Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Interview with DD9 about why school is bad

A little background: DD9 does NOT like to discuss her “private matters” as she puts it. I took her out to dinner tonight as DH was still at work and DD10 was at a class. I explained that I wanted to ask her what she did and did not like about school because mommy, daddy, and a lady who helps kids make their schools better were going to go to her school to try to “fix things”. Well, I got all kinds of pushback, and she did not want to talk about it. I explained that this was her chance to make a difference in her education so I really wanted to hear what she had to say. We also talked about the option to go somewhere else. She was worried about losing her friends. Then she actually said that she would like friends who “knew about a lot of things.” So, new school is an option. She stated that she would talk – if she got to draw when she was done. So here goes:

Why school is bad (by DD):

-“School is boring, but that’s not bad because that’s how it’s supposed to be”.
-“Language arts is doing the same thing over and over again. You have no options”.
-“If one person doesn’t understand, the whole class has to go back and wait ‘til that kid gets it, and you could have been done by then.”
-“Teachers always ask “What did you learn today?”, and you say “Nothing.” because you didn’t learn anything new.”

Here are her proposals for a good school (that she says does not exist):

-learn something new every day (why should you practice the same thing you already know??)
-more science experiments, less writing in a notebook
-teachers don’t repeat themselves

Doesn’t this just break your heart?????

Makes me think you need to be looking for a new school!

DS7 rambles on about "baby math", baby science", etc. On a "student survey" the teacher asked "If you could change one thing about last year what would it be?" and he wrote "The baby science." Last year he NEVER told me those subjects were a problem. I can see why he's calling it "baby" this and that. That's how we'd view it as an adult as well, if we had to sit through it. He's tired of cutesy pictures and stories about caterpillars and butterflies or hearing about how the earth goes around the sun in the Star Lab. Most teachers probably think it's super fun for their class to go the Star Lab. For DS it's torture.