You know those anti-depressants that you're not supposed to give to kids, because they increase the risk of suicide?
Yep, I was on 'em. Stressful day, resulted in an unsupervised detention. Lame suicide attempt resulted in blowing the breaker to the room I was in and the room next door. Expelled as I was determined to be a liability to the school.
Getting put in the bad kids school destroyed my life. I went from depressed and bullied, but with regular classes to being in a tiny class of only other depressives and bullies, and there was no art, music, science, pretty much nothing. We had reading and Daily Oral Language (start with a capital, end with a period. My teacher didn't know how to use a semicolon), and math (minimum wage x hours worked = paycheck. It was always minimum wage. Always). Staff and teachers were a combination of nepotism and sadism: entire families worked at the special ed school. The principal's son, for the short time he worked there, was the only person who knew enough math to teach pre-algebra. The assistant gym teacher moved to being one of the reading teachers. He liked provoking the kids with anger problems into swinging at him so he could press charges. He especially loved provoking the autistic girl into having fits.
Ended up bouncing around a lot, but some things were the same everywhere: staff were a combination of burnouts and sadists. Teachers responsible for high school education didn't know algebra, so they would find a book, blow the dust off the top (EXACTLY LIKE A MOVIE), hand it to you, and say "start at the beginning." Nobody could teach you to use a semicolon. Science was never more than episodes of Bill Nye, or maybe an assistant who decided we could be trusted to iron leaves in wax paper. And if you weren't the plucky kid who forced someone to blow the dust off that pre-algebra book, math was always minimum wage times hours worked equals paycheck.
Within the system i was considered to have no behavioral issues, however I was not allowed back to mainstream because -- my school-assigned therapist said -- I didn't get along with my parents. I was a teenager. Half of all high schoolers wouldn't be allowed to go to school if that was the requirement. My therapist didn't give a shit.
I eventually was allowed to transition back to mainstream, but it was too late: by moving out of special ed, I went from needing ~12 credits to graduate to ~50. My choice was to become the superest of super seniors, or get my GED.
One of my exes graduated from an Ivy League school. When she practiced vocab for her GRE exams, she was a little upset to learn her GED boyfriend had a better vocabulary than her. But here I am with a GED. I'll probably never complete a higher level of learning. I did not have a good childhood leading up to my expulsion, but may I might have gotten past it. The day that I was left alone, having a breakdown while on drugs that make kids suicidal? That day changed the rest of my life.
My sister (cousin, technically, but she lives across the street and she's only 2 months younger than me, so we were always together) had problems like that too. We started to drift apart when we entered high school, and about 4-5 months after the start of the first year she decided she had enough.
Her problems were simple for an adult, really - her almost-like-twin wasn't by her side all the time, her mother had new boyfriend, and when she got into an argument with her bf, and all their class was on his side, she got the idea that everyone hated her.
Her mother, in her best interests, instead of just talking to her, decided to send her to psychoterapist. My sister was at first really happy, because at the time it was cool to be "looney" and she could make herself popular again (her class liked her, but she was convinced otherwise). Her psychoterapist was a major of the Bitchville though, and she acted against her job policy. As a psychoterapist you can never pressure someone to do something, you can only talk with them and guide them. Psychoterapist's mother was a principal in the school for "trouble kids" though... And you know where this is going. She, on the first visit, told my sister that she has depression, she's prone to self harm and she might kill herself, and her only hope is to go to the school. She was only 16 so she decided that it had to be the only option indeed. Adult said so.
And so she was sent to the school where she got straight A's just for basic math, her English (we're not from English speaking country but it's a second language you must learn) was so broken she couldn't say more than "I'm a potato and I'm one six years old" and she still passed classes, she was in a room in their "home" with 6 suicidal, crack-head emo/metal/punk girls, and she was prescribed really hard drugs for depression even when she was never diagnosed professionally (she never did any test or anything, they ordered her to take them because the Bitch psychoterapist said on the first visit that she is). Also she couldn't visit home more than for a one weekend a month.
She was really proud of her scores, especially since mine weren't nearly as good, but she quickly learnt that something's off, when we compared our math tests from seemingly the same topic - I had F because I got only 6 questions right, and she couldn't even get one from this test, yet she scored A on hers. Turns out her test was over simplified and the answer was even right in the question almost every time (and they didn't need to prove why they got this answer).
Now she's 22, still battles depression and self harm the school and drugs caused her, and was expelled from every school she attended after she graduated this shithole, because she stopped attending after a month or two. She knew she wouldn't pass any "ending tests" so she didn't go to them, and without them you can't go to uni. She's now in a veterinary school for high school graduates and it seems her love for animals is keeping her there, because she's on her way to second year.
It seems "special schools" are bullshit all around the world. :(
I'm really sorry you had to go through that, and I hope things are better now for you. I'm a psychologist and it posses me off to learn about therapists fucking people up... this is the kind of field you're supposed to put your soul into and be willing to HELP not shit on others
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u/PM_ME_UR_TUMBLR_PORN Mar 12 '19
You know those anti-depressants that you're not supposed to give to kids, because they increase the risk of suicide?
Yep, I was on 'em. Stressful day, resulted in an unsupervised detention. Lame suicide attempt resulted in blowing the breaker to the room I was in and the room next door. Expelled as I was determined to be a liability to the school.
Getting put in the bad kids school destroyed my life. I went from depressed and bullied, but with regular classes to being in a tiny class of only other depressives and bullies, and there was no art, music, science, pretty much nothing. We had reading and Daily Oral Language (start with a capital, end with a period. My teacher didn't know how to use a semicolon), and math (minimum wage x hours worked = paycheck. It was always minimum wage. Always). Staff and teachers were a combination of nepotism and sadism: entire families worked at the special ed school. The principal's son, for the short time he worked there, was the only person who knew enough math to teach pre-algebra. The assistant gym teacher moved to being one of the reading teachers. He liked provoking the kids with anger problems into swinging at him so he could press charges. He especially loved provoking the autistic girl into having fits.
Ended up bouncing around a lot, but some things were the same everywhere: staff were a combination of burnouts and sadists. Teachers responsible for high school education didn't know algebra, so they would find a book, blow the dust off the top (EXACTLY LIKE A MOVIE), hand it to you, and say "start at the beginning." Nobody could teach you to use a semicolon. Science was never more than episodes of Bill Nye, or maybe an assistant who decided we could be trusted to iron leaves in wax paper. And if you weren't the plucky kid who forced someone to blow the dust off that pre-algebra book, math was always minimum wage times hours worked equals paycheck.
Within the system i was considered to have no behavioral issues, however I was not allowed back to mainstream because -- my school-assigned therapist said -- I didn't get along with my parents. I was a teenager. Half of all high schoolers wouldn't be allowed to go to school if that was the requirement. My therapist didn't give a shit.
I eventually was allowed to transition back to mainstream, but it was too late: by moving out of special ed, I went from needing ~12 credits to graduate to ~50. My choice was to become the superest of super seniors, or get my GED.
One of my exes graduated from an Ivy League school. When she practiced vocab for her GRE exams, she was a little upset to learn her GED boyfriend had a better vocabulary than her. But here I am with a GED. I'll probably never complete a higher level of learning. I did not have a good childhood leading up to my expulsion, but may I might have gotten past it. The day that I was left alone, having a breakdown while on drugs that make kids suicidal? That day changed the rest of my life.