Greetings from Poland.

[Maks]

Hello, fellow peoples of the forums.
I'm Maks (which is totally not my first name it is), a barely-even-adult high school student from Poland.
ScientistB brought me here.

I'm honestly pretty fed up with the way education in here works, between being forced to spend my time with people who only serve to distract me and the oh-so-few other interested people in the subjects that I do have interest in, being forced to "learn" (read: memorize) subjects that I have no interest in (in my case it's definitely math, German and oddly enough, Polish) and thus fail at and be effectively punished for not having said interest to begin with.

Add to that the possibility of me having multiple mental disorders (mostly of the anxiety variety) and/or learning disabilities (dyscalculia in particular) that my school basically gives no damns about and expects me to keep up with the mentally healthy people (who are probably not mentally healthy regardless) and then you realize why it's so hard for me to hold much interest in continuing my education after I'm done with high school. (2 more years to go due to how my high school works, which is computer science oriented)

Also here's a fun fact: I consider myself to be very fluent at English (in case it wasn't already made clear by this very post you're bothering to direct your eyesight onto), but I'd lie if I said that it was thanks to school. It wasn't and heck, if I didn't go out of my way and talk, write, read and listen to and in English on the Internet, there'd a very good likelihood that I would not be here today.

I may or may not hate the cycle of "memorize, pass and forget" that school here is about. Sadly I have few alternatives here (to the best of my knowledge), although I'm probably going to be applying for individual classes (not exactly homeschooling though from what I'm aware) for the next year, partially due to health reasons, but also because I can't at all be arsed to spend my time with classmates as idiotic as mine.
Sorry for wasting your time with my ranting, but I suppose this is what this place is for in the end.

[James Comey]

Welcome sir! We have a Polish user on here, which means we're forming some kind of European Union!

[scientistB]

Good to see you, my friend.

Your education system has a lot of flaws, from what I've been told. It's not quite easy to get through it all, but I know that you'll be able to accomplish something in those two years or less.
Keep it up and don't lose hope. You're strong.

[thewake]

Welcome to a whole new country, in the digital sphere.

[brainiac3397]

How many times do I have to say this? WE HAVE ENOUGH POLES!

BRING ME SOME DAMN WIRES PPL! I knew we should have just built underground...

Welcome!

[Missile]

I was born in Poland

[brainiac3397]

I live in an area that is 60% pole. Or was it 67%. I don't remember the exact percentage.

Just to give example how Pole it is here, most of City Council is polish, half of cops are polish, and historically most mayors(including current) were Polish.

I'm not sure of the history, but somehow this area attracted lots of Poles and Ukrainians(got a big Ukrainian community center who have decent influence on local politics)

[James Comey]

Bleh. I'm part Polish on my mom's side, and I got hazel eyes and white skin from that. No, I'm not descended from WW2 refugees - I'm actually descended from Prussians that decided to make a living from Prolifio Diaz's immigrant friendly policies.

It was fun being the white kid in the hood.

[Missile]

(05-05-2015 01:41 PM)Hansgrohe Wrote:  Bleh. I'm part Polish on my mom's side, and I got hazel eyes and white skin from that. No, I'm not descended from WW2 refugees - I'm actually descended from Prussians that decided to make a living from Prolifio Diaz's immigrant friendly policies.

It was fun being the white kid in the hood.

I thought that you were Hispanic.

Have you ever considered moving to the countryside and living rurally like I do?

---

It's fun being the only Slav in my school

[James Comey]

I am Hispanic. Not all Hispanic people are homogenous. Some are brown, white, black, green, whatever.

Funny enough, I do want to live in Oregon or Washington. I had that fantasy as early as kindergarten. Dunno why, maybe it's all the forests, trees, and weed.

[xcriteria]

Welcome to the forums, Maks. I hope you stick around!

Are you familiar with the large numbers of talks, articles, books, etc. criticizing school-as-usual? Like Ken Robinson, Peter Gray, and a lot more... the videos on the front page of the site are one starting point.

