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Dear Dad, I want to share with you my reasons why I'm thinking about
transferring out of tech.
I want to transfer out of Arlington Tech for many reasons that has
increasingly become apparent during my time there. While the school
initially seemed like the ideal fit for me, it has been a lot more
disappointing and far less promising.
Work:
One of the biggest issues I’ve had at Arlington Tech is the
overwhelming amount of work. It feels a lot like a relentless barrage of
assignments with little room to breathe. The workload is
disproportionate and I feel like I'm not learning anything. The focus on
constant projects and assessments really drains me and even though
there are some projects I thought it would be entirely project based, I
only have had 1 or 2 project-ish assignments, and they weren’t done in
groups, just by yourself, and it's already over halfway of the 1st quarter,
so it's not like there just aren't a lot of projects in the beginning. The
projects in this school defeat their purpose and I would rather do
regular school work instead. It leaves me burned out rather than
inspired.
Classes:
While the special courses like JROTC and aviation initially drew me in, I
realized I could only take one optional class because I had to do
Spanish and engineering. You still have to take the normal classes
every highschool takes and the regular classes here are arguably
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worse. Many of the elective courses I was interested in, like
entrepreneurship and web design, are either not available to me
because of my grade level or because I have no free classes for them.
While this would get better after the first year, after the first year I can
take the shuttle bus from my home school and take the special courses
I want at tech, defeating the purpose of going to tech full time and
giving me the best of both worlds.
Environment:
The environment at Arlington Tech is another reason I want to transfer.
There is a constant emphasis on academic performance, but a lack of a
supportive atmosphere. I don't like any of my peers and all the work
leaves little room for me to do activities, relax, or even proper
socializing, in the school and outside of it. It's more of a high-stress
environment than a free open one, making it hard for me to focus on
anything but grades and deadlines.
People:
The people at Tech, both students and teachers, haven't been what I
expected either. My grade and all the other grades are pretty small,
with only 100 something students in total from what I've seen. Most of
the kids are pretty weird and I feel like I can't make any connections or
make friends and I feel isolated because of this. On the faculty side,
while some teachers are pretty good and nice, a lot others are less
involved and don't seem to care much about the classes or students.
Teaching:
Another issue is the teaching style at school. I feel most of the teachers
aren't really teaching and are just giving out work. The assignments are
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pretty repetitive and not enjoyable to do. None of the assignments are
fun in my opinion except for one of the writing assignments I had in
english. The grading is slow and the feedback on assignments is either
slow or unhelpful. The classes feel rushed where we are supposed to
cover large amounts of material in short periods, and I don't understand
a lot of concepts they try to teach.
Future:
Going to my homeschool wouldn't be much worse or any worse then
going to Arlington tech when it comes to my future education and
getting into a good college. Yorktown is my homeschool and is a good
school academically and is better than most schools in the state. 95%
of Arlington tech students go to college, with Yorktown being 93%.
That's only a 2% difference and the Yorktown statistic is probably more
impressive since there are a lot less students who go to tech full time
then in comparison to yorktown. It's not a bad school at all and is just
as good as Arlington Tech when it comes to the regular classes, and
maybe better. Tech only offers better special courses in my opinion, but
I can just take the shuttle bus to take those special classes and I’ll have
the advantages of both schools and it would make my college
application look just as good if not better if I went to tech full time.
How I will behave/change once I transfer:
When I get transferred out of Tech, I think I will perform much better
academically than I do in tech. I think Yorktown gives me the
opportunity to do better academically and I'll be able to meet new
people and have a better school environment than Arlington Tech. I'll
be more responsible for assignments, as I feel I won’t be as overloaded
and it'll be easier for me to navigate canvas and assignments because
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the system is a lot messier in tech then it was when I was in Hamm. I’ll
become a lot more organized and you won’t have to be on my case all
the time, and I think focusing in class and not getting distracted will
generally be easier than in tech. I won’t have missing assignments, my
behavior will also be a lot better because with better classes I'll be
more focused and engaged and won’t get distracted easily. The people
at tech are a lot worse then Yorktown, and I think my behavior would
improve further being around better people. I'll have the motivation and
the will to do stuff and not just stay at home, do some activities and join
after school activities they have or maybe even some sport things. I
think I'll become better in Yorktown or any other highschool than tech. I
think I'll change for the better as I haven't been the same since going to
tech. I can meet new people and make new friends and also know a lot
of people and I think it will be better for me overall then tech, my
behavior in school and outside of it.
In conclusion, I thought tech would be a unique educational experience
but it is not what I was expecting at all. The excessive workload,
stressful environment, and lackluster teaching have made it very
difficult for me to enjoy or benefit from the school’s offerings. I hope
you read this and consider what I have to say and give me feedback.
Thank you for reading and giving me guidance.
From Max
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