School; Defeated!

[scientistB]

As a lot of you older members may know, I've been with you all since around 2009. And what timing too; this was in seventh grade, which I consider the worst year of my life. The teachers were running rampant, the bullies fiercer than ever, and every odd stacked against me. This didn't help especially that my parents thought I was some sort of Asian kid that could get straight As on everything. Oh how wrong they were. A large portion of the time, I would "fail" things from homework to tests and even full classes. Or as I like to say, they failed me, not the other way around.

Every day I would go on School Survival, whether it was just to rant about my horrid day, to read articles on how to survive school, or post stories that I wrote to vent my frustration. When I look back at these stories now, I realize that they suck, a lot. Since then I have improved greatly on my writing ability. Of course, the school, hypnotizing my parents, would say that this site is unhealthy for me, and is distracting me from my "education." So they attempted their own horrible attempt at blocking the site from my computer. It was just as simple as going into the settings and listing SS as a trusted website and removing it from the blocked list.

Remember my first topic ever in the no-longer-existent Voices In Your Head? I ranted about good old Mr. Thompson, who to this day I still consider the worst teacher in the world. Well, about halfway through seventh grade, he left my school and went to teach elsewhere, replaced by a man in his middle ages that knew how to rap like a boss. I'm not complaining at all. With Mr. Thompson gone, I was massively less stressed, and since then never ranted on SS. However, even going into eighth grade, I continued to write (horribly-written) stories and post them here, as well as be active in the forums. In those years of middle school, I made my own little organization, following the guides, and did the best I could at getting my friends together towards the common goal of changing the school system for the better. I still remember a line that a specific guide here told me to say: "We, the union, require action to be taken upon these items. If the union does not see action being taken however, we will take action." That quote is forever embedded in my soul.

Speaking of which. SoulRiser. If you're reading this, I can't express my gratitude enough to you for making this website. Not only that, but you're actually active here and you help your people the best you can. If I were some monk of honor I think you deserve a Nobel Prize. And honestly, I love you.

But I'm not quite done. As a lot of you know, my attempt at a revolution was a complete disaster. Every kid just chickened out at the fear of punishment. Army or not, I marched right in there and protested as a one-man army. If nobody was going to stand up, nothing would be done. I even went so far as to tape up about a hundred posters throughout those years in an effort to push our movement.

A lot of other kids just hated the idea of forming an organization. You wouldn't believe how many times I was called things like stupid, idiot, depressed and suicidal. Well, I was not suicidal whatsoever, so I don't even know why they would blurt that out. I guess they thought standing up to the system was suicidal. Things didn't get much better when I made the terrible mistake of calling a girl pretty. Such a dire mistake. She overreacted and told all her friends that I was a stalker, which I wasn't in any way. Nevertheless, the darn rumor spread like wildfire and destroyed my reputation that I was trying to build. Even my best friend at the time felt embarrassed being around me, and one thing led to the next and eventually we no longer spoke to each other.

Going into high school changed things up a little. I had just gotten out of eighth grade, but not without every last counselor stamping labels all over my forehead. What I liked about this new school was that I chose it. All the administrators in middle school tried to force me to go to a horrible D school that was full of bad people. They even had a lady from that school come in to try forcing me to enlist. I never touched that darn piece of paper no matter how many times they told me to. I feel bad for one of my friends. He wanted to go to the school I was heading to, but because he filled out that paper that they gave him he was forced to attend the bad school.

I dropped my guard down a little because I was expecting people in high school to be much more mature; and for the most part, I was right. And when people were acting stupid, at least it wasn't towards me (Except for those creeps in the media center that were obsessed with cats and always told me to shut up when I tried to speak to them). As a matter of fact, things were so much better that I no longer had the need for an organization. At the same time, that kinda meant that I didn't go on SS as much anymore, maybe every few months to check up on you guys. But finally, I seemed to be making friends that would last. As a matter of fact, I still have a number of people from ninth grade that I still keep in touch with. And of all the friends from middle school, a few remain, and that's good.