What might you want to do in the future, for work, life, etc?

[Maks]

(05-05-2015 10:42 PM)xcriteria Wrote:  Welcome to the forums, Maks. I hope you stick around!

Are you familiar with the large numbers of talks, articles, books, etc. criticizing school-as-usual? Like Ken Robinson, Peter Gray, and a lot more... the videos on the front page of the site are one starting point.

What might you want to do in the future, for work, life, etc?

Unfortunately I'm not, and my hatred towards school as-it is fairly recent and I'm generally out of the loop on everyting...Not only that but I have a bad tendency to stay out of big topics like these because it makes me feel kind of uncomfortable. (Politics as a whole confuse me.)

I've watched a couple of videos but haven't done that much reading.

As for my future...I'm really unsure. Currently I'm in an IT high school, but I'm really not sure what job to take after I graduate, and in general I want to move out of this country and live somewhere else with people who care about me and treat me with respect and legitimate support, which is something that I haven't had too much of in here. (you can probably figure out where I want to go by looking at my title..Although it's not gonna be at all easy and I'm really scared of it. :T)

(I have a very bad self-esteem...Maybe due to school, maybe not.)

[SoulRiser]

Welcome!

[Ky]

Indeed, welcome. And might I say, as a lover of the English language, I'm quite impressed by your command of it - you type it better than many native speakers do.

[Cianna200]

Welcome

[Dikont5]

(05-05-2015 01:41 PM)Hansgrohe Wrote:  Bleh. I'm part Polish on my mom's side, and I got hazel eyes and white skin from that. No, I'm not descended from WW2 refugees - I'm actually descended from Prussians that decided to make a living from Prolifio Diaz's immigrant friendly policies.

It was fun being the white kid in the hood.

I know this is off topic, but I really hate Prussians for making this hellish school system. I'm surprised you're descended from them Hansgrohe! I bear you no ill will of course.

Moving on, yeah School sucks. I hope you enjoy your time in the forums. Tell me, what is the European education like? Its probably ten times better than U.S. education.

[brainiac3397]

Plz don't be hating the Prussians for doing something smart...like educating their people.

Unless you'd rather prefer a system where only the wealthy actually got an education, and the rest of the people were fine being manual laborers with barely the ability to read let alone write in their own language.

Just because it's overkill today doesn't mean it was a bad idea then.

[Maks]

(05-06-2015 01:55 PM)Dikont5 Wrote:  

(05-05-2015 01:41 PM)Hansgrohe Wrote:  Bleh. I'm part Polish on my mom's side, and I got hazel eyes and white skin from that. No, I'm not descended from WW2 refugees - I'm actually descended from Prussians that decided to make a living from Prolifio Diaz's immigrant friendly policies.

It was fun being the white kid in the hood.

I know this is off topic, but I really hate Prussians for making this hellish school system. I'm surprised you're descended from them Hansgrohe! I bear you no ill will of course. (okay I'm not really sure why I brought up the first one but still, terrorism like that isn't much of a thing in here)

Moving on, yeah School sucks. I hope you enjoy your time in the forums. Tell me, what is the European education like? Its probably ten times better than U.S. education.

Well, I can't speak for other countries, but we don't have school shootings or such tremendous problems with standardized tests (although they are still a thing).

Six years of elementary school (starting at age of 7, though there are plans to bump it down to 6...Or maybe it was already passed. I don't remember, my education started when I was 7 at any rate.), 3 years of middle school, then it's 3 or 4 years of high school (3 years for "normal" high schools who are geared towards the exit exams ie. matura and schools that teach you specific jobs like baker or cook, while 4 years is for more "technical" high schools (technikum) which are for more specialized things like IT, electronics, mechanics etc.).
Can't for the life of me figure out how it goes after that, but so far my high school experience is terrible but there are no alternatives to it - we don't have anything like GED and it's not really plausible for one to skip high school, even if it's not compulsory past the age of 18, but without the diploma, it's basically impossible to get anything done as far as getting a job or immigrating goes.

