Poll: Feelings about High School

I was surprised by the outpouring of strong negative feelings about high school, after the article about the young girl starting college at 15, and my twins bypassing high school accordingly. So I'm curious, and thus posting a small poll on the matter. I quite liked my fairly large high school in West Los Angeles (about 550 in the graduating class).

 

I had mixed feelings when I first read the poll; I went to a military high school and didn't like it much at the time, but I've come to appreciate what a great experience it was, what a great education I received, and the lasting friendships I made during that time.

So, I voted that they were some of the best years of my life, even though I didn't realize it at the time.

 

I really did feel neutral about it at the time, now....not a bright spot. I can say with 100% certainty that I really had no idea that there was anything else I could have been doing!?!? I was in a few fun activities, the rest was just noise, a place I had to go.

In retrospect, it was a lame education, but no one in my family circle expected anything out of HS other than a diploma, which I got. Check.

 

I liked Columbia Central High School in Brooklyn, Michigan, which I attended from 1976 to 1978, but I hated Fruita Monument High School in Fruita, Colorado, which I attended from 1978 to 1980. Having moved half-way accross the country in my junior year due to my father's job transfer (already mentioned in the Washout Thread), I failed half my classes in the first semester of my junior year and graduated on time with my age peers on May 19, 1980 only due to taking no study halls whatsoever in the second semester of my junior year and in my senior year. I am in support of the individual's right to finish schooling as soon as possible, invcluding finishing an associate's at fifteen if that's what they wish to do.

 

I liked High School. I got pretty good grades without having to work all that hard. I played sports and managed somehow to generally stay out of trouble. There was some not so great social stuff going on but I had enough friends to neutralize most of it.

 

I was a jock in a small rural school - big fish, small pond.

High school was an enjoyable time.

 

HS - waste of time..... for me

I attended an overcrowded HS in a suburb of Los Angeles. I still feel it was a waste of time. With the exception of three teachers, none made a real effort to challenge average students. I missed most of my senior year and still graduated. Of course I didn't apply myself, but I didn't know better...
experiences were great but also a waste of time, "friends" I wont see again, stories to childish to re-tell......

My parents wanted a diploma... otherwise, I would have settled for a GED and probably would have learned more from self studying.

At the time HS seemed like the best time ever.... since then I can pick any four year period and realize I have accomplished so much more in terms of fun and development.

I would definitely support my child's wish if they decide to take an alternative to HS (assuming it was an educated decision).

 

I hate HS, but I enjoyed that time period.

I just wish I had known about the GED and CLEP tests. LOL. I would have totally quit.

 

High school for me was a terrible experience. My high school was so bad in so many ways it's hard to know where to begin. Now that I'm much older and hopefully wiser, I can look back and truly see how bad it was.

There was the occasional exceptional teacher but I now realize that the majority of teachers at my school should not have been there. The ones who stayed long-term were just there for a pay check. Some of them didn't even bother teaching anymore. Phys-ed involved the "coach" throwing basketballs at us and letting us use up the class time goofing off while he went into his office and closed the door. I can only guess what he did in there. The occasional exceptional teacher didn't stay long. They quickly figured out how bad things were and bailed. The facility itself was ancient and did not have a modern heating/cooling system. I was freezing in the winter and roasting in the summer....not a good learning environment. There were many more problems but I'm sure you get the picture.

 

By body was in High School and I did the bare minimum to get by. But pretty much learned on my own reading a great deal and spending time around elderly people who were my real educators. I learned to ,for one example, play the guitar and sing, read music, an interest I still enjoy from a retired musician and it didn't cost me any money just time. He was a friend. Oddly schools fail that miserably you make friends all your own age why not those people older than you are, there are exceptions, but to grow into an adult don't you need strong relationships with adults as a teen? Well I think so.

 

I never attended high school. I actually stopped attending school by age 13 and by that time had missed as much as I had attended. Long story short, mom had some radical beliefs.

Whenever I've been in discussions with people who say they wish they had missed high school because of how emotionally scarred they are, I think these people would have ended up a mess no matter what. At some point one has to accept one's lot in life and accept responsibilty for staying the same or moving on. I probably missed out socially, but I am not the most social person anyway. I am not anti-social, more like non-social. I'm working on it as I see fit. In any case I am at peace with God and with myself.

I'm not sure I missed too much educationally. I used to check out math books from the library when I was a kid. When I started community college I was tutoring several HS graduate classmates in algebra. I'm sure I missed some though.

I do not recommend people follow my lead and skip though. It isn't easier to skip. At the risk of sounding arrogant, most people aren't smart enough to do what I did. I believe most people need the structure and the (at least) minimal level of education it can provide. Plus, sometimes that piece of paper (diploma) can open doors that are much harder to open otherwise.

