Armenian schools or not? Haygagan tebrots gam 'odar'

[dusken]

Well then I cannot say anything more.

[Anonymouse]

I went to Armenian Saturday school for 3 years. My mom forced me. Thats where I learned whatever Armenian reading and writing I know. I'm content.

[violette829]

Does that mean that those of us who went to public schools didn't get an education? We were raised differently. My parents wanted me to learn the English language so much, they just figured I'd pick up on the Armenian from my family. Well, it didn't happen. I don't blame them, but that's what they knew at the time. Just because they didn't send me to an Armenian school, doesn't make me or them any less intelligent. Have you seen some of the children at those Armenian schools? I mean, they are lost. But, there are exceptions to every rule. Dusken, you might be one of the smarter students who came out of an Armenian school, but there are hundreds that are not so lucky! Every year, they are graduating with their huge egos and their lost sense of individuality....roaming the streets....alright I think I have ADD! LMAO! I'm on drugs HAHAHAHA Damnit, I guess I shouldn't have had that beer with my boss this morning....
I forgot what we were talking about.

[dusken]

I never went to Armenian school. I went to an odar private school.

[Darorinag]

If you think that where you are now is bacause of the fact that you went to an Armenian school, you're wrong. That's all you. I graduated at the top of my class and did the whole univeristy thing, etc. However, I could have had far more opportunities had I gone to a public school or a private American school. Here is one example... A lot of kids in high school don't really have any direction and they need things like a good college guidance counselor to help them out and remind them about deadlines and schedules, etc. You're a high school kid, sure you need to be responsible for yourself but a certain amount of direction is necessary. Want to know what happened at Ferrahian? We had a guidance counselor who was paid quite handsomely to do absolutely nothing. I contacted colleges for applications for myself and my classmates, I reminded everyone about SAT deadlines and college app deadlines. You know what she did? Came to us one day and said oh yeah yesterday was the SAT app deadline, you guys did it, right? Oh give me a break. At least she taught me a thing or two about fending for myself.

Hey Bejug, you have a point there, but that totally depends on the school!! I sat for the SAT, and my school reminded us of everything, they even did a practice thing as well!!! So yeah, it depends! I'm not saying that all Armenian schools have great curricula or whatever else that comes with it, but which would you prefer - an Armenian education, or a good odar education? And there were things that I had to do by myself without the school reminding me. You're talking about high school. At high school age, students should have some of the responsibility on their shoulders. But you can't expect that from immature 18 year olds in USA/Canada, can you.... Yes, I went and sat for many tests by myself without the school having reminded me. I had a purpose and I wanted to make it to university and I knew that I had to do it by myself and meet all the requirements & deadlines. And I did it. Armenian school or not, it makes no difference. Yes, odar schools might come with more advantages, including computer labs, etc., but what is that compared to our very survival as Armenians? If everyone sent their kids to odar schools, where would we be? It is this exact mentality that is harming our schools anyway! As I said before, if less Armenians send their kids to Armenian schools, it will be worse, not better. Again, it all depends on what you value most. Anyway, my point is not that. Some people who don't send their kids to Armenian schools for the reasons you mentioned above, at least make some effort (including squeezing their budget a bit!) to get some private lessons in Armenian for their kids. Or at least speak Armenian at home (unless they don't know it, in which case, again, if they want their kids to know it, there are many many ways to do it!!!) If you want it, you can do it. It's not impossible, unless one is poor to the point of being homeless. In which case, survival comes first and foremost.

[Darorinag]

"Who would encourage you to speak Armenian?" Try my parents. That is why I have an interest in culture and language.

YOUR parents might encourage you, but not everyone's parents do!!! But of course, those are the same Armenians who take their kids out of Armenian school because they're too pretentious... So you do have a point... Anyway, parents might encourage you to speak Armenian, and might speak Armenian at home themselves, but are they gonna actually sit down and teach you how to read and write? CAN they do that? Do they have the time to do that? Anyway, the concern with curricula, etc., only comes in at a later point, not when the kid is like 5 years old. So you can at least send your kids to an Armenian elementary school...

As for those who say they don't have time to learn Armenian... Books on tape. Don't tell me you don't drive anywhere? Buy a language tape, and good luck. No excuses now.

