I've had it with this BS

So here's the deal:

I go to a big highschool in my area with around 2000 or more kids. We have a tech department including electronics.
I've taken electronics in grade 9 and 11 before so I decided to take it for grade 12 too which I am currently in.
The class is tought by an overall tech teacher who is qualified to teach woodwork and electronics. Now one of the things that bothers me is that I might as well be teaching the class because I have basically sucked out all the info he knows about electronics and there is none left to take out. All I can think that he knows is about basic transistors, how to troubleshoot a basic circuit, how to read a schematic, and make an enclosure, oh and how to make a PCB and solder it and whatnot. Now I pretty much learned this in grade 11.

So this year our class consists of about 10 people MAX. and only on good days. Today there where about maybe 6 people? Not to mention out regular teacher broke his foot and we have a substitute. Thankfully he is also a tech teacher but a sub tech teacher. He's a nice guy but he's asked me a few times the most basic things. Now you must understand I don't mean any disrespect to the teachers, they are probably busy with other things and such but still, can't the school hire some more enthusiastic teachers?

The students. Almost everyone in my class is taking electronics an "easy A" class. No one has any motivation or respect for other peoples projects. The people in that class are ones who will not go far in life judging by their effort in this class. Now it's not fair to judge by that but bear with me.

What pisses me off the most is these 2 guys in my class. One guy ive known him since grade 8 and he's okay I guess, but is very anooying and dangerous (Ill get to why in a sec). The second guys ISNT EVEN REGISTERED IN THE CLASS. He just as a spare period and he decides to hang out with idiot number 1. Now this second guy is worse than dude number 1. Anyways, the class has these syringes from a previous hydraulic water robot picker upper arm and these idiots discover a new way to use them. Every day for the past week or so they have been spraying me with water in the face and everywhere while the teacher isn't looking. My ignoring and telling them to stop hasn't helped. the dangerous part is that they spray me while I solder, and while I'm using an outlet. Now what pisses me off is that A) the teacher doesn't notice or doesn't do much, B) they are persistent and don't stop, C) they got water all over my motor shield project I am working on today and all the parts I was using have gotten wet. D) Their pure disinterest in electronics makes me pissed off because if we had even a few guys who knew what they where doing or had a passion for this then the class would be 100x better. So this second idiot goes to my desk and asks me if my soldering iron is hot, I say not yet, he picks it up and starts to poke a hole through the plastic syringe with it multiple times until he puts the iron down and drops the syringe on the ground like it's someone else s mess now. I had to clean the iron and the area smelt horrible.

We are 17!!! I mean in a year or less these people around me are going to be adults in the big wide world! I can't believe these dumbf*cks are even permitted to turn 18!

This was just a rant about my day and I hope you have enjoyed it or agree with me. Right now I feel like I'm the only one with this problem. Anyways there you go.

That's a sad story polishdude, what can I say, the world is full of @rsholes. Maybe you can speak to the teacher, or alternatively shove the soldering iron somewhere that will create an even worse smell (it's not yours is it?) :).


Rob

Right now I feel like I'm the only one with this problem

Not even close.

Look on the bright side. Odds are very high that in ten years you will be making 3X what they make and most of your hair will be intact.

don't engineers become bald? lol i think it's the other way around. but the funny thing is , is that I'm actually going on to be a mechanical engineer not electrical and I STILL have this motivation. These days stuff like this doesn't interest young people anymore. Now it's ipod,video games, internet and so on. I know i'm speaking like an old man but its true!

I feel for you man.

CrossRoads:
I feel for you man.

that's just deep man

i know the feeling :frowning:
when i did elecktronics at school, it was a easy A class two.
i asked things to the teacher that were way beyond him :S.
but i now know i could do better by just going on tech forums, because there are people on there that know what they do, and understand how things work. :slight_smile:

i asked the teacher if i could skipp the class, and do everything home.
so i did :slight_smile:

was way better then being in a boring class :S

The kind of electronics you're into is not taught in schools unfortunately and it's a real shame.

Now one of the things that bothers me is that I might as well be teaching the class because I have basically sucked out all the info he knows about electronics and there is none left to take out.

The kind of electronics you're into is not taught in schools unfortunately and it's a real shame.

i asked things to the teacher that were way beyond him :S.

Your instructors are are having the same problem that you will be having in a few years. Many of the things that you are interested in did not exist when your instructors were in school. If they don't have the time and incentive to learn the new stuff on their own then they will not be able to keep up.

