#didn't learn

fuck America for many reasons all the time but for now bc of public schools lack of education

I took a creative writing class. one assignment involved MLA format. multiple freshman (ninth grade, first year of high school) didn't know what that was, let alone how to do it. the teacher had to take the day to teach them. I learned MLA in 6th grade, at a charter school (which is still technically a public school just better).  

I am going into my senior year (12th grade, last year) of high school. I was required to take one health class, which I took in freshman year. it was a 45 day class. the only time women were referenced was when we were talking about birth and pregnancy. my teacher said abstinence was “the only 100% foolproof way not to get pregnant”. I missed half of the time we talked about pregnancy because me and two other classmates were in the library printing out our work for another assignment in that class. we only saw the last 5 or 10 minutes of “the miracle of life”, a video about birth from 1982. we did not have to make it up in any way. I have never be told anything about whats in my body or how anything works. ive never heard anything about the female body that wasn't ‘you can give birth, heres a video from 20 years before you were born”. 

in honors biology, we learned how the body breaks down food, which I learned in 7th grade. we learned about dna and rna, which I learned in 8th grade. we learned about how cells work, which I learned in 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 8th grade (I did go to different schools for 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade though (catholic school, catholic, charter school)). a classmate and I were on a field trip the day we dissected frogs. we did not have to make it up. we talked about it once the next day and moved on. we learned about extra chromosomes and missing chromosomes. we did not learn which gender went with x and which went with y. we did not learn about primary sex characteristics, let alone secondary ones. we did not learn that women store fat differently than men. we did not learn about the different organs females have. we did not learn that those very important organs are the reason we have a little pouch by our belly. we did not learn that it is impossible to have a flat stomach because of this. 

I learned all of that off of various things that have happened onto my path on the internet. ive learned so much more about my body through offhanded comments and random posts then I have learned and will ever learn through the American public school system. 

everyone knows the signs of a heart attack. not everyone knows those are the signs for men. not everyone knows the signs of a heart attack are completely different in women. the only reason I know, is because I happened to have a female first aid teacher who made sure we knew, even if the textbook didn't tell us. 

I took child development because I work with kids and though it could help. we spent like 3 weeks on pregnancy and birth. the class was 9 weeks long. we didn't talk about how painful birth can be. we didn't talk about how the mother being in that position for hours can be damaging. we didn't talk about having to get stitched up. we didn't talk about how some male doctors will unconsentually add an extra stitch, nicknamed the ‘husband stitch’, so the vigina is tighter. we didn't talk about how painful this can make things for the woman. the teacher had us try on a pregnancy belly to simulate “what it will be like when youre pregnant”. I don't want to have children and I never have. I got out of it because I went to the bathroom. the final was in part a project and part written test. our final project was to take care of a mechanical baby for 15 hours. I asked what would happen if the baby cried during the night and I didn't wake up. she said “you will”. the baby cried ten times at night. I was awake for two of them. I failed that part of the final. I didn't learn anything I didn't already know.

It’ll be good for your cramps and morale, he said.