I took to Jr. High School life like a duck takes to wet cement. Now instead of having one teacher to work with me I was going to have a multitude of teachers with little to no time for individual attention. Each instructor teaching a different subject at roughly 45 minute intervals. Looking back at it now it is obvious why kids with ADD and ADHD didn't do well after grade school in those days. Not only did we have no special programs for kids like us, we now had 10X the distractions that we had in elementary school. And as for me, I was now beginning to notice girls. At that point I may never have paid attention again.
Before I go into detail on my educational problems I must add that never in my entire academic career was I ever removed from a class or sent to the principle's office for disruptive behavior. I may have had trouble paying attention, but I never dragged any other classmates down with me by acting foolish. The difference between ADD and ADHD is that ADD is more hyper-active in the mind and ADHD is hyper-active in the flesh. While ADHD children will run you ragged, ADD children will daydream or draw entire worlds on a single sheet of paper. Drawing was always my escape.
With that said, I flunked the 7th grade and had to repeat it the following year. I did my very best to buckle down and study during my second run in the 7th grade and half-way through the school year I was advanced up to the 8th grade as a reward, but I began to slip during the remainder of the year and was forced to repeat the 8th grade. So I spent 1.5 years in the 7th grade and 1.5 years in the 8th grade. I tried like mad to improve my grades during my second year as an 8th grader, but by the end of the year I was failing once again. And once again I was moved on to the next grade by the simple fact that I was getting too old to remain in Jr. High School. Though I was moved forward to high school I did not officially graduate from the Jr. High, which meant that I didn't walk in the graduation ceremony and I was banned from the class photo (the latter of which still bothers me today when old classmates post that old class photo on facebook and I'm not in it) ...and here is a piece of irony for you: The principle of the Jr. High I attended happened to be the "Special Educations" teacher from my elementary school who couldn't help me 2-years earlier
By the time I hit high school I had lost all faith in schooling. The High School teachers were much worse than the Jr. High school teachers, and of course my reputation as a bad student had preceded me to the High School given the fact that now there were starting Juniors at the school who had known me when we were class mates up until the 5th grade. So the teachers already had me pegged as a bad seed and most treated me as such. There were a few courses I excelled at, but getting A's in Drama, P.E. and Woodshop while getting F's in practically everything else wasn't going to get me that diploma. The ironic thing about my high school career is that even though I had flunked 3 grades in my life and had been held back 2 full years, I was very strong in English studies and was placed in College Prep English my freshman year. I was taking an advanced English class and a remedial Math class in the same semester, yet this fact never raised any red flags with any of the school staff.
At the end of my Sophomore school year I was called into the counselors office and informed that I would not be accepted back into the high school the following year due to my poor grades, and if I wished to continue my education I would have to enroll in our local continuation school which had just opened that year. By this time in my life I was already 16-years-old and had a drivers license, a car, and two part time jobs. I decide to enroll in the continuation school thinking that it would be easier, but the following year I found myself in a make-shift "school" consisting of 4 mobile modular building set up in the parking lot of our city's school records building. The teachers consisted of burned out staff that would spend their days reading novels and ignoring the students, while the students consisted of the real "bad kids" that I had been pegged as being one of. There were teenage mothers, kids with drug problems, and all-around trouble makers. I didn't fit in at this new school any more than I had fit in at the high school, so at 16-years of age I dropped out and started working full time as a carpenter for my uncle.
Now I'm not blaming anyone for my educational failures because not a lot was known about ADD back in those days. Everyone had simply ignored the diagnosis that was given to me when I was 11 and to this day my mother still says that she doesn't remember any of that. All I will say on this issue is that in my heart of hearts I believe that my parents, my teachers, and the entire school system failed me.
I don't know how the system works today with kids that have been diagnosed with ADD or ADHD, but I would imagine that it offers much more than it offered to me back then. I believe that I could have done better had I worked with teachers that were familiar with my problem.
On a redeeming note I will say that there was one teacher in my Jr. High, Mr. Bridges, that did his best to get through to me. I don't think that he was ever made aware of my diagnosis, and at the time I didn't understand what it is that I have, and I never spoke of it with anyone. Mr. Bridges gave one hell of a shot to get through to me, and I'll never forget him because of it. Mr. Bridges wore many hats at my Jr. High. He was the Drama teacher, Computer education teacher, and English Teacher, all of which I took with him. As I mentioned earlier, I started my freshman year in College Prep English (thank you Mr. Bridges) and he instilled a love of drama and computers in me.
So my advice for parents with kids that have ADD, or ADHD, or any of the other numerous attention deficit diagnosis' that are now in the medical books, is that your children are not stupid and your children are not lazy. They need stimulation in their studies. Make the lesson fun and your kids will pay better attention. I can't guarantee that they won't glance out the window and see a dog or something that excites them, but a fun lesson will make it easier to draw them back, rather then trying to make them memorize flashcards.
The classes that I excelled in were taught by teachers that knew how to interact with the class and made the lessons exciting. If your local school isn't working out, try one of the Charter Schools. I am telling you this so that your kid does not falls through the cracks or gets labeled as a bad student like they labeled me.
Now I'm not blaming anyone for my educational failures because not a lot was known about ADD back in those days. Everyone had simply ignored the diagnosis that was given to me when I was 11 and to this day my mother still says that she doesn't remember any of that. All I will say on this issue is that in my heart of hearts I believe that my parents, my teachers, and the entire school system failed me.
I don't know how the system works today with kids that have been diagnosed with ADD or ADHD, but I would imagine that it offers much more than it offered to me back then. I believe that I could have done better had I worked with teachers that were familiar with my problem.
On a redeeming note I will say that there was one teacher in my Jr. High, Mr. Bridges, that did his best to get through to me. I don't think that he was ever made aware of my diagnosis, and at the time I didn't understand what it is that I have, and I never spoke of it with anyone. Mr. Bridges gave one hell of a shot to get through to me, and I'll never forget him because of it. Mr. Bridges wore many hats at my Jr. High. He was the Drama teacher, Computer education teacher, and English Teacher, all of which I took with him. As I mentioned earlier, I started my freshman year in College Prep English (thank you Mr. Bridges) and he instilled a love of drama and computers in me.
So my advice for parents with kids that have ADD, or ADHD, or any of the other numerous attention deficit diagnosis' that are now in the medical books, is that your children are not stupid and your children are not lazy. They need stimulation in their studies. Make the lesson fun and your kids will pay better attention. I can't guarantee that they won't glance out the window and see a dog or something that excites them, but a fun lesson will make it easier to draw them back, rather then trying to make them memorize flashcards.
The classes that I excelled in were taught by teachers that knew how to interact with the class and made the lessons exciting. If your local school isn't working out, try one of the Charter Schools. I am telling you this so that your kid does not falls through the cracks or gets labeled as a bad student like they labeled me.
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