Personal Narrative: My Public School Education

I was told in the 4th grade that school will get harder and harder, I was told that middle school and high school will get harder than elementry school.

Over the past eighteen years I have been alive, there have not been any real challenges I have faced in my pursuit of education. I come from a family of immigrants that managed to find themselves a good life, away from the ghetto and the poverty line, through hard work. Both my parents had to move to a place away from everything they knew to learn English as a second language to give their children, myself included, a better chance at life, and I can gladly say their effort was not in vain. If there was one thing I struggled with in pursuit of my education, it would have to be myself.

In the past year, a lot has changed for me. I lost a grandfather to cancer, then a month later an uncle to a gruesome semi accident. My grandmother on the other side of the family barely remembers me due to alzheimer's, and my mom lost her job but is now working over 1300 miles away in Florida. If someone would have asked me at the start of my Junior year what I expected to happen, I wouldn’t have listed any of those. As anticipated, it was not easy dealing with a downfall of events like that, but the way I was raised helped me cope with it all. I started out at a small private school, where Religion was just as important as Math and English. How we were to act was drilled into us, and after I switched to public school, there was a noticeable

I was never the type of kid to standout in school especially not in the hallway. I was never too tall, never too short, not too scrawny, but the one thing I like to do is make people laugh. Yet even though that was very fun and all I still leave my legacy behind, which as weird, as this sounds, I was the one kid teachers never took seriously, but for the most part I never got that bad of a grade, in middle school(except when it came to 7th grade language arts class).

To know how much I have changed over the years, you should know how I was before I went to public school. I was a sheltered homeschooler, and I had very bad social skills. My parents knew this and that is part of the reason I’m at Remington. The other part is because math sucks. So let me start from the beginning of the story.

My parents sent me off to Los Angeles when I was in 4th grade to pursue an acting career. I went from audtion to audtion, doing short/student films, plays, and pagents just to get my name out there. I landed a comercial for Time Warner Cable(Southern California Company) as a nerd in a science academy. This lifestyle took dedication and because my mom owned businesses in Salinas, my dad lived with me. We would still travel 6/7 hours every other weekend back and forth from Salinas to Los Angeles.

I find myself reading this short paragraph over and over(above). My topic sentence makes me happy and proud. Going back to school was the best thing I have done. I chose to talk about going back to school to the “future employer” because it shows I am motivated as well as dedicated. This class has brought a lot to my attention. The mannerism that is expected in the “business world” is to speak and write well. It is extremely important to know how to write (type) a meaning full and proper paper whether it is for school or work. I have noticed a great impact in my vocabulary and writing skills. My boss told me on Monday he is impressed with the new docs I typed up for our new clients (with no help from him). I was not excited about this class

I went to three different middle schools. The first middle school I went to was Baldwin Arts and Academics Magnet. This was probably the best middle school out of the three. I had the most and best friends. They were all different, and they loved and understood me. The two things I hated about Baldwin were the stairs and the miles our P.E. Coach would make us run. The teachers were sweet for the most part, and even though I didn't do well because I wasn't accustomed to magnet school, they helped me as much as they could. The transition from public school to magnet school proved too tough for me, so I had to go to another school.

Being homeschooled until I entered the fifth grade, I probably wouldn’t keep the friends or the attitude I retain to this day. One quality you definitely would see if I didn’t transfer into public school is how shy I was. I wouldn’t have seen people the way I did, or acted around others the way I had. Had it not been for the journey of going from kindergarten to being homeschooled and finally to being in public school in the fifth grade, I would be someone completely different. I mean, my first day of school in kindergarten I stabbed another kid with a pencil for taking my lego block. But fifth grade became a whirlwind of new things, I didn’t even know about cliques at the time. When I got into public school is when I met Just-Ice (Justice) who has had that nickname since fifth grade. He and Leon were my only two friends back then. Leon and I underwent a falling out though and we stopped talking as much. But when sixth grade came around, I began to get to know Jesse and a good portion of my good friends today. Swapping school types again later on in life

I was in 7th grade and didn't know everything was about to change. My mother wanted to get a job and this meant she wouldn't be able to be my teacher anymore. My parents decided, after three years of homeschooling to send me to public school. This was so it would be easier for my mother to get a job and not have to deal with being our teacher as well, because that would be too stressful. I didn't know very many people and wasn't used to being with large amounts of people for long periods of time. Eventually, I got settled in and started to make friends.

Challenges and opportunities have shaped my early education, my pursuit of my General Education Diploma, and my future educational goals.

Middle school was quite a bit different from my younger life. I was moving to a different school, starting football, going from being very short to above average tall and learning that school was much harder now. Football was definitely taking over my life and would continue for the duration of my education at the middle school. I had broken my finger my first season in first grade and then again the second year. The first time hurt pretty bad but by the second time I had done it I continued to play with it taped tight to my other fingers. To fix the second break from the extra damage of using it so much the doctor decided to pop it. It only got worse from there so we went to a different doctor and they gave me a cast. Later we learned that

Middle school for me wasn’t that fun because the teachers seem boring. The reason I found it boring because all of my classes from 6th-8th weren’t all fun because I couldn’t listen to music.Sure I had my friends but the assignments were boring or as exciting.The only time I was excited for something was my 7th grade field trip because it was a day without school, we to Medieval Times, we ate, watch a show and not do work for the whole day.I guess my 8th grade field trip but it was at the end of the school year.the last three days of

Public school systems need to be more sensitive to their students. Parents play the major role in determining a child’s academic outcome, but the school system needs to notice children who don’t necessarily acknowledge their gift. These children need guidance -- I believe it is the schools’ responsibility to provide it to them. I have been through a situation that makes me feel strongly about the subject. My example is an indisputable case in point.

Immediately after we arrived, I constantly pestered my mother about getting me into the acting industry; eventually she obliged. She put me in a local production of You're A Good Man Charlie Brown. I was primarily focused on having fun, so I forgot one line at the beginning of each performance. It wasn’t a drastic mistake, but it gave me the ambition to work harder in the future. Years later, in my photography class I had to submit a piece to the High School Congressional Art Competition. Initially, I did not believe my piece was strong enough, but my photography teacher urged me to submit it and I placed second in the competition. My photo sat in the Capital building in Washington, D.C. for a year. My creativity and ambition are the two main components that make up who I am. Even though my goal is to become a doctor, I will figure out how to approach it in a creative and fun