K-12 American Educational System

[Fishound]

I was never a kid who liked school when I was younger (In fact I dropped out of high school, got my GED, and went straight to college). It was not because I didn't enjoy going to class or learning new things, but rather was because I could only do those things if I had a healthy social life in school. For example, a science teacher I had in the 7th grade wanted to teach us how to use the microscope and I was very excited to learn. However, the second he said we needed to get in groups for this activity I froze in fear. Instead of worrying about learning and having fun, I was stuck in a situation where my brain couldn't do anything but constantly analyze the kids in my group. I'm a quiet person, will they think I am weird? My mom had a cigarette in the car, will they think I smell? Now there is no doubt I was a shy and anti-social child, and I am not suggesting the educational system should be designed around my particular personality. My issue is that this wasn't just an occasional circumstance I had to endure, but virtually a constant one. Yeah, I know, kids need to learn how to socialize and work in groups. Every teacher uses this argument. The problem is every teacher and every class is trying to do this. Whether it is getting in teams for kickball in gym, lab partners in science, and reading groups for English. The only class I ever enjoyed and did good in was math because we hardly ever needed to be in groups! Not to mention the kids who usually did enjoy the groups only did so because they got to discretely goof off. I was a kid who failed throughout high school (I literally had all F's in 9th grade), and now I am soon going to graduate college with a 3.6 GPA. College allows much more room for independence while also not allowing you to be a total recluse -- a perfect balance.

Do you think the American educational system is too social?

[SanguineSara]

I agree with you completely. It's frustrating to be put in groups because unless you're in an Advanced Placement class, it's guaranteed that at least one person in the group absolutely could not care less about school, and honestly, sometimes you even get that in AP. Whenever there was a mandatory group project, I'd always lose any luck I had and be in a group with people that I either didn't know or didn't like. I'd end up either doing all the work or just getting made fun of the whole time until I went to the bathroom to get away from everyone. Soon enough, I decided to just take the zero each time rather than put up with them, sometimes even ditching class if I had to, and at the time, that seemed like a reasonable sacrifice; however, upon looking back at it now that I'm now soon to graduate high school, I feel a bit irritated. How is that even "encouraging social interaction?" If anything, it made me want to drop out and never talk to anyone ever again! 

I feel like if group work is to be enforced, it should at least be monitored. For the school I went to, there weren't any Advanced Placement or Honors courses until high school, and once there, we all had horror stories of group projects where we, as the "smart kids," were forced to do everything, or made fun of, or both. 

I do hope that someone decides to eventually change the American education system to something less social, and really, hopefully they'll realize their mistakes soon- we're one of the lowest scoring nations as far as test scores go, after all.