Unfortunately many teachers can only get promoted if they can prove that they have done 'Professional Improvement', but the proof is defined as advanced course work leading to advanced degrees since the bean counters can easily keep track of such things. Unfortunately, even when someone is teaching about material that didn't even exist when they took their last coursework there is apparently no 'proof' that they have done any professional improvement. Unfortunately the teachers of the advanced coursework face the same problem, so it is a chicken and egg situation.

You have to understand that when you get your degree what you will have is a certificate that proves that you are educable. It will be up to you to continue your education, usually on your own, if you want to stay abreast in whatever field you have chosen.

Don

polishdude20,

I can tell you that things are not any different today than they were 20 years ago when I was about your age. I didn't get any support more than you do now. After army things changed I really saw the big picture, and that point I didn't need to hang with idiots any more.

Just hang on, or kick their asses while teacher is not looking, you need to get their (not teachers) attention someway. Put some laxative in their food on these technical days.

Cheers,
Kari

Or connect up the power when they wet the shield. Than make a lot of noise about the shield being broken. Make it a school- or liability- insurance thing.
No fun though.

Good luck.
Jeroen

GaryP:
polishdude20,

I can tell you that things are not any different today than they were 20 years ago when I was about your age.

No wonder my code calculates wrong, I can't handle simple tasks. 30 years was what ment to say. I am almost grown up...

Kari

Go to the principal, tell him they're destroying expensive equipment

As for the teacher situation, you're better off than most high school students, they're getting better, but high schools still can't support "industry" teaching

polishdude20:
So here's the deal:

I go to a big highschool in my area with around 2000 or more kids. We have a tech department including electronics.
I've taken electronics in grade 9 and 11 before so I decided to take it for grade 12 too which I am currently in.
The class is tought by an overall tech teacher who is qualified to teach woodwork and electronics. Now one of the things that bothers me is that I might as well be teaching the class because I have basically sucked out all the info he knows about electronics and there is none left to take out. All I can think that he knows is about basic transistors, how to troubleshoot a basic circuit, how to read a schematic, and make an enclosure, oh and how to make a PCB and solder it and whatnot. Now I pretty much learned this in grade 11.

Good for you; keep it up (like you are), and even if it doesn't lead to a career, you'll have a great hobby to spend your time and money on (lots of money!) in the future.

polishdude20:
So this year our class consists of about 10 people MAX. and only on good days. Today there where about maybe 6 people? Not to mention out regular teacher broke his foot and we have a substitute. Thankfully he is also a tech teacher but a sub tech teacher. He's a nice guy but he's asked me a few times the most basic things. Now you must understand I don't mean any disrespect to the teachers, they are probably busy with other things and such but still, can't the school hire some more enthusiastic teachers?

You're 17, and you sound like you may be way ahead of the game; keep at it. Learn all you can and then some. Maybe you can try to get your teacher motivated, and -teach him- some things, maybe not. Unfortunately, its difficult to hire teachers given what they face every day, and the fact that they aren't well paid; here in the United States (I may be making an assumption about your location here), our society has a split personality about education which you may or may not have noticed (its certainly not articulated anywhere). One one hand, adults/parents/teachers/etc push for students to have good educations, push for college, push for laws like NCLB (which I really think leaves all children behind, but that's another topic), but on the other hand, do you see educated people being given the celebrity and enthusiasm that should be a result of that? I certainly don't. All I hear lately is derogatory remarks about "the intelligencia", etc - there's this undercurrent and drive to make it seem like if you are intelligent, if you ask questions, if you really know your stuff, you are to be scorned and mocked, if not outright attacked. Using reason, rationality, the scientific method? Have doubts, ask questions, apply experiment? That's considered wrong! It might lead to questioning about "gawd and country" or some such bull (indeed, it should lead to questions about religion - I wonder if I'll be attacked for this here?).

So, on the one hand, you must go to college, but you must not be intelligent! Or something like that. I am sorry to have to inform you, but as you get older in short order, you're going to be finding and facing a society that seems absolutely intent upon turning this country, if not the world, into something that looks like a crazy cross between George Orwell's "1984", Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World", Ray Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451", and Mike Judge's "Idiocracy" (and if you haven't read one or more the books mentioned, you owe it to yourself to do so soon). It's sickening what I have witnessed over the past 20 years since I left high school myself.

