So school starts tomorrow. [Archive]

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daniellaaarisen

08-20-2009, 01:10 AM

EnchantedKiwi

08-20-2009, 01:25 AM

In nz we started school February 2nd, and we finish end of November-ish (whenever my last exam is) so we have most of december and january off!

iamnotafraid

08-20-2009, 01:25 AM

To all of you whom this question applies:

It doesn't apply to me, but I like how "Billy" answered PeeWee about school.

PeeWee... "How do you like school Billy?"
Billy........."Closed".

fleetwoodtrick

08-20-2009, 01:28 AM

I don't start until September 1st. But that's still wayyyyyyyy too soon!

LukeA

08-20-2009, 01:34 AM

I always started high school the first Monday of August- then 10 weeks on, followed by 2 weeks off the first part of October... and so on.

daniellaaarisen

08-20-2009, 01:36 AM

I don't start until September 1st. But that's still wayyyyyyyy too soon!

You are lucky. Mind if I live vicariously through your summer?

I also appreciate how that was your 666th post....

fleetwoodtrick

08-20-2009, 01:42 AM

You are lucky. Mind if I live vicariously through your summer?

I also appreciate how that was your 666th post....

Oh, all right! But you live in California. You have no idea how much I wish I lived there! I live in Wisconsin. Where it snows. And the weather is crappy. All the time. :distress:

And hey, I'm just trying to keep up with you! :laugh:

sywlindseyfan

08-20-2009, 03:16 AM

I just moved into my dorm today up here in Nor Cal, and I am typing this from my laptop on Universiy internet, haha I start school on Monday...

-Marty

Black_Moon

08-20-2009, 06:18 AM

I don't think I go back to school until around September 4th, which is registration day for sixth form. I broke up from school around the end of June.

Chrislit18

08-20-2009, 09:17 AM

I don't start until September 1st. But that's still wayyyyyyyy too soon!
Same here. Sept 1 is actually late for us though. We generally start the last week in august. And us seniors graduate the 6 of June. It seems short lol. Yeah, my little cousin in fl is already in school I guess, so at least we've gotten to enjoy our summers. :)

FMlex

08-20-2009, 09:17 AM

In high school (elementary & middle as well), we always started before Labor Day.

And now I'm moving back up to college tomorrow morning - classes start on August 27th!

vivfox

08-20-2009, 09:32 AM

golddustdrummer

08-20-2009, 10:33 AM

I have to go year-round
and only get two week breaks every 3 months.
:mad:

Ghost_Tracker

08-20-2009, 05:56 PM

Is it just me, or is this RIDICULOUSLY early? I already have a French essay to write and turn in for the FIRST day of class.

To all of you whom this question applies:

When do/did you start this year? I remember the great days when I didn't start school until AFTER labor day.

That definitely seems WAY early to me.

By the way, I'm absolutely, 100% against extended school years. I think kids will learn LESS that way. In my opinion, it's just an excuse by the school system for not doing a good job and not working as "efficiently" as they used to in the past.
It's ass-backwards thinking. They're trying to say "we need more time to get from point A to point B because we don't move as quickly as we used to." The kids need to step up - but so does the system. This way of looking at things shifts the responsibility and blame from the system to the kids, and robs them of a part of their childhood - summer vacation.

brysondt

08-20-2009, 06:12 PM

I'm 47 years old and yesterday when I was driving I heard a dj on the radio talking about the kids going back to school. It reminded me of all those years of dreading September. We always started right after Labor Day.
I've been a "night person" my whole life. So for me school meant forcing myself to go to bed early when I wasn't tired and waking up too early when I was exhausted and being tortured to death by everyone at school almost everyday for being gay. Most of my school memories are bad ones unfortunately.

Oh Viv--yes, high school years were hell for me, as well. I am definitely a night person and I could never go to bed early, so I ended up always being exhausted. Math was the worse too. Me and numbers just cannot be friends. It's not meant to be. Also, in high school, I looked a bit different than I do now...about 80lbs heavier in high school, so I was always the "fat" friend, you know? haha, man....I do NOT miss high school. I can't wait til my 10 yr reunion though...hmmm, in another 5 years.

