The Big Picture: Mailbag

[evilcorgi]

hey, Mr.Chipman,what do you think of the whole "brony" thing?

 

[XDravond]

Thanks for short simple but with somehow interesting pieces and short stories. The crayon was odd though...

 

[Susan Arendt]

High school is torture. I thought about killing myself constantly, because, seriously, if the rest of my life was going to be like that, why live? Fortunately, as Bob says, it's only temporary. Everything gets way cooler.

 

[keiskay]

Could someone help me out here and explain just what it is about American highschools that makes them so different and horrible compared to the equivalent level of schools in the rest of the world?

(Huh....that could've been a good question for Bob)

its not that different but instead of optional like in some European countries you are forced to go to high school. i believe europe has 2 seperate schools ( or more) for education, one for those who are prepping to go to Uni and the other for people who want to do things like plumbing and such.

thats college not high school.

And we have primary school 5-12 (dunno about the 5 number, i was young so it might be 6 i dunno)
secondary school 12-16

thats the end of compulsory

then you have either
sixth form (it basically extends from higher standard secondary schools)
colleges (these can be specialist or quite varied.)

and then you have uni ofc. Which is why we hate americans calling university, college ITS NOT THE SAME.

yes, yes lets get into a ridiculous things each country calls other things. like how a water closet is the place were you shit and bathe, instead of the American room bathroom. or how a flash light is called an electric torch, and a trunk is called a boot.

 

[Daaaah Whoosh]

Yeah, I really liked high school. It helped me to realize that even though I was unique and had no real friends or any sort of 'crowd,' I could still be a really cool guy that everyone liked and respected. A girl that I knew had a similar experience, where in middle school, she was constantly ridiculed and outcast, whereas in high school, she finally found her place, and learned that she shouldn't care about the naysayers.

Sadly, I will probably never have the chance to talk to her again. Oh, what I wouldn't give to still be in high school...

 

[keiskay]

Could someone help me out here and explain just what it is about American highschools that makes them so different and horrible compared to the equivalent level of schools in the rest of the world?

(Huh....that could've been a good question for Bob)

its not that different but instead of optional like in some European countries you are forced to go to high school. i believe europe has 2 seperate schools ( or more) for education, one for those who are prepping to go to Uni and the other for people who want to do things like plumbing and such.

thats college not high school.

And we have primary school 5-12 (dunno about the 5 number, i was young so it might be 6 i dunno)
secondary school 12-16

thats the end of compulsory

then you have either
sixth form (it basically extends from higher standard secondary schools)
colleges (these can be specialist or quite varied.)

and then you have uni ofc. Which is why we hate americans calling university, college ITS NOT THE SAME.

yes, yes lets get into a ridiculous things each country calls other things. like how a water closet is the place were you shit and bathe, instead of the American room bathroom. or how a flash light is called an electric torch, and a trunk is called a boot.

no that place is called a toilet, or the loo, or in the north "the shitter"

we call rooms where we bathe bathrooms too, only business call the water closets, and thats political correct bunk.

And i take no issue with flash light/torch their both fine. And in the words of david mitchel, i can definitely see that the rear of the car for holding stuff looks more like a trunk than a boot.

Im ok with most americanisms. Just the college thing annoys me, because their clearly different things. (especially confusing as you have community colleges so you have to admit they exist)

well are community colleges also offer 2 year degrees you would get in uni as well, but they also run many of the programs for things like fire fighters and police man as well as other jobs like that. so it is a blended system here.

 

[Mumorpuger]

Anyone who is currently sick of their lives because of having a crap time in high school, I highly recommend you read this article [http://www.cracked.com/blog/5-things-you-dont-learn-about-high-school-until-too-late/].

John Cheese is a hilarious, yet very encouraging writer due to his "I've been there before too, I know what you're going through" experience. He has written about abusive families, what it was like beating his alcoholism, growing up in poverty, and more.

