There are generally three stages to my back to school experience:
1. Idealism
2. Loathing
3. Realism
Idealism is the stage immediately before school starts that continues for the first week or so (it's over for me now). The end of the first weekend usually brings it to a close. This stage is characterised by ambitious goals and resolutions, general optimism and a miss-placed belief that "School isn't so Bad". It is. School is Bad.
Loathing is where I crash too after the high of idealism. The realities of school hit me, perhaps a little too hard and I gain a deep seated belief that "I hate School". Interestingly enough, my standard of work never really drops perceptibly between these stages, which may tell you something about where my motivation comes from. This stage is characterised by complaints and bad-humour, general despair and a miss-placed belief that "School is Bad from Top to Bottom, Devoid of Good." It isn't. It had good points.
Realism is the stage I have not yet reached this year, the stage I spend most of most school years in (4th year was a bad year. I reverted back to Loathing pretty quickly and stayed there. Not fun). In this stage, I am aware of the good and bad points of school and am able to look at them more or less objectively and reach a conclusion that "School is Manageable". Which it is. This stage is characterised by complaints and realistic goals, a level enough mind-set and the realistic (I think) belief that "School is Manageable" and it's going to be fine.
Anyway, on a less joke-y note, (WARNING: this gets kind of dark and serious) the thing that's worrying me most about this year isn't the school work. I generally find that easy enough, if time consuming. It isn't the people. I've got enough friends to be able to not care about everyone else. It isn't the exams. I find those easy too, and they're ages away.
No. What's worrying me is myself. I used to have a whole awful lot of faith in myself and in my ability to deal with the everyday grind of life, and school, and silly teachers and homework and all the rest. Sure, why wouldn't I? I'm a Good Student. I get good grades. Of course I can manage everything about school. All the time.
Then 4th year happened. And shit hit the fan. And all sorts of Not Fun things were going on and I couldn't deal.
And how I'm worried. It worries me every morning.
You can miss days and miss work and space out in class in TY and no one really notices or cares, especially if you're a Good Student who can bluff pretty well. But not in 5th year. If I miss a day this year, I'm going to know all about it. Not just from my parents, but it'd be a lot of work catching up. I can't afford to let it happen again.
But knowing what I know, I know it's not a choice. People don't choose to quietly fall apart inside their heads, completely ignorant of how to put themselves back together. That's not a choice. And I don't know what choices would lead to that happening again.
So here I am, trying to avoid something bad happening. But I don't know what causes it, except in broad strokes. And I sure as hell don't know how to avoid it happening again.
It's like living your life bare-foot. Having a bare-foot mind. You have to step carefully and slowly all the time in case you step on something sharp and awful and Not Good. I have to step carefully in my mind when I'm trying to get something done. I have to think about it enough that it'll get done, but not so much that it'll stress me about and make me feel sick and won't get done.
It's a tricky business.
So, yeah, school. I'm really hoping this year is going to be okay. I'm hoping Loathing won't last too long, because I'm not sure I'll be able to stick it for much longer.
Showing posts with label back to school. Show all posts
Showing posts with label back to school. Show all posts
Monday, 2 September 2013
Saturday, 31 August 2013
School Blues
Good afternoon,my dear readers.
It's Aoife here again for my first blog of the school year.
Back to School;
This weeks theme is back to school, which I'm sure everyone has something to say about, so here's my piece.
I love learning and being challenged to approach things for different perspectives but that doesn't mean I love school. In fact, sometimes I thinks it exactly the opposite. In school we learn to beat the exam and how to pass tests by cramming as much knowledge into our heads in the five minutes before the exam as possible. But that is not what school should be about, school should be a place where learning is encouraged and curiosity is rewarded rather than a place where you are punished for not having the correct jacket or forgetting to bring in a piece of homework which you did complete. In my opinion schools are too focused on results and so actually learning for learning's sake gets pushed to the wayside.
Exams and test all focus on accessing your ability to parrot what others have said without actually accessing your understanding and ability to apply that knowledge to the world around you. The exam system teaches us not to think for ourselves but to simple reiterate the same old spiel of why we think that Romeo is our favourite character in Romeo and Juliet, when really we think Romeo is a self-obsessed fool who wouldn't know what sense is if it smacked him in the face with his own story.
Sorry but sometimes school just feels like a cage meant to strangle all creativity and imagination until all that's left is a hollow husk of half understood theories and phrases. Sometimes I wonder what it is that the Education System is trying to teach us but as far I can see, it certainly isn't independent thought and the dive to gain a better understanding of the world.