Did you ever go to any reunions?

daniellaaarisen

08-20-2009, 07:45 PM

Black_Moon

08-20-2009, 07:51 PM

High school is terrible.

Agreed. And it's made 100x worse when you go to an all girls' school, like I do. Far too much oestrogen in one building. It's the bitchiest place on earth, and actually makes "Mean Girls" look like "Barney". Plus, it seems like some of the girls just need to compete all of the time.

mylittledemon

08-20-2009, 09:39 PM

High school is terrible.

I had a pretty average high school experience, but it wasn't horrifying. I think fondly back on it, but wouldn't relive it. ;)

I had my 10 yr reunion in 2007 and didn't go... I kinda' wish I had though

Musicman408

08-20-2009, 09:55 PM

All those starting school- BEST of luck!!!

vivfox

08-20-2009, 11:04 PM

Oh Viv--yes, high school years were hell for me, as well. I am definitely a night person and I could never go to bed early, so I ended up always being exhausted. Math was the worse too. Me and numbers just cannot be friends. It's not meant to be. Also, in high school, I looked a bit different than I do now...about 80lbs heavier in high school, so I was always the "fat" friend, you know? haha, man....I do NOT miss high school. I can't wait til my 10 yr reunion though...hmmm, in another 5 years.

Did you ever go to any reunions?

Junior High was worse. No High School reunions for me. I'm not fond of any of those people. I don't think I could be nice to them now.

LukeA

08-20-2009, 11:18 PM

I've been a "night person" my whole life. So for me school meant forcing myself to go to bed early when I wasn't tired and waking up too early when I was exhausted and being tortured to death by everyone at school almost everyday for being gay. Most of my school memories are bad ones unfortunately.

Well, I'm not gay, but I know how you feel in regards to being sleep deprived and hating high school. I kept my head down during most of my classes, knowing that the majority of my teachers knew that if they called on me, I'd be able to answer and respond to the question/instruction. It was quite easy to coast with great grades.

Senior "year" was the best. I only needed two credits for graduation, so I scheduled my classes to be the first of the day, and also took some internet community college classes in similar areas to combine the two so I could graduate at mid semester. So, my senior "year" was basically going to school 8:45-11:00AM every day, and then going home, from August to December. It was great! Plus, I got to stay up all night and sleep all day.

Both high school and college proved to be exceptionally useless. I feel bad for those who somehow feel they've gained worth by completing certain classes/programs, in a pursuit of superficial "success". Anyone who knows anything knows that real-life experience is basically ALL that matters.

ILoveFM

08-20-2009, 11:31 PM

I think most schools in Athens started August 6th. UGA started fall classes the 17th, BUT I'm not starting school until the 7th of January!

Moz

08-21-2009, 12:16 AM

School starts next Tuesday here. Yuck. The kids at the Catholic high school started over a week ago. I was supposed to graduate in June, but I have to go back and get a few more credits. :distress:

Zombie

08-21-2009, 01:21 AM

I've always thought high school was the 10th Circle of Hell - Dante just didn't write about it because they hadn't invented it yet.

But I'm well away from that now, so no biggie, but we always started after Labor Day. My kids are in the same school system now, and they go back on August 31st this year, because I guess they are building in some more snow days (we had to take too many last year they hadn't built into the schedule).

Good luck to all of yous! ;-)

daniellaaarisen

08-21-2009, 01:42 AM

After the first day, I've already been assigned two essays, TURNED IN over 50 questions of French that were assigned for the summer, and took a test.

I have another test tomorrow for a different class.

Remind me why I'm taking 4 APs again?

Zombie

08-21-2009, 01:47 AM

Remind me why I'm taking 4 APs again?

I took a ton of APs back in the day - it's worth it, in the long run. Hang in there.

Ghost_Tracker

08-21-2009, 01:47 AM

carrie721

08-21-2009, 03:06 AM

That definitely seems WAY early to me.

