Who Asked Us? -- Alternative School Means No School

SAN FRANCISCO--I've been in a lot of different schools, experienced different school settings and met a lot of different teachers. I know what's it's like to participate in these alternative programs and don't know how helpful they are.

I am now in an independent study program. Before I got into independent study I was at an alternative school and before that I was at a public school. In public school I was always getting in trouble, always distracted by something or someone so that led me to talking to my friends, being on the phone, sleeping and not paying attention to the teacher.

I didn't get along with some of the teachers because I was hardheaded and did not like being told what to do in a high-pitched demanding tone (which only reminded me of my past experiences with my mom and the system). When I was younger, my mom was never really there, she was always abusive and controlling. So I started running with a gang and got into a lot of trouble because of it. I got to the point where I was sent to group homes.

When I got kicked out of public school I went to Oakland Street Academy, an alternative school. At Street Academy everything was just going downhill too. My grades were getting lower and lower and I kept getting sent home or getting in trouble. So I decided it was better for me to try out independent study. With independent study I thought I would have more freedom and there would be no getting in trouble because you're doing the work at home.

There were people who disagreed with me for deciding to go into the program. Some told me you don't learn anything; yeah it's easy, they said, but they wanted me to get an education and more than just getting school done with.

I applied for independent study anyway and a few weeks later they replied to me through the mail saying I was accepted and who my teacher was. They gave me a number to call him to make an appointment and I was set. The program I'm in is a small school that different people go to. But you don't attend it daily. You go once a week to get your work then you can go back home or stay a little to work at the school.

I've been doing pretty good with turning in my work every week and my teacher who collects my work is a nice guy who loves history. That's the subject he checks on the most out of all my work. He'll sit there and lecture me about it, talk about his opinions and what's going on today from what was going on back in the days. He's a good teacher, but there have been times where he couldn't help me because he's not always there.

Although independent study sounded like a very good program to me since I could also earn my credits fast, I discovered some cons. Not having a teacher there to help right when you need it is one of them. Also, they just assign you work and sometimes you don't even have any idea how to do it but it's assigned to you anyways. You don't really learn anything new in independent study unless you read like the whole history or science book but that's limited education. Plus, who really would read the whole science or history book when a teacher isn't around?

With independent study it's basically like going through a lot of paper work, notebook work, book readings. It's kind of difficult to learn new things if there's no teacher to help you when you are confused, or a teacher to just teach you things you've never learned. So you just have to know what you know to do the work. In the end, doing the paperwork is pretty easy. But easy isn't really a good word to describe school since school is supposed to be a challenge.

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