What were you like at school........?

I think we have a few things in common as well Granny23. I was never disrespectful, but always challenged unfairness and did not see what allowed a teacher to try to assault me when they insisted I should have the slipper for forgetting my gym kit or not doing homework - I never did get hit because I always stopped them by moving. My big mouth got me into trouble because if there was a collective complaint and a group of pupils agreed we should tell the teachers what our problem was, I always seemed to be the one who was speaking, while the others took a step back. There was so much unfairness that I voted with my feet and kept truanting, plus I was bored with doing the same thing over and over again.

Oh Carol that sounds so familiar. I once was persuaded to lead a deputation to complain about something to the head. By the time she opened her office door I was standing there on my own! Unfairness and injustice still have me hopping up and down and shouting.

I didn't like school one bit! I was very shy, very tall (for my age) and very thin - which led to a good bit of bullying. Once I'd left primary school, where I was more or less top of the class, things started to go downhill a bit. I did have friends, but not very close ones. In that case, it was a wonder that I didn't just knuckle under and work hard, but no....I rebelled quite a good bit. Wouldn't wear the correct uniform, received the belt on numerous occasions, and was to be seen lurking outside the head's office very regularly, awaiting more disapproval. I was also the class clown, and I know I was very likely considered to be a right pain in the backside. I ended up with a small handful of O levels and pregnant at 16. However.....46 years later, I have brought up a fine family, and had a good career, where I gained appropriate qualifications.

Did anyone see the BBC4 2 part series about grammar schools? I missed the first one, but saw the second the other night and was in floods of tears. Several of the people in it talked most movingly about how proud their parents were of them, coming from a poor home but getting into the best grammar schools. The one that made me cry the most was a guy who said that he didn't do much with his education when he left school, and by the time he had got his act together his mum was dead, and never got to see what he had achieved. One man's mum pawned her wedding ring to buy him his uniform [the first new clothes he ever had]. I then understood how my mum felt when my best friend dropped out of school before taking O Levels, and she was terrified that I would follow her. I was in a group of 4 friends; we were the poor ones. I was bullied by some of the 'richer' ones and it made me determined to do better than them academically [sp], which I did [even though I still can't spell academically ]. I would imagine that I was very shy and tended to want to fade into the background as much as possible. I'm so grateful that I went to an incredibly good primary school which enabled me to pass the 11 plus, and had a mother who gave me the love of books that i still have today. I wish she was here so I could thank her.

You can spell 'academically'!
I now realise that my naughty episodes were mere peccadilloes by contrast with some of yours. I'm so ashamed.

This whole thread simply reinforces my gut instinct that school is a bizarre institution - why do we do it? Throw children together in an alien setting and expect them to be happy and thrive - nothing that anyone has said has given the impression that it was a good way to spend one's childhood - such precious years!
There must be a better way to get an education!

I HATED school - I was boringly brainy and was pushed on a year and did all Os and As a year early and went to uni too young really. So - for me it was not about struggling academically - I was just so bored, so frustrated with the discipline, so tired of being force-fed facts and not being listened to, bored with the treadmill, tired of the quashing of imagination, intimidated by the hierarchies both among peers and that dictated from above, and so sickened by all the pettiness and tin-pot gods of teachers who just loved the wielding of indiscriminate power (especially PE teachers).....

You will have gathered that it was not great.

My OH was talking about his school this a.m. and said that his head teacher was short, fat, narrowly religious and sadistic and should never have been allowed near children.

The only saving grace for me was the music - I grabbed every opportunity to sing and sing and this has been the central theme of my life.

I hated school, full stop!

Grammar school -mixed where I was very bright but also very rebellious. Working class girl in alien environment, apart from the actual learning. I spent so much of my energy avoiding games and PE, pleading that I was working in the library. (With DH to be!) The Senior Mistress, who had no idea of my academic prowess, saw me walking home with DH to be, and holding hands, and told me I was a slut and would never get anywhere; I spent much of my life proving her wrong! OK, we did get pregnant after celebrating my "A" Levels but I went back to university and eventually ended up with a Masters and half a PhD. AND we're still married! Sucks to you, Miss Jones.

Mixed really. I hated PE teachers, but my history teacher was excellent, I corresponded with her until she died last year at the age of 89. Our geography and RE teacher, Mother Frances was wonderful, really caring and determined to push us working class girls as hard as she could to achieve well.