Also - one more note: Nearly everything you have likely learned about our society is likely a lie.

polishdude20:
The students. Almost everyone in my class is taking electronics an "easy A" class. No one has any motivation or respect for other peoples projects. The people in that class are ones who will not go far in life judging by their effort in this class. Now it's not fair to judge by that but bear with me.

I took "easy A" classes myself, but I still learned things in them; they were easy in the fact that I knew what I was doing, and the teacher knew I was well advanced of him (computer programming); what was nice at the time though is that he would give us students who were actually interested in the material stuff that was fairly advanced; problems that he has asked other's how to solve, and they couldn't - so we would tackled them. Between us (there were 3-4 of us at any given time), we were able to churn out some interesting solutions. At one point, I ended up coding 6502 assembly using hex codes in the Apple IIe ROM monitor for one solution I was working on.

You sound like that kind of student - hopefully your teacher sees this, and grades accordingly.

Unfortunately, you're going to find people like the others in your class (both now and later in life) who just "skate by" and people who let them or facilitate them. Do what you can, learn what you must and then some, don't let it get you down. You don't have much longer to go in high school; you'll be far ahead, and those others will likely be far behind (unless they get lucky or have some other "one up" on you that you don't have - unfortunately, that's life, too).

polishdude20:
What pisses me off the most is these 2 guys in my class. One guy ive known him since grade 8 and he's okay I guess, but is very anooying and dangerous (Ill get to why in a sec). The second guys ISNT EVEN REGISTERED IN THE CLASS. He just as a spare period and he decides to hang out with idiot number 1. Now this second guy is worse than dude number 1. Anyways, the class has these syringes from a previous hydraulic water robot picker upper arm and these idiots discover a new way to use them. Every day for the past week or so they have been spraying me with water in the face and everywhere while the teacher isn't looking. My ignoring and telling them to stop hasn't helped. the dangerous part is that they spray me while I solder, and while I'm using an outlet. Now what pisses me off is that A) the teacher doesn't notice or doesn't do much, B) they are persistent and don't stop, C) they got water all over my motor shield project I am working on today and all the parts I was using have gotten wet. D) Their pure disinterest in electronics makes me pissed off because if we had even a few guys who knew what they where doing or had a passion for this then the class would be 100x better. So this second idiot goes to my desk and asks me if my soldering iron is hot, I say not yet, he picks it up and starts to poke a hole through the plastic syringe with it multiple times until he puts the iron down and drops the syringe on the ground like it's someone else s mess now. I had to clean the iron and the area smelt horrible.

Have you talked with your parents and/or other school faculty? I don't know if it would help, but if they're causing damage, impairing your ability to learn, creating dangerous situations for you, etc - then you may need press for help in some manner.

Also - remember this: you're 17 - there's a lot of things you can get away with that you can't when you're 18; use that to your advantage if you dare...

polishdude20:
We are 17!!! I mean in a year or less these people around me are going to be adults in the big wide world! I can't believe these dumbf*cks are even permitted to turn 18!

A proud C-average student became president of the United States for two terms; with his adminstration and leadership, this country went from have a surplus budget to insane debt, "wars" on two fronts, many of our constitutional freedoms stripped with nary a whimper from the populace (using a bill that magically appeared written and ready, with more pages and words than you can imagine, yet was passed with hardly any reading or debate about it at all!) - which has ultimately led to a worldwide recession that seems to be rapidly leading to insane unrest worldwide for various economic reasons...

...and he was applauded for it!

This is the world you are stepping into. It won't matter whether you stay in the United States (again, big assumption here) or move to another country, this country claims to want educated children, yet cheers on ignorance. This same society has a nuclear arsenal that can turn the world into a smoldering pile of slag. It is also increasingly becoming fundamentalist, the left is the right, the right is crazy, the majority of the country thinks evolution is false, and a big percentage thinks the world is going to end and Jesus is coming (and oh, by the way, some of them are thinking about helping it all along!).

Like I said - you have likely been lied to about the true state of affairs, because when you honestly look at it, it isn't pretty. I'd rather see sausage made.

NOTE - splitting this up because I went over the limit...

polishdude20:
This was just a rant about my day and I hope you have enjoyed it or agree with me. Right now I feel like I'm the only one with this problem. Anyways there you go.

