Political aspects of schooling...

[Oulixeus]

I am a Law and Security student in college. I'm in my first year of this program but I also have a job doing some investigating and security consulting on the side. It's pretty neat and it's something I really enjoy. However, the schooling has been a completely different experience than the job.

Earlier in this semester, the college teachers decided to go on strike for more money. At this point, I was already unimpressed with the content of what we were learning. They went on strike for three weeks. In my opinion, if they had wanted the students to have a better education, than they should have thought of not putting us out by three weeks. I feel that those of us who spent money on the program and have gotten loans were not given what we paid for and no increased amount of money that the teachers are given will help to change their quality of teaching.

Discuss:

- Crappy teachers and/or classroom experiences.
- Strikes.
- Boring conversations about school/work.  

[Blacula]

I hate my school.  

[Oulixeus]

Blacula

I hate my school.

How come? sad  

[Oulixeus]

Teachers at the college level seem to sprout all kinds of nonsense to support their need for more money. They really don't deserve it. The quality of teaching I've received this past year was not above the quality of a high school teacher.

A majority of our proffs are part time too. This tends to mean that they have two jobs and this one leans to being the least important. They just don't give a damn, no matter how unhappy they act.

As for refunding money -- I wouldn't count on it. Money that was spent on courses and programs at the beginning of the year is already gone. To refund our money would be to put the school out of business. It just bothers me that, that is what they deserve but no one is willing to demand a truely better education or complete refunds.

What they did do was extend the date that we could withdraw from the program without academic penalty and they have given partial refunds.

I wanted to organize a strike. I swear, I'm not usually what my friends call a 's**t-disturber' but I don't like it when my money is wasted. I'm not sure I will be attending the second year of this program.  

[akikisaki]

stare I take advanced placement classes. unfortunately, i've been suckered into them every year except my freshman year. i'm so glad to get to go to college. i think i'll like it much better.

my japanese teacher is ok. she can b really crazy sometimes. my physiology teacher doesn't do much. stare he assigns work and expects us to learn the info on our own pretty much. i hate that kind of teaching. stressed my english teacher is ok. she gets off topic a lot. my calculus teacher is fun. the class is boring, but we like her. i TA for this one math teacher. she had a piece of her brain removed. she's pretty funny. she tries to keep people successful. her methods can b drastic tho. my economics teacher is boring. the guy is nice and means well, but it's just bleh.

i want to graduate!!!  

[Emerald Sun]

I'm only in high school so yeah...most of my teachers I like, but a couple I could like better...I'm in private school so I do feel a bit put off when I don't think that I am getting the quality of schooling that my parents paid for.  

[Oulixeus]

akikisaki

stare I take advanced placement classes. unfortunately, i've been suckered into them every year except my freshman year. i'm so glad to get to go to college. i think i'll like it much better.

my japanese teacher is ok. she can b really crazy sometimes. my physiology teacher doesn't do much. stare he assigns work and expects us to learn the info on our own pretty much. i hate that kind of teaching. stressed my english teacher is ok. she gets off topic a lot. my calculus teacher is fun. the class is boring, but we like her. i TA for this one math teacher. she had a piece of her brain removed. she's pretty funny. she tries to keep people successful. her methods can b drastic tho. my economics teacher is boring. the guy is nice and means well, but it's just bleh.

i want to graduate!!!

I kind of miss high school sometimes. I took a year oof between HS and College...The transition between the too felt very stressful. It made me realize that I would be working for the rest of my life. This probably means that when I graduate I'm going to take another year off.

High school teaches, I find, are very good or very bad. A lot of my HS teachers were only there because they couldn't figure out what to do with the majors they had gained through University. But I've had a number of very good teachers. Teachers who you knew were born to teach. Like I had this one physics teacher and she was fantastic and teaching physics. It isn't often that easy to find a good physics teacher. smile  

[Oulixeus]

Emerald Sun

I'm only in high school so yeah...most of my teachers I like, but a couple I could like better...I'm in private school so I do feel a bit put off when I don't think that I am getting the quality of schooling that my parents paid for.

