As for the schools??? Unfortunately there you may just need to learn to jump through the hoops. You strike me as the type of person who can read people well. If you’re after the grades, learn to read what it is your teachers want and give it to them. This pulled me straight A’s throughout high school and a 3.5 in college. I may not have always agreed with the work that I turned in, but I knew it was what the teacher wanted to see.

Spend time outside school looking up those things you’re more interested in (even if you follow a theory that states that the universe is a melting block of cheese).

You do need to think for yourself, using the information and knowledge given to you from their teaching. Teachers need to assess the student to see if the student has retained the knowledge that the teacher is supposed to pass on to the student. How you apply that knowledge in your life, you need to decide that for yourself.

In science, almost everything is objective and your answers are either right or wrong. You lack the understanding of what a theory means. In your example, you give the big bang theory. This is the most complete and most accurate description of the beginning of the universe according to science. The same is for other science theories. They are the best description of the world we live in at the current time. That is the beauty of science, it changes as we know more. The model of the universe is dynamic and always changing to reflect what science has discovered about it. If you do not understand that, you do not understand science. You can believe whatever you want, but you need to understand the scientific theory behind it. You don’t have to accept it, but you need to understand the reasoning behind it and all the evidence that points to these conclusions. If science was so wrong, how do you think we have computers, cell phones, cars and all the wonderful technology you utilize today? You think a TV is just a magic box? It is not. There is a lot of science that goes into that, engineering, physics, mathematics etc.

In language arts such as english and humanities, a lot of people do get different impressions and interpretations when reading or viewing a subject. However, there are certain themes and plots that are indisputable or are present in the work in question. You need to see that theme, that plot, or whatever the teacher is trying to teach you. It is unreasonable to say that you have a totally different view and refuse to acknowledge or try to understand what the view the teacher is trying to present. If you are reading a poem or story, there may be many different interpretations, but you still need to understand what the teacher is emphasizing on. If you don’t you fail to learn what the teacher is trying to teach. You won’t lose your own impression just because you are trying to understand another.

It is not always about being right and wrong. Many times you need to understand what others are trying to say and what lessons they are trying to get you to understand in the process. You take that and think for yourself and apply the knowledge that the teachers have given.

You are always told to be yourself, and you should! However, if being yourself seems to make you stand out in a negative light, then teachers may advise you to do things to be more positive. Perhaps you seem unhappy, always alone, ranting, being negative. So a teacher may suggest ways that they believe may produce a more positive you. If you are happy the way you are, then excellent! But if you are not, perhaps you need to take what your teacher says and think about it. Think about yourself.

No one is perfect, not the teachers or yourself. The education system is there to provide you with the basics and an understanding of tools that will help you in the future. If you don’t understand that then its you who are messed up, not the system. It always takes two to tango, and if you are an unwilling partner, then the dance is just going to get that much uglier. Both parties have to work at it.

I think if you try to see what the teacher is trying to teach you and take a more positive approach to it, you will do better and you will understand what lessons and information the teacher is trying to convey to you. You don’t have to believe everything or agree with everything that is being taught. But if you understand it, you can see how other people think, why things being taught are important, and it will make you understand your beliefs that much more. In the long run, you will be more mature in the process.

You have to remember one thing about our education system these days; Teachers are NOT allowed to TEACH anymore. We are given the information to pass on to the students. We are told which text books we HAVE to use. We are told we can talk about this but no that.

Evolution theories are one of the toucheiest subjects on every level of education. Your teacher may very well believe that we originated from aliens or some other such theory, but she/he can NOT share that idea because it’s not the most popular and most accepted theory. So You are taught the main theory that flies the easiest. On that you have to do your own research and reading outside of school. When you get into college is when those discussions become fun. What you get in school is meant to be a starting point. Where you take it is up to you.

AS for the Language arts, well, technically yes, you are supposed to have your own opinion about the stories and poeams that you read. BUT it goes back to teachers only being allowed to teach ONE way. And these days that way is towards whatever is on the state tests. So yes, have your own opinion, but understand that for all intent and purposes, for now, you have to come up with the answer that the teacher wants to hear.

I’m with you on the “being yourself” bit. In high school I was alone for the most part. I had my nose in a book, Not a geek just an avid reader. Or I was sketching, or just quietly watching others. I was far too shy to anything else, and I had other reson to not want to be noticed. I had only one or two friends in school and I survived it. Your teachers really do want you to be yourself and at the very same time they want you to fit in so that you aren’t an outcast. School is a social time as much as a learning time. If you are comfortable being on the outskirts of the activity and it’s not defying or refusing to particiapte in things, then do so. I would ask you to try to fit in too if I saw that you were targeted by your peers for NOT fitting in.

You are simply at a confusing stage of life. Be true to yourself and it’ll all work out.

If you want to learn BEYOND what is taught in school, then you have to learn that outside of what is expected in school. I did. I wanted to learn about weird things that my peers thought was goofy. I spent one whole summer finding every bit of information I could about the Titanic sinking. My peers were out swimming and having fun, I was reading.

And don’t stop “ranting”. If you weren’t ranting, I’d be afraid that you’d solve the problem with a gun. So keep right on ranting.

Hang in there, school days honestly do pass quickly.

gud luck.