Poll: High School, better then or now?

[CrimsonBlaze]

So I'm probably not getting any praises for posting a topic like this on this forum, as quite a bit of people don't really have fond memories of their high school years. Luckily, this topic is just to discuss the status of schools rather than reopening old wounds.

My question is simply this: is high school (if you wish, yours specifically) better now or then?

By this I mean do you believe that high school has changed for the better or if it has just gotten worse. You can include any differences in polices, technologies, rules, regulations, etc. I ask this because I'm not certain about how other schools in states, overseas, etc. function and I'm just curious as to how things are handled/changed for the better/worse.

So for me (Good ol' California, USA), I can definitely say that high schools have gotten worse. Despite the advancements in technology, school renovations, a higher graduation rate and average GPA, and classes focused on career readiness, the school halls are just teeming with bland, subservient, spineless, ungrateful, and below average achieving kids. This doesn't apply to the top 10 percent of the class, they're awesome as usual, but it's basically everyone else that just drops the ball on being a interesting, charismatic, trustworthy, responsible, and headstrong individual. What's really infuriating is that there's no reason for this to happen; these kids have it good and instead of being excited and grateful, they are just full of angst and depreciate these efforts.

Listen, I had friends from various clicks; even if some were not as academically or intellectually striving as others, they were still interesting people who were comfortable with who they were, fun to be around, always up for doing things, and generally faced every situation that came their way. If I had started school right now, with the same individuals again, it would be a completely different scenario, I'd tell you that.

 

[Queen Michael]

It's definitely improved. I watched a documentary the other day, called "High School Music" or something like that, and nowadays the kids perform musical numbers all the time in high school.

 

[Zhukov]

Hard to say. It's not like I've been back to check.

From what my (much) younger siblings say, it sounds more or less unchanged, for better or worse. (Australian here, by the way.) Teenagers, shockingly, are still teenagers.

... the school halls are just teeming with bland, subservient, spineless, ungrateful, and below average achieving kids. This doesn't apply to the top 10 percent of the class, they're awesome as usual, but it's basically everyone else that just drops the ball on being a interesting, charismatic, trustworthy, responsible, and headstrong individual.

A question if I may: how old are you now?

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

No idea, I went to a very strange high school in a very strange country. But I'm going to guess it's not better. Nothing much has become "better" in the past 7 years over here.

 

[JoJo]

Realistically, most of people on this site are barely out of high school, you aren't going to see any significant changes in that time and nor are most of us qualified to judge those changes, excluding those of us who work in a school. This question would be better aimed at a forum with an older population. I left school just under 4 years ago, some of the exams have changed format since then, other than that no difference really.

 

[Chemical Alia]

Realistically, most of people on this site are barely out of high school, you aren't going to see any significant changes in that time and nor are most of us qualified to judge those changes, excluding those of us who work in a school. This question would be better aimed at a forum with an older population. I left school just under 4 years ago, some of the exams have changed format since then, other than that no difference really.

I graduated from my high school 14 years ago and I honestly have no idea what it's like there now. In the years immediately following when I left, I heard they beefed up security a lot more due to a growing problem with gang fights. They had just finished construction on a new wing the year I graduated, and I heard talk of spending a few million dollars to install a new pool on top of the multi-million dollar astroturf field they got (sports are a priority there).

I would be happy to hear that they added some computer-related courses, and got better math teachers and better lunches. But I have no connection to that place anymore, so who knows.

 

[shootthebandit]

When i was at school it was average. I didnt really feel in place in education. I completed sixth form too which was a lot more chilled out but i still felt out of place. I thought about going to uni but felt like it would be a waste of my money to go into yet more education

Once i started working it was so much better. I felt like I belonged. I felt like I was being productive. I was working hands on, learning relevant skills and getting paid rather than being sat in a room learning useless shit that apart from elements of maths and mechanical/electrical physics was completely useless

another thing that bothered me was homework. Why do I need to do stuff at home that ive been taught in class. Im a pretty quick learner and i never felt the need to practice something at home that i learned and understood in class that day. Its a waste of everyones time.

My mum always said "wait till you start working youll look back and love school".....she was wrong

So has school changed from then?.... no its still exactly the same. It focuses to much on meeting targets and not focusing on individual students. Theres little to no emphasis on vocational/"real world" training. Most people leave school not knowing what to wear and how to conduct yourself at an interview. Most students dont know how to fit a shelf or change a spark plug.

I would loved to learn stuff like DIY, car mechanics etc at school rather than being lined up with everyone else and marched down the academical route on a pink floydesque conveyor belt

 

[Tuesday Night Fever]

I voted for "Then, in some ways..."

My high school went through a bit of a... reorganization... a few years after I graduated. Apparently some kid's mom was absolutely mortified that one of the teachers would assign reading from a Stephen King novel featuring "adult themes" (death and drug use, if I remember correctly) in a creative writing class (restricted to Seniors).

This kid's mom went on a crusade to wipe out "deviant" material from the curriculum, and the end result was a completely sanitized reading assignment selection for all classes and about half of the veteran teaching staff being fired when they refused to go along with it.

This is probably more a complaint about how ridiculously over-sensitive a certain type of American citizen is these days rather than a complaint about the school system... but the school system still completely caved to that stupidity, and now teaches a ridiculous fantasy world where no negativity exists whatsoever and fails to prepare people for life.

Between the sanitization of the lessons and the completely ridiculous zero-tolerance policies that high schools seem to be using these days, I can't help but feel sorrow for current high school students living in that kind of atmosphere. It sucks that they're stuck learning about how the real world actually operates completely on their own.

 

[DarkishFriend]

Hard to say, I graduated in 2011 so it hasn't been that long and I've obviously never been back.

