Chapter Thirty-Three: My Official Review of My First College Course

I am proud to announce that as of today, August 7, 2014, I, Sarah, have completed my first ever college course...with an A+ average!!!

*Thunderous Applause*

Hooray! Now I will have some more free time on my hands. If you didn't notice, that class kind of took over my life, preventing me from spending my time on other important things like spending all my time with friends or lying in bed all day being bored out of my mind. In the end, yes, I of course wished I could have had more free time...but being so busy was a little nice. 

I know, shoot me. It's summer and I somewhat enjoyed not doing summer-vacation-like things. 

I guess the reason why I enjoyed myself in this math course compared to those in the past is because (a) I think I had a sort of an advantage since I took Calculus in high school and (b) I was in complete control in that class. 

If you didn't know, I can be a bit controlling. I like being in control. Chaos and disorganization just rubs me the wrong way. While in this course, I had complete freedom. Yes, I had to get assignments turned in when need be, but when and how I did my assignments was all up to me. 

I could take notes however I wanted. I didn't have to construct my notes to please my course instructor.

I could put assignments off when I wanted to spend my time elsewhere (This was, of course, very limited due to the fact I couldn't get but usually two or three assignments done per day).

I could get ahead whenever I felt ready to move on. 

FREEDOM!!!!!

To be honest, before taking this course, I was skeptical of how this class was going to go down. In my junior year of high school, I was exposed to a type of learning called "Flipped Classroom." What this is is, well, "flipping" the classroom, where the students are expected to learn at home on their own by watching videos by other instructors, and working on homework and other assignments in the school classroom, where they are expected to have learned the material.

I'll just be blunt here: "Flipped Classroom" is a good start to prep students for college. It's a great example to show students just what responsibility feels like. 

BUT. 

But, as great of an idea it is, it is not being exercised well. It sucks. 

It's just a mess of an idea. It's introduced, administrators don't really understand it but want to try it anyway, confused teachers are loosely taught how to do it and, oh, MUST DO IT PERFECTLY OR THEY GO BYE BYE. Desperate teachers puke up this new logic to students expecting them to accept this new idea with grace and acceptance, but I think it's often forgotten that teenagers are very...err...emotional. We hate change. We hate everything. And we see a lot more than the world gives us credit for. We can spot bullcrap from miles away. 

When we were introduced to this new curriculum, we could smell the insanity. Guess what? We didn't do too well in that class. And guess what subject that was...TRIGONOMETRY!!! (P.S. I just took that!)

You keep using that word...

What made the difference between my terrible performance in trigonometry versus today? A couple of things. I'm still young, but I'm more mature now than I was. I didn't have a teacher breathing down my neck making sure they could keep their job. I learned how I wanted to learn, not how a curriculum wanted me to learn. The list goes on. 

I don't mean to downplay education. (Okay, maybe a little) I just feel like so much injustice happens to young people and we feel so powerless and we just let it happen. Why? Why do we let this happen to us? Yes, students are kids. Children. But we have Minds. Voices. Thoughts. 

Yes, we know we have hormones clouding our thoughts. We have insatiable desires, and irrational passions. But we're people. 

I remember my sophomore year, a brand spanking new curriculum was introduced to the English Department: SpringBoard. In English II, I expected to learn about, well, English. I expected to dive deeper into the beauty of my own language. But instead, SpringBoard thought it was more important to learn about culture. 

You remember your first day of school? How the teacher made everyone sit in a circle, criss-cross-applesauce and talk about themselves? What's your favorite color? Favorite animal?

That's what we did. All year. We introduced ourselves in new and different ways. We made posters, poems, African masks, clay sculptures...Guess how many books we read? 

1.

Maybe two. 

Guess how many essays we wrote?

3.

And I knew it was wrong. We all knew it was wrong. So I spoke up. I emailed the school board. I told them that this curriculum was not what we needed. It was not working. 

But I'm just a kid. 

The response was like a slap in the face. It was along the lines of "You write well, you're very smart, but sometimes we learn things we don't understand, but later appreciate in life." 

Uh

If you want to read about a whole other injustice I experienced this last year, check out chapter two! 

Look, I'm not looking for a perfect education. I don't know if we will ever find the perfect solution for teaching our children. But we need to do more. Children aren't minds to mold and carve how we need...Children are flowers we must nourish and encourage to grow.

I know I'm not the only one who feels this way. We know our education is screwed up. So, my question is...what are we going to do about it?

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Questions: Film Addition!

Blacklion Asks: "What kind of films do you like?"

Answer: I loooove movies for kids. I really enjoy superhero movies too. 

My favorite movie is Tangled. I absolutely love the Disney Princesses. I really enjoy most animated movies like How to Train Your Dragon, Rise of the Guardians, Frozen...My favorite Superhero franchise is the Amazing Spider-Man series.

noaporat Asks: "Who's your favorite director?"

Answer: Honestly, I don't think I have a favorite director. I enjoyed the Harry Potter films directed by Chris Columbus did. 

***Got a burning question? Ask it by using my Spring.me app, which is located in the right margin.***