By the way, I'm absolutely, 100% against extended school years. I think kids will learn LESS that way. In my opinion, it's just an excuse by the school system for not doing a good job and not working as "efficiently" as they used to in the past.
It's ass-backwards thinking. They're trying to say "we need more time to get from point A to point B because we don't move as quickly as we used to." The kids need to step up - but so does the system. This way of looking at things shifts the responsibility and blame from the system to the kids, and robs them of a part of their childhood - summer vacation.

hogwash.

the current system is inefficient because there is a lot of time at the beginning of the school year spent on review. if kids had shorter breaks distributed throughout the year, that problem wouldn't exist.

LukeA

08-21-2009, 03:24 AM

hogwash.

the current system is inefficient because there is a lot of time at the beginning of the school year spent on review. if kids had shorter breaks distributed throughout the year, that problem wouldn't exist.

Yes, I agree.

Even though part of me (while in high school) wanted an extended summer vacation, I was fine with six weeks off in June-July- #1, I've always HATED summer (I've f'ing hated this current one as it is) and #2, I was in Phoenix, and summer in Phoenix especially sucks.

A year-round high school calendar with sufficient vacation breaks (spaced appropriately) really does make the most sense. It also helps introduce the concept that the real world doesn't revolve around a three month summer vacation.

Ghost_Tracker

08-21-2009, 06:29 AM

hogwash.

the current system is inefficient because there is a lot of time at the beginning of the school year spent on review. if kids had shorter breaks distributed throughout the year, that problem wouldn't exist.

I honestly don't remember one single moment from first grade through 12th grade that was spent on review of stuff covered in the previous year. Not in the way you're speaking of. Maybe things are different these days, I dunno.

Ghost_Tracker

08-21-2009, 06:31 AM

Yes, I agree.

Even though part of me (while in high school) wanted an extended summer vacation, I was fine with six weeks off in June-July- #1, I've always HATED summer (I've f'ing hated this current one as it is) and #2, I was in Phoenix, and summer in Phoenix especially sucks.

A year-round high school calendar with sufficient vacation breaks (spaced appropriately) really does make the most sense. It also helps introduce the concept that the real world doesn't revolve around a three month summer vacation.

"The only emperor is the emperor of ice cream." :nod:

(Stephen King has that quote in one of his books - - "Insomnia," I think it is.
It means that the kids are the real rulers of the world, and they're the ones
living in the "real world.")

Just to try to extend the thought, in the 1960s, the "real world" involved making steel, and mining iron, and building skyscrapers and roads and bridges, hauling concrete around the country, even building locomotive engines. These days it's all about moving pieces of paper from one place to another - or usually in files over the internet - and other things that have absolutely nothing to do with making something. Don't get me wrong, of course people have bills to pay and most have to live in the "real world" and it's extremely difficult for most families and most individuals. Many people are working 70 hours a week and/or have 2 or even 3 jobs. I understand all that. But if we as a society had the same priorities we had in the 1960s (for example), we wouldn't be concerned about teaching kids to "keep up" with China and to be able to move pieces of paper around faster than they can. They aren't - they're building things. BIG things, made of steel. HEAVY stuff that costs a lot of money, and makes even more money. Moving pieces of paper and information around, as a group, essentially boils down to play behavior. Students can learn to move information around all they want - but is it really gonna help much? Year-round school years aren't gonna help our society as a whole if they're not learning what they need to learn. And the more that they start to realize (as a group) that they're wasting their time (at least somewhat), then the more of them are gonna rebel. Then you have more disruptive students, more kids cutting class, etc., and LESS gets done.
We need to work efficiently, not more.

Just some ideas.