The only thing I really know was that fights became more of a problem and the day my class graduated pot problems disappeared.

 

[viscomica]

Well, I went to a private high school that had a chemistry lab and a physics lab and a private museum and still, yes it has gotten worse. I don't know if it's because the younger generations are dumber or if it is the educational system, I don't know. But it has gotten worse. Not only my old school but my sister's too! She attends a very prestigious school and still my parents who went to a run-of-the-mill school back in the day knew waaaaaaaaay more at her age than she is taught. It's kind of depressing.

 

[AntiChri5]

Hard to say. It's not like I've been back to check.

Yeah, this is kinda making me wonder how we can even properly discuss this. A few people will know enough about the lives of their siblings and/or children that they can sorta piece together a half assed opinion and an even smaller group work in schools and can actually have a worthwhile opinion but apart from that this is mostly just self important guesswork.

 

[Godhead]

No idea, last time I went to my high school I spent half an hour talking to my old math teacher/Golf coach. Security changed so I don't think I would have been able to with security now at least.

So yeah, probably worse because you can't gamble on sports with security anymore.

 

[lunavixen]

The school I went to has backslid majorly since 2007 (my grad year), they gained an absolute ***** as a principal who didn't know her ass from her elbow even when she was a vice principal, she held none of the students respect, not even mine (she didn't even try to help a lot of the students who needed it, only cared about the schools reputation). A lot of the better teachers there in Maths, Science and English have since either retired or left the school, the second language curriculum we had I think has been totally removed and so on.

I mean, it was never a great school, but it was better then than it is now.

 

[FPLOON]

As a SoCal native, I feel like they have gotten better in the acceptance department, but not doing too well in the education department...

I'm still happy my mom still has her job in the same school district that has the schools I attended long ago...

Then again, I can't speak for EVERY high school, so I guess results may very...

 

[CrimsonBlaze]

Hard to say. It's not like I've been back to check.

From what my (much) younger siblings say, it sounds more or less unchanged, for better or worse. (Australian here, by the way.) Teenagers, shockingly, are still teenagers.

... the school halls are just teeming with bland, subservient, spineless, ungrateful, and below average achieving kids. This doesn't apply to the top 10 percent of the class, they're awesome as usual, but it's basically everyone else that just drops the ball on being a interesting, charismatic, trustworthy, responsible, and headstrong individual.

A question if I may: how old are you now?

I'm in my mid 20s and I've revisited my old high school a few times for meetings and such. I also have siblings that currently attend the same high school, so I have a fresher perspective as to how my old high school's been over the last few years.

 

[Vault101]

how the heck would I know? I'm not in highschool anymore

I imagine though the type of schools I went to (fancy private ones) have not changed a great deal...I see girls walking in the street and talking on a bus and I think "nothing has changed"

 

[Blood Brain Barrier]

As a trainee teacher, the technological revolution disturbs me a little. I'm constantly being reminded about all the fantastic stuff it offers, and I can see that some of it is great and opens up new possibilities. But there are downsides which aren't acknowledged at all, and if they are acknowledged they are just talked about and the teachers go on using the technology in the same way as before. So you'll go to a lecture on using IT in school and they'll be raving on about how great it is to have all this amazing new tech, while spending 10 minutes trying to get the loudspeaker working on a video they want to show, or not being able to log into a fancy new 3D VR interactive animation they want to show you. At first I thought it was sheer incompetence, but it happens every single time to every person, no exceptions. Quite incredible.

 

[V4Viewtiful]

My Dad grew up on the 70s as a Black kid the majority of teachers never really cared for him or his education, He told many stories of the negligence of the system and how he had to learn more life skills in work rather than school. He above all else was impressed by how the Teachers acted.

When I became a teenager around the first maybe second year after a parent teacher thing he was very taken aback by how the system has changed I saw his face not really "getting it" beyond the obvious, he then told me about the stuff above in more detail and told me I was lucky. I never really had a problem with any teacher as I had a better rapport with adults than my own age as a result I can say I didn't enjoyed school as much as I'd like (teenage woes :/).

Anyway looking back comparing things to my parents school days and reminiscing of my school turning into an Academy I will say schools have improved, The talented kids are nurtured, the lower performing are brought up more, more advanced equipment, updated books, diverse lesson plan, better food (thanks Jamie Oliver!), diverse subjects, parents are better informed and there's more scrutiny on failures. I do think Parents weren't as involved in the educational system in my day as much as my fathers but over the years more and more Parents are taking parts.

I've got a bunch of young cousins who where in school and seem very secure since leaving and their parents are satisfied.

The process and grading system though is over politicised now, it's becoming a numbers game at times, "How many A levels", "bring back O levels", "foreign kids are taking up school places". Blah-Blah. to often the make the kids future appear unstable with no stable course.

This is all an assessment on the British school system mind.

 

[Avaholic03]

Well thanks to that whole "no child left behind" constant lowering of the bar, I'm sure the actual school work is easier. However, instances of school shootings are higher now than when I was in school. So it's hard to say.

In hindsight, I quite enjoyed high school due mostly to my group of friends. I didn't encounter a lot of the negative stuff like bullying that some people remember in high school. So while I don't personally see much room for improvement, I'm sure there was some...I just have no idea if any actual improvement has taken place.

 

[Lonan]

I went to a junior and senior high boarding school for sociopaths/juvenile delinquents despite only having attention problems, and it has fortunately closed now. I imagine most high schools would be much better than it, except perhaps those which were involved in gang member recruitment. This school was isolated though, so that wasn't a problem.

I would say that though there is quite a bit of effort being put into preventing bullying now, the reality of cyber bullying and not being able to escape one's tormentors perhaps means that it is worse now.