Also I think the whole idea of school is too set in it's way of teaching and accessing potential. There are so many gifted people in this world who struggle with school simple because they see things in a different light. Some people struggle with all the learning involved in school and feel foolish for it but it is just that they excel in area's that aren't measured by tests. For instance, a kid who is totally gifted with technology of any kind, who could explain the mechanics of a V8 engine by the time he was eight gets letters home because his grades in English, Spanish and Irish are terrible. It doesn't mean that he is a fool or that he doesn't work hard, it's just that he can't parrot back what the teacher tells him. For me, this is one of the biggest failings of the Education system- in that it can't understand or except those who can not follow it's rules.
I could go on all day about this but I'm pretty busy doing all this pointless homework so I better wrap this up.
For all it's faults and failings, there are some things I like about school. I love to learn and understand new things, I love meeting with my friends, I love the teachers that love to teach and are very good at it and lastly I love the fact that I have access to education and the possibilities that it brings.
I think that about wraps things up.
I'll see you next week unless I die of Education overdose before then,
See ya,
Aoife
P.S: I'll go the punishment tonight once I buy some eggs. I tell you how it goes in next weeks post.
It should be......interesting( definitely), memorable (probably) and tasty (hopefully)
It's Aoife here again for my first blog of the school year.
Back to School;
This weeks theme is back to school, which I'm sure everyone has something to say about, so here's my piece.
I love learning and being challenged to approach things for different perspectives but that doesn't mean I love school. In fact, sometimes I thinks it exactly the opposite. In school we learn to beat the exam and how to pass tests by cramming as much knowledge into our heads in the five minutes before the exam as possible. But that is not what school should be about, school should be a place where learning is encouraged and curiosity is rewarded rather than a place where you are punished for not having the correct jacket or forgetting to bring in a piece of homework which you did complete. In my opinion schools are too focused on results and so actually learning for learning's sake gets pushed to the wayside.
Exams and test all focus on accessing your ability to parrot what others have said without actually accessing your understanding and ability to apply that knowledge to the world around you. The exam system teaches us not to think for ourselves but to simple reiterate the same old spiel of why we think that Romeo is our favourite character in Romeo and Juliet, when really we think Romeo is a self-obsessed fool who wouldn't know what sense is if it smacked him in the face with his own story.
Sorry but sometimes school just feels like a cage meant to strangle all creativity and imagination until all that's left is a hollow husk of half understood theories and phrases. Sometimes I wonder what it is that the Education System is trying to teach us but as far I can see, it certainly isn't independent thought and the dive to gain a better understanding of the world.
Also I think the whole idea of school is too set in it's way of teaching and accessing potential. There are so many gifted people in this world who struggle with school simple because they see things in a different light. Some people struggle with all the learning involved in school and feel foolish for it but it is just that they excel in area's that aren't measured by tests. For instance, a kid who is totally gifted with technology of any kind, who could explain the mechanics of a V8 engine by the time he was eight gets letters home because his grades in English, Spanish and Irish are terrible. It doesn't mean that he is a fool or that he doesn't work hard, it's just that he can't parrot back what the teacher tells him. For me, this is one of the biggest failings of the Education system- in that it can't understand or except those who can not follow it's rules.
I could go on all day about this but I'm pretty busy doing all this pointless homework so I better wrap this up.
For all it's faults and failings, there are some things I like about school. I love to learn and understand new things, I love meeting with my friends, I love the teachers that love to teach and are very good at it and lastly I love the fact that I have access to education and the possibilities that it brings.
I think that about wraps things up.
I'll see you next week unless I die of Education overdose before then,
See ya,
Aoife
P.S: I'll go the punishment tonight once I buy some eggs. I tell you how it goes in next weeks post.
It should be......interesting( definitely), memorable (probably) and tasty (hopefully)
Tuesday, 27 August 2013
Too Cool For School
Hello dearest bosomed bloggers! I hope you and your bosoms are happy today, and welcome to Danielle Tuesday! *cheesy 90s opening sequence*
Housekeeping
Punishments! I think we have decided that Aoife would eat blenderized salad with (not raw) egg. Aoife if you could do the punishment this week and then document it before Saturday, that would be A+, but I guess we could tone your punishment down a bit since it wasn't really your fault, so maybe we won't set a deadline for you? I don't know, is this okay with everyone? We could also let you drink just a tiiiiiiiiiiiny bit of blenderized salad and (not raw) egg, but still keep the deadline. What do other people think?
Orla, of course, does not get this privilege. Does anybody have any ideas for punishments? John Green once said that punishments are usually of these categories: eating something, embarassment, and pain. I propose that Orla would do an embarassing kind of punishment, but I'm not sure what.
