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Tell me, what is this 'school' you speak of?



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Wed Apr 09, 2014 6:55 pm
Stori says...



If you wanted to leave the classroom, there were specific places you were allowed to go, and you had to get a pass signed by the teacher.


And boy, can that be embarrassing. You'd have to get permission from your teacher to use the restroom, as if you were still a lil' kid. Although now that I think of it, sometimes there's a bathroom attached to the classroom...

I'd like to second what Ongoes said about teachers. It's been my experience that teachers, being wiser and more mature, have been among my best friends. I just wish we didn't have that silly rule about not contacting them outside of school...
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Wed Apr 09, 2014 7:32 pm
Clarity says...



Well, this is a late reply but the more info, the better, huh? :smt003

1) How much time do you have between classes?
Uhhhh... well at my school 1st period starts at 9:05, but the school day starts at 8:45 because we have tutorial every morning and an assembly on Wednesday. So: AM tutorial 8:45-9:05. 1st period 9:05-10:05. 2nd period 10:05-11:05. We then have a break from 11:05-11:20. 3rd period 11:20-12:20. We then have lunch from 12:20-1:00. PM tutorial 1:00-1:10. 4th period 1:10-2:10. 5th period 2:10-3:10. Then school ends at 3:10 and we go home. But different subjects run interventions after school for the GCSE classes, so we might be at school until 4:00 sometimes.
We don't have any time between classes, because unlike most American school I hear of, we don't have lockers. We have to carry around our bags with us all day every day. Ergh.
You have, like, 2 minutes to get to class before you're marked as late... because obviously you have to move from class to class. Like, we have 3 buildings. The main one with Science, English, Humanities, the assembly hall and the dinner hall. 2 floors. The newer building for IT, Tech, Languages, Maths and the library. Again, 2 floors. Then there is the sports hall, with our fitness suite and a basketball sized court room thing. Upstairs are changing rooms and the seminar room. Again, 2 floors. Then outside there is the football pitch and field... Oh! And the main building has this weird corridor that you go down to get to more changing rooms and the gym.

2) What can you get away with?/What can you NOT get away with?
Well, my school is either extremely strict with discipline, or extremely useless with it. Obviously, no drugs, no fighting and that stuff. But to be honest, we were in Geography a few weeks ago and 2 of the boys in my class start having this huge brawl... the desks and chairs are all over the place... baring in mind the teacher only popped out for 2 minutes. A few other guys broke up the fight, me and my friend straightened the desks and chairs and we all sat back down and did our work. The teacher walking in literally seconds after. None of them would've found out if the kid who got beat up didn't tell. So... You sorta can get away with a fight because it's only the corridors and IT room and dinner hall that have CCTV.
If you forget homework, you get an S1. Which is a 10 minute detention. S2= 30 minutes and S3=1 hour. It goes up to S7 which is permanent exclusion. Uh, you get different sanctions for all sorts.
We're not allowed phones out in lessons, we can't wear our outdoor coats. We have a uniform so you always have to wear your tie so it covers your top button, with a white shirt, black trousers/knee length skirt... black shoes and your blazer. If you don't wear the correct uniform, you get sent home to change. On the phones thing though, some teachers let us listen to music during lessons if we're making notes and stuff, which is cool. In a double period we get a 5 minute break to go on our phones, in Geography anyways. Uhhh, no gum! You're not allowed to chew gum.
Basically, if you get seen, you get punished.

3) What's the deal with all the drama? Is it really as bad as they say?
Ew, drama. This is a seriously bad problem at my school. XD The girls are so... so petty. It's ridiculous. The guys are just as bad. Gossip gets spread all of the time. You know, "Did you hear what ??? and ??? did last night?" and "she cheated on him" "she called you a [insert derogatory term]". That type of stuff. But sometimes if it gets out of hand, a teacher gets involved.
Um, basically it's girls arguing and guys brawling if you get some drama.

