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Education is hindering my education | ||
Tags: School Education | College/University | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Luai_lashire Diglot Senior Member United States luai-lashire.deviant Joined 5829 days ago 384 posts - 560 votes  Speaks: English*, Esperanto Studies: Japanese, French | Message 33 of 70 16 May 2011 at 12:54am | IP Logged | |||||
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I want to briefly butt in here to dispel some of the illusions a few people in this thread have about the
experiences of very advanced students in classes far beneath their level. It is not something you "just deal with". It is torturous. When I was in that situation I cut class constantly or slept in class and developed extreme depression. I was a diligent student before but I couldn't handle the vapidity of my environment. I developed the belief that everyone in the world was a moron and cycled between extreme egotism and feelings of self-loathing, which I can directly correlate to the environment I was in. I maintained a strong desire to learn but I totally ditched most of my coursework and learned on my own instead, up to and including reading non-fiction books in the middle of my classes. I managed to get an A- in a math class where I literally never did a single piece of homework even once; I got 130% on every test. Of course I was punished extensively for that by the idiotic bureaucracy because their concern was not whether or not I knew the material but whether or not I was a good little automaton. The only way to endure this type of situation is to have other goals and projects that strongly motivate you and provide moments of joy. For me this was my Japanese class, because my teacher was amazing, which made every day bearable and was literally the only reason I even came to school most days. I had other issues going on of course, but I would have committed suicide had I not been able to go to a small alternative school where most of the students were very smart and motivated, providing me access to peers that I could actually relate to. I agree with other posters here that you have to learn to deal with people less intelligent and/or academically inclined than yourself, but I want to point out to them that it's also extremely important, especially at a young age when you are developing emotionally, to have friends you can identify with and relate to on the same intellectual level, and share interests with. This has been very hard for me to find even now, and while I love my friends who aren't as smart as me and certainly don't seek to replace them, I still crave the intellectual stimulation of a friendship with a mental equal which I have yet to find except on the internet. And lastly I want to add that, as Jinx mentioned, it is beyond ridiculous, unhelpful, and presumptive to say "high school is always fun, just relax!" or "high school is always up and down but there will be great things for sure!" or "just enjoy being a kid!" or something like that. I actually find it downright offensive. It erases the painful experiences of people like myself (not just because I was bored, I was later on actually abused by most of my teachers and the school tried very hard to have me kicked out, and I developed phobias and neuroses due to these circumstances) which are not even that uncommon. It is ignorant and dismissive. OP's problems are real, how about giving some real answers? (sorry if I come off too harsh, I am trying to temper my tone but this is a difficult topic for me to think about without becoming unreasonably emotional) Anyway OP I wanted to show there are others with similar experiences, and I want to tell you you should ignore anyone who calls you a brat. They simply don't know what they are talking about. It isn't easy to deal with these problems and just because there are people with more difficult ones doesn't mean we are bad people for having trouble with ours. I am glad actually because it seems you are handling your situation much better than I handled mine- mine was really really bad. I have only one suggestion which is that you try to join clubs at your university, if that's allowed. You can then find more mature people who share your passions. Good luck to you! 14 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Declan1991 Tetraglot Senior Member Ireland Joined 6440 days ago 233 posts - 359 votes Speaks: English*, German, Irish, French | Message 34 of 70 16 May 2011 at 1:17am | IP Logged | |||||
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I neglected posting here until now, but I feel like adding in a little bit of information. In my opinion, as someone who has always found the work I have to do in the educational system quite easy, there is a lot more to be learned than pure information or knowledge. It is a problem if you can't cope with the situation you are presented with. Not everything in life will go smoothly, and racing through formal education is of no advantage that I can see.
Now, admittedly, I have no idea what the American education system is like, but it seems bizarre from whatever I've heard about it, so I withhold most personal criticism. But I can say for absolute certainty, if school work is so easy, that means you have plenty of time to broaden your mind. Formal education is extremely limited, nothing is stopping you learning a few languages, learning to program, learn a musical instrument etc. But even more importantly, you have to learn to get on with your peers! Eventually you will be working with these people whether you like them or not. It's fine to have a degree at whatever age you get it at, but it's of no benefit if you cannot work with anyone to put that information to use. One direct criticism, I have never heard such nonsense as, "my Spanish is going much more slowly than before". You, and nobody else, has control over what you learn. If you have a negative attitude towards everything, you won't progress as well. That's your problem really, more than the educational system. So in summary, make the best of the situation! Use all your free time to learn whatever takes your fancy, and develop a positive attitude, because one thing is for certain: if you are always complaining, and thinking about how wrong everything is, you are in for a big shock, because the world will never be perfect for you. You will never have exactly what you desire, the job you desire etc. And if you moan constantly, you will never progress, no matter what formal education you have. Edited by Declan1991 on 16 May 2011 at 1:18am 6 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| hrhenry Octoglot Senior Member United States languagehopper.blogs Joined 5131 days ago 1871 posts - 3642 votes Speaks: English*, SpanishC2, ItalianC2, Norwegian, Catalan, Galician, Turkish, Portuguese Studies: Polish, Indonesian, Ojibwe | Message 35 of 70 16 May 2011 at 1:17am | IP Logged | |||||
This type of posting always bothers me, and smacks of someone that has yet to experience the world, much like a teenager in fact. By all means, seek out people you can share interests with and on an intellectual level. But don't discount someone you might deem less intelligent or academically less inclined than you are. That garbage collector you see twice weekly just may speak several languages and has lived/traveled the world. That farmer that's not afraid to get dirt under his fingernails might in actuality have an advanced degree. R. == Edited by hrhenry on 16 May 2011 at 1:19am 5 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Declan1991 Tetraglot Senior Member Ireland Joined 6440 days ago 233 posts - 359 votes Speaks: English*, German, Irish, French | Message 36 of 70 16 May 2011 at 1:33am | IP Logged | |||||
2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Akao aka FailArtist Senior Member United States Joined 5337 days ago 315 posts - 347 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Mandarin, Toki Pona | Message 37 of 70 16 May 2011 at 1:47am | IP Logged | |||||
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Disregard what I said I misread you.
