School is the traditional place for acculturating children into our national life. In the modern age, the role assigned to our schools is to prepare children for the literate public culture. Some students like school, others don't; but they all study for eleven years and gain knowledge by doing different tasks. For students who are doing well in most subjects and who want to get higher education, school is an attractive place. But those who are not successful at school, and who are always pressed by teachers and their parents, school is boring and uninteresting.
I think that the most important role of school is giving knowledge. I can say that my school gives such knowledge, and that's why I'm happy at school. Most of my teachers have a lot of teaching experience; they understand very well the difficulties of the learning process. They help us to learn all subjects well. They also guide us and advise us on all aspects of our study and life. They share their knowledge and experience with us, and we respond with love.
If you want to study well, you must feel relaxed and happy with your family, school and your social life. Your parents should understand you and help you when you need their help. My parents usually help and support me when I need it. We have our school psychologist who also helps us to overcome difficulties and cope with our problems. The main purpose of our school is to create a supportive and caring atmosphere for students.
The standard of education in our school is very high. I'm a rather good student really. I don't have many problems with the work; but I usually get into trouble for talking, especially when I speak at the same time as the teacher. Once I remember being taken to the head mistress for calling my classmate a bad name. However, I generally get on quite well with the teachers. I am quite successful in class and I usually go to school with pleasure, because I like my school and my teachers.
However I think that sometimes we have too much homework. Teachers and parents insist that doing homework develops the student's ability to work without assistance, or that additional work could help us complete our education successfully. But I believe, in many subjects, homework is totally unnecessary, because it doesn't do me any good. I think it's really stupid to copy from a textbook, and there is no point in duplicating the textbook. It's just reinventing the wheel. And if we could get rid of unnecessary homework, we would have more time to take up hobbies and interests.
School is not only a place of education; it is a place where we develop our relationships, increasing tolerance and mutual respect of one another among our classmates. At school we can enjoy different cultural activities and demonstrate our individual talents. Everyone has an opportunity to take part in different performances at a school or class party, or to take part in different sport competitions. These activities help us with our education and relationships among our classmates. We want to have harmony in our class and among our classmates, but it is rather difficult to achieve. Of course, we try our best to do it, and in many cases we overcome our problems and solve them. And only sensitive teachers can help us, because boys and girls are not passive lumps of clay; they are living, pulsating, developing, mysterious beings who must be studied and understood before they can be taught in the true sense.
So a teacher plays an important role in our education, and when we remember our school years we usually remember our teachers, if they were fair and intelligent or not. I think that I'm a lucky person - almost all my teachers are very interesting and intelligent. When our teachers criticize us, they follow such rules: they try to correct a student's action, not him; they do not impress upon him that he has no abilities; they try to contribute to the minds and souls of their students; they try to be a path for their students to go through a dark forest of school rules. But I can't judge all teachers, because there are as many opinions how to treat a child as there are people. Teachers must choose their methods themselves, but they should remember that they influence and shape the student's opinion about their school. As for me, I think that in our school almost all teachers understand the students and become like parents to us. They support us and care for us. I'm happy at my school and so are my classmates.
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Our school is a modern two-storeyed building of a typical design. It is situated in the centre of the city in a picturesque street named after the great Russian poet A. S. Pushkin. In front of our school there are round flower- beds, where pupils grow different flowers during their biology lessons.
There are different specialized classrooms for the lessons of Physics, Chemistry, Geography and Biology. They have slide projectors; schemes and tables are on the walls. Chemistry and Physics classrooms have special laboratories well equipped for different experiments and tests, which are made by our pupils during the lessons.
The first floor of our school is occupied by English, French and German classrooms. There one can find different pictures, maps, diagrams and wall newspapers on the walls.
On the second floor there is our gymnasium and assembly hall, where we usually gather to celebrate different holidays. We decorate the assembly room with colourful balloons, slogans and our pictures. In the gymnasium we have our classes of physical training and also spend the breaks between the lessons playing volleyball or basketball.
There are also classrooms for junior pupils in our school. They are decorated with large pictures of nature, different things made by the youngest schoolchildren, large posters with alphabet and numbers and so on. Those rooms are the largest and most beautiful in our school.
We also have aesthetics classroom where we have the lessons of drawing, music and Russian and Russian literature. There one can see portraits of poets and writers, posters with the history of the development of costumes.
The canteen and the cloak-room are on the ground floor. On the whole our school is very clean and light. There are white and pink curtains on the windows and many flowers on the window sills. The corridors are large and full of sunlight. There we can have some rest between our classes or just talk with each other.
I like my school very much.
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I started school at the age of seven. It was a specialised English school. I studied eleven years.
At first I attended primary school. The primary school curriculum included Russian, maths, English, drawing, physical training and music. And then after three years of primary school classes I went on to secondary school. Secondary school consisted of eight years of classes, six of which were compulsory. Our curriculum included Russian, maths, English, literature, sciences and history.
After the ninth form one must take four examinations: in Russian, maths, English and History. But to enter a University it is necessary to study two years more and take five examinations on finishing the eleventh form.
I want to say that the main schools in Russia are comprehensive. There are also specialised schools which major in arts or sciences. There are lyceums and gymnasiums in Russia. Most of them are affiliated to universities and colleges. There are some private schools in our country too.
Schools in Russia are generally controlled by the government. But recently they got some independence. There is no uniform now. Pupils go to school five days a week, instead of traditional six. Classes last 40 minutes instead of 45 minutes. Every schoolmaster can decide which exams should be taken by the pupils of his school, but neverthe