Private school, eh? Where I'm from, I think there is one private school in the area. I think I would have liked going to a private school... it might have been interesting.

How do you feel about the different between a public high school and a private school? Or what differences might you think there are?  

[Oulixeus]

sdrawkcab

Personally, my highschool teachers were all much better teachers than my college professors. That is a generalization though. =P

Yeah, I understand why the money wouldn't be refunded for missing just three weeks out of the overall semester. At least they did a couple things to ackknowledge the situation.
As for attending the program next year... If you have other options available to you and you're already dissatisfied with the program, why not switch and get your moneys worth out of your education. n.n

In my classmate's case, I do feel that they should be given some option to be able to finish their credit. Whether that be some sort of correspondance deal... or just have brought in a substitute to take over the last month.

Back to the high school teachers topic~ I had an excellent, excellent physics teacher in high school. ^^ So I guess I was another one of the lucky ones. ^^
My physics teacher was a retired mechanical engineer who became a physics teacher to work for much less pay. XD

I was considering taking a business geared program or accounting so that I would have a better understanding of companies I may end up working for. Not to mention that a background in business would be a good back-up job.

Your friend should definetly be given something to compensate for their loss. They had paid for a product (the education) and haven't recieved it in full. A refund is definetly in order. But you're right. Being that close to graduation, they may as well allow correspondance or some method of finishing the year.

My physics teacher was pretty new to the world of engineering but she just happened to be fantastic at it. She helped to design the 407 highway; which is pretty impressive. It was amazing that she was so good at teaching the actual subject. I think it was all greek to us before she began to explain it. rofl  

[Emerald Sun]

Oulixeus

Emerald Sun

I'm only in high school so yeah...most of my teachers I like, but a couple I could like better...I'm in private school so I do feel a bit put off when I don't think that I am getting the quality of schooling that my parents paid for.

Private school, eh? Where I'm from, I think there is one private school in the area. I think I would have liked going to a private school... it might have been interesting.

How do you feel about the different between a public high school and a private school? Or what differences might you think there are?

Well, I think that the environment at private schools is much better- it's much safer here. As far as I know, the teachers work for less at the private schools than at the public schools, though I could be wrong. Also, I know some schools are using a grading scale of 1-4 instead of letter grades. At the private schools we use letter grades. I also get the feel that private schools are a bit more old-fashioned- for example, I'm a freshman but I'm taking Algebra II/Trig with the juniors. If I had gone to public school, I would be taking the same class with other freshmen just because of the course paths.  

[Oulixeus]

sdrawkcab

I know schooling everywhere is different, but I'd like to add in my experiences.

I went to a private Catholic school for my early elementary years. I hated it, but mostly because of the uniforms that I had to wear everyday.
I ended up with a teacher who would pull on necks to make you sit up straight and slap the desks with rulers, sometimes hitting a child's hand in that same motion.
My parents pulled me out. n.n

I had a friend who continued in that school until her 9th grade year. In comparing public and private schooling, she said that much more people cheated at the Catholic school. They did so in front of the nuns teaching the class. ^^;;

Also, in my public school system I had the chance to take higher level courses with the older students in high school. You just had to make sure that you followed the right track since middle school. Or be placed into a higher class if needed. ^^
So public schools in my area, at least, do offer some form of being able to take higher classes. I also earned college credits in the process. ^^

I find that being in a public school or a catholic school like the one I attended (where they allowed anyone to join) really helped in allowing students to grow to a high potential. Private schools are just out-dated now. They tend to boast about higher education that any school can offer. Let's face it, all schools have a particular curiculum they have to follow now so how much can a private school deviate from that stream?

And earning college credits before college is fantastic! I don't think I ever had the opportunity to do that. Though I suspect that taking what our school called a 'University' stream of classes qualified me for some kind of English college credit.

And accounting course in college would definetly be a good idea. I'm think that no matter what major you take, it would still be best to take a class in accounting on the side. 3nodding