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Message From A High-Schooler

by IllusionMyst (aka IllusoryDeath on the forums)
(Click here to see the stamp mentioned in this post)

**BEWARE! There are vulgarities written within this description!

Even though I have now reached my junior year of high school, this stamp goes for all levels of the school system: preschool, kindergarten, grade school, middle school, high school, and even on through college.

You are probably thinking that I am one of those over-emotional, whining little teenagers who thinks that "school sucks cuz it's boooring and no one likes me cuz i don't fit in and i hate maths it's all so pointless we don’t learn anything...." etcetera.

Well, I'm not.

Having gone through preschool (which is - just admit it - a free daycare), then a K-8 school, and now halfway through an IB college preparatory high school (completely useless as it is), I think that I have a right to curse it up and down as much as I would like.

I have been an honor-roll student with an average GPA of over 3.5 all of my life because, well, it has been pretty easy to do so. I was valedictorian when I graduated from my middle school, which is known to be one of the better ones in my area because it is not smack-dab in the middle of the ghetto or whatever else. But I have also struggled in courses (especially when it concerns math) as everyone has. I have had good teachers and terrible ones - bad experiences, yet a limited few good ones, as well. My high school is ' preparing' me for college, just as all should. I, along with everyone else in the system, go to school ten months out of the year to 'learn' in a building where 'teachers know best.'

But it is all so very, very stupid.

We are forced to be a part of a school system which bases its standardized tests on what will look good for the country instead of being concerned with actually teaching its students information that pertains to their distinctive goals in life. Forced education is wrong, and the only way to get out of it is to drop out or become home-schooled. Either way, prospective bosses are going to look at your applications, see that you did not “complete” your schooling as others have, and your chances of getting that job will be pretty much screwed. And why?? Merely because you did not have your brain washed like everyone else. No one should have to be taught the exact same way as another. Our brains & the way we perceive things are all different to the extreme (whether you act like it or not). The way that the government is running school ignores all of that just so they can win the race in education.

I wish that my mind was mature enough before to know what I do now about school. If I had, I would have refused to go at all. Screw getting good grades and striving to be on the honor roll – it does not matter in the real world. Fuck having to be taught in such a way so that you do not understand a bloody thing that the teacher is saying, fuck having to stress about getting a high score on a test that has nothing to do with anything, and fuck having to go to school where you must intermingle with others of your age, and yet are so damn immature when compared that you cannot connect no matter what you do or say that is even remotely true to yourself. How, in the name of the gods, does that teach anyone ANYTHING?

I can type so many, many more things on this matter. I am sure that you yourself can add much to what I am attempting to say. The site linked here pretty much sums it all up, though: School Survival. I encourage you to read through what it has to say - It is all very interesting and at points, pretty comical. Whatever is on that site, just know that I could not have said it better myself.

So, onward to the meaning of the stamp: Almost everything of what I have learned in my life that is actually useful to me, I have either taught myself or have learned from my parents and close acquaintances. No, not the “friends” that I have found from school – sparse as I keep them – but the ones that I have met from chatting over the WWW (this site, for instance), random people I see at the park or even just walking down a street, and real-life situations. Not a single thing of helpfulness has come from school. I could have read a book and learned algebra, trigonometry, geometry, and even calculus by myself if I found a purpose for it. All the other school subjects such as the languages, sciences, arts, history, and whatever else I have enjoyably spent learning about on my own instead of within a government building. Who knows better how to teach you than yourself? You do, after all, know your mind patterns better than any other person. & about “group work” and “being social” – I have heard from many people who are or have been home-schooled that they have plenty of good friends, and ones that have stuck around for far longer than those you might come across in public or private school. Personally, I find the school environment to be lethal in the fact that children are fickle and only care about themselves when it comes right down to it. I am not saying that adults are not like this, but when you are older, you usually tend to sort out the trustworthy ones from the snippy, gossiping bunch.

As a little side note: Some of the greatest minds have never attended a single year of school. Go figure. Do you know how many years of our lives have been stolen from us? The most important ones, too - the years of our adolescence.

“Never let your schooling interfere with your education,” – Mark Twain.
I have had that saying in the Personal Quote section of my profile since when I joined. Now that I have it here for this deviation, I think I will put in a different prolific statement. ^,.,^

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Keep your preachings about “the wealth of a school education” and “valuable social interactions” to yourself. I could (and have) easily offer(ed) a counter-argument, but you are just not worth the time & peace of mind. Also....the comments that resemble this one: "OMG WOW I TOTALLY AGREE WIT UU SKOOL IS 4 L0SERS I HATE IT YUR AWESHOME 4 MAKIN THIS STAMP!!11!!!1! LOL!" -Comments are appreciated, but these I just won't respond to & will most likely hide. I want actual thoughts, people!

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Enjoy the stamp. Use at your will WITHIN DEVIANTART (as in the journal section of your profile). Please do not put it on Photobucket or similar sites. Thank you.

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EDIT: An acquaintance of mine on the S-S forum created a stamp of his own fashioned after mine. It's message, though similar, means more to me than the one conveyed in mine - have a look here, if you please.

Posted in: Commentary on December 20, 2009 @ 2:46 PM

Tags: School

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