CASTLE ROCK A WASTED EDUCATION - PART 2

It seemed to me that the better you were in a subject at Castle Rock the more your education was going to suffer. In part one I described how in the first year how I spent vast amounts of time doing “trivial and remedial tasks that would have barely stretched my mind at the age of 6 or 7 let alone 11” At primaryschool I was well known for one thing, being good at maths. I was top of the class from almost the start. This was recognised by every teacher without exception, as a result I was allowed to learn at my own pace ahead of most of the class. Sometimes I would be over a year in front.

The first few weeks at Castle Rock in maths was like being put back with the 6 year olds. All we did was adding, multiplying, subtracting and dividing 2 digit numbers. At the time I wasn’t too worried as Maths was about the only subject that we were going to be tested on and then split into groups according to ability. We sat the tests and I easily ended up in the top set.

Even after this things didn’t get any better, we were still doing the stuff I had already proved myself competent at and been tested on 3-4 years earlier. Magic squares, pythagoras theorem, area, the list just went on and on. I remember being given the textbook and having a look through and finding nothing that I hadn’t done before. Needless to say my interest in the subject dropped very quickly. If I had spent just one hour in the final year at primary school doing any of this work I would have got in trouble for doing work that was not challenging enough. Now I was not only wasting months of classroom time but I was also expected to be doing homework as well.

A lot of the time I often didn’t bother doing my homework, I just didn’t see why I should waste even more time (more details on the later dated entry HOMEWORK). I told my parents what was going on and they were not happy. After a few months came the first parents evening, prior to them going I was promised that they would be having serious words with the teacher Mrs Gimson. They even talked about pulling me out of Maths if something wasn’t done about it.

On returning from parents evening what happened was the exact opposite, when my parents found out I wasn’t doing my homework they instantly took her side. We had a massive argument about it. They argued that I had to do the work I was given and prove to them that I was good then I would be able to learn ahead of the others as before. I argued that I had already proved what I could do at primary school, and even tried to get them to get my old Maths books out of the attic which they didn’t. I have always been disgusted with my parents for not taking my side as my education would have turned out very different.

In the end everything I said was right, nobody who was good at maths was ever allowed to learn ahead of everyone else. It was a one size fit all mentality from start to finish, a year later age 12 I was still doing fractions which I first did aged 9. In the 3 years the only things I learned were the basics of algebra and trigonometry. I estimate that around 80-90 percent of the time I spent in Maths (around 10 percent of my total education time at Castle rock) was a complete and total waste of time.

It wasn’t until I reached the next school (King Edward VII) that the maths curriculum finally caught up with my level but by then the damage had been done. At primary school I had always been given the push that I needed, at Castle rock I spent 3 years disinterested and not bothered. At the following school it was difficult to regenerate the interest and enthusiasm I had previously. By the time I was 15-16 years old I started to struggle at the very subject I was once well known for being the best at.

The natural ability was still there and I did pass my G.C.S.E (grade B) and later A-level (grade E) but as far as i’m concerned I massively underachieved.

I don’t think there's a better example of how Castle Rock high school destroyed my education.

I think after all that it was rather ironic that my school reports contained statements like “capable of higher standards”

MATHS REPORTS (all Mrs Gimson)

1988 - DECEMBER - An able pupil but Matthew needs to put more care and effort into his work. He is capable of higher standards.

1989 - MAY - Matthew must appreciate the need to produce consistently good results not just rely on test situations. This work if often carelessly done does show that he understands the concepts. He is not doing justice to his ability, more attention to homework needed too.

1990 - FEBRUARY - A logical thinker who needs to work on expressing his ideas verbally and in written form. He grasps new ideas quickly but tends to be careless in executing them. He has displayed more interest and commitment this year.

1990 - NOVEMBER - Matthew still plays scant attention to the presentation of his written work. He must recognise the importance of displaying his knowledge and ability to apply concepts. Which he undoubtedly has.