Mom Is Teaching

The following is the same contest questions answered by my cousin who doesn’t do herself justice in some of these questions.  Her answers are in blue and my comments are in red.  Some of my comments come from prodding her for more information.

1.  Where were you educated?

Public Schools… All small town schools where you know or know of everyone you are going to school with.

2.  Regardless of where, who did the majority

of the teaching?

Elementary and High School majority were sports team coaches and various teachers there for a paycheck, and if they stumbled upon teaching you something, that was a plus(not all , but most)…

Unfortunately this is way to common, the sports team coaches section.

Community College- various teachers, very highly skilled and interested in what they were teaching…

Community College specifically to get a license in PT, very interested in not only the paycheck but the quality of teaching and knowledge she may be passing on to others.

3.  Were you a good student?

I would think so.. held a part-time job in HS while taking advanced courses, volunteer work, president of multiple student-organizations… in college, members of many student organizations while working full-time in management in local retail store

She was a very good student, she was class president all four years of high school.  Didn’t go out on Friday and Saturday nights because she stayed home to study until her Senior year.

4.  Was one type of school chosen over another

for a particular reason?

HS= location and my father went to school there, I was able to ride the bus both to and from school so that my mother and father were both able to work instead of taking me to and from school…

This is exactly the answer that 99% of the children in my area would give to this question.

college= Community College for basics was just location to my home and job and fully paid scholarship

Again, this is the answer from most of the students in this college, a big majority are on scholarship or are there because they live within driving distance.  My cousin had offers from four year schools all over the place but because of her desire to be a physical therapist, she chose the other route.

Community College to get PT license - offered ability to achieve my degree quickly and still work at my current job in the afternoons. I had also heard it was a great school and that the programs and their instructors were excellent.

5.  Will you educate your children in the same

way?

Isn’t that what all small-town parents do? More than likely, my children will be educated in a public school closest to whatever location I settled down in.. although right now, no local schools, due to lack of security measures and increase in drug use on school property, fit  my standards for my kids to attend… due to convenience though, they will probably be public-school educated.

Notice she thinks this question is silly, how else do people get an education is what she said to me.  People in our area simply do not homeschool unless their is a problem and then you never know too much about it.

Also she has been in our local high schools in the last 3 years and she deems them unsafe for her children but safe enough for herself.  Again, if she saw security and drugs as an issue 3 years ago, can you imagine what it is like now?  And, in small town America at that?

6.  Do you think it was appropriate for you?

I think public school was appropriate for me. I was a quiet child for the most part, and needed interaction with other children to “come out of my shell”. I also don’t think the things that other children (the ‘troublemakers’) “got into” were an obstacle for me- I was never tempted, like some children.. I was also ‘naturally’ smart=more or less, I worked harder to get those things that I didn’t understand than other children did.

7.  How much time (on average) each day

(including Saturday and Sunday) did you put

into school work?

Hard to say.. my mother always made me, as a young child, sit down before I could do anything else and study or do my homework. As I grew older, that habit stuck and I always tended to get everything done before I had ‘fun time’ or anything like that. at times, like the night before a test, or if * had a lot of homework.. I might work from 3:30 until 10 or 11 at night.. with a break for food.. none on sat and worked a few hours to review for tests on Sunday.

I happen to know from her mother that she studied til 11 or 12 every night and then usually four or five hours on Saturday and then a couple of hours on Sunday.  Someone wanna argue that this kid lost her childhood?

That was my schedule until I went to community college where I got my license in Physical Therapy and then everything changed and I worked weekdays and then came home and worked on school stuff until I went to bed at around 12.. and then got up at 5:00 every morning. on weekends, I studied all weekend.

How many 20 year olds do you know with this kind of discipline?

8.  What kind of student were you?  Good,

Average, Above Average, Failing  

Above Average.. 4.0 until PT School and then it dropped to about a 3.95 gpa.

9.  Did you graduate high school? yes

10.  Did you go to college or are you in college

now?

graduated

11.  Do you think your high school education

prepared or is preparing you for college?

I believe that my math courses prepared me for college, and Eng. lit too.. but other than that, I don’t think high school really prepared me for anything. maybe my teachers weren’t dedicated enough to really ‘prepare’ me.

if high school didn’t prepare her for anything…what was it for?

12.  Did you take part in extra-curricular

activities?

My extra-curricular activities were singing with gospel group on weekends and working.. and spending time with friends on weekends in HS.. then college, I had no time for anything but studying in PT School 

13.  Generally speaking, did you enjoy school?

I enjoyed school a lot.. I was a good student and loved learning. I also enjoyed making friends and using it as a social meeting.

14.  What would you change about your

education?

I would change my high school teachers dedication in teaching-.. as far as elementary school and junior high go, I think I would leave it the same.

15.  Regardless of who did your teaching, were

your parents adequately educated to

teach/tutor you?  If yes, why do you think

this?  If not, why not?

I believe that my father was adequately educated to tutor me at home until about…. 6th grade. My father is very smart and always helped me by looking over my homework or helping me with problems I didn’t understand. After 6th grade, we started harder math courses and then my father’s hands were tied.. they were not taught above algebra courses. my mother, on the other hand, would always push the homework stuff to my dad because she felt she couldn’t help me. The only thing she would help with was studying ’study guide’ questions for an upcoming test.

I think this would be the answer for most of the people in my part of the world as well.  Sad, but true.

So, obviously while we here in cyber-land see our pasts differently, this interview came from someone who was in high school just a few years ago.  She makes it plain that studying and doing homework took hours and hours of her life.  Now, someone tell me we don’t have a problem?