# What public school killed. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 11, 2009, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-public-school-killed/506063 "2009-08-11T15:07:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-public-school-killed/506063/1 "2009-08-11T15:07:33Z")
Public school killed the excitement upon waking up. Not just public school, my step-Mother was a hellbitch, but Public school was a huge part of it. It makes me wonder how worth it the education was at the expense of being happy to be alive when I wake up in the morning. ---
**Author:** ![Dag\_Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@Dag\_Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dag_Otto)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-public-school-killed/506063/2 "2009-08-11T15:35:03Z")
It certainly killed your ability to make a coherent OP. ---
**Author:** ![Binarydrone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@Binarydrone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Binarydrone)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-public-school-killed/506063/3 "2009-08-11T15:46:10Z")
What a thing to say! I fully get what the OP is saying. The terrible terrible dread that wrapped itself around you as you contemplated having to go to that environment. The way that you could never fully enjoy Sunday because tomorrow was Monday. The cruel teachers. The mind-numbing boredom. The brutality of your peers. None of this has any place in childhood. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-public-school-killed/506063/4 "2009-08-11T15:50:24Z")
If it’s any consolation, private school was equally miserable. ---
**Author:** ![Baracus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/2bfe46/32.png) [@Baracus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baracus)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-public-school-killed/506063/5 "2009-08-11T15:58:17Z")
And yet people are always claiming the public schools don’t prepare kids for the “real world”. ---
**Author:** ![StaudtCJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@StaudtCJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StaudtCJ)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-public-school-killed/506063/6 "2009-08-11T15:58:23Z")
Apparently my kids go to a different type of school. They look forward to Mondays so that they can spend time passing notes and giggling (or whatever it is boys do) with their friends. ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-public-school-killed/506063/7 "2009-08-11T16:05:50Z")
> [@Binarydrone](#): > > The terrible terrible dread that wrapped itself around you as you contemplated having to go to that environment. The way that you could never fully enjoy Sunday because tomorrow was Monday. This was the worst part, for me. Sundays were completely wasted. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-public-school-killed/506063/8 "2009-08-11T16:13:50Z")
> [@StaudtCJ](#): > > Apparently my kids go to a different type of school. They look forward to Mondays so that they can spend time **passing notes** and giggling (or whatever it is boys do) with their friends. Now that’s old school. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-public-school-killed/506063/9 "2009-08-11T16:29:52Z")
School killed my desire to read. My ninth grade English teacher, Mr. Wynn, was actually quite a good teacher, but somehow that class sucked the joy out of reading. Many years later, when I was in my early 30s, I re-read A Tale of Two Cities, and lo and behold, it didn’t suck. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-public-school-killed/506063/10 "2009-08-11T16:31:47Z")
> [@StaudtCJ](#): > > Apparently my kids go to a different type of school. They look forward to Mondays so that they can spend time passing notes and giggling (or whatever it is boys do) with their friends. Passing notes? LOL! You mean sending a gazillion omg txt msgs all day. ---
**Author:** ![StaudtCJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@StaudtCJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StaudtCJ)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-public-school-killed/506063/11 "2009-08-11T16:36:48Z")
Heh. Only the people that give their kids them new-fangled electronic umbilical cords have texting issues. ---
**Author:** ![Gam\_Zeh\_Yaavor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3e96dc/32.png) [@Gam\_Zeh\_Yaavor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gam_Zeh_Yaavor)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-public-school-killed/506063/12 "2009-08-11T16:58:04Z")
Having attended both private (K-8) and public (9-12) schools, the former being extremely elitist and full of the children of celebrities etc., and the latter being underfunded, grimy and gritty, with drug and gang problems. Public school wasn’t fun by any means, but the private schooling definitely screwed me up more than the public. Public schools are by and large a microcosm of the society from which they’re derived, which is why they’re generally full of hostile dullards, run by dead-eyed bureaucrats, and permeated with desperate anomie. In any case, it’s better than working in a textile mill from age 8. ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-public-school-killed/506063/13 "2009-08-11T16:59:56Z")
