Tonight I took my reluctant son and husband to an information session at the local High School set up for the next batch of grade 8’s. I might be in a wee bit of denial that I have a son old enough to be entering High School this year. I also have real emotions about it based on my own experiences. This is the school I graduated from. I hated it. I hated High School. I don’t blame the school particularly. I think most public schools here in Vancouver are factories made to pump out vaguely employable young adults and nothing more or nothing less. However, I do want my kids to have a better experience than I did.
I wasn’t bullied or anything. I did have friends…good friends that I am still in touch with today, I just did not enjoy it. Not one bit. Five years of feeling uncomfortable and out of sorts and no real memories of any real ‘fun’ or any teachers who remotely had any sort of lasting impression on me. My husband mocked me for not knowing where the auditorium was in my own school. I don’t really recall all the parts of the school. I remember sticking to my own area near my home room. I joined the library club so I could eat lunch there instead of the savage thunderdome that was the cafeteria. I remember the little snack shop near the gym and I loved the art room. Especially when the kids were down the hall practicing West Side Story. My husband and son seemed to mistake my unease for enthusiasm. I am NOT enthusiastic about this next phase in my son’s life. But I don’t want him to be filled with my feelings. I want him to be prepared and ready to manage his own adventure into mass education. This means I have to be prepared too.
I don’t expect my kids to get a stellar education from the factory schools here, but I would want them to at least do more than ‘get through’ their days there. I would like them to make friends and memories and along with our input, some help building up their dreams and goals for their adulthood. The school seems to sense this and the information session heavily emphasized the importance of ‘joining,’ of being part of their community to get the whole experience. I don’t know if that will truly help….I have been looking at other schools not in our area and some seem to be doing a bit better tech and career wise…..but I also wonder if any of that truly matters? What makes a ‘good’ education? What makes a good high school experience and does a positive experience mean a better adulthood?
I don’t know. But my mom bits just want to protect my babies from the hurts and the fears and the anxieties that growing up relentlessly chucks at us. This is just the start.
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