Exercise 1.5-Kellough

I went to a private school, St. Michael School in Orland Park, Illinois. It had a 1-8th grade format, so therefore I never attended a junior high or middle school. It was a small school with just 2 classes per grade level. We were taught by Dominican nuns for the most part with very few lay teachers. I remember liking my teachers in the primary grades. When I got to the older grades the teaching was not very good because many of the nuns were old and frankly somewhat senile. They focused more on behavior than on educational content. The exception to this observation was my 7th grade teacher, Sister Mary Carleen. She actually noticed my interest in the sciences and allowed me to help set up labs, which I enjoyed immensely. On the other hand I would love to forget my 6th grade teacher, Sister Ludovica who resorted to corporal punishment if we did not follow a strict code of conduct. My parents were not very active in my educational experience due to the fact that my father worked fourteen hours a day and my mom was busy with three younger siblings. Most of the students got along pretty well especially in the earlier years and overall I enjoyed my primary school experience.
I went to Carl Sandburg High School in Orland Park, Illinois. It was a large public school. We had a very diverse student body with three major social groups (preps, greasers and hippies). Everyone knew which group they belonged to and there was not very much interaction between the groups. We weren't offered a lot of educational options outside the traditional four years of English, Math and Science. I didn't feel educationally challenged until the last two years of school. My favorite teacher was junior year Creative Writing Class, Mr. Steinhardt. He was an individual with a engaging teaching style. He also encouraged all his students to experience the arts whenever possible. I remember my senior Physics teacher as being downright mean. Again I never experienced any parental pressure due to the reasons stated above my parents just expected me to get good grades. My decision to go to college was made independently with the help of a school counselor. Once I decided to go to college I couldn't wait to get out of high school.