It's not very flexible.

[GamerGurl]

(05-06-2015 09:24 PM)Maks Wrote:  

(05-06-2015 01:55 PM)Dikont5 Wrote:  

(05-05-2015 01:41 PM)Hansgrohe Wrote:  Bleh. I'm part Polish on my mom's side, and I got hazel eyes and white skin from that. No, I'm not descended from WW2 refugees - I'm actually descended from Prussians that decided to make a living from Prolifio Diaz's immigrant friendly policies.

It was fun being the white kid in the hood.

I know this is off topic, but I really hate Prussians for making this hellish school system. I'm surprised you're descended from them Hansgrohe! I bear you no ill will of course. (okay I'm not really sure why I brought up the first one but still, terrorism like that isn't much of a thing in here)

Moving on, yeah School sucks. I hope you enjoy your time in the forums. Tell me, what is the European education like? Its probably ten times better than U.S. education.

Well, I can't speak for other countries, but we don't have school shootings or such tremendous problems with standardized tests (although they are still a thing).

Six years of elementary school (starting at age of 7, though there are plans to bump it down to 6...Or maybe it was already passed. I don't remember, my education started when I was 7 at any rate.), 3 years of middle school, then it's 3 or 4 years of high school (3 years for "normal" high schools who are geared towards the exit exams ie. matura and schools that teach you specific jobs like baker or cook, while 4 years is for more "technical" high schools (technikum) which are for more specialized things like IT, electronics, mechanics etc.).
Can't for the life of me figure out how it goes after that, but so far my high school experience is terrible but there are no alternatives to it - we don't have anything like GED and it's not really plausible for one to skip high school, even if it's not compulsory past the age of 18, but without the diploma, it's basically impossible to get anything done as far as getting a job or immigrating goes.

It's not very flexible.

Well what did you expect? Your country is the origin for compulsory schooling so of course the system that has been used as a foundation for conventional education all around the world will have little-to-no alternatives, wouldn't be educationally flexible, and would be really strict in enforcing on how this model is the only way to mature in life.

Also, don't mind my response. It wasn't directly aimed at you at all, but at the context of your post and the question posed at the end. Nice to meet you, I'm Marty. And though I had it bad, I can't imagine living in a country and going to school there where it paved the way for conventional and compulsory schooling everywhere else.

[xcriteria]

Homeschooling is actually legal in Poland, though rare. This provides a path to opt out of school if you can persuade your parents to file the paperwork.

"
Country Information

Compulsory Education Ages: 6–18 (as of 2012, the age will be lowered to 5)
Legal Status: Homeschooling is legal. Article 16 (Parts 8-14) of the Polish Education Act states that parents may apply for permission to homeschool from a school director. The Act also enumerates the general conditions for homeschooling. In April 2010, amendments to the Education Act positively affected homeschoolers by stating they could apply for permission to homeschool from any school, not exclusively their local public school as it was previously. Please contact the organizations below for further information about which schools are friendly to homeschoolers.

Number of Homeschoolers: Over 500 families"

From http://www.hslda.org/hs/international/po...efault.asp

I'm working with Lisafromjackson on an online program/network that provides a non-factory option where you control your own learning and life, and we help parents see education beyond school... Check my sig for more.

Have you researched what it would take to move to Canada?

[Maks]

(05-07-2015 02:05 AM)SirMarty Wrote:  

(05-06-2015 09:24 PM)Maks Wrote:  

(05-06-2015 01:55 PM)Dikont5 Wrote:  

(05-05-2015 01:41 PM)Hansgrohe Wrote:  Bleh. I'm part Polish on my mom's side, and I got hazel eyes and white skin from that. No, I'm not descended from WW2 refugees - I'm actually descended from Prussians that decided to make a living from Prolifio Diaz's immigrant friendly policies.

It was fun being the white kid in the hood.

