And I think that's the signal for the closing of this thread. Just kidding. Great discussion so far. I'd really appreciate if anyone could tell me of their experience of English at school. Did you learn the more complex aspects of English grammar, or are you in a similar situation as me? Have you done most of your learning online?
Edit: I just want to clarify that I am a native English speaker. I just get the feeling that my posts might sound as if that is not the case.
For High School, since I'm guessing you completed it, my experience was a complete joke. There were three invisible "divisions" in the English department; the first was designated for the intelligence-lacking students, and they were the basic English 9-12; the second was College Prep, and I only took one year of it and absolutely hated it; lastly, the third division was Advanced English, and I heard from a close friend of mine that it was easier than the basic English classes.
My one year of college prep was terrible. It was all about memorizing speeches and trying to outdo your classmates with projects, even if they said that spending more money was =/= to higher grade. The books were about as boring as watching my toenails grow, and we never got to any of the good books that were in the curriculum such as The Hobbit or Beowulf.I remember spending nearly half of the school year in English 11 on To Kill a Mockingbird, and it bored me to tears all the way up to the absent climax of the story.
My senior year I joined the school newspaper as a staff writer and eventually the Local/Regional/National Editor. It, too, was a joke. The teacher, who was one of my favorites till I took that class, was completely favored the women over the guys. So... the majority of the newspaper ended up about stuff like Justin Beiber, fashion, and how to make fruit salad (no joke). I could rant all day about this....
College, though, is a different story, and so far, that year of college prep still proves useless. It's had a professional feel to it especially in the classroom, and the writing assignments aren't as drudging as they were in high school for me. As I said in my post earlier in this thread, it's a lot more enjoyable - plus, I'm actually learning things again with writing and the use of the English language.