The school is were every person begins it's journey into adulthood and the journey to know who you are and want to become. The school is such a huge part of our growth and the first place where we come in contact with people that might change our life, it is so important we get good education, feel motivated, safe and happy. A child who does not like school, should be motivated, be taught how important school is to reach for your goals in life. A child who does not feel safe with themselves or others in school should get help to overcome their obstacle and move on to a brighter future. A teacher/principle should be motivated to help our young develope and learn, make them want to make the most out of their school years. A teacher should be comfortable in a student environment, knowing how to speak and act around those who still learn about right and wrong. 

Since I moved back home to my family, I've heard a lot about my old school. The school I grew up in, the school that my younger siblings now study in. My sister, age 12, goes in Year 6 and she is at the moment studying her ass off every week to get as good grades as possible before 'higher school'*. Even though the grades she will get now, won't affect her in any way when she's my age. 

This school, and our school system in general has gone down hill so bad the past ten years. It's unbelievable. And in a small town like this, you don't have enough good and educated teachers to give your child/sibling the ideal school they want. You will have to deal with teachers who may not have a proper education, or teachers who has spent some time in a kindergarten. My sister's class has been through a lot since August.

Shortly after summer break was over, the school's (so called) psychologist got the 12 year olds hard and tight rubber bands. The band was to encourage harming yourself when you've done or said something bad. The children were to put it on their arm and during the day snap the band against their wrist if they've said something mean, talked during class or done a simple task like put their shoes away. Don't get me wrong, I am not against people punishing themselves for bad habits, like smoking, swearing or biting on their nails, but you should only do it on your own free will. Your idea, your decision and your rules, if you are old enough and can handle it. No one else should tell you to hurt yourself, and as a school, and especially as school psychologist, you should KNOW that you don't make kids that age hurt themselves. They are just passing the start of their puberty and this is the first stage of questioning who you are and what you want. This is the first stage where psychological illness, like depression and eating disorders, appear. Both me and my other sister went through that during that age. How stupid are you, as a psychologist to embrace the young souls that it's good to harm yourself when your think you've done wrong or been a bad person? Gah, this makes me so angry. But a lot of parents reacted (you should have seen my mum) as well as I raged on social medias (hehe), so this rubber band didn't even last two days until the principal removed it.

It was cool for a while, until this letter came home. It was a list of all children in her class amd what tests and exams they failed. I know it's disgusting. This piece of paper was sent to every teacher, every parent and every child. Some of the kids had four failed tests and at the bottom of the page it said that 'you can choose to rewrite all of  your exams Wednesday or Thursday. And keep in mind we have two national big tests in Math on Monday and Tuesday, an English test on Friday and Religion on Thursday. First off, how the hell are 12 year olds going to study for maximum 8 tests in one week? Secondly, what teacher plans their schedule like one week we do nothing, the next we do everything? And finally, WHO the hell writes out every child's failures and sends it to their whole class plus parents? Every parent will now know you do shit in school and they may judge you. Every classmate will not know you failed a test maybe you didn't. Your classmates may even ask you "how you didn't make it through that exam, it was so easy". No one except you as a child and your parents need to know what you need to catch up with in school, it's noone else's business. Maybe you don't feel good, maybe you have a really hard time learning a specific subject for any reason, maybe you have a bad time at home and simply can't study or get help. But it's not to write out openly for everyone on the school to see. You just don't do that. 

And last update from my sister's class is this one teacher, who used to work with kids under 6 years old. My sister says the teacher treats them like small children and that the teacher has no idea how to speak to them in a educational and disciplinary way. Mum told me that this teacher asked my sister's friend: "Oh, you like crisps, pizza and soft drinks, huh?" in a 'you-can-tell'-way. This friend felt sad about that unnecessary comment, of course, the teacher basically told him that he is fat, it's ugly and that everyone can see it. 

And these are just some nightmares coming from one single school, in our country. I know more, and there are tons of them. And this is really my soft spot in politics. Bad schools and our stupid school system makes me so angry. Sadly, it's not getting better. 

Ugh. / Maro x