WARNING:
this account is strictly my account of Duggan Middle School. In any
other town or any other school it might be different, although many of
the facts apply to all Springfield Public Schools.
I
know that a lot of homeschooled kids wonder about “real school”,
because I was one of them. In fact, I was so curious that I actually
tried “real school”. I lasted three months at Duggan middle
school. There were pros and there were cons. I liked being around
so many kids of different kinds with different backgrounds and
different personalities. It was nice to experience what it was like
to sit at a desk, use a locker, and eat in a big cafeteria. I also
enjoyed learning how to deal with grading and end of quarter progress
reports and report cards.
But
even though this was an interesting experience, it wasn’t what I
wanted to do for the rest of my education. There were more cons then
pros. Some of these cons included getting up at six-thirty in the
morning, having all of my classes chosen for me by the school, no
interesting courses like sewing, school newspaper and yearbook, cool
art classes, history classes, literature, and public speaking.
Instead of these cool classes there was only science, social studies,
math, English, and, as enrichment, gym, music, art or Spanish.
Another con was the whole uniform business (in case anyone is
interested, the uniform is khaki or black pants, navy, light blue,
black or white polo shirts, blue, black or white sweaters without
hoods or logos and closed toed shoes). Anything that wasn’t
uniform was confiscated.
In
school, everything is organized, including children. You line up to
go to lunch, and you line up outside the door of the classroom until your
teacher tells you to go in. In some classes you have assigned seats.
You take many tests. You would probably have a quiz about twice a
week. Big tests come about once a month. Another thing you have to
face is yelling. Teachers yell all the time. If kids are talking in
class, they yell; if kids are out of their seats, they yell. If kids
were not behaving they would be sent into the hallway or an
administrator would pick them up and bring them to “in house
suspension” which is basically a room where you do school work. I
don’t really know what it is like because I wasn’t a trouble
maker.
You
have 25 minutes for lunch. It is very loud in the cafeteria. Some
kids bring their lunch but most get school lunch. At Duggan, lunch
is free. To get your lunch, you wait until your table is called.
Sometimes you get to go outside after lunch, but at most you get ten
minutes outside and that means you have to eat your lunch in 15
minutes. Lunch is the only time to socialize, although some get away
with socializing during class. There is no recess for middle
schools. There are 4-6 periods a day. Each period is 1 hour and 10
minutes long. Personally, I get a little bored with long classes,
especially when it is just a lecture that you are listening to.
Usually the class consists of listening to the teacher, reading a
textbook and filling out work sheets.
I
know kids who love going to school. They look forward to school.
Just because I didn’t like school doesn’t mean that there is
nothing to like about it. I’m glad to be back at Mulberry with all
of my friends and teachers.
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