I know this is off topic, but I really hate Prussians for making this hellish school system. I'm surprised you're descended from them Hansgrohe! I bear you no ill will of course. (okay I'm not really sure why I brought up the first one but still, terrorism like that isn't much of a thing in here)

Moving on, yeah School sucks. I hope you enjoy your time in the forums. Tell me, what is the European education like? Its probably ten times better than U.S. education.

Well, I can't speak for other countries, but we don't have school shootings or such tremendous problems with standardized tests (although they are still a thing).

Six years of elementary school (starting at age of 7, though there are plans to bump it down to 6...Or maybe it was already passed. I don't remember, my education started when I was 7 at any rate.), 3 years of middle school, then it's 3 or 4 years of high school (3 years for "normal" high schools who are geared towards the exit exams ie. matura and schools that teach you specific jobs like baker or cook, while 4 years is for more "technical" high schools (technikum) which are for more specialized things like IT, electronics, mechanics etc.).
Can't for the life of me figure out how it goes after that, but so far my high school experience is terrible but there are no alternatives to it - we don't have anything like GED and it's not really plausible for one to skip high school, even if it's not compulsory past the age of 18, but without the diploma, it's basically impossible to get anything done as far as getting a job or immigrating goes.

It's not very flexible.

Well what did you expect? Your country is the origin for compulsory schooling so of course the system that has been used as a foundation for conventional education all around the world will have little-to-no alternatives, wouldn't be educationally flexible, and would be really strict in enforcing on how this model is the only way to mature in life.

Also, don't mind my response. It wasn't directly aimed at you at all, but at the context of your post and the question posed at the end. Nice to meet you, I'm Marty. And though I had it bad, I can't imagine living in a country and going to school there where it paved the way for conventional and compulsory schooling everywhere else.

Hey, it was Prussia that invented this system, not us. Don't pull that "Polish death camps" BS. :V


@xcriteria: I did some research and it basically necessitates finishing high school and getting a paid job for at least a year (unpaid internships don't count), and it generally seems like a really difficult process. And it's costly as hell too.

I'm dead scared of getting any kind of job.

[Alistoriv]

[img]http://i.imgur.com/ANck064.jpg[/img]

EDIT: broken image code for no apparent reason

[Ilija.m]

(05-05-2015 08:07 AM)Maks Wrote:  Hello, fellow peoples of the forums.
I'm Maks (which is totally not my first name it is), a barely-even-adult high school student from Poland.
ScientistB brought me here.

I'm honestly pretty fed up with the way education in here works, between being forced to spend my time with people who only serve to distract me and the oh-so-few other interested people in the subjects that I do have interest in, being forced to "learn" (read: memorize) subjects that I have no interest in (in my case it's definitely math, German and oddly enough, Polish) and thus fail at and be effectively punished for not having said interest to begin with.

Add to that the possibility of me having multiple mental disorders (mostly of the anxiety variety) and/or learning disabilities (dyscalculia in particular) that my school basically gives no damns about and expects me to keep up with the mentally healthy people (who are probably not mentally healthy regardless) and then you realize why it's so hard for me to hold much interest in continuing my education after I'm done with high school. (2 more years to go due to how my high school works, which is computer science oriented)

Also here's a fun fact: I consider myself to be very fluent at English (in case it wasn't already made clear by this very post you're bothering to direct your eyesight onto), but I'd lie if I said that it was thanks to school. It wasn't and heck, if I didn't go out of my way and talk, write, read and listen to and in English on the Internet, there'd a very good likelihood that I would not be here today.

I may or may not hate the cycle of "memorize, pass and forget" that school here is about. Sadly I have few alternatives here (to the best of my knowledge), although I'm probably going to be applying for individual classes (not exactly homeschooling though from what I'm aware) for the next year, partially due to health reasons, but also because I can't at all be arsed to spend my time with classmates as idiotic as mine.
Sorry for wasting your time with my ranting, but I suppose this is what this place is for in the end.

Welcome to the forums Maks