Never did well in school.

I will admit that primary and high school were not my most favourite times, Primary school was the worst I would say If the teachers cared about students wellbeing and understood that some students have difficulty. then the help would be much easier to get. One teacher in primary school always yelled and got angry because of my handwriting/spelling mistakes, not being able to do maths. I was tested for Dyslexia, ADD, Dysgraphia, Dyscalculia and autism at the age of 4 and I wasn't diagnosed till I was age 20. So I don't know why it was never brought up then, In high school. I was there for 5 years and only passed Music, history and biology and just passed English, I failed all the other classes. The teachers just thought I was lazy and didn't take into account that I have learning difficulties. I know I'm not the only one who has had difficulties in high school or education in general.

Did anyone else had trouble in school maybe difficulties in certain classes? 

  • I had to resit everything In school apart from Music and History. 

  • I'm the same. If I was reading something with nice handwriting I would still struggle to read it, 

  • I can relate to that, I tend to not write at all these days, 

  • My handwriting is one of my biggest issues.

    An even bigger and more serious one is that I find it very difficult to read other people's handwriting.

  • I ALWAYS had issues with my writing; it's such a challenge making it legible.

  • Funnily enough I've just been going through all my school reports in preparation for assessment. Reports from the 1970s are not as full as they are today, but nevertheless there were quite a few revelations in there. References to "not mixing" and "excessive reactions to people and things"....and spelling, spelling, spelling...we now know I'm dyslexic...and lack of concentration - and yet I focused really hard. Why did they think, I wasn't?

    Primary - I was just very insular. Didn't get what the other kids were doing so didn't join in, I guess.

    Middle school - was a nightmare. I was bullied a lot and the head teacher once explicitly said it was my fault for not being like the other kids

    Secondary school was great. Playtime was now break time. No play required, which meant I could make friends through conversation. The bullies now went to a different school. And my teachers were now starting to see the disconnect between what I could do with discursive or analytical topics and the secretarial issues like spelling and they were all fab. I loved to learn, despite the spelling, so I was finally happy.

    PE was a nightmare throughout. I couldn't hit a ball to save my life, so the usual round of screaming games teachers and sporty types refusing to have me on their team had me dreading PE days. I once got into big trouble for, when admonished for not cheering for the team, honestly answering that I didn't care who won. It was boring. God! Not caring about a game isn't a crime.

    6th form and university were the best days of my life, in many ways; there were lots of tolerant, deep thinking people who found my little quirks endearing rather than a reason to pick on me, but I did much better academically with the OU later, which gave me only one assignment at a time to organise and I could let my hyperfocus produce its best, with a word processor to make the dyslexia appear to disappear.

  • Take that! Ker-pow!  Smiley

  • Hahah you'll have to do it and post a photo 

  • I could easily do the text in comic speech bubbles.  Smiley

  • I bet your handwriting looks so cool! and yeah my handwriting is very curly and curvy Grinning

  • Yeah - no context.    My 'handwriting' is engineering printing - like looking at architect's plans - individual letters like a newspaper. - best fit Arial 12pt.      I was also taught Pitman ITA    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Initial_Teaching_Alphabet    so I was screwed from the start.     

    I have never, ever done joined-up handwriting in my adult life.

    My mother had beautiful handwriting - very flowery and feminine - so yes, there is a difference between male & female styles.  Smiley

  • Yes I did something similar with my handwriting I remember there was a girl I used to sit next too and I liked how her handwriting looked so I'd copy how she wrote now I have what people say is girls handwriting which is weird isn't handwriting just handwriting?

    And I wish I was told the purpose of the lessons too it was just like here's what you need to learn... now learn it.

  • I didn't understand 'handwriting'.     Looking back, I now realise we were supposed to develop our individual writing style with a fountain pen - however I didn't know that back then - I just copied the sample joined-up letters and scripts exactly - like a photocopy.   Ultimate precision.

    Unfortunately, being also left-handed, the ink got smudged everywhere as my hand slid over the top of the wet ink - and I got a blue hand..

    I always got low marks but just didn't understand the game - and the teacher never mentioned the actual purpose of the lessons..

  • I like this post I had a bad time in school I was lucky enough to get bullied I was good keeping under the radar from the other kids in a way where they wouldn't pick on me for being different.

    I only passed science, PE and an English language diploma but teacher I had was nice and more or made it so I passed English I wouldn't have passed English without her help. I was never tested for Dyscalculia but it was suspected by everyone of my teachers and a tutor I had for year 10 - 11 and was given help for it but it didn't really work for me which was a shame I'm 22 now and I've only just been diagnosed with ASD and maybe ADHD but haven't had an assessment for and don't know if I will the ASD assessment is enough for me to get any help I may need in life.

