Education

Let's give you a brief rundown of MY education to let you know where I'm coming from. I'm 20 and am living in the same southern Indiana town I grew up in.. *be warned, this could turn into a rant about public schools* My education began while I was a child at home with my mom, Ray, and grandparents. I remember sitting on my mom's lap in our living room while she taught me to read... I was three, and she was very pregnant with my brother, but every night when she got home from work, she would sit down with me.. and we would practice letters... and she would read to me. I can still see the peeling paint in that room.. smell the smokey sweaty way she smelled... as vividly as I could all those years ago. I never went to preschool or daycare or anything as a child... But my first day of school will always be something I remember. It was a hot early September day. My elementary school had all day kidnergarten but the k kids didn't start school until after labor day, so my first day of school was a Tuesday. It was HOT, but I insisted on wearing one of my new sweatsuits... it was bright blue and had polar bears on the shirt. Mom french braided my hair and I was off. I learned a lot of things that day... such as.... Well, I never realized there were TWO bathrooms. You know, one for boys and one for girls... (I was five. I had always just went in with whoever I was with.. whether it be papaw, ray, mom, or gramma...) I had a rather rude awakening when I just plopped down on the potty by my cloakroom.. and had some boy come yell at me and go tattle... Yep. I had a long way to go. But yeah, this was considered the "poor school". It was on the south side of town.. In its district, there were three seperate housing projects... and while I didn't live in one (then), it was assumed that I did. Because the kids were poor, they, the city, assumed they didn't know the things they should (alphabet, numbers... etc) so the kids who could already READ were just SOL. We had three classrooms of kidnergarteners at Culver and out of those three rooms, only myself and Marc (who was a bit odd... he shaved his eyebrows in high school...) could read. We were sat at a table in the back of a room.. where we put puzzles together.. and played a peanuts boardgame that was really easy for both of us. Yay. So after we were all tested... at my parent teacher conference, my teacher wanted to skip me to second grade... I was at a 4th grade level in reading (was already reading baby sitters club books) and almost at a 3rd grade level in math.. but I didn't know my times tables yet... (which.. i still have problems with lol) so 2nd grade wsa the answer. Mom said no... because she was afraid the other kids would be bigger than me.. and would pick on me. Well they picked on me anyway (oh the joys of being the weird geeky kid who doesn't really care about what brand clothes are popular) and I have always been VERY tall.. (broke 5' at 9...which had I been skipped would mean my peers would have been 11... and that's right about average for 11 year olds..) but anyway, so I was bored to tears... I had some great teachers... I had some horrible ones.. (my 2nd grade teacher told my mom that girls don't do well in math... not to worry about it, but to focus on my penmanship... which btw, still sucks) Every year we had the ISTEP tests (which I think stand for indiana standardized tests estimating placement or some bs like that) and every year... I tested more and mroe ahead of where i belonged. By fourth grade... I was testing 12+ (12th grade and up.. out of HIGH SCHOOL) in english and reading.. and at an 8th grade level in math. and by 6th grade I was 12+ in all three areas.... but my schools didn't offer anything for kids who actually learned things.. for the "smart kids" if you will. I started middle school.. and for the first time my school had classes that were sorta tracked... we had the special ed classes... two classes of normal kids.. and the A level class. I was put in the A level class... So instead of the normal 6th/7th/8th grade reading6, 7, and 8, and math6, 7, and 8... I took intro to literature, spanish1a, and spanish 1b.. and 6a math... pre algebra.. um, twice. :-) Middle school was cool... except we had a rule that you could only check out one book from the library at a time.. and I would finish a book in less than two hours... so I would DIE on the weekends... lol eh, that finished... Then high school... where I was with *at least some* other people who wanted to learn. *sighs* it was great.... i'll finish later.