Self-taught Education

[deird1]

I occasionally stagger one of my colleagues with my ignorance - and he inevitably asks "Weren't you listening at school?"


Here's what my school taught me:

English

Nearly nothing. I learnt how to write essays very badly, and read a whole bunch of books I'd never have touched on my own - like Waiting For Godot. That's about it.

I did not learn anything about grammar, or language. That was picked up by
a) reading the Usborne Word Detectives series at home
b) sitting in on English classes when I was in Germany


Other Languages

I learnt how to write the names of six common household pets in Mandarin Chinese, and how to say "Hi! How are you?"

I learnt German for six years - and when I wrote letters in German to my exchange student, she confessed that she couldn't understand most of them. She then came to Australia and told me I was the best at German in my class...


History

Well, there's this. (And a fair amount of that I picked up by reading newspapers.)

And... that's about all.

I also learnt that people started off in Sumer (I think?) and what a "keep" was in medieval castles.


Geography

How to invent a fake town and fool my teacher into thinking it's real so he'll give me a good mark on the exam and not realise that I haven't done any homework all year.

Other notable geography classes included
a) walking around some play equipment and drawing diagrams of it
b) going on the internet so we'd develop computer skills


Home Economics

None. My classmates were expected to have people to cook and clean for them; I was a scholarship student, and didn't really count.


Maths, Physics, Chemistry, etc

Lots! Heaps and heaps of really really useful stuff! Really!

This was something I actually got taught!



...did I mention that I went to a REALLY GOOD high school?

*sighs* Education round these parts really sucks.

Comments

[velvetwhip]

Don't get me started. I went to a very posh school myself and thank my stars every single day that right from the get-go I read and studied on my own. You really don't want to ever quiz me on science, though. Really not. That's the one subject in which I left it to my school to instruct me. The results aren't pretty...just pretty pathetic.


Gabrielle

[deird1]

Yeah - when I think about my general supply of knowledge, most of it is stuff I decided to learn by myself. I hate to think what I'd be like if I'd been relying on school...

[a2zmom]

Where did you go to school?

I went to a specialized HS, so my education was hardly typical. My kids do a tremendous amount of reading on their own, so it's very hard to tell with them.

I remember Aaron spent the summer between sophomore and junior year reading modern American novels. Zachary has read a lot of history on his own.

[deird1]

I went to a snooty private school. A really good snooty private school, actually - I think Australia's education might just suck all around the country...

[a2zmom]

I'm not sure most of American education is any great shakes either. My kids took a lot of advanced placement and honors classes which makes a big difference.

[slaymesoftly]

Wow and sheesh! Now here, I'd just assume a person had not paid any attention because I know they would have been exposed to at least the opportunity to learn those things. But I know you're smart, so, yeah that school seems to have left a lot to be desired.... (Although, in English, at least, American kids get grammar stuff from elementary school on up. They probably don't do a whole lot in HS because by then they really should know at least the basics. Vocabulary, writing and literature are more likely to be what's covered in class. You just get marked down if the things you turn in are not punctuated or written correctly.) But the rest of it is just somewhere between unbelievable and scary.

[juliet316]

I hated English classes when I was in high school. I was one of those students who loved the reading part, but hated when it came time to do essays and what little creative writing there was (the fact that some of my teachers left a lot to be desired as well). I very nearly did not graduate high school because of English. As it was it was only until after high school that I discovered fanfiction and became interested in writing it. I have seriously come to believe that mandatory English classes kill any interest one has of any creative writing or any type of writing at all.

I am a huge History buff though and always loved taking history classes.

[verity]

I learned everything I know about grammar from Latin. I don't think the US is too great with grammar either. (I went to REALLY REALLY GOOD public schools.)

[silver_galaxy]

What you said about other languages and home economics sounds very much like the school I went to (and the part about it being a private school). And since we live in the same city it could be the same school...

[deird1]

Heh. Cool.

I'm from CGS, how about you?

[silver_galaxy]

Omg, I was cgs too, wheelers campus! When did you graduate?

[deird1]

Okay, this is freaky.


Wheelers, graduated 2000.

[silver_galaxy]

Okay, so we went to school together for 2 years, i graduated in 2004.

[deird1]

How cool and random...


(What house were you in?)

[silver_galaxy]

Langley :)

[deird1]

I was in Wilsmore. :)

[silver_galaxy]

What you said about English sounds pretty accurate as well. Although at least you were gone by the time the maths department went downhill.

Who was the history teacher?