Aoife: I'm sorry about the punishment! It would be super interesting though, so I'm not counting it out, but I guess we could give you a bit of a leeway, as I mentioned earlier? Anyway, what you and Kate said about the vlogbrothers made me think of just how many lives they've actually affected, in a good way. I wonder how it makes them feel, to know that so many people's lives have changed because of them and that so many people look up to them, who likes them because of their personality. Must be a bit strange.
Orla: I. LOVE. YOUR. MOM. She's so motherly she reminds me of Mrs. Weasley. I don't tell you that often enough, but yeah, your mom's pretty awesome.
Kate: Hi, I'm glad you didn't burn your hair.
Theme for the week: Back to School!!!!1
I have a love-hate relationship with school. I love learning about new things, and acquiring new skills, and getting high grades and SCHOOL SUPPLIES (seriously why are school supplies so shmexy.), but at the same time I have a couple of issues with the school system. Like, for, example, homework. I mean I get that it is designed to reinforce what the child has just learned from school, but at the same time, the teachers often give too much of it that is so overwhelming, and turns a person off actually learning, which is what a school is designed to do. It's like the love for knowledge has been replaced by the love for paperwork.
Also, the exam system. More often than not, people pass an exam not because of how much they know about the subject, but because of how well they can manipulate the system. This particularly irritated me when we were preparing for our Geography Junior Cert. Our teacher gave us this formula for answering questions: SEE. Statement, Explanation, Example. She said that the reason we weren't getting as much points as we could be getting was because we were not following this formula, although we were actually answering the questions correctly. The teachers know this, the correctors know this, the students know this. It all struck me as a bit of a joke. They weren't teaching us Geography. They were teaching us how to pass an exam.
There are so many flaws with not just our school system, but the school system of nearly the entire world, that it would take me about 76 years typing them all out in here. But it is not enough for me to loathe school completely. Sitting on a desk and learning new things give me such a rush, and, believe it or not, I am looking forward for another year of it.
-Danielle
Housekeeping
Punishments! I think we have decided that Aoife would eat blenderized salad with (not raw) egg. Aoife if you could do the punishment this week and then document it before Saturday, that would be A+, but I guess we could tone your punishment down a bit since it wasn't really your fault, so maybe we won't set a deadline for you? I don't know, is this okay with everyone? We could also let you drink just a tiiiiiiiiiiiny bit of blenderized salad and (not raw) egg, but still keep the deadline. What do other people think?
Orla, of course, does not get this privilege. Does anybody have any ideas for punishments? John Green once said that punishments are usually of these categories: eating something, embarassment, and pain. I propose that Orla would do an embarassing kind of punishment, but I'm not sure what.
Aoife: I'm sorry about the punishment! It would be super interesting though, so I'm not counting it out, but I guess we could give you a bit of a leeway, as I mentioned earlier? Anyway, what you and Kate said about the vlogbrothers made me think of just how many lives they've actually affected, in a good way. I wonder how it makes them feel, to know that so many people's lives have changed because of them and that so many people look up to them, who likes them because of their personality. Must be a bit strange.
Orla: I. LOVE. YOUR. MOM. She's so motherly she reminds me of Mrs. Weasley. I don't tell you that often enough, but yeah, your mom's pretty awesome.
Kate: Hi, I'm glad you didn't burn your hair.
Theme for the week: Back to School!!!!1
I have a love-hate relationship with school. I love learning about new things, and acquiring new skills, and getting high grades and SCHOOL SUPPLIES (seriously why are school supplies so shmexy.), but at the same time I have a couple of issues with the school system. Like, for, example, homework. I mean I get that it is designed to reinforce what the child has just learned from school, but at the same time, the teachers often give too much of it that is so overwhelming, and turns a person off actually learning, which is what a school is designed to do. It's like the love for knowledge has been replaced by the love for paperwork.
Also, the exam system. More often than not, people pass an exam not because of how much they know about the subject, but because of how well they can manipulate the system. This particularly irritated me when we were preparing for our Geography Junior Cert. Our teacher gave us this formula for answering questions: SEE. Statement, Explanation, Example. She said that the reason we weren't getting as much points as we could be getting was because we were not following this formula, although we were actually answering the questions correctly. The teachers know this, the correctors know this, the students know this. It all struck me as a bit of a joke. They weren't teaching us Geography. They were teaching us how to pass an exam.
There are so many flaws with not just our school system, but the school system of nearly the entire world, that it would take me about 76 years typing them all out in here. But it is not enough for me to loathe school completely. Sitting on a desk and learning new things give me such a rush, and, believe it or not, I am looking forward for another year of it.
-Danielle
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