I am sorry. I am truly sorry. I didn't enjoy your rant, though on a certain level I understand what you are going through, and agree with what you are feeling and the problems, etc. You aren't the only one with this problem. I am sorry above all because this problem is larger than you think, or are possibly aware of; indeed, there are times when I feel, based on what I hear and read about the state of world affairs, national affairs, state affairs, and even really local affairs (BTW - I live in Phoenix, Arizona - "fundamentalistic, jingoistic, nationalistic, christo-fascist-land with the KKK" in many ways if there ever was one - ugh) - that in a way, in many ways - it's like high school and all the pettiness just somehow seeped and became the modern American landscape...

...and I sound old. I am old. There ain't much I can do about any of it, all I can do is make the best decisions I can, vote when I can, and hope it all works out. In the end, it will work out; whether it works out in favor of humanity or not, I don't know.

All I can say is do what you can, graduate from high school, and if you are able to, go to college; it will likely be better there. Follow your dreams, and find a path that makes you happy. Don't take a job just to make money, unless you have no other choice. Avoid going into unsecured debt (avoid credit cards as much as you can). Heck, in way, even so-called "secured debt" (aka, a mortgage) can be a fantasy, as this housing collapse has taught us (ok, some of us - I really think the majority of people still don't get it). Depending on how this country progresses, you might want to look into getting a passport and emigrating to another country if you have the skills (and means) to do so. Know, though, that such an option isn't a cure, but it might help.

Good luck, and I hope it works out for you. I apologize to you and everyone else here on this forum for what feels and seems to me to be a "downer post"...

:frowning:

damn it looks like I really struck a chord with you guys. Well thanks for your thoughts!

Yeah I was thinking of emigrating to another country Italy maybe? Somewhere warm..
But then I remembered I wanted to work for Boeing and be around planes since I'm not allowed to fly them (color blindness).
So what better way to work around planes than to design them!

Yeah I was thinking of emigrating to another country Italy maybe? ...
But then I remembered I wanted to work for Boeing

Wouldn't you be emigrating to another country if you went to work for Boeing, or are you going to commute?

Don

In the US, you can get a pilots license with color blindness by having a Statement of Demonstrated Ability (SODA), as along as you are not totally colorblind.
What you will do is go to an airport and they will shine a "light gun" that you will have to correctly identify the red, green, and white lights. This is important for landings when your radio has gone out, they will shine the lights for to indicate not cleared to land, cleared to land, etc.

In the US, the local FAA office has a local flight doctor (maybe called something else) that has to approve taking of the test. Not sure what Canada's FAA equivalent does.
If you want to get a commercial license, the requirements may be stricter, I never looked into that. But the SODA is sufficient for Private Pilot and for an Instrument rating.

shine a "light gun" that you will have to correctly identify the red, green, and white lights.

It used to be the same test in Aus for the Army medical. I failed (which in retrospect was probably for the best as I had just been kicked out of school for having issues with discipline and authority :)) So of course being colour blind it was only natural to move into the telecoms field and I got a job wiring the looms in the Townsville exchange (remember those massive wads of wire emanating from the floor that branch off like a mandlebot pattern until you get to single wires, all colour coded of course). They were probably fixing bugs for 30 years until they switched to digital.

So then I moved into another obvious field for a colour blind person, photography. It did cause some issues with product work where the product has to be depicted exactly right. Fortunately that's largely up to the printing process not the photographer. But occasionally I would use an inappropriate background colour.

I then moved back to electronics and had a lot of trouble with resistors, but then that's what multi meters are for right? Thank goodness for SMD, the values are printed on the resistor with numbers, and I do knows me numbers, well up to 8 anyway which is all you need.

To get into the airforce in WW2 my uncle remembered every page of the books they use for testing (with all the coloured dots, normal people see 23, colour blind people see 4 or whatever, he got someone to tell him the correct numbers). The good news is that he got in, the bad news is that he was KIA not long after. Oops.

So the moral of this lengthy post...

Colour blindness doesn't have to hold you back, and

Be careful what you wish for, you may get it.


Rob

floresta:

Yeah I was thinking of emigrating to another country Italy maybe? ...
But then I remembered I wanted to work for Boeing

Wouldn't you be emigrating to another country if you went to work for Boeing, or are you going to commute?

Don

yes that's true cause I'm in Canada, and NOWAY am I commuting all the way to Everett from vancouver! But yes that's true it would be emigrating. BUT after boeing I'd like to live somewhere else. I want to travel the world.