4) Anything else you think I should know? Cause I really don't know! XD
People skip classes in the toilets.
Female sanitary products sometimes end up in the hallways because some people are icky.
Teachers pick on you when you look like you're not listening.
People sneak text on their phones under the desk.
Gum is stuck under the desk, so don't touch under the desk.
Guys talk about "hot" female teachers. (ew)
There are definitely cliques.
The little kids think they're older than they are.
The older kids mope about the hallways avoiding lessons.
Uh... yeah. At my school anyways. XD I'm just trying to give you the most realistic approach to school, and sadly, it's quite gross at times.

5) What's with bullying? Is that something that mostly happens to everyone?
Well, bullying is taken seriously at my school and you can get permanently excluded for it. But, it is totally exaggerated most of the time. "He punched me and called me names" would be actually be bumping into each other in the corridor and not apologising. It doesn't happen to everyone...
In my friendship group, we "bully" each other. If we weren't friends, it would definitely by extreme bullying worthy of exclusion. XD

6) From what I've heard, cafeteria food isn't too good. Is that true? Do many people eat there?
Some of it is okay. Some of it is icky. Some of it looks horrible. Some of it looks nice. It's all over priced and it takes ages to queue up to buy it.


Oh and one more thing. The dinner hall is way too small for nearly 1000 kids. (200 kids approx in each year group. There are 5 years groups. 11yrs-16yrs.) I go to an English school by the way. :smt003
"Be courageous and try to write in a way that scares you a little."

she/they


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Wed Apr 09, 2014 8:03 pm
TheCrimsonLady says...



Hello, I go the school in Florida, USA.
I am in 10th grade.

1. We have 5 minutes between classes. Usually just enough time to get to class. I don't even have a locker because I don't use it. We carry our bags around with us, but you can keep folders and books to switch out between classes (if you have time) in your locker. Classes are 50 mins each, except on Wednesdays, they are shorter. 7 classes in a day, and we don't have block scheduling or double periods. School starts at 7:30 and ends at 2:17, except on Wednesday- it ends at 1:14, instead.

2. Depends on the teacher. Some teachers don't care about dress code. Others will write you up. Also, its fairly easy to text in class. Most of my teachers usually just tell you to put it away if they see you. They might give you a warning after class. Most are very lenient about eating or gum.

3. I don't keep track of that. But I will warn you. Theatre kids tend to take simple things to extremes. Ex: Oooh, 'x' date is when the initiates find 'y' out. Oh its a secret. Oh, someone let it slip?! The apocalypse has come! Nooooooo! I have no idea how it is inside other cliques. I have seen guys go at it, however. But not that often.

4. Cliques exist. BUT... if you decide to make your character go to a private school, the cliques are kinda messed up. The band geeks are the popular guys and the drama guy is the star football player. Small town, yeah? In regular public school? I don't think I've said a single word in my life to a popular person myself. (Being in IB classes, drama, chorus, and evil girl, I am not popular material) People do skip classes and do drugs and get pregnant, but being in IB (look it up if you don't know what it means, its sort of honors, I guess), I don't have any personal experience.

5. Bullying? IDK. Little kids- yeah, but its usually just name calling. My friends and I backtalk/insult to each other a lot, but its all done in good faith and friendliness.

6. Don't eat the cafeteria food. It looks and tastes like cardboard. Eugh!

By the way, people at our school can eat in the courtyard, media center/library, cafeteria, and on picnic benches outside. We just aren't permitted in the buildings. Also, we have two lunches, A and B.
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Wed Apr 09, 2014 8:38 pm
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Holysocks says...



Thanks guys!

And sure, @Stori, I don't mind talking about my homeschooled adventures!

My homeschool experience was overall good. I probably wouldn't have made it in public school, because I had difficulty learning symbols as a child. Reading was hell. Spelling is just recently less hell-like.
There was this homeschooling group we were a part of when I was 7-ish. They'd take as on field trips, and give us homework, etc. But that got old fast because I wasn't learning much, and they blamed it on my mom! So we left that, which was kind of sad for me, 'cause I didn't really understand why.

So yeah, basically being homeschooled was better in the long run.

I never got summer off. :( But we didn't always do school... every day. >.>
So that's fine. I've never been to a prom/dance either! Which bothers me a bit... I never really got to be girly. I never wanted to be girly, but there is a moment in a 'tom boys' life, when you wish you had a place to wear a frilly dress.

