Things may be different now. My brother is a Jr. High teacher in my old school district and he says attitudes have changed about the tech school, but...back then, teachers didn't care much about the tech kids.

They didn't challenge us. They didn't inspire us. They didn't help us achieve more. They tolerated us.

So, most tech kids didn't try real hard at home school. The teachers there set the bar low. They didn't expect much out of the tech kids. And, as you know, kids often live up to our expectations of them.

Never once did a teacher say to me, "Heather, you can do better than this. I expect more from you." Had they challenged me...had they called me out....I'd have risen to those expectations.

Fortunately, it was different at the tech school. We were challenged there. We were forced to reach for the high bar, take responsibility for ourselves and our work, and held accountable if we didn't.

Like me, some of the tech kids back then were motivated enough to challenge themselves to achieve more at home school. But, many of my classmates were content to slide by, doing the bare minimum which was, unfortunately, all that their teachers expected of them.