand.

Going to see what I can do. Never too old to learn. Never too old to hang my diploma on the wall.

language majors. I did very well at most things that were not related to math or science.

My parents drove me to distraction about math. I will never forget how crushed I felt in 5th or 6th grade when I came home, waving a multiple-page paper that I had worked very hard on, calling out, "I got an A-plus on that paper about Brazil!!" Reaction from Mother: "What about your math?"

I think I just went to my room and shut the door.

I never darkened the door of another math classroom after Geometry I in my sophomore year, in high school. And I never needed all those little x and y things that they liked to stir in with numbers. Never EVER, in real life, just as I had predicted as a kid.

No, except two years when I went to a school full of asshats, which combinated with the bad relationship with my dad contributed to two of the worst years of my life, I became a compulsive liar and a cyclothymic (sometimes I was crying next to my grandma, the following day I was mistreating someone).
Then when Mom discovered that Dad was an adulterer, everything changed, life was calmer because Dad was like "on probation", so I realized that I was sh#t, and started my life from zero (BTW I was in other school at that time).
Then the high school years were so much better, I was a popular boy known for making funny and unorthodox things.

I can relate to nearly every post here.

I'm a high school and college dropout and quite proud of the fact that I can outsmart many educators. You couldn't pay me the tea in China to go back to anyone's school.

yes

I got to go to a private girl's school, because my father was a professor at the university that sponsored it, and he got a discount on the tuition. I loved school! We began learning French and Spanish in the fourth grade. I accompanied school musical performances, and some of the singing groups. I wrote my own musical, and our school class performed it for the lower classes, and it was such a hit that we performed it for the entire school, then for other schools, and for hospitals and senior centers. We did a lot of charity work, in our school. In elementary school, we had different teachers for different classes, like in high school. My English teacher helped me get some poetry published in various National literary magazines. I was always winning various awards--the school knew how to motivate, encourage, and reward. I was always playing in tennis tournaments. I became a tennis and swimming and singing instructor there in the summers. We had horseback riding for P.E! It was every girl's dream!

I went to the public high school, for my last three (really 2) years, and I loved that, too! I was in some plays, in the aquacade, on the tennis team, and won the talent show both years. It was fun to go to the same school as my boyfriend. He and I were in all the same "gifted" classes. (I'm glad they don't use the term "gifted", anymore!)

The best school year for me was the year I spent in Sweden, as an exchange student.

School was where I could be myself, where I could shine. My older brother was the neighborhood bully, and I was his prime target. He manipulated my parents into thinking that he was the one being picked-on all the time. He did get beaten-up a few times, by others who were protecting the victims my brother was assaulting. My parents never did anything to protect me, which made me feel I was not important enough. They never acknowledged my accomplishments (straight A's). I was expendable, like a punching bag used for him to vent his anger upon. He could beat me any time he felt like it, steal and break my toys, destroy my homework, embarrass me in front of my friends, humiliate me with verbal sexual abuse. The school teams and the rehearsals and my friends and the blessed, quiet library kept me away from the Hell of my dysfunctional Mormon family.

I never had a car, only a bicycle, which I kept at my neighbor's house, to keep my brother from breaking it. My father taught me how to maintain and repair a bicycle, and we used to ride bikes together. When my father died, my brother took all of our (expensive) bicycles to the city dump. My brother died last year, and he had two unresolved sexual harassment lawsuits against him. Psychopaths never change. Without that, my growing-up years would have been too perfect, I suppose. My "sad and misunderstood" brother never married, couldn't keep a job (because of his temper), and lived in my parents' house all his life. He was the darling of the ward, the ward project, and Mormons were always setting him up on dates. He went on a mission, and when the mission president wanted to send him home after 6 months, my father donated a car to the mission, and kept my brother assigned to the mission home, to avoid the humiliation of being sent home early.

My brother HATED school--always. He was always being sent home, because of his bad behavior. He hated his mission, too. Hated his jobs. Hated life.

Kathleen, I identify with you! When I went back to school as an adult(dropped out of college the first time due to pregnancy) I ended up being an art major because I could not pass the algebra classes for other majors, even after taking the course several times. This even though I did extremely well in literature, history, and psych courses and ok in science classes that did not need a lot of math. When I first went back to community college I had to take a test and came out grad school level in English skills, about 4th grade in math.

Schools never knew what to do with me, I could not be in the gifted class because I was anything but gifted in math. They did not recognize this as a learning disability back in the day, just said I must be lazy. I am so sick of people telling me if i had the right teacher or method I could have passed algebra. I honestly can not comprehend it. I eventually solved the problem in real life by marrying a gifted mathematician:-)

I hated school with a burning passion from day one. I wanted to be home with my mom, not in child prison. I read at three years old because my mom taugnt me, as it turned out mom would be the best teacher I'd have! Once we progressed past arithmetic, I discovered I was poor at math.In addition, I learned I was the creative type and excelled at writing. I was also quite ornery. I hoped to be kicked out of school once and for all. The school's response was to classify me. This exposed me to dangerous characters in my classes, most of whom either had Down's or were obviously under the influence of hard drugs. No one cared. We were the throwaway kids,used to gain funding. I graduated high school on a fourth grade math level. I wasn't taught punctuation either, but as a reader and someone with an aptitude for English I was able to purchase a book and teach myself. At 32 years old, my father in law taught me of The Civil War. I'm now 36,last night my.husband explained The Revolutionary War. My point is, I went to high school in the northeast (lots of liberal elites and high funding), but still learned nothing. Adding insult to injury, in ninth grade I was repeatedly mentally and sexually abused by a classmate. He was kicked out after threatening to bomb the school. He did not belong around other children, but you know..
.funding. What a joke.

