Glendale Junior/Senior High School

Everyone says Glendale is the worst school possible. That's because it's the only school in a 50 mile radius and all of our parents went there as well. Everyone graduates "stupid" and a large percentage of each graduating class never bothers to even go to college. Is that the school's fault? I wonder.

As an '03 graduate, I went to college with more computer knowledge than my own computer instructors. The Microsoft Office certifications and web design knowledge have served me very well in my career; I’m the go-to geek at my office and was hired partially on my vast computer skills, many of which I learned at Glendale (many of which I picked up on my own by tinkering and clicking around). That's just my experience. For everyone one person like me who attended college and left the area, there are ten people who graduated in the middle of their class rankings, got a job somewhere or completed some college, and settled down to have 3 kids by age 22 with someone they graduated with. Does this mean the school district is bad? Put it this way: if you get one bad tomato at a restaurant, does that mean that all tomatoes in your state are rotten?

When it all comes down to it, your school district isn't responsible for your education - you are. And if you choose not to put effort into what you learn, you won't learn. Yes, there were always some "bad" teachers there who were either too lazy/nice/distracted by Football coaching to really contribute anything to our educations. But for every bad teacher, there was at least one good one: Ms. Itle, Mr. Burmeister, Mr. Terza, Mrs. Ondecko, Mr. Hulse...all great people and great teachers who contributed to their students' lives greatly [not to mention the amazing teachers in the Elementary school such as Mrs. McQuown, who should win Teacher of the Year every year.]

However, with all of the good in that school district, if someone was looking to move to GASD, I would strongly suggest that they reconsider moving to anywhere inside of the region...not because the school district is terrible – they are meeting state requirements and doing all that they can with what they have. I would suggest avoiding Glendale and its surrounding school districts for one major reason: POVERTY. The entire area is poverty-stricken and once you’re there, you can’t get out. Property values are low (all the time, not just in this recession.) You will never be able to sell your house for what you paid for it, even with extensive remodeling. There are no jobs in the area unless you want to work with your hands and make minimum wage. Do not come to GASD unless you are caucasian; otherwise you will be the victim of hate speech and possible hate crimes. (Guaranteed. Even though it’s 2011, it’s still 1920 in Flinton.)

Perhaps poverty is also the catalyst for the rabid indifference that the school district’s parents show toward the school. They don’t invest in their own children’s lives and the teachers are doing it on their own, with almost no support from home. How is anyone supposed to teach a child whose own parents don’t care if they graduate? Education is supposed to be a partnership between the school and the parents. You would never expect one parent to shoulder all of the financial and physical burdens of raising your children; why would you expect the school to do all the work in educating your children?