My K-12 experience as a student

I attended Metcalfe Magnet School on the far south side of Chicago for K-8. I was in the "gifted" program for grades 1-8. All of the "gifted" classrooms were split 1/2, 3/4, 5/6, 7/8. All of the assignments and tasks we were given were challenging.
We had a wonderful science lab teacher. Each week we did experiments that corresponded with the lessons we learned. She also took us to Argonne national laboratory and other places on field trips. We had a good Spanish teacher, he went class to class and taught us once a week. There was gym class, a music class, and even recess for 20 some minutes per day!
Metcalfe was a wonderful experience. From 5th grade on, the classes were departmentalized. The teachers just adapted their lessons for the three types of classes. All of the kids knew of how the classes were broken down. As you know children are cruel and this is how they referred to the breakdown of the classes, there was "the gifted class", "the middle class", and "the slow class." I personally didn't care because I was friends with everyone but some of the students discriminated against each other. Mainly the higher scoring students versus the lower scoring students. The percentage was very small when it cam down to it but there were actually fights about "being stupid" or "being a nerd."
The Administration and Staff at Metcalfe worked hand in hand with parents to make sure that the students of the school were receiving the best education possible. There was the occasional fight but no gangs or drug problems. My time at Metcalfe was very fruitful and prepared me for high school.
I attended Morgan Park High School and totally messed up my freshmen year. I went into school with a big head because at Metcalfe I was the Co-Captain and starting point guard of the basketball team. We won the region championship in 1990, 1992 and the area championship in 1993. My Iowa test scores got me into M.P. high, but my basketball skills were what saved me. I ended up cutting lots of class and missed about 2 months of school throughout my freshman year. I was at every basketball practice. At the end of my freshman year my g.p.a. was barely 1.0 and I got kicked off the team in addition to being kicked out of the school. The principal gave me one chance to get myself together and in addition to the worse beating I ever got in my life I chose to do what I should have been doing in the first place. Get an education. I stopped cutting school and everything else that hindered me from doing my best. I focused on my studies and managed to graduate on time with a 2.9 g.p.a I loved my Science classes, Black American Studies, and Computer Technology classes. If I would've done what I should have been doing all along I could have graduated with no less than a 4.0 I truly believe. My high school experience showed me that slacking off and b.s.'ing will get you no where in life. I took full advantage of the Morgan Park high school for my last three years. I was the head of the Stage crew, sang in the school choir, worked on the video crew and was on the track team.
My teachers all took a liking to me and let me know that they were there to help me. I didn't listen my first year. I often wonder what could have been.............. We didn't really take any field trips in high school, however I was prepared for college upon graduating from Morgan Park High School.

http://www.shawnolson.net/a/1/my-experience-at-westland-high-school.html

The other way to view it is that the only reason the other kids never asked the essential question (Why am I in school?) was because they were conditioned to accept their environment regardless of its value. This is probably the truest way to view the situation. I have a terrible feeling about this because it seems all too apparent that this attitude is common, and it is an attitude that leads to cultural stagnation and apathy. I am afraid of a world with no concern with where it is and where it is going because that is a world where there is no vision. Without vision we are at the mercy of forces that do not care about us individually or collectively, and we are vulnerable to the claws of predators and fools.

That is the moral I draw from my time at Westland High School.

I somewhat felt they same way Shawn did about high school. I already knew they things that were being taught my first year and I saw no point of being there other than to play basketball. I was doing work to get a grade and wasn't interested in what was being taught for the most part. The classes I took following my freshmen year were more challenging and I applied myself. However, I graduated, unlike Shawn.



http://lagnada.blogspot.com/2007/01/high-school-experience-introduction-i.html

Staying on Course

"A concept that was new to me was the ability of students to register for courses without the parents' consent. I was very new to this idea and that not liking Science and Math courses at the time I decided to skip all the math and science classes in my sophomore year naturally. This is very ironic since later on in life I received my degree in Electrical Engineering which is a course known for to be intensive in Science and Math classes. I found out later on that there were minimum requirements in Math and Sciences so I had to take the missing courses during my junior year if I wanted to graduate. During my junior year, I had two take a couple of courses which I was the only junior in the class. This situation seemed like a blessing for me since I found that even though the sophomores were still a year older than me they were actually the right maturity level. I craved to be immature and unserious. I had fun with the sophomores and made lots of friends at that level. I have found that there is a blessing to every bad situation."

Everyone has a different experience in school. I'm glad Antonio finished and went on to be a successful Electrical Engineer. I never considered being a teacher. While in high school I only wanted to be one thing and that was a Mortician. I used to volunteer over the summer at my cousins funeral home out west. I went to SIUC majoring in Mortuary Science but I couldn't work on the babies. You cant pick and choose what cadaver you wish to prepare so I dropped out of the program.