Daydreams aside, I wouldn't go back in time and beg my mom to put me through PS.

Am I homeschooled for religious reasons? Why yes. In some ways. I'm Jewish, so I don't keep Christmas or Easter or St. Patrick's day etc. etc. etc.
We have our own holidays, anyway... but my parents thought for that was; It's going to be kind of confusing and annoying for our kids to be all around these holidays, that will be talked so oftenly about in school!

But it wasn't all religion. My mom hated school for various reasons, so she didn't want her children to have any part of that.

These days I'm taking my schooling online. Which is cool... a little confusing, a bit odd... I have teachers. But it's all good. I just have to do get it DONE. I have to do a certain amount of schoolwork a week ( or, my mom tracks it... something like that ), so yeah.

As for socializing... I grew up on a ranch, with a few other families, and four other kids. I wouldn't say I'm good at socializing with people ( in person ) that I don't know - in fact I'm terrible, and learning... But the five of us are tight. Really tight. And they were, and are, my social life ( it's expanding now, thankfully ). :-P

So that's it, I suppose.
What about you Stori? You said you were homeschooled for a bit, how'd you find it?
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Wed Apr 09, 2014 9:14 pm
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Stori says...



Wonderful! I was taught by mom first, then by Grandma. So in other words, the 'teachers' knew and loved me right off the bat. :) We learned how to really read and write, not just pre-digested kids' books but literature. It was awesome.

My family also belonged to a homeschool group, the Sonshine Christian Academy. That was cool. There were gatherings where I could meet other kids and make friends. (It scared me half to death, entering middle school and knowing I had to rub shoulders with strange kids every day.)

One thing I've noticed about American public schools (or those in Florida at any rate). No Child Left Behind really means "Forget you, advanced kids; we're catering to the lowest tier. You want a good education, teach yourself."

Like you, I never attended a school dance. At first I was too scared; then I attended high school at a campus specifically for kids with mental or physical disabilities. (In my case, being among hundreds of kids for hours at a time was just too stressful.)

Turns out, that was a godsend. Challenger has smaller classes, so the teachers can pay more attention to individual students. And for the most part, I had the same teachers all four years so we got to be pretty "tight". Maybe the best thing was being in a reading class where I could just read instead of answering these nonsensical questions.

For instance, did the author of "White Fang" actually try to make a statement about youth? I don't think so; he probably thought more about writing a story that would keep the readers looking forward to the next chapter. But that's neither here nor there.
  





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Wed Apr 09, 2014 11:16 pm
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WillowPaw1 says...



I don't know if you're still wanting replies, bit here is mine!

1. Well, it's different at every school. For me (I'm in middle school), it starts at 7:55 AM and ends at 3:05 PM. When I was in elemnatary, it started at 8:30 AM and ended at 3:00 PM.
I have a 7 period schedule—so 7 classes. For me they are each 55 minutes long.

2. First off, we have some kind strict rules.
1) We may not go on our phones AT ALL
2) We have a dress code (that pretty much everyone breaks)
3) No leaving campus
4) No being in a classroom without a teacher that you don't know is coming.
You can get away with getting on your phone, at lunch, but you can probably get caught. Everyone breaks the dress code, which is:
Girls: No short shorts, undergarments may not be shown, no crop tops, stuff like that. It's all broken.
Guys: I'm not sure about this one, I don't think they have much.

Anyways, you CAN'T get away with going off campus. Teachers will immediately figure out.
Some people be in classrooms without teachers... Eh.

3. Drama in my school? Read someone else's answer.

4. Anything else? If you are late, you are counted as "tardy" (though you may know that).
There's lots of other minor rules, like no being on campus before 7:30, but all those are broken.

Hope I helped! :) :wink:
Well.

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Thu Apr 10, 2014 12:32 am
Holysocks says...



Hm, it's all very intereting! Thanks!
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'Hush, hush!' I whispered; 'people can have many cousins and of all sorts, Miss Cathy, without being any the worse for it; only they needn't keep their company, if they be disagreeable and bad.
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