I still don’t see the point of high school. Unless one was looking to higher education in some university... I am surprised by the right wing and their support of it. Don’t they see the work force could start much younger? There must be a reason.
There was/ is very little encouragement to go into anything to do with the arts. [at any level of the school system. More importantly art programs have been systematically stripped in the last thirty years.] I always wondered about why those Debbie & Daniel Downers in the profession of "teaching" were so seemingly unhappy. I asked one once in high school...
“Are you so down on my ambitions because you ended up as a suburban high school teacher? Or is it that you just like to piss on anyone’s ambitions that seemingly leave you in the dust?” His response was at best an elementary basic failed attempt at being pompous. Even his attempt at arrogance was comical. His obvious lack of originality was very evident. Maybe I seem harsh. Well if one is going to lie to me they had best be prepared for my retort. The particular instructor mentioned above was at best the emotional equivalent that of a twelve year old child. He was one of many. Despite there pretty framed parchments with lovely scribbles with dates going back to the Eisenhower era.
Of course the ridicule and harassment as a student began in the first grade. [It was not limited to high school] So called teachers treating students as their emotional and physical punching bags. -Or worse... yes much worse.- I just lacked a vocabulary to challenge the grade school instructors. By Jr. high school I had developed a vocabulary, yet was still honing my rapier wit. Of course along with the wit came the wrath of some instructors. -Yes I do know what a fire door with my blood tastes like after being flung against more then one.-
I suppose many will argue that high school was great/ is great. I still think it was for the most part a huge waste of time. The game was over for me. I saw that the basics were covered. I also noted that high school was representing more of a social gathering. Along with class time mixed between social lessons. Clicks taught lessons of how to rip people apart behind their backs. A formidable training ground for the corporate shark life.
Think about the non-sense they [teachers/ administrators] peddled about permanent records. It was one of many tools of manipulation. Especially how that piece of parchment with some calligraphy and dates was going to be your key to success. News for ya’ the files are tossed after you leave the system. If in fact there were any files to begin with. With perhaps the exception of grades.
So if I seem/ sound cynical, well I can point out that I get very cynical and dismissive with any institution that lies. The entire basis that the faculty -most mind you not all- works from is that kids are stupid and that teenagers are stupid. Filling them with lies is a perfectly acceptable practice. It happens all the time. To this very day. My generation, your generation, the generation from behind, and those about to retire on our dime have continued this egregious perpetration against the youth of this grand country.
First lie... “You can do anything you put your mind to.” Oh yeah? Really? Well what if the student wants nothing to do with the structure and wants to explore a road less traveled? Students are told... No you can’t do it that way. No you need to be realistic in your goals. No college is not for you. No music is no goal for you. No. No. No. No. Only if a student marches in lock step with the workforce training program will they hear yes.
Understand this... Employers rarely look to see if one graduated high school. I suppose I sensed that they were feeding me a line to intimidate me into completion. Well I did finish the 12 years, I just did it on my terms at the end. Felt good to pay some tuition to the community college up the road and get the sacred parchment with pretty scribbling on it. It was then that I began to understand that... Wait for it... WE PAY THEM. They are working for you and I. Not the other way around.
All the stupid head games were useless. The stupid people games public school teachers play on kids/ teenagers. I say stupid because the majority of public school teachers are full of crap. They were then and they most certainly are now.
The hold up for a graduation from high school was going to be based on “elective credits.” So in other words I met all the state requirements for my smarts, and electives were going to hold me back? Pure stupidity. Especially since there were no electives that were of any interest. So the logic is to sit in a course that will offer very little. The course would only further support the idea that high school is a waste of time. Hence my leaving the high school game.
I encourage leaving the public system if one wants to. I encourage getting that piece of paper as early as possible and get the hell out of a system that has been rotting at the core for a long time. Graduate as soon as possible. Give up some out of date tradition of marching in lock step with classmates. Get moving as opposed to getting lost in the herd. Where is it written that one has to stay inside the system until age 18? It’s a myth. All the societal mythology that high school is fun and all the "sis boom bah" is needed to make a complete life foundation. Bollocks. It's not for everyone.