P.S. - By the way, to paraphrase Hannibal Lector in Silence of the Lambs, "ALWAYS go back to first principles - what are the real MOTIVATIONS behind something?" Why is it that the teacher's unions would feel motivated to have their teachers working 12
months a year instead of 9? And granted that teachers have historically been underpaid, and I'm sure that there's plenty of school
districts where they're still grossly underpaid. Having said that, I can tell you that in the school district here - a "working class" neighborhood - they're making $75,000 a year, the last I heard. That was a few years ago, it's probably more now. Double that (almost...) for a married couple. Many of them ARE making what most would consider to be "good money." 12/9 X 75 grand = 100 thousand dollars a year. I really do doubt that the teachers unions have in mind that this be done for free. I suspect there may be other motivations.

camchristo

08-23-2009, 02:30 PM

I feel bad for those who somehow feel they've gained worth by completing certain classes/programs, in a pursuit of superficial "success". Anyone who knows anything knows that real-life experience is basically ALL that matters.

In a strictly real-world sense, I agree with you. I could do my job as a lawyer without having gone to college or law school. Law school did not prepare me for what the job would really be like and it did not teach me to be a lawyer. I could have been taught the job, just like any other.

However, the reality is that it is somewhat difficult to break into a well-paying job without having the right paperwork (read: degree). You're just not going to get your foot in many doors without it. I realize there are exceptions but I'm talking in a broad sense. I'm a proponent of education if for no other reason that to gain an edge in the job market.

markolas

08-23-2009, 02:43 PM

daniellaaarisen

08-23-2009, 03:36 PM

We always started around the end of August, so this sounds about right. But school also let out around the end of May. After I got to high school, it seems like they moved the last day up to the first week of June.

I went to school in Louisiana, and what blows my mind about schools in Texas is how late in the day they start - we used to have to catch the bus at 6:30am - sometimes it wasn't even light outside. In Texas, school apparently doesn't start until 9am!

Now that I'm a senior, I'll get out in mid May. For all other grades, though, school ends the first week of June. Ridiculous.

We have a block schedule, which means that there are seven periods in total but they are divided over two days-- one day has four 85 minute periods (beginning at 7:45AM), the other three (8:45AM). LUCKILY, I have a free first period which means the earliest I ever have to get to school is 8:45 and the latest is 9:30 :). We get out at 2:30 every day.

It doesn't help too much, though, considering my schedule is already killing me. For my first semester, I have:

AP English Literature
AP French Literature
AP Environmental Science
AP Philosophy
Calculus
US Government

Sigh. Where did summer go?

Ghost_Tracker

08-23-2009, 04:41 PM

AP English Literature
AP French Literature
AP Environmental Science
AP Philosophy
Calculus
US Government

I think maybe I'm seeing a pattern in that list. Not quite sure what it is.
Hmmm . . . . :blob2:

daniellaaarisen

08-23-2009, 04:46 PM

I think maybe I'm seeing a pattern in that list. Not quite sure what it is.
Hmmm . . . . :blob2:

Me screwing myself over with APs? Yup, tis the pattern of my life. :(

LikeAWillow

08-23-2009, 05:36 PM

Now that I'm a senior, I'll get out in mid May. For all other grades, though, school ends the first week of June. Ridiculous.

We have a block schedule, which means that there are seven periods in total but they are divided over two days-- one day has four 85 minute periods (beginning at 7:45AM), the other three (8:45AM). LUCKILY, I have a free first period which means the earliest I ever have to get to school is 8:45 and the latest is 9:30 :). We get out at 2:30 every day.

It doesn't help too much, though, considering my schedule is already killing me. For my first semester, I have:

AP English Literature
AP French Literature
AP Environmental Science
AP Philosophy
Calculus
US Government

Sigh. Where did summer go?

Slacker.

Gov and Calc are both offered as AP's.

Oh, wait, I wouldn't have nearly the dose of you in my life that I need if this schedule got any more ridiculous.

:xoxo:

daniellaaarisen

08-23-2009, 05:43 PM

Slacker.

Gov and Calc are both offered as AP's.

Oh, wait, I wouldn't have nearly the dose of you in my life that I need if this schedule got any more ridiculous.

:xoxo:

Want a bed to sleep in over Halloween weekend?

Bitch.

:)

LikeAWillow

08-23-2009, 05:46 PM

Want a bed to sleep in over Halloween weekend?

