School Sucks. Also, Nerdfighting.

Alright, I was kind of MIA last week because I had a big project due and I'm a horrible procrastinator. So to make up for that (and for the fact that my nerdfighter story is super lame), the first half of this will be about the education system.

Now, I think the number one thing you have to understand about the American Public School System is there is not uniformity to it. It is literally different every place you go. I'll save you the history lesson, but the US tends to favor state and local legislation. For the most part, federal government plays a very very small role in public schools. They're ruled by the state is a very broad sense. Local government plays a very large role in the public school system here.

For example, Matt and Caroline both talked about pre-school. We don't have preschool where I live. I never went to preschool, and the only thing close to it that exists in my district is our Early Childhood Learning Center. Which is basically just for children from immigrant families that don't know English. So you go there, learn English, and (hopefully) aren't utterly confused when you're at an actual elementary.

Another example, uniforms. I didn't have uniforms until Grade 4 when it was put to a district-wide vote weather or not to have uniforms in every level of schools. Elementary and middle school, yes! High schools, no. So in my district we wear uniforms until Grade 9. Fun fact: Some local districts consider Grade 9 to be middle school.

Our mandatory schooling starts with Kindergarden (K). When I was in K we only had half days. So you were either there in the morning, or there in the afternoon, but not both. It has since changed and now children are required to spend all day at school (an example of local-level govt). And so it goes on in much the same manner as my fellow Americans have explained. Until Grade 3.

Grade 3 is when we start our state standardize test. Every. Single. State. Has as different test. Stupid, right? Yeah. And on top of that, they're constantly changing. At least here they are. When I first started testing, I took a test that was abbreviation to TAAS. The Texas Assessment of Academic Skills. Then in 2003, it was changed to TAKS. The Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills. After I graduated, the changed it again. Students now take the STAAR. The State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness. There's lots of assessing in Texas. Now basically what these tests are trying to do is to make sure everyone is on the same level. But here's the thing. What happens if you don't pass? Nothing! Nothing happens if you don't pass the test. You get shoved into the next grade with an extra 'prep class'. So as Matt mentioned, sometimes these tests do nothing except see who gets funding.

And about funding. You'd think schools would get rewarded for having students pass and have a good understanding of their courses, right? Nah, you get federal and state grants in several ways. If you have very smart students who are in 'advanced' classes (and therefore need more help) or if you have very poor performing students (and therefore need more help), or if you're in a school district where the majority of residents have low income (and therefore need more help). But most schools don't get rewarded for having consistently above average students. This is why schools in my district can build new state-of-the-art, eco-friendly schools with windmills and solar panels, give laptops to every single high school student, give an iPad to every single middle school student, and give elementary school children tablets for their classrooms. Other schools, ones with average performing students, in districts where the mean income is above average have to rely on donates to the schools. Which works for them, a lot of the times.

Now college. As previously mentioned, it's ridiculously expensive. Private universities cost almost twice as much as public ones. My DREAM school, the one that I hope to get my masters from, is Southern Methodist University. I would have loved to have gone here straight out of the gate. Unfortunately it's $37,050 for tuition. Plus $4,700 in fees. Plus $13,725 for room and board. Which brings SMU's total cost of attendance to a whopping $55, 475 per year. Now I don't know about anyone else, but I don't have $200,000 dollars to spend right out of high school. That's more than my house. That's more than twice my house and my car. And that's not even the most expensive in the US.  Bigger state schools can afford to charge higher tuition. For example, the University of Texas is a very popular school. They've got good programs, they're in a really awesome college town know for being...you know, awesome. They've got an amazing football team, basketball, baseball. They have it all basically. Everyone and their mom wants to go to UT. So they can afford to charge around $30,000 a year (sorry for not looking up the exact figures, SMU killed me) because they're popular and people want to go there. SMU is also on the popular list. School like these offer little in the way of financial aid because they don't really have to. People will pay just to say they got a BBA from SMU, or an Engineering degree from UT. Fun fact: The University of Texas at Austin is so popular that it receives $7.2 billion dollars out of the $16.11 billion available to public Texas universities.

And I'll leave it at that. That's my two cents and it's all I really wanted to say about the American School System. Everything else has been explained to you. My experiences where the same, for the most part, as Caroline and Matt's.

Now that I've made myself very depressed with the realization of how much in debt I'll be in when I leave college let me tell you more about how I waste precious time on the internet.