This is U.S. public school, right? Public schools in my area (my own high school included) put way too much emphasis on atheletics, often at the expense of academics. There was always money for the football field, or for a new gym floor, but when I graduated in 2000 there were still numerous 386 and older computers chugging away in the computer labs. In addition, I sat through many classes – especially math – where the teachers would cheerfully admit that they were presenting the material in such a way that would ensure the lowest-performing students would pass. There wasn’t much math taught past trig, and there were no advanced science courses. So, I would like to propose that public schools (at least, those in rural North Carolina) have killed academics. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-public-school-killed/506063/14 "2009-08-11T17:00:29Z")
I think the problem here is not whether the school was public or private. I happened to go to public school. The problem is that they suck the life out of children by trying to educate them in a format that is not conducive to a child’s natural instincts. Kids LOVE to learn, they just don’t love to be forced to sit in an uncomfortable chair for hours on end. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-public-school-killed/506063/15 "2009-08-11T17:01:31Z")
> [@WolfpackJeep](#): > > This is U.S. public school, right? Public schools in my area (my own high school included) put way too much emphasis on atheletics, often at the expense of academics. There was always money for the football field, or for a new gym floor, but when I graduated in 2000 there were still numerous 386 and older computers chugging away in the computer labs. In addition, I sat through many classes – especially math – where the teachers would cheerfully admit that they were presenting the material in such a way that would ensure the lowest-performing students would pass. There wasn’t much math taught past trig, and there were no advanced science courses. > > So, I would like to propose that public schools (at least, those in rural North Carolina) have killed academics. Agreed. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-public-school-killed/506063/16 "2009-08-11T17:12:52Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > I think the problem here is not whether the school was public or private. I happened to go to public school. The problem is that they suck the life out of children by trying to educate them in a format that is not conducive to a child’s natural instincts. Kids LOVE to learn, they just don’t love to be forced to sit in an uncomfortable chair for hours on end. So it’s a furniture issue? ---
**Author:** ![pbbth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@pbbth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pbbth)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-public-school-killed/506063/17 "2009-08-11T17:13:36Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > I think the problem here is not whether the school was public or private. I happened to go to public school. The problem is that they suck the life out of children by trying to educate them in a format that is not conducive to a child’s natural instincts. Kids LOVE to learn, they just don’t love to be forced to sit in an uncomfortable chair for hours on end. But part of what they are being taught is how to function in every day life as an adult. For the vast majority of us getting up to be to work by 9 every day is an important skill to have. For the vast majority of us being able to follow instructions even if we don’t like them or agree with them (exceptions to be made for legal or moral issues) is important. Not all children will grow up to work in an office setting but most of them will not grow up to be circus performers either, so having basic day to day skills of following a schedule and doing work you don’t want to do is the most important thing you will learn in school. I haven’t used much in the way of algebra or my theater arts lessons but I damn sure get up for work every day. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-public-school-killed/506063/18 "2009-08-11T17:18:54Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > So it’s a furniture issue? In part certainly. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-public-school-killed/506063/19 "2009-08-11T17:19:58Z")
> [@pbbth](#): > > But part of what they are being taught is how to function in every day life as an adult. For the vast majority of us getting up to be to work by 9 every day is an important skill to have. For the vast majority of us being able to follow instructions even if we don’t like them or agree with them (exceptions to be made for legal or moral issues) is important. Not all children will grow up to work in an office setting but most of them will not grow up to be circus performers either, so having basic day to day skills of following a schedule and doing work you don’t want to do is the most important thing you will learn in school. I haven’t used much in the way of algebra or my theater arts lessons but I damn sure get up for work every day. I really don’t see how someone taught in a different environment couldn’t work at a desk. Expecting a 15 year old to sit at a desk for hours at a time isn’t unreasonable. Expecting an 8 year old to, is. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-public-school-killed/506063/20 "2009-08-11T17:21:14Z")
Me: “I don’t wanna get up! I don’t wanna go to school! The kids are mean and cruel and nobody likes me!” Wife:“You have to go to school. You’re the teacher.” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-public-school-killed/506063.md?page=2)