Bitch.

:)

Who's going to sleep that weekend? :shrug:

Ghost_Tracker

08-23-2009, 06:22 PM

;)Who's going to sleep that weekend? :shrug:

Three words - - -

Not

Laurie

Strode. :shocked:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/52/LaurieStrode.jpg/225px-LaurieStrode.jpg ;)

daniellaaarisen

08-23-2009, 06:23 PM

;)

Three words - - -

Not

Laurie

Strode.

Such a good movie.

LukeA

08-24-2009, 12:05 AM

In a strictly real-world sense, I agree with you. I could do my job as a lawyer without having gone to college or law school. Law school did not prepare me for what the job would really be like and it did not teach me to be a lawyer. I could have been taught the job, just like any other.

However, the reality is that it is somewhat difficult to break into a well-paying job without having the right paperwork (read: degree). You're just not going to get your foot in many doors without it. I realize there are exceptions but I'm talking in a broad sense. I'm a proponent of education if for no other reason that to gain an edge in the job market.

Sophomore year of college, I took an internship. Two weeks later, I was hired full time, immediately coordinating major, national projects and managing million dollar productions/investments. None of this had anything to do with where I went to/what I did in college. All I had to do was exhibit my intelligence, awareness, and drive for success. In fact, I had to continue the charade of going to college, "learning" everything I was doing for a living on a daily basis, just to get the degree/piece of paper. My then-girlfriend had to deal with the exact same scenario at the same college/similar company. Its not an unusual concept- seizing an opportunity and utilizing your abilities- all without relying on name or prestige.

Its been my experience (based on what I've seen with friends and colleagues) is that superficial AP classes/clubs leads to a superficial placement at a certain college- where you pay outrageous sums of money to attend- which leads to a superficial placement at some job somewhere. Nothing intellectually redeeming- just means to an end, or a self-satisfaction for jumping through so many hoops. Seems like a whole lot of bull**** when all that really matters is a fundamental (hands-on) knowledge of your field, along with the right opportunity (that's earned based on effort and credentials, and I'm not talking about school), and some inspired, hard work.

camchristo

08-24-2009, 02:27 PM

Sophomore year of college, I took an internship. Two weeks later, I was hired full time, immediately coordinating major, national projects and managing million dollar productions/investments. None of this had anything to do with where I went to/what I did in college. All I had to do was exhibit my intelligence, awareness, and drive for success. In fact, I had to continue the charade of going to college, "learning" everything I was doing for a living on a daily basis, just to get the degree/piece of paper. My then-girlfriend had to deal with the exact same scenario at the same college/similar company. Its not an unusual concept- seizing an opportunity and utilizing your abilities- all without relying on name or prestige.

Its been my experience (based on what I've seen with friends and colleagues) is that superficial AP classes/clubs leads to a superficial placement at a certain college- where you pay outrageous sums of money to attend- which leads to a superficial placement at some job somewhere. Nothing intellectually redeeming- just means to an end, or a self-satisfaction for jumping through so many hoops. Seems like a whole lot of bull**** when all that really matters is a fundamental (hands-on) knowledge of your field, along with the right opportunity (that's earned based on effort and credentials, and I'm not talking about school), and some inspired, hard work.

I can't really tell whether you're agreeing or disagreeing with me (or a little of both).

I did say there are exceptions, certainly. It depends on your field. As far as lawyer, doctor, veterinarian, CPA, etc. - those things you just won't get into without the degree. Although I have been told you can take the bar exam in California without ever having gone to a day of school so long as you've worked in the legal field for five years. So, another exception, if true.

Ghost_Tracker

08-24-2009, 04:24 PM

Such a good movie.

I actually prefer the sequel, believe it or not.

"I SHOT HIM TEN TIMES!!! I SHOT HIM TEN TIMES!!!"

"We'll pay you a million dollars, Mr. Pleasance."

"MAKES SENSE TO ME!!! MAKES SENSE TO ME!!!" :laugh:

No really though, somehow I thought the sequel was much better.