So tenth grade comes around and I make even more friends. Problem being, one thing hasn't changed from middle school; my grades sucked more than ever. Try as I might, I just couldn't grasp anything. And as a tenth grader, I was in a math class of ninth graders and STILL failing. Sad that they thought the same method of teaching worked for everyone. One day, mom finally realized that public school wasn't for me. A little late I say, but better late than never. We made a few plans to have some kind of virtual schooling, but that was nearly impossible because our Internet sucks so badly that I can't even maintain a stable connection (It turns off and on whenever it wants to, because mom is constantly messing with the box as a way of punishment for things that aren't even my fault. This has permanently damaged it.)

Eventually I took my finals over the last week of tenth grade. Just when I thought it was over, bad things happened. After one of my finals, we were told to wait for my bus so that I can go home. While I waited, this completely random police officer rolled up in one of those school golf cars and told me to leave. I tried to explain that I couldn't leave because my mom was at work and I was waiting for my bus, but she refused to listen to me and went so far as to threaten me with arrest. I kinda just broke down there and burst out crying. She didn't feel any compassion for me. I had no choice but to have mom cut work to take me home, even though the bus was just minutes from arriving. What an idiot deputy.

I remember the day over the summer that I was taken to my school to fill out this paper that pretty much allowed me to leave school at age sixteen. I still remember writing down the signature that freed me of the endless shackles of school. And for the first time, I made sure to strike an underline beneath my name, as this was finally a decision I could make without any interruption.

I wasn't exactly sure what to do next. A couple of my friends went ballistic at the thought of me "dropping out." But it's not really dropping out if you do something about it. So I started a GED class at a technical center down the road. There were three teachers in this class, and they each switched places every few days. And the good thing was, they were nice and didn't force me to do anything. I chose what I wanted to do first and they helped me throughout the whole thing. There were rarely more than ten people in this class at a time; and I was the youngest one there. Kind of interesting that I could make friends with rather old adults more than with kids my age. The thing about this class is that it's a loose schedule. You could come and go as you please, anywhere between 6 and 9 PM on Monday through Thursday. I attended every day I could and only missed two days from bad weather. And, it meant I could be my normal nocturnal self and not lose any sleep. A lot of people take perhaps half a year to complete that class, but as I was eager to finish, I got everything done in about three months.

After that, I was scheduled to take my real-deal GED tests on December 18. I was considering this the test to end all tests, and it showed; this was a whopping seven-hour test with multiple sections on every core subject. Some people preferred to take each bit one at a time throughout a week, but I remembered how painful it was to drag it out in high school. So I chose to take the entire thing in one go. It wasn't a big deal; I spend 77% of my life sitting on this chair anyway.

A lot of people in my family believed that I should've been out at 5 PM. Well, I finished everything by 2:30. They gave back the majority of the scores I got before I even left the place. The only one that would take longer was Writing, since they take three to five days to score that. It turns out that all of the scores put together, even without the writing available, were enough to pass me. And a few days later, I got back my writing score; I completely maxed it out with the highest possible score of 800. And according to the rest of my scores, I did 80 to 90% better than of the average high school seniors. Well that's something.
EVAN WINS.
FLAWLESS VICTORY.

So here I am now, enjoying my last few days of freedom until it's time for college. My diploma will arrive in the mail very soon. So I kind of just graduated two years early than I would have normally; it's not like public school had anything for me anyway. I recently applied for a job during my GED class, but I was rejected. I'll try again after I have my diploma in hand. For the time being I'm just recording Let's Plays on my Youtube channel for fun, and on my shiny new computer too. I'm glad I have this computer; its monitor is my giant TV so it helps cater to my poor vision.
I'm gonna have to go back to my GED school and thank the nice people there. Maybe even go back to the schools of my past and say hello to the teachers who didn't completely hate my guts. A lot of my friends now consider it to be kind of cool that they're affiliated with some kind of veteran of war, because that's what I feel like. I mean, college is still school, but it's a lot more customizable. So for the most part, guys... I'm free.

And to be completely honest, I truly don't think I'd be alive right now if it weren't for you wonderful people. I thank you again, Soul. And I also thank Dale Nixon (Memento_Mori), the Desert Fox and AbsentInsomniac, if you guys still exist, plus many others. You helped me through a lot of crises with my falling revolution, and ultimately you all kept me strong. Of course, I'll never truly leave this site for good. Expect me to come crying back during college!