The public system of education is in dire need of an overhaul. So much wasted time. Students that fail all of their courses are moved along with regularity. Someone somewhere got the insane notion that being held back has a stigma. There is no stigma connected with out running the systematical formula of trudging along until one is 18. If a student can get a jump on getting out, by all means get the hell out!
Failing however has a stigma that is real. However if the result of failing is moving along with the heard to the next level. The stigma, or message is that this is all lies. You don’t need to get good grades. You just need to act pathetic. Claim emotional hardship and the system moves students along until a certain age and one bright sunny day in June they’re out.
Failing classes is of no never mind because that same group of instructors with tenure that allows this criminal fraud of education, are getting their pensions while the student struggles in some service industry. The students dreams of a successful adult life are shattered. Smashed right before their very eyes. One could blame the breeders. One could blame the public school system. One could blame the student. Well think about it for a minute. What institution allowed failure to be rewarded with regular, successful advancement? Not the Parent. Not the student. Get the picture.
The students that were pushed along and rewarded with their failings, will fail out in society. A society that is profit driven. Then one day they will feel the sting of failure. The sting of being “Dismissed... So to broaden their horizons elsewhere...” The sting they should have felt upon the initial failures in school. That is where they should have had the opportunity to broaden their horizons. Again I ask who do you or does one blame? The Parent/ parents? The student? The public system that promoted advancement as a reward for failure?
The public system that promoted advancement as reward for failure, is off the hook. They wait till the student reaches 18 then tosses them to the lions much like the Romans once did.
So now a young person is of legal age to vote. Pays taxes from a minimum wage check that has a portion going to pay the very same institution that failed them in a most deplorable manner.
Now poof! As if by some strange mystical stardust magical moment the person is grown and feeling useless as an adult. -Useless and desperate. A perfect recipe for the pharmaceutical companies mixing up the drugs for depression.- All of this is going on everyday.
What the hell happened to peoples thinking?
When did thinking and speaking out against an institution become so difficult?
Why is the school system such a bloody sacred cow?
If it were up to me. I would propose a big fricken barbecue with a main course of sacred cow on each and every plate. Bring your dog along to chew on the bones.
To all the young breeders out there... Start saving your nickels and dimes and don’t let your offspring get sucked into the very system that is ‘dumb-ing’ down our society. Spare them the lies of how it all is for the better that they go along with the crowd.
If public school is the only alternative, teach them to challenge the entire fraud. Be brave be strong and never, never ever lie to the offspring they will turn on you one day. With a fury fueled by their realization of the fraud.
It would be of little sadness to see the public school system burnt to the ground. Fire purifies and “We” can start anew. Sadly the sheep have no political will to consider nor bother with it. A victory the public school system swims in with orgasmic delight. AND... you and I pay these people without much question.
We’re not a classless society. There is an aristocracy. The aristocracy permeates every institution. What better institution to control then the public education system.
To Promote such idealism as “No child left behind... Goals 2000...” within these plans a much more docile less rebellious populist will flourish. That being said, the class division can get wider. The bureaucratic red tape ever thicker. All masked of course behind the illusions of freedom.
Freedom of speech. Freedom of religion. Freedom to elect representatives. Ever look carefully at who is elected? The elected are bought and sold. Much like the union heads and their rank and file in the public education system. The profiteers in public education support the public education system as it is. [There are ever fainter voices from within the institution known as the public education system. Fainter voices that are desperately seeking help, or reforms.]
It is to the elected officials advantage to support the system that teaches/ preaches conformity. You pay for the elected as well.
I still don’t understand high school not then, not now.
Chris J Hutchins
(c) 2012
Chris J Hutchins
All rights reserved
Dog Hair Productions