Hehe, don't worry, I can assure you they will come up with a new excuse. Just wait and see. This is what I'm talking about. Sorry, guys, but that is just a lame excuse. People who didn't have such opportunities (computers, tapes, etc.) made the effort to learn their own language, yet you are creating excuses for not learning it... Sorry, but that doesn't give me a good impression of an Armenian willing to know their own language.

[ckBejug]

Darorinag, like I said, I agree with you. Too bad it's not possible to get an Armenian school education and a public/private odar school education concurrently. I'm glad that for one thing after I complained to my mom about the low level of education at Ferrahian she took the reigns as president of the educational committee and now there are more AP classes and better recruitment of higher quality teachers and agreements between Ferrahian and public colleges to give concurrent enrollment and supplemental classes. All that is well and good and hopefully by the time I want to send MY kids (ok, so that's a long time from now, I am thinking ahead!) to school, it'll be somewhere I won't be reluctant to send them. Until that point, like you said, i'm more than willing to send them to elementary and junior high to Armenian schools... I know a lot of people who did that, left to go to American private schools for high school, then came back senior year to finish up with their Armenian friends...

It's not necessary to go to Armenian school full time, you know? There are also things like Saturday school for a few hours every Saturday. I know lots of kids who went through that b*tching and moaning and complaining but are very happy today that they went. Also, Armenian schools have financial aid programs just like any other private school, so with a little scrimping and saving and help from the financial aid, one can go to a private Armenian school. Not to mention all the Armenian scholarships out there for high school-aged students (along with millions of other non-Armenian scholarships like for essay writing and math contests and science fairs etc etc etc) so money shouldn't be a problem if the kid is motivated. As you were saying about the high school leve kid having to fend for himself and be ahead of the game, the sad thing is, a lot of people aren't. I can tell you out of 37 people in my high school graduating class we all were sent towards the same path and pretty much everyone entered either University or community college... unfortunately only 4 of us actually got a degree last summer. Numbers like that scare me. And while the motivations of the kid have a lot to do with it, i do believe that miore proper planning on the part of the school helps A LOT! Anyway maybe I should be a counselor or something since it always seems to be right after I go through these things that I realize what exactly has to be done to get to the best place I can be without all the time constraints and freaking out =)

AND there is this whole other thing that I was talking about. The parents don't speak Armenian and in turn their kids speak less and less Armenian. What's to be done about that? It's not like you can punish the kids for not speaking Armenian! This is the problem with a lot of things in life. As a kid you HATE to do certain things and basically it's your parents job to FORCE you. Drag you there if they must. because once you get to this age where you have more understanding, you realize how important it is, and if you didn't have your parents pushing you to do it up until a certain point and you just quit, then you kick yourself for being so dumb.

[Darorinag]

AND there is this whole other thing that I was talking about. The parents don't speak Armenian and in turn their kids speak less and less Armenian. What's to be done about that? it's not like you can punish the kids for not speaking Armenian!

That is the reason I am stressing the importance of educating THIS generation, in order to prevent such a thing from happening again to the NEXT generation. If people go to Armenian school (whether full-time or Saturday/Sunday school), they will be more aware of the Armenian language & culture, and will be better parents than their parents were... That is the only thing that comes to mind which could probably solve this problem. I can't think of any other way - there must be a means of mass education.

[ckBejug]

Yes but those of THIS generation who aren't speaking Armenian already and couldn't give a damn that they don't know the language (ahem!) and aren't taking steps to learn it aren't going to be any kind of example to their kids other than a bad one-- what do you suggest then?? It's not like we're talking about you or me or anyone else on this forum because obviously we're all interested in the whole being Armenian thing, heck even Loseyourname is even though he's not Armenian...

[dstyle]

Hello everyone.
CK you went 2 fhs, what year? All I know is I never studied so I don't know how much I could help. About counceling I agree with Ck all the way, the armenian schools lack it very much, you have to basically know how to do everything for yourself, but, yes there is a but, when I went to FHS the teachers were very hard, and very caring, but the year i graduated all the older teachers retired. Maybe you went after 96? I feel after that year the education slipped at least at Fhs. I dont know. Still compared to the other armenian school in the valley at least the Armenian Studies was way superior.