EDIT
I now have a GED, an AA, and BS in chemistry from Florida State University, and an MS in analytical chemistry from the University of Alabama.

 

I hated high school. We moved between 8th grade and freshman year of high school so I started in a new school, no friends, and being an extreme introvert. I was in high school from 81-85 and it was on the outskirts of NYC (in NJ) so it was a fashion show every day with discussions of which clubs everyone was going to or went to over the weekend and weekdays.

By senior year I made two friends (real friends) and spoke to no one else. I went to the same clubs in NYC as everyone else but I was somewhat of an outcaste. I guess I was just too poor to be on the “inside”.

 

High school for me was best summed up by Dickens, "it was the best of times, it was the worst of times." Luckily, though, nobody had to be sacrificed on the guillotine for me.

At the time, I couldn't stand the educational aspect of high school, but loved the social aspect. One thing I especially loved about high school was being in the band. Great times! I'm a pretty social person, but I just wasn't interested in school back then. I sure am now, but it took a few years, some growing up, and some great people nudging me to get interested in education...

 

But on the flip side, I used to think home schooling was a great idea. Like, just skip all the BS and stay at home and learn, but now that I've met a fair amount of home schooled kids, I realize that social interaction is very important!

Even if the social interaction isn't very delightful, it's still needed to develop proper social skills. As a matter of fact, I think a certain amount of negative social interactions are key to developing into a stable individual.

Most home schooled kids cannot take constructive criticism. They feel like you're judging and attacking them. Point something out to most people and they're like, "Thanks. I missed that." Point out the same thing to a home schooled kid and he's likely to explode about how he knows what he's doing and to stop judging him. They also don't seem to be able to detect sarcasm. They take jokes as if they're serious. Like they haven't been exposed to enough different types of humor.

Another problem is they see their mother and/or father (I've noticed it's almost always the mom) as the one true source of all knowledge. Here's an example, one guy told me drinking milk was bad for you, because the milk contains cow calcium and it takes your bodies own calcium to get rid of it. He knows this because, "My mom told me and she's really smart about food and nutrition."

This is why I feel being bullied is an important thing to go through as a child. It teaches children how to deal with people they don't like. This way when they get to the real world and there's teacher to taddle to the guy about, they have some sort of coping strategy (like ignoring the guy).


So as much as I would have loved to have skipped HS, I think I wouldn't be as complete as a person as I am now. And I also would have missed all the women.

 

I don't think this is specific to homeschoolers. I supervise 72 people with a high turn over rate as they get trained and funnel off to other work centers. They are primarily single men in the 18-22 age bracket. Approximately one quarter of them can not take constructive criticism even when it is backed up with published references. In the three years I have been in the current job, all of my worker bees have been the product of a public education and have come from all 50 states as well as Guam and Puerto Rico.

 

I think I would agree with this point.

I think Dark Dan may have a point about dealing with bullies and people in authority that one may disagree with. I would characterize the lesson as something like "life is not always fair". Parents usually try to protect their kids from this lesson (which I think is really a good thing). However, it is still an important lesson for people to learn.

 

Being unable to handle criticism isn't completely confined to homeschooled children. I'm just asserting that the homeschooled children have a higher rate of being unable to handle criticism.

Most of the younger generation is going to be this way though thanks to the happy feel good you're special and let me remind you everyday parenting style currently going on.

 

That is why Unschooling may be better once a child reaches High School age. I found in my case getting constructive criticism from mentors I respected was a good thing. And often more honest than from a parent of family member, at least from personal experiences I have had.

 

Most home schooled kids cannot take constructive criticism. They feel like you're judging and attacking them. Point something out to most people and they're like, "Thanks. I missed that." Point out the same thing to a home schooled kid and he's likely to explode about how he knows what he's doing and to stop judging him. They also don't seem to be able to detect sarcasm. They take jokes as if they're serious. Like they haven't been exposed to enough different types of humor.

Another problem is they see their mother and/or father (I've noticed it's almost always the mom) as the one true source of all knowledge. Here's an example, one guy told me drinking milk was bad for you, because the milk contains cow calcium and it takes your bodies own calcium to get rid of it. He knows this because, "My mom told me and she's really smart about food and nutrition."
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Dark Dan, that's really cool that you have had the opportunity to have studied over 1 million homeschoolers. Is that your field, or are you just really smart about homeschooling and socialization?

 

I would encourage my homeschooled daughter to reply to you but she's too busy with various social activities.

My experience doesn't square with your description.

Phillip