He gets my utmost respect, and needs to be more famous. I highly recommend you check out his work.

Here's a link to his full work [http://www.cracked.com/members/John+Cheese/], scroll down to about the middle to get to the bulk of his advice columns.

 

[SlugLady28]

... Y'know everyone is going to start asking for a Lost Girls Episode now, just to annoy you, right?

I swear, I must be the only bullied nerd that didn't hate high school. Sure, it wasn't perfect, but I had the odd exception that grade school and junior high was my hell instead. Mainly because all the bullies from my grade school followed me to junior high but only about one percent went to my high school. That alone made high school heaven.

 

[ProjectTrinity]

I didn't give anyone a bad time, nor did I get a bad time in High School.

Well, I gave people a horrible time who decided to cross the scary Black guy...

But the point is, there is (now?) a *huge* grey area filled with huge groups of kids who aren't into annoying others at all. I was left alone by every group in the three high schools I've been in. Left alone or spammed with people hitting on me. <--Which is better than the Hollywood bullying I've seen....on TV.

 

[ProjectTrinity]

Sadly, I will probably never have the chance to talk to her again. Oh, what I wouldn't give to still be in high school...

What about seeing if she has a Facebook. D:

 

[BonGookKumBop]

Have to comment on the television father subject. It seems that there might be a swinging pendulum on this one. In early radio programs of the 1940-50's, the father figure was a bumbling idiot. "Father Knows Best" actually started as such a program. I recently listened to one episode where the father reorganized the house while everyone was on vacation and the family had to deal with all the problems it caused when they got back. Radio programs of the time showed the father figure as a fool that tried to rudely rule over his family with an iron fist while the rest of the family took it with reason and patience. Later television programs made the fathers more caring with sage advice. With time they started going back to the bumbling idiots. Interestingly enough, Homer isn't exactly an original character. Going back to early radio, "The Great Gildersleeve" radio programs are like audio extracts of The Simpsons. You can find the originals online for free if you want to check them out.

 

[GeorgW]

Loved the bonus, and the pacing of the episode was really great. Please do more!

 

[jecht35]

Love the mail bag episode do more please. Also I don't know but to me high school was a mix bag of the good and bad. Freshmen and sophmore year where kind of hell but Junior year I had good friend, good teachers, I was passing classes, rarly did anyone bother me. Then I left to college and I like it a whole lot more. So yeah school can be rough but like Bob said IT ENDS.

 

[Zydrate]

Not a bad one, very interesting answers. I honestly didn't know some of that.

 

[Jelly ^.^]

Ah, so this is what The Escapist is going to do until they get the guy who does the Errant Signal show on Youtube on to do Thursdays? Sounds good either way.

It would be interesting to have two Bob-like people on the site for more plurality.

P.S, Escapist, if you're not looking at signing him to fill the Thursday gap:
please look at signing him to take over Thursdays.

 

[daxterx2005]

Guess I was one of those people, because I actually enjoyed HS. Twas fun.

 

[Hitchmeister]

And then there's this:

 

[subtlefuge]

I had no idea what "Lost Girls" was, but after looking it up on Wikipedia, I kinda wish you would do something about it.

 

[Something Amyss]

What? You mean every major city doesn't have a "little France?"

 

[gphjr14]

High school should be abolished.

Or at the very least made optional. There are so many kids in high school that don't care about how well they do there, and would probably be better off going into the work force. They sure aren't interested in getting into college or learning anything more the state has to teach them, so why not just get them working?

Well at 16 you can drop out so its kind of optional. Not much you can do though most places want at least a GED especially when you're older.

For me high school was a breeze in regards to high school "politics." I got along with most people because I was funny. I didn't have to make jokes at other peoples expense because I was raised better. Most of the people who spent all their time being popular never really amounted to much. Only person I can think of is a guy who made it to the NFL and even then it was for a practice team and they make way less than the actual team with the same health risks.