When I was in college I took a class in which the professor was incredibly lenient. I worked very hard in his class, and gave it my all on every assignment and exam. It turned out that pretty much turning in the final research paper was enough for him. I expressed frustration to a classmate that I had become friends with; I felt like my hard work wasn't being respected if lazier students were getting the same credit as I was. (I know, that's a pretty selfish viewpoint.) My friend said, "Well, you can take comfort in the fact that you actually earned your A."
That pretty much sums up my entire education experience. I always got good grades, but I worked hard for them. I didn't coast through school, though I'm sure it looked that way on the surface. I worked hard, I studied, my parents supported and helped me, school was important. But not every subject was created equal for me. I did have a natural ability for English and History, and I struggled with math and science - especially in the higher grades.
I started to flourish in English in 8th grade when I took my first Honor's English class. (The one and only Mr. Ricci was my teacher!) We read a lot more books, and discussed and analyzed them. My high school English classes were very similar. Because I'm such a bookworm, this kind of learning was exactly my style. We still worked on spelling, vocab, and grammar; but they were usually centered around the book we were reading. I read so many books I would have never considered without my English classes.
History classes aren't much until High School. Well, they can be in middle school with the right teacher. My love of history didn't stem from school. It was the historical fiction books I grew up reading: American Girl books (Felicity, Addy, Molly, etc.), Dear America, Royal Diaries, Carolyn Meyer's Tudor series, and Philippa Gregory's Tudor series. My high school required a full year of U.S. History and a semester long elective of either Ancient History or Modern History (which I heard should have been called Modern Wars). I picked Ancient History for my elective credit. I loved that class, and my teacher loved me. I remember one time when she was passing back a graded assignment, as she put mine down on my desk she said in a low voice, "One of the few to do this correctly." This class showed me that actual history is just as exciting as historical fiction. After that class History was my thing, and I took AP US, AP World, and then went on to major in History Teaching.
Science became hard for me in 5th grade, and math became hard for me in 7th when I took Algebra 1. My final grades would never lead one to believe that I struggled with these subjects, but I did. I used up the maximum allowable test retakes, and my dad helped me with my math homework almost every night. In high school math itself didn't become easier, but keeping good grades did. I think that the math department at my high school wanted to make it so that those who were not talented in math could still pass and get on with their lives. In every math class I took we got full credit on assignments as long as we answered every question, and at the beginning of class we would go over every problem before turning in our assignment and could change the answer to the correct one. And actually studying the study guide before a test guaranteed a passing grade. You still had to be willing to work to pass, but they did make it easier than other math classes I had taken. Science was better in high school as well. I think it's because each subject had it's own class: biology, chemistry, physics. Before it was just a little bit of each in one class. That was too hard for me, but spending an entire year on one science subject made it easier to understand and do well.
I'm glad that school wasn't 100% easy for me. I'm glad that I had to work and study hard. I don't know how my children will do in school, but thanks to my own experiences, I do know how to teach them to work hard; and that will hopefully give them a positive education experience like mine was.
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