Hated every minute, enjoyed art hated everthing else... did decided to stop on(against teachers wishes)! I wanted to stay with my friends lol.. but got fed up and decided to stay off for 3 weeks..(that wa after creeping into school in the morning whilst otehrs were in assembley. the registers were left int he outside office...so we (yes me and my friend) usd to nip in sighn our names in reg then..sod off for the day.. eventualy we were summoned in tot he headmaster room and politely asked to leave "FOR GOOD" LOL lol lol......... my parents werent too pleased ..my friend and I ended up working at the local Crisp Factory (loved every minute of it)

Memory of the misery of having to have showers after sport ...

Showers! You were privileged, we were left to fester...

Mishap, why is being short and fat a problem?

Failed 11 plus so went to grotty secondary modern school in rough area which only took pupils to age 15 and then sent them off, without any qualifications, to work in the local launderette! I did not like school but was well behaved and near the top of the class academically speaking (not hard in that environment) Hated P.E. Dreaded it every week. Like Carol studied with the Open University later in life and it was a wonderful experience.

Ariadne and Petallus much respect!

It strikes me that many teachers do not understand the learning styles of children, but organisations like the OU do - there must be a happy medium somewhere. My grandson has only been at his grammar school since last September and already he hates it, yet loved his prep school, where he was pushed to his limits but had amazing support and was in tiny classes. I don't like private education - good teachers should be placed with needy children, not creamed off elsewhere. Can they not all talk to each other and share what works so well for children?

The OU has volunteers, not conscripts...

Carol, your key point is small classes. How privileged some children are. For those in the state system it's 30+ no wonder it's hard to learn - and to teach.

Maybe that's the solution Nsube! And slightly off the subject, but it's something that we older ones often say - wouldn't it be great to have our childhood now instead of when we couldn't appreciate it? I would happily go to school now!

Yes, small classes do enable children to get specialised attention, but I don't agree with private schools - all children should have the best teachers. I've said in another thread - my grandson was sent through prep school but it hasn't advantaged him in the end - the culture shock of grammar school and being required to start taking some responsibility for his own learning has come as a bit of a blow for him, and his ability to concentrate has suffered. His peers from the local primary school are helping him now, even though the prep school curriculum was a year ahead before he left there.

Interesting point Carol. Being an independent learner is key to success, not just in academic terms but in enjoying learning for its own sake.

Nsube - the first two adjectives were descriptive, the last two the reason why he should not be near children!

Small classes and also small institutions are what is needed - but they are hugely expensive per capita and this is why they do not happen - and where they do (like our village school) they are under threat of closure.

The ideal I think is home education, with families joining together some of the time for joint projects/outings.

Education needs above all else to be human scale.

Didn't have many friends at school for two reasons. One was that I went to three senior schools so there were already friendship groups (I made sure my DDs stayed at one school as a consequence) and also I was fat, and very old fashioned, so not popular, and was convinced that no one liked me anyway. Hey ho that is life. Made some wonderful friends whilst in London doing nurse training though, so that made up for it.
On another note, did any of you Scottish folk go to Forfar Academy?

Carol NO!!!!!!
my recurring nightmare when I'm stressed is that I've got exams next day and haven't revised. Worst when really stressed is that for some reason I'm retaking the medical course and can't cope. But I know I already have my degree!
Any freudeans or jungists out there who wish to comment? Please feel free!
(I'd like free psychiatric opinion)
It's gransnet, it's driving me mad,

I have the same kind of dream jeni I always seem to be sitting exams but the paper usually turns into a towel and I am trying to write with a fountain pen on a towel.
I went to a secondary modern school too and had to go to college to get qualifications because I left school at 15. I did succeed and never looked back after leaving school. I passed all my nursing exams and ended up top of my year in the finals and was awarded the gold medal.

You are excused Jeni! No school for you. A recurring dream I have is that I am stood in a line waiting for my leaving certificate, and the history teacher (we loathed each other) keeps looking at me and sending signals - 'you won't be getting yours.' As I get nearer to him, I realise that I don't have to get the certificate to prove I have left, so I put two fingers up at him and walk out, never to return. There's no way I'd go back to those circumstances, but I would enjoy primary school.