Not sure I like your description of those who did not learn as quickly as you as "dummies." They could have had trouble concentrating (ADD), dyslexia, an unfavorable home life that affected their school work, etc. Also, not everyone learns the same way: some do really well with traditional teaching methods and others benefit from other forms of teaching.

It's not easy being the one with a learning disability or who does not benefit from traditional teaching methods, especially when they are referred to as dummies.

I was not a good student. I had a father who would spank me if I didn't know the correct answer to a math problem and to this day my brain freezes when an adult, especially one in an authoritative role, asks me a question. I had trouble concentrating; I was always daydreaming and looking out the window during the lesson. I guess I was one of the "dummies" you described.

I didn't do well in school, but I enjoyed going. I was one of those C students that got by, but never excelled. I can't blame it on a bad home life or anything else. I guess I was just slow.

It didn't get much better. I had to work hard in college to get average grades, but I managed to slog it out and go on for a MS and then Ph.D in geology. I've been a professional geologist for the last 27 years.

So, some of those dummies and dummoids probably hated having you in their classroom as much as you hated having them in yours.

The only year I would say I hated school was 6th grade. I had a teacher that only taught two subjects, Math and Minnesota History. So when she got boring I would pull the books from the subjects she did not teach out of my desk and start reading them. Then I would kicked out of class, sent to the Principal and she would let me read said book in peace. I probably got kicked out of class at least 4 days a week.

I figured the school would not have given me books in other subjects if I was not supposed to be learning them.

No; I hated church as a kid.

oneinbillions Wrote:
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> No; I hated church as a kid.


Me too.

I didn't "hate" school, I just hated the idea of having to go there. I hated math, I loved art and everything else and I loved being with my friends and having fun, which I did. Some of my teachers I hated and I got kicked out of a history class once
because I talked back to the teacher, he was a pompus pain in the ass. All in all it was pretty damn good.

I loooved recess that's all i know.

We had a teacher elementary school teacher who beat the sh:t out of us until my dad intervened.

Of course I hated school. I was timid and I was constantly bullied.

Yes. I was confused & behind & failing but testing into advanced classes. School sucked. Turns out I have adhd.

Depended on the teacher(s). Depended on the friends. I, like Mother Who Knows, had my own family bully. She was 17 months older than I am and she made my life in high school a living hell most of the time. I was so glad when she moved out. She was also a bully. I won't go into what she did. I was just thinking there were a few things she didn't do to me, but I was wrong. I just don't like to think about things she did. My parents also didn't know what to do with her, so it was my job to handle her. She wouldn't allow me to speak at church (oftentimes in the same class as they would combine beehives, laurels, etc.) I couldn't talk in sports and I couldn't talk in school and I must be with her mornings walking the hall. Thankfully, I never had lunch with her. Our best friends came from the same family and she always told me they thought I was dumb so to keep my mouth shut and that they made fun of me behind my back.

I did well in school. I could have done better, but I only put forth all my energy in those classes that I enjoyed. I did the best of all my parents' kids. I only did 2 semesters of college and did well, but I wanted to go to work as a secretary and I loved it (out at Thiokol).

Myself and another girl were always top of our classes in elementary school. We'd compete and we were very close. Her parents weren't active mormon and so when we hit jr. high, she went her way and I went mine. I never had a friend again in school or church like her. I liked all my elementary school teachers. I had my favorites in upper grades, too.

I didn't really hate school so much as I was ill equipped for it.

I was classified a gifted student back in grade school. Without the discipline and study skills needed to go with that to really succeed in school, my having the potential to be an outstanding student just made me feel that much more disadvantaged.

By junior high is around the time I was becoming a rebellious teenager. So there I lost opportunities to shine as a student because I was busy getting in trouble instead. Being a middle child in the family I was a social butterfly.

If I'd had better study skills and had had a supporting family to have really shone in my schooling I believe I would have had a better chance at a good education.

My children, on other hand, were excellent students. They had outstanding study skills, self-discipline to do well. Both were very successful in their school goals. I wasn't overbearing on them to get good grades. They were very self-motivated and self-directed. It was my goal to have a stable home life so they could succeed despite my being a single working mother.

I was a late bloomer starting college later in life; pursuing a graduate degree in mid-life. It was important to me that my children received a good education to give them a good start in life. And they did. It came at a price, since they grew wings and became very independent. I'm proud of each one of them.