    It was hard for me in school because I knew I wasn't stupid but I just couldn't seem to learn what was being taught except for subjects that involved science and biology hence the pass in PE. With English I found it really hard to interpret the "meaning" behind the subjects we'd learn one thing I remember vividly was with Shakespeare I could never understand what the f*** was being said the Shakespearean English was so alien I just couldn't get it through my head.

    I very much had a love hate relationship with my teachers because I remember when ever we weren't in class I could talk to teachers about the things I was interested in, in a very detailed, well spoken, well informed way. I was always given the line "You have so much potential, you just need to apply your self." and the thing I really did try to apply myself as best I can. My academic downfall wasn't helped by the fact I struggled A LOT socially too. I know a lot people say the though school was prison but for me that was a very literal feeling I had towards school. I was forced day in and day out for 16 years to participate in this establishment where I was forced to learn things that I just couldn't grasp even though I tried and forced to be social with other people and kids where I just didn't understand how to be and what to do.

  • I made an effort in school, but the ones who didn't coped better as adults.

    After graduating from Uni in 2001, my life descended into boredom and numbness. A once-promising mind comatosed by Daytime/Kids TV. Plus, my brother was in secondary school; and had his own issues.

  • She wouldn't punish me for getting answers wrong, but they would find any excuse to try and discipline me, it's not like this was the 80s it was in the mid 2000 when this was going on. The teacher was that good at hiding the abuse but when my old reception teacher who suspected i was on the autism spectrum noticed something was up with me but could never prove what the teacher was doing it despite the reception class teacher paying for camera out of her own pocket to catch the abusive  teacher out, the abusive teacher would find way distract the class room assistant so she wouldn't notice or see it. Eventually this reception teacher intervened when the horrible teacher kept putting me into meltdown & shutdown, i think she was trying to get me expelled and the only way the school. it took several of the class children telling the head teacher what she was doing to me. but the head teacher couldn't act on a word of several children so decided he decided to teach our class part time which the abusive teacher didn't like so she quit. The teacher is still teaching it wasn't until high school that i found out that she had moved to another primary school in the next village over and did the same to other children who would eventually end up with me in the remedial/special needs classroom.        

  • Holy crap, If that's what she did to you for hand-writing I don't want to know what happens if you don't get an answer right, That sounds terrible. 

  • So relate to this if you are quite and non disruptive you get no help, just left to try and work it out yourself .

    They say you should be able to reach your full potential, still not happening .

  • The way children of school age get diagnosed relies on teachers to support the evidence of behaviours. Most teacher back then had little to understanding of autism and other learning disabilities and the teacher own interpretation what autism and ADD should look like has negatively effected multiple generations. 

    I had one teacher in primary school for just under a year who would physical knee, kick and trap my arm in cupboards tell me off because of my hand writing. 

    The same teacher forced me to wear a jumper in the hottest day of the year and wouldn’t let me take it off. 
    she would also tell me off for not wearing the school uniform which was extremely uncomfortable. 

    my school had learning centre and senso on site and refused to assess me despite multiple teacher pointing out that I had something wrong with me. I failed English, Religious studies, history because they couldn’t read my handwriting in the exams. 

  • I hated school from start to finish. I remember my mum saying that school days are the best days of your life & thinking "kill me now". They were without a doubt the worst days of my life. I didn't think at the time that I was bullied, because nobody repeatedly hit me or stole my lunch money, as per Grange Hill, but I can now see that I was certainly bullied by means of exclusion, which teachers were complicit in. Work-wise I scraped by. I was never in what we described at the time as the "remy" class, because I have a little higher than average intelligence. I always got average grades, but could have done so much better. I could never ask for help. Not a clue how to do maths. Had no imagination to come up with a story in English. Don't get me started on PE..

    At secondary school it got harder & harder. Impossible to learn when there is 1 book between 6 of you at the best of times, but when you're the class outcast who is unable to speak up for yourself its a complete nonstarter. I was so frustrated at my inability to learn or interact with my peers on any level that by the time it came to choose our Options I opted to do vocational classes with entry-level learning instead of the GCSE's I was very capable of doing.

    The last 2 years it was so hard, the work we were given was either too easy or nonexistent & my peers were disruptive & abusive, I couldn't face going in so I rarely went to school & ended up leaving earlier than I should have. I still regret to this day that I didn't get the qualifications I was capable of. I realise I could have done them at college later, but I don't seem to have the capabilities to focus or stick at anything. One day, when I get diagnosed, I hope to be able to rectify this & finally complete my education & get a job. 

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