School...

I have learned to appreciate my education in the US.  before coming here i thought our education  i i system was terrible. But I have learned that we have it pretty good.  Last week I had exams.. I am pretty sure I failed practically everything.  I have go back some of my grades a 56% in physics and a 100% in English (obviously), a 46 in Spanish and 37 in biology that's the worst I have done in my life..  I did get a 74 in social studies though which is a passing grade,  I have never been more proud.  As bad as my grades sound the shocking thing is that I did better than my friends..  I got a higher score in every subject than several of my friends.  It's really surprising I would say almost 1/2 to 3/4 of my class failed everything.  When I got a 74 in sociales my friends were all like super impressed. like here you have done good if you passed.  in fact one of my friends got a 40% in socials.   It's very strange I didn't study and I have minimual Spanish but I still managed to get about twice as many points.  I guess that's just a testament to the difference in education.  The socials test was wierd, it started out with the most basic questions identifying the continents.  Which some people didn't get right :(.  Then there were a bunch of really obscure random questions, which I can't help but wondering why thy are important.  For example what is the highest lake in America?  ( it's Titicaca if you were wondering). My grades thankfully don't count in my highschool in Wisconsin but of I don't pass my classes I won't get any credit for them.  Coming here I assumed it would be easy to pass my classes but it may be a struggle.  In the USA everyone wants you to pass.  There is like no one in my school that has failed enough classes to need to repeat a year.  It's practically impossible as long as you pay minimual attention in class and do your homework once and a while you should squeak by.  And if you are doing bad you are forced to go to a special class and everyone interrogates you about why you aren't succeeding and try's to help you.  Here it's different it just seems like nobody cares how you do.  The parents obviously do.  But the teachers don't seem to be too concerned.  If you do bad it's your fault you should have studied.  Which is the opposite in the USA if everyone does bad you blame be teacher.  Here And when half the class fails, I guess that just sucks for them..     The teschers here don't teach all they do is dictate from some sort of text book.  And then we copy.  It's not like we are learning anything to difficult they just don't teach.  The whole point is to pass the exams who cares if you remember anything of it in 3 months.  And although these grades don't matter and I am only here for 5 months the education system here makes me upset.  I am sure it's better in the private schools, but in public schools it is just a massive waste of time for the students.  For me it isn't because I am learning Spanish and learning a lot but I feel bad for my class mates.  If the next exam is like this one most of them wil be repeating next year.  Homework here counts for almost nothing, there are two exams a semester which counts for 70% of the grade 35% each, if you don't do well I guess your just out of luck. Some of the teachers are also habitually late to class, this is also due to the fact that many of them have other responsibilities in the school, like working in the lunch room. Another thing is that the female teachers dress what in the USA would be considered a little innappropriate for anyone but especially for teachers.  They wear 6 inch heals, tight jeans, or leather leggings and see-through, tight or low cut tops, revealing love handles and everything. It's really different because the students have a very strict dress code, but the teachers apparently not.  to me it seems like a big double standard.  the dress code is very strict.  In some classes we all have to stand up and the teacher looks to make sure the pants aren't too tight and we aren't wearing makeup, also guys hair has to be short.  If the teacher is in doubt he actually takes the material of the pants and moves it around to make sure it's loose enough.  Also some teachers make girls take off their nail polish they will hand you a bottle of remover and cotton swabs.  It's very ironic though because many of them wear heavy makeup which we aren't allowed, and have colored hair which is also against the rules.  These are all thing s that my class mates think are normal, but I find strange.  How can a teacher tell you to take off your makeup when she has it caked on?  It's just cultural differences.  I have to remind myself as AFS says its not better or worse just differnt.  I guess that in Costa Rica the students need to take more responsibility  for themselves which can be a good thing..