I started watching the vlogbrothers maybe...a year an a half ago? (I honestly don't know, these are all rough estimates. I'm not the math major.) Before that, two years ago, was when I really started watching youtube videos. And I was watching some other youtuber and they linked to a vlogbrothers video. I checked it out, looked at some other videos, quickly realized that these guys are AMAZING, and haven't looked back since. I wasn't never involved with the nerdfigher community until literally two days before this blog started. I started watching vlogbrothers from the first episode back in the summer and I was finally getting to videos I had already seen so I thought it was high time I got involved. Now that I knew my shit, and whatnot. So here I am. Ta-da!

Told you my nerdfigher story was lame. Glad I blabbered on about school for so long! XD

The Ambience of Amber (or, Almost Everything You Need To Know About Me)

I realize this post will bring us up to four for today but I figured I should get my intro out of the way so I can move on to this week's actual theme. Now, onward!

Howdy, y'all! I'm Amber, the resident Texas native. (Note: you will never see me use the word 'howdy' ever again. Ever.) Like most places, Texas is not what so many people assume it to be. Well, at least not where I live. However, I would never deign to assume that Nerdfighters would think like the masses so I won't go into The Myths of Texas. But feel free to ask anything you'd like about Texas (or anything else. While we're here I should mention that I like asides.) I'm 22 years old and right now I'm double majoring in Business and Fashion Merchandising.

Right now. The background of my academic career is lengthy, so I'll give you the long and short of it. I have a learning disability. This paired with the fact that i'm incredibly lazy makes me a terrible student. I love learning, but I don't love doing homework so I didn't really do all that well in high school. So out of high school instead of going to a university I got a job. Well, that didn't work out. I then decided to enroll in a local community college. Three years later, I'm still here. Since enrolling I've been a Theatre major, an English major, an Education major, an English Literature major and now finally a Business and Fashion Merchandising major. I have a bad case of I-don't-know-what-the-fuck-I-want-to-do-with-my-life (is cursing okay here? I'm really bad with that. I'll try and tone it down).

Good news though! I'll be transferring to The University of North Texas next fall! Thank goodness! I'm not really proud of the fact that I've been at a two year school for three years, but it is what it is. Anyway, I know what you're wondering. You're wondering why there is a fashion merchandising major in with all these other brilliantly, scholarly, wonderful majors. (I mean, Archaeology. That's awesome!) I am also wondering the same thing. But we're all Nerdfighters which means we're all awesome so I'll do my best not to say anything too stupid (but hey, I'm not making any promises. I am, after all, American). So, back to the topic at hand. Fashion Merchandising, Amber? Nerds don't major in Fashion Merchandising. Yeah well, I'm the exception, not the rule. And I LOVE fashion! And clothes! And scarfs! And hats! And shoes! Homgshoesss! But(!) I don't love it as much as I love theatre, or reading, or classic literature. Which, I think, is why I've finally settled on business as a major and career choice. The things I love, I love too much for me to want to make a job out of doing them. There are other reasons but they aren't very interesting so I'll spare you the details.  I'd really like to either manage or own a retail store that focuses on handmade, sustainable and upcycled clothing. I'm all about turning something old and outdated an turning it into something better and awesome.

In regards to my life outside academia, I love warm sunny days (Which is good because it's dead winter here and it's 72 degrees outside. Seriously, I'm contemplating a picnic), walks in the park, good books, the Internets. Also, books. Like leather/hard bound. Like I'm-the-most-beautiful-copy-of-Arabian-Nights- that-you-have-ever-seen books. I'm sure you can already tell by my previous freak out over shoes that I am girl in the most stereotypical of ways. I'm sure the men are doing their best not to roll their eyes (Don't hold back boys! I mean...men!). So yeah, I like all that girly stuff. But I also like camping, and swimming, and baseball, and floating in rivers during the summer. And Harry Potter, of course! I watch way too much television. I play the piano. I have two horribly annoying younger brothers, a huge extended family and really cool parents (No, really. My parents are awesome.) Also...Ilikevampirefiction. I know, /I know/! Don't kill me! Don't worry, I detest Twilight as much as the next sane person. But yeah, I like vampires. And zombies. Alright. I'm cutting this off. I've rambled long enough.

While I don't like to focus on the negative, things I do not like include (but are not limited to): Doctor Who, The Jersey Shore, most rap music, scifi (Battlestar Galactica, Star Wars, Stargate, Star Trek. Seriously, come up with names that don't include the word 'star'. Also, Doctor Who), Twilight, Doctor Who, apples (it's the texture), world suck, decepticons (by the way, I don't like Transformers for two reasons: Megan. Fox.) Have I mentioned that I don't like Doctor Who?

Alright, folks. That ends the Amber portion of our programing for today, I hope you enjoyed it! :D

P. S.  I love talking to people and I love procrastinating so please feel free to Skype me any time! :D

P. P. S. I'm really not as disdainful as my picture would lead you to believe. My friend drew it and I think it's cute.