My Experience in high school VS Gatto's

High school was a wired thing for me, like most other people, it had its ups and downs and all a round’s, but for the most part it was good. My first high school was Kinnick high school on the U.S navy base in Yokosuka Japan. I didn't like it much at first, I was hazed by the other African American students for not conforming the “Black” stereotype on a daily bases. But they still used me when they needed help with homework. I was also hazed by the Philippine American group, again for not conforming to the “black” stereotype. It is also at this school where I would learn to grow up. As you can imagine constantly being hazed every day changes you, I didn’t conform to the stereotype they wanted me to be, but I did (through a series of successful and unsuccessful attempts” to gain their respect. I was able to gain respect by loosening up on topics and in my attitude in general. I pulled the metaphorical stick out of my ass as they would say, well without the metaphorical part. I actually got to know people and people got to know me, I also took part in volunteering opportunities through our JROTC program and through the Red Cross program, this got some of the student’s attention and people respected me for working for something bigger than myself. Still I was made fun of every now and then. But just when I thought I had gained the school status I wanted, my family and I were transferred to here to Washington. I would finish my high school years here in Washington and to some things up I loved it. I took part in school sports for the first time and got to meet tons of people through that, my classes were easy to me, I loved the teachers, and I got extra attention (both good and bad) from the students and teachers being one of the seven African American students at the school. All in all I love high school, I grew up in high school and learned tons of things I never knew. Now as you can see my high school experience was the complete opposite of what Grotto has written. He calls high school a place where students don’t learn anything and is boring, if this is true then why do I see so many smiles whenever I was at high school, why did I hear so many laughs? Why did I see so many happy people? Why you ask, because people were happy when they were at school, well for the most part anyway. Now when it comes to learning he may have a point, but learning is not totally at fault of the school or the program, most learning comes from how much the students want to learn. If the student does not want to learn then they won’t, you can’t force a student to learn. Some learning disability is at fault of the school though, bad teachers can hinder the learning ability of already bad students. It also makes students who don’t want to learn lose faith in the educational system and drop out.  Also I am not happy how he bases all high schools on his experience, it opens up for bias and makes him sound like an awful teacher, in my opinion. Also he claims that teachers have the same high school experience as the students, and again this is wrong, teachers are people to, people with different experiences and looks on life. Also there is a time difference between teachers and students, and as we know new things are being taught to students every year. So claiming that the teachers and the students have the same school experience is bogus.   All in all I do not agree completely with what Gotto is trying to say about high school, and my high school experience was completely opposite of what Grotto wrote in the paper we read as a class.