East Coast Kahuna

School Time

My daughter started 8th grade today. Fortunately, we have very good schools here, and we really have no reason to have to send her to private school.

When I started 8th grade, it was my first year at a private school (Iolani) in Honolulu. Although the commuting distance was only 16 miles, this was over an hour to drive in the morning rush. I credit my 8th grade English teacher in helping me start to read books outside of the assigned readings in class. I remember that my 7th grade year, the last year I spent in public school, was pretty much a waste. Before going to Iolani, I took typing and 8th grade math in the summer so I could be accellerated in math. I was still behind in foreign language and didn't benefit in having 7th and 8th grade Latin.

My daughter has a choice of three languages: Spanish, French and German. She's taking German (this is her 2nd year) and Spanish seems to be the most popular option. All the students have foreign language instruction in New York. In Hawaii, there is no absolute foreign language requirement (it's lumped as an option with Fine Arts or Career Exploration!). A fairly large portion of Asian-American families send their kids to private or even Catholic schools to get a better education and a better chance of getting into a good mainland college.

Even though I don't go to school now, I always liked the beginning of the school year. You have a chance to start anew. Although I spent a lot of time planning the courses and disciplines of study while I was a student, looking back now I probably would have done a lot of things differently.

I'm a believer in self-study. One thing I learned in school is how to learn. You can always study anything at any time - there are so many more resources available now than when I was younger. You aren't limited to the school or public libraries or the bookstores in your town anymore.

posted by tjh14850 @ 9:15 PM