Post by Creature on Apr 30, 2010 12:33:32 GMT -6
This thread is for those things that really bug (or bugged) you about your HS experience. They might look small from the outside, but sometimes they are actually very significant.
I'll start: Ladybird Keywords Reading Scheme, how do I loathe thee? Let me count the ways. To be fair, the Keywords Reading Scheme itself is actually quite blameless; the materials are very white and middle-class, but the content is good enough.
Assuming you're not a major-league bookworm who is already reading at high-school level, of course. If this is you, Peter And Jane begin to look like two tiny avatars of Satan.
There were 12 stages, each consisting of 3 books. You started at 1a ("Play With Us"), and worked your way up to 12c. Your achingly bored, painful, miserable way. Book c was always the worst, because it was Copy Out And Complete.
Imagine a high-schooler. Imagine that this person enjoys the works of Isaac Asimov, reads adult first-aid manuals as a leisure activity and is given to perusing the dictionary from cover to cover. Imagine now that this same individual is being forced to write out page after page of sentences such as "they are swimming" or "Jane is running". Now imagine this high-schooler has the impulse control and attention span of an 8-year-old. Yeah.
I didn't finish the series much before you were supposed to complete it, not because I lacked ability but because it was so achingly dull. I used to literally weep with boredom. I would offer to write anything--anything at all!--other than Copy Out And Complete. Unit F was implacable, however. I was going to finish the whole Reading Scheme if it killed us both.
It's only recently that I realised the significance of all of this. For not only was the work dull, it's indicative of a deeper problem and an unforgivable missed opportunity. See, I was really good at English. Really good. The Moon Units were dimly aware of this, but never thought of really encouraging my abilities in that field. To them, English was only useful for writing about other stuff. Later on, I was discouraged from pursuing English as a subject because it was "no use"--no use? I ended up TEACHING it!--being instead pushed towards "proper" subjects like science.
Now, I am very interested in the sciences, and if I'd been at the top of my game I'd have romped home with excellent grades. But after years of stress I was suffering from major depression and intractable migraine headaches. I was also getting bullied so badly at the local 'tech that I'd barf every morning from sheer terror. In circs like that, you need to go for the easy A. English was my easy A, and because of my upbringing I never studied it formally past GCSE (the exams you sit at 16).
In retrospect, it's pretty horrendous; they kvetched about other children who could pass their A-levels several years early, jeeringly comparing my supposed potential to these prodigies--when they had just such a kid sitting right in front of them. I would have my degree right now, and life would be very, very different.
I'll start: Ladybird Keywords Reading Scheme, how do I loathe thee? Let me count the ways. To be fair, the Keywords Reading Scheme itself is actually quite blameless; the materials are very white and middle-class, but the content is good enough.
Assuming you're not a major-league bookworm who is already reading at high-school level, of course. If this is you, Peter And Jane begin to look like two tiny avatars of Satan.
There were 12 stages, each consisting of 3 books. You started at 1a ("Play With Us"), and worked your way up to 12c. Your achingly bored, painful, miserable way. Book c was always the worst, because it was Copy Out And Complete.
Imagine a high-schooler. Imagine that this person enjoys the works of Isaac Asimov, reads adult first-aid manuals as a leisure activity and is given to perusing the dictionary from cover to cover. Imagine now that this same individual is being forced to write out page after page of sentences such as "they are swimming" or "Jane is running". Now imagine this high-schooler has the impulse control and attention span of an 8-year-old. Yeah.
I didn't finish the series much before you were supposed to complete it, not because I lacked ability but because it was so achingly dull. I used to literally weep with boredom. I would offer to write anything--anything at all!--other than Copy Out And Complete. Unit F was implacable, however. I was going to finish the whole Reading Scheme if it killed us both.
It's only recently that I realised the significance of all of this. For not only was the work dull, it's indicative of a deeper problem and an unforgivable missed opportunity. See, I was really good at English. Really good. The Moon Units were dimly aware of this, but never thought of really encouraging my abilities in that field. To them, English was only useful for writing about other stuff. Later on, I was discouraged from pursuing English as a subject because it was "no use"--no use? I ended up TEACHING it!--being instead pushed towards "proper" subjects like science.
Now, I am very interested in the sciences, and if I'd been at the top of my game I'd have romped home with excellent grades. But after years of stress I was suffering from major depression and intractable migraine headaches. I was also getting bullied so badly at the local 'tech that I'd barf every morning from sheer terror. In circs like that, you need to go for the easy A. English was my easy A, and because of my upbringing I never studied it formally past GCSE (the exams you sit at 16).
In retrospect, it's pretty horrendous; they kvetched about other children who could pass their A-levels several years early, jeeringly comparing my supposed potential to these prodigies--when they had just such a kid sitting right in front of them. I would have my degree right now, and life would be very, very different.