by Nika Caramel

Created on: June 21, 2009   Last Updated: July 02, 2009

"Don't worry, it will get harder next year." Those are the same words that I've been told almost every year since the beginning of elementary school. Don't worry, it'll get harder. Don't worry, it'll be something more interesting. Don't worry, you'll be more "on level" with your peers next year. Growing up with teachers, councilors, and even my own parents telling me that but it never coming true... what sort of view do you THINK I'd have on the education system by now?

When in class we were just beginning to read low level chapter books I was reading books from the young adults section in the library. When my classmates were learning basic Algebra I could do trigonometric functions. And through it all we were constantly told to do our homework because it would help us learn better. So obviously I thought, "I already know this. I don't need homework!" and so I didn't do it.

As homework became a bigger and bigger part of the grade in school, my grades kept dropping and dropping, though I was able to keep my grades from going completely under by acing the tests. My school district had a gifted program, but rather than leveling up the classes we were actually in all it was was a spare hour in Junior High and now High School to sit there and sometimes do EXTRA projects or work which were almost on level with the grade I was in. So rather than alleviating the stress and annoyance of having to do the same classwork as my peers I got stuck with even more of it.

And yet, even now, every time I try to talk to one of my teachers or a councilor about this I get the same old answer.

Not only that, the learning style for the classes is set for a completely opposite learning style as my own. While I am a person who learns from reading and listening to things, the classes are set up for kinesthetic learners, or people who learn by doing. We're often brought to get up and do something with our hands when I would rather just sit there reading the text book (or, rather, a book to pass the time since I already know the material).

Then, last year, for my sophomore year in high school I was able to go on a foreign exchange overseas to Japan. In my spare time ever since 6th grade I had been learning and teaching myself Japanese instead of doing my homework or listening to class, so by the time of my sophomore year I was pretty near fluent, or at least to the level I could participate in all the classes in Japan.

Getting over there, with the slight language barrier still there

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