School Interviews

Interview 1- Male- 23 years
Did you enjoy school when you were in high school?
No I didn't because in my generation the education wasn't good, they did not have up to date technology, and it was unsafe.

What do you mean by unsafe?
There were a lot of gangs, violence, they a lot of weapons being brought in such as knives and such.

If there was something you could have changed to make your high school days better, what would it be?
Have the same kind of quality that a high school in Manhattan would have such as more teacher, more safety, more opportunities such as being able to get scholarships to good colleges or internships.

So what do you think the real point of school is?
Knowledge to get you ready for the future. Although I think high school should be 2 years rather then 4 years because a lot of the classes are not necessary to get into college or a program you want to get into.

If you could choose what classes you were able to learn in high school what would they be?
English because its really important. Chemistry or science because I want to be a radiologist so I would want to take a class that further my knowledge or get me ready for that.

Alicia
Do you like school?
No

Why?
I don't feel like its a uncomfortable environment because I can't always live up to the standards that teachers have of me which makes me feel like a failure but I am looking forward to college because I am able to choose my classes that I want.

Do you think you would enjoy high school more if you could choose the classes you were learning? Any classes you want?
Yes, much better because then I would actually have a interest in the classes that I would have compared to being forced to learn something uninteresting to me.


What do you think the point of high school really is?
uhh...to prepare you for society, to help you cope with different personalities and set you up a future in the professional world. Although I don't always think that school does this justice.

Dad
How was school different in the past then to school now?
Well remember that I am two generations before you. I went to public schools in new jersey and in my opinion is that schools there were good in educations like what your learning (math, science, biology and all that stuff) but there are more individualized attention for kids now then now. And the work that are done today are more creative, the teachers are more creative.

What do you mean creative?
I think they try to make it more interesting for there student. When I went to school teachers taught more about whats written. The subjects were not as done creativity as it was done now. Although I never finished so what do I know?

Why didn't you finish?
Well I didn't really have a choice, I was forced to go to work to survive. My parents were divorced and I was put out to make a living for myself at the age of 16. I did finish, I finished high school at night and got a GED.

What do you think the point of school is now in my generation?
I think the point should be to keep the interest up for the students for the kid to go on to college or have a good oppourtunity to find a good career beyond Mcdonalds. Here the problem today, unless your creative your generation and the next one has problems because the manufacturing jobs that I would go into in my generation has disappeared so we've become more of a service country so it means you have to be more well prepared.

So do you think schools is actually doing so?
Well, there was something I think was better in my age. The schools had technical programs; people who didn't go to college, there were classes that were provided, they had technical classes like building,plumb, electrical, etc. They have that in France and Germany I think where you make a decision early on. Although college people use to look down on those classes, mean while a guy taking plumbing classes would grow up to become some great plumber with a great job inventing great plumbing stuff.

Me
What do you think the main point of school is?
I think the main point of school is to keep kids off the streets and from home, keeps kids from doing nothing and taking real jobs. For example, I've tried going job hunting for minimum wage jobs that would seem easy to get but its much hard when you don't have any experience of a high school degree. I never really understand what that is about, I'm pretty sure I do not need a high school degree to work at a clothing store arranging clothes. I am not too sure about why or what kids are being kept from but a little further explanation I can probably get a better idea.

Do you enjoy school? Why or why not?
I particularly do not enjoy school. I'm not sure why because there are so many specific reasons on different days. The majority of days I dislike school but there are some unique days that I wake up feeling good and wanting to go. There are many reason such as: needing to wake up early, needing to play a certain role that I usual feel uncomfortable, learning really tiring and probably unimportant subjects in school that will not help me later on in life, the amount of annoyance and stress from other students personalities that I for some reason cannot relate to, stress from homework when we already do work in school, the expectation of "doing good" because I'm Asian or the "normal" on in the family, or not being seen as a "failure" if I don't graduate. I hate that it is put in our heads that if we don't do school we are complete losers that fail at life.

Do you think you would enjoy school more if you got to pick the classes?
Maybe. I think I would enjoy school more if I was able to pick classes that I enjoy such as learning about animals, art, etc. Although I would most likely want to learn about stuff like how to do taxes which most likely I would not enjoy but at least I would have the idea that it is something that is important and useful.

Megan-18-
So I know you had a hard time in high school and got your GED, do you regret not graduating from a real high school?
Umm, not really. I mean I am in college and doing a lot better in college then I ever did in high school. The GED was SOOOO easy, the only thing that sucks about not graduating from a high school is that I have to take math and English classes for no credits to make up for missing out on it in high school. Not a big deal though.

What about high school that made you not want to go or made you decide to just get your GED?
I don't know. I mean I was having a hard time in my life with like [my boyfriend] and like my dad passing away and stuff. I think it was just so annoying because I had friends from my school but I just could not connect with them. And also because my boyfriend was in college already and I guess it was as if I wanted to catch up with him. I just slacked in high school so much, I couldn't find myself to like go to class and stuff.

Well, if you are taking basic english and math in college, how come you are doing so much better in those classes in college then in high school?
I don't know, I never thought of that. Maybe its the way it is scheduled. Like I like college because you can kind of pick most of your classes in what major you want to go in or like your can pick what time you have your classes. In high school you are given you classes and forced to go to them. And also I think college is like more important since I get to take classes in child education since I want to be a teacher and stuff.

Do you think you would have enjoyed high school or finished high school if you were able to pick your classes?
Maybe. Although I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do with my life back then. Also I probably wouldn't like needing to pick classes to last for 9 hours a day. So annoying.