It's not really about being better than others or complaining until someone fixes it for me, it's really about time. The entire point of the whole original post and any debate that followed was: "I had a lot more time in homeschool and still learned but in a 'formal' school we waste a lot of time." -Paraphrasing of course Edited by Akao on 16 May 2011 at 1:52am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Luai_lashire Diglot Senior Member United States luai-lashire.deviant Joined 5829 days ago 384 posts - 560 votes Speaks: English*, Esperanto Studies: Japanese, French | Message 38 of 70 16 May 2011 at 1:58am | IP Logged | |||||
I expected this to come up but decided to wait to address it until it did. I don't judge others that way. I absolutely never attach a value judgement to things such as "less intelligent than me" or "more intelligent than me". To me they are facts, nothing more, and they don't increase or decrease my interest in or respect for the person. Ideas about the relative value a person has based on their intelligence are something I hate more than just about anything in the world, since they have been used to justify killing people with the mental conditions many of my friends have. I have friends who are mentally retarded (diagnosed as such) and we have fun together, we just have fun in ways that are different from the way I have fun with a friend who is closer to my intellectual level, and I don't value one friendship above the other. All I meant to say is that I am seeking out a type of friendship I have yet to find, which is someone completely at the same level as me. It would provide different opportunities for a type of interaction I have yet to experience, and crave the chance to experience. You said "But don't discount someone you might deem less intelligent or academically less inclined than you are." I find it offensive that you would assume this about me and accuse me of being immature in this way when there is absolutely nothing in my post to suggest it. I never discounted these people, I said you should have both kinds of friendships. Go back and read my post again. By the way, I have been in the garbage collector/ farmer category of people. The only employment I've had so far has been at minimum wage menial labor. I can also explain to you what a Bose-Einstein condensate is in multiple languages. 8 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 5010 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 39 of 70 16 May 2011 at 2:04am | IP Logged | |||||
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Luai_lashire is right in some points, even though the post is quite harsh, and in my opinion unnecessarily. There are fortunately only few people on the thread telling Akao the things like "just be a kid" Jinx mentioned . I believe many people in these forums have experienced the situation when they are above their classmates (hope you understand well, I'm speaking of knowledge or talent, not about any other qualities), so we quite know what he's talking about. Some of us have as well experienced situations when the student is above the teacher and that usually brings horrible consequences because a really stupid teacher gets really angry when proven guilty of his stupidity. Fortunately Akao hasn't mentioned this would be the kind of trouble. I was lucky to survive till now without larger harm but I realize that for some people, like Luai_lashire, it all could have brought really serious long-term troubles, danger of which should not be underestimated.
However, from what I've read so far, I don't believe Akao is in serious danger of such things. He still has got free time to put in his own studies and he is able to think of his situation and ask for advice in an intelligent way when the situation is painful for him. Nonetheless, I think Akao is already doing the best he can, without any advice. As there is no way to find a solution with teachers, he can only spend the required time there bored or he could change school (which I doubt he would want if I understood correctly that the rest of the schools around would be worse). Life doesn't always offer a nice choice or a solution. So, the last thing I can add to this thread is: Good luck and good nerves. Remember that even though highschool might be hell in some ways, you're not supposed to stay there for eternity :-) 4 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Luai_lashire Diglot Senior Member United States luai-lashire.deviant Joined 5829 days ago 384 posts - 560 votes Speaks: English*, Esperanto Studies: Japanese, French | Message 40 of 70 16 May 2011 at 2:07am | IP Logged | |||||
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Cavesa, I apologize for any harshness. If you would be willing to take the time, could you point out to me where
you think I was too harsh? It's hard for me to moderate my emotions in these kinds of posts so I'd like the chance to re-examine what I did and learn how to write more calmly next time. Thank you. I'm going to try not to go off the topic any more in this thread. Sorry Akao. :) 1 person has voted this message useful |
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