Aspies For Freedom

Okay, This is mainly for people that live in the USA. Have you noticed how screwed the school system is. ((See http://www.aspiesforfreedom.com/showthread.php?tid=5012 for example)). I have noticed that the teachers don't give enough detailed instruction. I'm home schooled now. But when I was in school I wasn't given the help I needed. I was doing horrible at Math and Social Studies, Simply because they wouldn't give me the help I needed to do the work. They also treat aspies like any other kid, I don't mean this in a good way, I mean it in a bad way. If we get upset from a loud noise or something and scream, We're punished because we misbehaved? Why can't the board of education just learn to understand us? Asperger's Syndrome is Not going to go away, The school system cant just ignore us like we're scum. And I've also noticed that if you don't comply with writing standards ect they can hold you back ((They did so to my nephu)) That's the most sick and disgusting thing I heard. They held my nephu back because He dosen't have good motor skills. My sister's possibly sueing them because of that. Have you had any bad experinences with the school system? Well share it here.

It really depends on the school district. My home school district fought against giving me challenging work or letting me skip grades in the name of egalitarianism. At first, despite my high scores on the IQ test, they would not let me into their (joke of a) gifted program due to "behavior problems," which were partially caused by not being in a gifted program. Of all the teachers I had in elementary school, I only particularly liked two.

In sixth grade, I got into PEGS, the "Program for Exceptionally Gifted Students," which is contributed to by most of the area public school districts, and is housed in another public school district. It's not the top district in the area, but it is certainly superior. I have had many excellent teachers, and am allowed to skip grades and takes classes from multiple grade levels. This is a strong counterexample to "the school system sucks."


Many problems are on the school-specific level. However, some lie higher up, primarily the lack of funding. One group decided that the best way to get kids interested in math is to give bonuses to math professors to become math teachers.

I had an IEP, But the thing is, Although it was a pretty good and well planed IEP It was Never enforced!!!! What's the point of spending all that time planning somthing to make my life easier, If they don't even enforce it!, And supposivly it's a legal document. So I think they've gotten completely rediculous at this time

The schools in the USA are in a process of evolution, and some areas are doing much better than others.  Overall, I've been very pleased with my son's school, although I do have a current frustration with a specialty teacher who gave my son a low grade that, in my mind, reflects more that she didn't understand him than that he didn't try hard enough.

ANYWAY, reading other forums, I have to say that, YES, most US schools fail children on the spectrum miserably.  No Child Left Behind gets a lot of blame from me on this, because a common response to the financial incentives is to discourage the children who don't fit the norm from attending YOUR school.  If they don't provide the services, they think the parents will move somewhere else (which they often do).

BUT, there are rays of hope.  I know children that are doing REALLY WELL and I know teachers that are responding beautifully to the needs of children like mine.

It's going to take a while for those rays to spread out and enlighten the rest of the system.

No child left behind is a complete mistake, I agree, The school system in the USA fails entirly, Completely re-do Then I'll be satisified

You're this topic's hero, I agree with that, Schools break more laws than just that >.> But trust me, You dont want this wolfeh on a rant today

Nope, But I'm still gonna howl for ya

I'm in year 12 in the UK and having that same problem right now. My school gives me loads of work to do and plenty of unstructured time to do it in... but it somehow doesn't get done. Also, this a big change from last year which we were in no way prepared to deal with. All we've had was some vague speeches by our head of 6th From who is a total MORON; "Having success is better than not having success." - need I say more?
It's screwed all right.

Sorry, I just can't less this post go by.

Wrong!

Yes. They'd work on an apprenticeship learning how to make clothes so that your average person could have five shirts to wear. The industrial revolution outdated all that,

There's no gain in learning about fractions and decimals, about how only certain types of clouds produce rain, how to read, how to spell, etc? There definitely is gain...

You mean only the gifted become scientists, engineers, mathematicians, and other educated positions? Wrong!

Why the hell do athletes try to learn how to benchpress 300 pounds? They'll never need to do that in a game...

It's lifting weights with your mind.

To make sure they retained the material, duh!

We're making it hard for them? I suppose it is *possible* that the Italian and Japanese exchange students I've met who called the American education system comparatively easy were lying, but I doubt it...

Just to avoid being accused of ignoring your arguments, I state that I have no idea what you're talking about.

Lots of other people did receive special schooling. Albert Einstein, the greatest genius of the 20th century, did. John von Neumann, the second greatest genius of the 20th century did.

You can read. You know how to use a computer. You know how to write well enough to grumble. You have the vocabulary necessary to grumble.


You cannot judge the entire system, which varies heavily, by one school, be it the best or the worst.

To all, I recommend Paul Graham's most famous and popular essay: Why Nerds Are Unpopular, which, contrary to the name, deals with the school system not only on the subject of why nerds are unpopular.

Reminds me when someone tells people to stop cracking their knuckles.
Someone says it causes arthritis. Yeah right.

For me here in Norway I simply can't see any point in doing homework. Other students cheat and write-of and are only interested in the grades. My main goal had always been to learn, not the grades. I do learn, I listen to the lessons and remember from them much better than the avarage in my class. I get however bad grades because I don't hand in homework, as Neotic pointed out for me in another thread I might be a procrastinator which is not the same as being lazy but has obviously pretty much the same effect.

I often get good grades at tests, but those ******* questions are meant to confuse you, you can't rely on the teacher to understand you, you will have to be accurate and precise and often you are supposed to add on some extra info which they don't ask for.

I've also got the impression that every american hate the government. Maybe that is because they want to distance theirselves with communists. I think this weakens the american government and leaves some real bastards controlling it. I've heard that only about 50% of USA's population vote. Here in Norway it is over 90%.

... ahh, evil circle!

Hornswaggeled?

...

Here in Norway are quite happy with our socialdemocracy, the ideal is that everyone should get the same opportunities. That's a heritage which we preserved from the second world war where things were dramatic, but it seems impossible to start anything similar in the US.