Our School

Our School
Our school is typical Czech, state grammar school, which offers to their students the general secondary education. There are taught all compulsory subject (humanities and science too) and also several optional subject, which students can choose. The aim of this school is to prepare students for study at university as much as it is possible. In our country there are several types of grammar schools assorting to the number of forms. In recent year our school has gone through several experiments. In 1990 there were two courses running simultaneously: the eight-year-course for children since 11 and the standard four-year-course for the children since 14. In 1991 the eight-year-course was replaced with the six-year-course, since 13 year of age. In the 1997 the four-year-course was abolished and now it is established again.
Our grammar school is in Hodonín in Legionářská street. It is a quite new building, however the grammar school is in Hodonín more then hundred years. The old building was damaged during the World War Two. It is a simple modern building with white facade, typical purpose-built building, and beside there is a playground for PE surrounded by green living fence. Inside there are there three floors and a ground floor. At the entrance there is a schools service, a student, who is noticing visitors and helps them. Today he is noticing not only the visitors but also the late students and enters them in by pushing a buzzer. Near entrance there is a small canteen, provided by other school, where students can buy a something to eat, lunch or something sweet. There is also a slot-machine, where students can buy coffee or some cold drink. But this is not a school canteen with dinning room, the dinning room is further to the back of the school near the gymnasium. Near gymnasium are two cloakrooms, hothouse, fitness room, and a room with washing basins and shower corners. In a ground floor there is a cloakroom where each pair of students has a small metal locker. There is also a boiler room. Above cloakroom there is assembly hall with a stage and chairs. There are arranged important meetings. It is decorated by students' drawings and paintings, it is an exposition. On the first floor there is a library with many books, not only textbooks, but also fictions and poetry. Head's and deputy head's offices, secretary office and a common room are close each to other just opposite the stairs.

On each floor there are classrooms, teacher offices and, of course, a WC. On the hallways there are notice boards, which offer some information for students, decorating pictures, cabinets and glasscases. Except classrooms there are in our school also some labs. Lab is a room with special equipment (video, camera, TV-sets, slide projector, screen), it has more comfortable desks, all furniture is on the high level, and there are notice boards and glass-cases with special aids. In our school is physic, biologic, chemistry lab and two special classrooms with computers. On the contrary an ordinary classroom has three rows of desks and a teacher's desk with chairs. There used to be a blackboard with chalk and a sponge in front of the classroom, these things are replaced nowadays by a felt-tip and a cloth. I think this is better, because I have allergy to dust of chalk. On the wall there is a notice board and some pictures or maps. In the corner there is a washing basin, without a mirror and soap, a waste paper basket and lino on the floor. White walls are quite dirty and cool. What I miss is some decoration. I think that there should be some because it is one of a few things, which make difference between an animal and a man. In some classes there is also a video, televisions and overhead projector.
What is a typical day of a student of this school? The tuition starts at five to eight, after the bell rings. We have about six or seven lessons a day on average. When the teacher enter the room, we all stand up to greet him. He marks entry in the class register, marks absent students and then he starts the lesson with revision of the previous lesson. He examines somebody individually by asking him to come to the board and tells him to do some exercises, explain a problem and to respond to teacher's questions. Sometimes the whole class takes a written test. Then teacher evaluates student's performance by giving him a mark. The best mark is one and it is given, when the performance is fluent, perfect and creative and the worst is five, which is given when the performance is disappointing. Some students spoil their performance because of nervousness. After examination the teacher explains us a new subject matter and practises it with exercises. Before the end of the lesson he sums up the topic and gets homework. The teachers are supposed to follow the curriculum but they are free to choose textbooks for their students. Then the bell rings again. Each lesson lasts exactly 45 minutes but the breaks aren't of the same length.

The shortest break is five minutes long and the longest is 25 minutes. During this long break we have a lunch in school canteen. I don't eat at school canteen because there is usually a very long queue and students jump the queue. But this isn't the main reason. I don't like the food, which consists usually of a creamy sauce and salami and has some sweet or wafer ads a dessert. There is only a little vegetable. The school usually ends at 14:30 but on Friday stay some students at school longer, because they have some extra school activities. In our school there is a choir, drama club, arts club and computer-programming club.
We also have a school magazine in our school. I was an editor in chief for three years. It was a quite hard work in the magazine. We have to gather articles, select the best of them and write them on computer. Because we are free, school doesn't support us at all, so we have to find a big sponsor. But we still haven't got enough money for printing the issue. We found a good printer studio, where they give us some discount but we have to make the whole issue ourselves, they just print it. So organise the issue was the hardest work. It takes about three whole days. We get from this work almost nothing but we are happy that we can do something nice for other students. But I was quite sad that students don't want our magazine, even it is very cheap. We sell one magazine for five crowns but the we pay to printer studio for one piece 45 crowns.
Even if I love this school, here are some things I would like to change if I were the power. For example the entering and leaving the school. I am twenty years old and I am held here like a prisoner. I cannot go out for buying something or for calling to home. I think I should be responsible for myself. And it is not all. Another things that make me angry, are seminaries. Seminary is an optional subject but in our school we have to choose three subjects. Seminaries are divided into groups and we can choose only one seminary from the group. For example if English is together with maths, I can only one of them even if I want to make my leaving examination in both subjects. I think that this wasn't a very wise decision. When I want to concentrate on something I am not allowed to do it, because I have to study to other subjects. Don't you thin that it would be very wise and human arrangement, if the learning unchosen subjects were cancelled during the last school year or in the second half of the last year.