School!

[Gryphon]

Awww, I'm jealous of you guys. My school has no neat courses, unless you like things like discreet math and differential equations. Calc is enough math for me. At least most of my colleges have a plethora of intriguing courses :P

As for Paine, eh, that's the inevitability of life. There will be good times, but eventually things will disappoint you. For me, I'm the type of person who is smart, interested, but is only a motivated, hard worker when it pleases her or out of necessity. Many projects, essays, papers, and extended assignments = too much stress. I have trouble dealing with frustration in a big way. But whatever you do, don't give up. Don't let the suckiness of your classes be a reason to lower your grades so that you can push for a good college.

<-- loves biology XD I get anatomy & physiology this year

[Small town]

Originally posted by quelt:
I guess I like school a little bit. Sometimes. My school is the pro at making stupid rules (that make no sense) and punishing the wrong people.

Thats just like my school. Its really stupid

I started High School this year but Im still at the same school I have been since 7th grade (its a Jr/SR high).
Im doing tons of stuff with Venturing and Cub Scouts. So that eats up most of my free time when Im not at school or reading/writing.

GRYPHON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LONG TIME NO SEE!!!!!!!

[A Traveller with Magic]

I've had a bit of a "Wait, what?!" this week. Was the calc final on Thursday really our final for the course? Which would make sense, because it was designed ostensibly for the "regulars", as opposed to the near-impossible-if-we-weren't-IB-kids quizzes we usually get. (Thank goodness for standardization, I always say. Elsewise, my math average would probably be hovering around the 50s, instead of the low 80s.)

The funny thing about my school is that, either because of the demographic (high Asian percentage) or the IB programme, there's basically a two tier hierarchy. There's never been things like the "popular clique" or the "cheerleaders" or the "nerds" or any other overt stereotyped labels; just IB kids and regulars (also known as relatively sane). Regulars could also be subdivided into "above 80%", "average" and "slacker", I suppose, but everyone's a pretty uniform bunch.

Gryph: We don't even have discreet math and differential equations- those fall under Math 31 (Calculus). The only distinct courses I can think of at my school are Cosmetology, Musical Theatre, Tech Theatre, Psychology 30, and Theory of Knowledge (which is a mandatory IB thing and only listed separately because of the diploma IB vs certificate IB anyway, I think).

Paine: The only thing I can say is to try to find something that you like within school. Or find another source of information, if you hate th texts. What I've heard here in IB land is that it's okay after your first couple nervous breakdowns- not sure how true it is, but it's worked for me. [But then, I can't really give the same advice to you that I give to any new IB kids. I love my IB classes and teachers, except math class, and it's really the drive for knowledge that keeps me going.]

School really is a bit love/hate for me. I'll follow a format I saw above:

Hate: Portfolios. Going through a year's worth of physics labs trying to avoid looking at all the red ink. Staying up til 3 in the morning trying to figure out the math assignments, because a week was not enough. (It's typical for a class to have an average of 10/20 on the math portfolios, even a class of sixty.) G-IV. It's terribly exciting when I first heard of it- come up with a topic question, do in depth research on it, design and do a good lab, present it. Almost like a research proposal/grant, without the money that comes with. But it was the cause of my first- second? nervous breakdown, and much stress, and I really don't want to go through that again, even if we did fail because we were two and a half idealists doing a project meant for a balanced group of four. Ugh. Exams. Quizzes. IB level. 'Nough said.

Love: Knowledge. Oodles of it. Give you more than you ask for. I feel like I've learned more in a semester than in a full year of junior high, and SSIB really, really does change your perspective on things. Oh, the many times I've wished I could stuff loud and overly biased people into Ms A's World History IB class. Love it, even if it does take four people thirty minutes to come up with a good, balanced IB thesis statement. The teachers. Going into IB is a good way to guarantee the best and most passionate teachers at my school. Also, the most...quirky teachers. Physics and social studies teachers have scarred my brain more than I care to know. (They know entirely too many dirty, dirty jokes.) The people. Kind of. xD Good way to get together with a lot of people around your academic level, or surpassing it by an incredibly depressing margin, with similar interests and sky-high levels of geekiness. (We stayed after school for half an hour on PTI day to finish up a lab. What can I say? It was a pretty cool lab.) Also, with a class of sixty these people are the people you're going to spend 6-8 hours with, every single day, minus study groups on the weekend or MSN converstions at night. The class atmosphere. Sometimes like a dysfunctional family (interdepartmental barbs, and teachers have passed on lectures to us before). Oftentimes, just plain loud and excited and sometimes you retreat to the background simply because half the class asks the questions before the other class gets a chance to. It was a little hard adjusting to my regular English class after 5 months with just IB kids- the English class was so much less focused, so relaxed xD.

And so on. I really should find something else to talk about, shouldn't I?

[Gryphon]

Hey Small Town! What's up? I remember you :P

Someone's extremely passionate about IB. XD You make my school sound tame. :P

For people going into highschool, it's great. More responsibility, but you get more freedom too. I run a club with the help of my friend, and currently we're painting a mural on a wall in the school. We have over 20 members, but none of us are tall enough to reach the top of the wall. All of the regulars are short. XD But hee painting

[eowyngirl]

Hang on...is IB a British thing? I've never heard of it before. At my school we have AP (Advanced Placement) and College Preparatory courses, but no IB, whatever that is. I'm very confused.

[Small town]

GRYPH I FEEL LOVED!!!!!! YOU REMEMBER ME!!!!