I may have a bad memory, but I will no doubt remember you guys. The people who have helped me through thick and thin and earned every last bit of my respect. I love every last one of you, and I wish you luck as you move on in your lives.
Thank you for an amazing school surviving experience.

With love,

-Sci

[SoulRiser]

Awesome, congrats! And damn, there were some crazy people you came across along the way.

But you survived it all, and won the fight!

[brainiac3397]

Woohoo!

A success! Just try not to forget us when you turn 30. (If this site is still up when you turn 30).

[Chanku]

Yay!

[James Comey]

Holy shit, that sounds a lot like my adventure (which unfortunately is still going on) but with a kick-ass ending.

That police officer incident is fucking bullshit. I hope that fucker gets fired and rots in hell. You're a kid that did absolutely nothing wrong, and she threatens you with fucking arrest? Sorry if I sound hot-headed, but I can't take that kind of bullshit. I hate it when a police officer feels they can talk down to a kid like that.

Otherwise though, congratulations! It's good to see you're free, and you never have to attend slavery every again. I can only wish the same that happened to you (the GED part, really) would happen to me.

[Gwedin]

So there is hope...

Sir, ma'am, whatever, you have my respect.

[Justin417]

That story really helps to show there is still hope... thanks and congratz!

[scientistB]

(01-30-2014 11:31 AM)Gwedin Wrote:  So there is hope...

Sir, ma'am, whatever, you have my respect.

A sir, I am.

But really. I truly don't think I can say thank you enough to all of you. When I think about how much gratitude I have, I just feel so overwhelmed. You guys pretty much saved me, and I don't know what I'd do without all your support. And I know for a fact that the rest of you will do epic when you all finish school, if you haven't already. Trust me, because now I can safely say I've been there. You can do it.

[craxyguy562]

such an inspiring story...

[Trar]

You have done well. I...don't remember you unfortunately (do you remember me at all?), but I also frequented these forums back in 2009, during my time in school and for a little while after I left. From the quality of my posts from back then (don't bother looking unless you have a tolerance for pain) it seems public education did a number on my mental health.

My story was more off-the-radar(I moved and lived in what amounted to a first-world hovel with five dickheads, four of which were my family), and it got pretty rough, but long story short here I am now. And I am very, very glad for your victory. Here's to you, in the future. I'd give you a box of donuts, but I don't know where you live.

They changed the GED in Maine and I can't take it for a little while longer; I would have taken it by now but circumstances did not permit. Hopefully I can actually start on the revised pretests before the year is up. Maybe I can do it without studying. I'm not too great at math, though. We'll see.

[scientistB]

(02-02-2014 12:23 PM)Trar Wrote:  You have done well. I...don't remember you unfortunately (do you remember me at all?), but I also frequented these forums back in 2009, during my time in school and for a little while after I left. From the quality of my posts from back then (don't bother looking unless you have a tolerance for pain) it seems public education did a number on my mental health.

My story was more off-the-radar(I moved and lived in what amounted to a first-world hovel with five dickheads, four of which were my family), and it got pretty rough, but long story short here I am now. And I am very, very glad for your victory. Here's to you, in the future. I'd give you a box of donuts, but I don't know where you live.

They changed the GED in Maine and I can't take it for a little while longer; I would have taken it by now but circumstances did not permit. Hopefully I can actually start on the revised pretests before the year is up. Maybe I can do it without studying. I'm not too great at math, though. We'll see.

Hi there! I do recall seeing you here and there back in the day, even though my memory is not so great. Thank you for taking your time to write this and I appreciate it. I'm glad you're alive and well, and I too wish you luck for the future.

[Trar]

No prob.

My donut offer still stands, by the way. If you ever go to Maine let me know.

[scientistB]

Well my good people, I just got my diploma today. Seems like school was trying its best to hurt me, because I got a nasty papercut while opening it. Well, I'm looking at it now... it's a light blue paper with a gold seal on it. They could've made it look more aesthetic. And, along with that, mom decided to hand me a compass pendant with a little diamond in the center. Well that's really cool.
But really... I expected this darn diploma to look a lot better. I'm rather disappointed after all these eleven years.

[Rusty Shackleford]

Well done, my friend, well done. You've escaped the most difficult part of the system, no mean feat.