Charter schools are a first in
Pickens County. My family and I have
found that there are advantages, benefits, and challenges to attending a
charter school. I moved from normal
Middle School to the Clemson Youth Learning Academy, and it was a great fit for
me.
As I have
discovered, there are many advantages to attending a charter school in South
Carolina. In normal middle school, you get around forty minutes of physical
education time per day. At our school,
we get about an hour and a half. Another
advantage is that at our school, there are no drugs. At other traditional middle schools, there are
reports of up to 61 percent of students bringing drugs on school grounds. Also,
we have more educational field trips at the charter school. These are just a
few of the advantages of going to a charter school.
Charter
schools offer many benefits and opportunities.
At YLA, there is no bullying unlike a normal middle or high school where
over ninety percent of fourth through eighth graders report being bullied. In addition, at YLA we use STEM (Science,
Technology, Engineering, and Math), which gives us the three main learning
styles: hands on, visual, and aural. At normal middle school, you normally just
use visual and aural. At YLA, we have time to relax, talk, and do not have to
be stressed with a tight schedule. In my
opinion, it is a better learning environment where we are not rushed or
pressured and can work at our own pace.
Charter
schools offer advantages and benefits over traditional public schools, but they
also challenge students in ways that a traditional school does not. Instead of normal schools in which you look
at a book and copy down words to a page, STEM uses more engaging and hands-on
learning that makes you think. At my
school, you have to be responsible for your actions. You are the one remembering and studying for
a quiz. Your teacher is not your mother, and she will not feed information to you—you
are not just breezing by. YLA forces you
to change your approach to learning. No
more eating information, spitting it out on the test, and bye-bye, its gone.
You actually have to study and learn your topic.
YLA has
helped me learn and become a leader. At YLA, there are many advantages,
benefits, and challenges just like other charter schools across South
Carolina. I am glad I made the switch to
a charter school; attending YLA has made me a better student and a better
person.
