Now You See It Now You Don't

I didn't realize until I took this class the creativity that was absent in the first two years of my high school experience and that was present in the last two years of high school. I never realized how unique the MSMS (Mississippi School of Mathematics and Science) was from normal public high schools. In my public high school, I wasn't really challenged think differently or even think at all. All I had to do was listen and class and put those answers on the test, voila!, you have an A. They really didn't want us to think outside the box,but rather know these facts. We were constantly pressured by the superintendent and our teachers to score high on the state tests so we could become a level 4 or 5 school and receive money from the state. We lived for those state tests, and as long as we remembered the information our teachers taught us, we would pass those tests.

It wasn't until I got to MSMS that i realized all that I was missing. They did not place a big emphasis on the state test that was left to take, the U.S. History test, at MSMS. In fact, it was not even brought up until two weeks before then, but the teachers didn't really care what our score would be, just that we would pass it or not in order to graduate. Also, in the classrooms, they would not directly give us the answer in our classes. We would discuss it with each other before our teacher would tell us if we were right or wrong, and even then they wouldn't say right or wrong because they were no wrong answer, but would try to get us to realize the point he or she were trying to make. It was our job to come up with the answers and we would have to back why we felt that way. I  was excited about all of my classes (except math), because they cared about what I thought. We were encouraged to ask why and see the meaning behind everything. There was one thing I always remembered from my U.S. History and Economics teacher. In order to arrive at the right answer, you have to see every side of th problem from different perspectives, the right and wrong one. If all classes are taught like this, I believe that the value and quality of American education would greatly increase.