High School also brings lots more drama, along with more freedom, just don't go and get smashed.

[A Traveller with Magic]

Gryph: Well, since I've been living and breathing and dying IB for nearly a year now, I say it's understandable I'm passionate about it xD

eowyngirl: It stands for International Baccalaureate, so no, it's um...international xD Actually, I think Britain has its own thing like IB, but separate. Same with China. IB has headquarters in and curriculum developed somewhere in Switzerland, and a lot of the work and exams done within the IB curriculum disappears in a black hole in Switzerland/Australia/the Bermuda Triangle, for all we know.
Our teacher gave us the history of IB once >.> It's really a lot like AP, with the college/uni prep and time/stress management and higher standards and stuff, but IB seems to be the source of more angsting than AP and has almost a cult mentality to it. A little creepy, yes. But fun, somewhere along the line, if you're suited for it.

Also, I'm Canadian. So there you go. =D

High school does have a lot more drama. But for me at least, not the drama you might expect. *coughs*
I think sane kids get more freedom, at least. Heh.

[Garrett Fitzgerald]

For more information on IB, which I wish I had had the option to try: http://www.ibo.org/.

There's also some information on Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interna..._Baccalaureate.

I went to Classical High, a public college prep school in Providence. Admission was by test, and over 90% of the students went on to college.

[Mona0622]

so recently we just finished course selection for next year (MY SENIOR YEAR ... not that i'm excited or anything) and i signed up for two AP classes (English and Am. Gov.). I hope that I'm not getting myself into too much stress. Some of my classes now are bad enough. I also signed up for calc and physics. It has just now begun to dawn on me...What in the WORLD did i just get into?!?

I'm also stressed about colleges and majors. Any tips on picking them for someone who is as lost as I am?

[eowyngirl]

Oh, okay....I get it. I think I'd heard of IB somewhere before, I just couldn't remember what the heck it was. Mona--your social studies courses are backwards from the ones at my school. I'm a freshman, and I'm taking Am. Govt. Don't you have Psychology/Sociology or something? At my school there's a bunch of semester courses you can pick from senior year.

[Mona0622]

In my school we have Am. History Part one (Pres. Washington to Pres. Grant) freshman year. Sophomore year is Am. History Part 2 (Pres. McKinley to Pres. G. W. Bush - we skip Pres. Hayes to Pres. Cleveland for some reason). Junior year is world cultures. Senior year is Am Govt.

yes we do have Psychology and Sociology. they are separate courses each one quater long and electives - you don't have to take them. (They are only quater courses because my school has block scheduling and therefore a quarter equals a semester.) You can take them as a junior or senior. i'm hoping to take them next year. there are also (obviously) other electives to choose from.

[Emi]

Funny in my school.. I started out with World History, then American Studies 1 then American Studies 2 and then any social studies elective after that. But that's when I was a freshmen, they're actually changing it to the way you have it now.

Ugh, renovations... Our school is like going under massive renovations and it's so annoying. All you hear is the banging of the hammer or the squeaking of the wheels when the construction guys are carrying things back and forth between class rooms. So far they've finished one classroom, and a teacher's room. They still need to finish the band/chorus/music room. It should be done by the end of the week. Now they're working on the ISS room and the room next to it. And pretty much all the class rooms have these cement floors because they ripped out the tiling over the summer and never got to putting new ones on. I guess we had like asbestos in the floors or something. I don't know. But they still need to fix them.

AND now the track and football field can be worked on again because the snow is starting to melt. We actually have a track laid out!!!

Oh school looks like one big construction sites with all the ladders around and wires.

[Mona0622]

I know what it's like to be in a school during construction. My school was under construction my freshman year. We had to go outside because so of the hallways were blocked off.

Your snow is just now starting to melt?!?! That is so not fair. There hasn't been snow down here since mid-Feb. and then the snow only lasted one day. you have no idea how lucky you are.

This week is PSSA testing week at my school (and I think everywhere in PA). The PSSA is a standardized test that everyone has to take and pass in order to graduate. They are so pointless and a waste of time and brain power. The testing started on Tuesday and goes to next Tuesday. It is very annoying, although thankfully, not challenging.

[eowyngirl]

Emi-- We've been having lots of rain here, and the entire counselor's office got flooded because they have bad windows...all the carpet's ripped up and it's an absolute mess. At least it doesn't smell gross anymore.

[vashmata]

I really don't think people read enough. We had a vocabulary quiz on And Then There Were None, and (mostly) everyone found it hard. To make it even worse, it was a fill in the blanks quiz, and the quotes were taken directly from the book - which we had to finish reading for that same day.
Another big annoyance is that no one uses emphasis correctly - plus, they don't know that you have to put real emphasis while using italics. So what ended up happening was that I read it properly - after trying to endure hearing them sound like they don't know English - and they started laughing because of the way I emphasised it properly.
Onto more happy news, the book was amazing - contrary to my primary belief of "Who cares about the death of criminals? It's less work for the police", now it's more along the lines of "What an ingenious (and sadistic) mystery novel".

And I'll end this with something other than that of English: I'm finally done with learning Excel (my mom the Office teacher showed me more than my school teacher ...) and the pretend stock market. The real stock market project will be in sec. 4 (Gr.10) or 5 (Gr. 11) (secondary, as in high school - no middle school in Canada) When we make companies (or take real ones, I'm not sure), sell shares to everyone in high school, and later on sell stuff (brownies, fajitas, smoothies... many diuerse choices). It's non-profit, so the kids get back the same or usually more money, and the rest goes to charity.