School Sucks

[curry1]

That's an important lesson...  Play the game for a while and realize that while school is "your life" while you're there, it will end eventually and it is just a means to an end.  The high Pk shot is to learn what you can, and do whatever is necessary to get good enough grades that you aren't forever blocked from doing whatever you want to do once you are permitted to make decisions on what to do with your life.

Way too many kids complete high school and all of a sudden realize that while nobody is telling them what to do anymore, they are faced with a bunch of people who are now telling them that they can't do certain things because of one reason or another.  There are plenty of reasons why people can't do something, but bad grades in high school is just giving people an excuse to keep you down and out.  Don't give them that excuse to exclude you, don't let that door close because it was fun messing around with the handicapped teacher.  6 years is a long time to be trapped in school but the NEXT 70-80 years is an even longer time to be told you don't qualify for something or aren't eligible for a good deal, because you acted the fool in school.

That's where the percentages are, and it's a game.  It's a means to an end.  Do whatever it takes to get the grades to qualify you to do whatever it is you want to do.  If you don't know what you want to do yet, then ensure you don't accidentally make yourself ineligible for whatever it is you decide to do later on.  That goes for grades, drugs, or whatever other crimes are cool at the time (at my HS it was stealing car stereos).  Some of that stuff simply makes you ineligible to do things.  If a HS student is ok with people telling them NO for the rest of their life, then ok great, we need people pushing brooms too and that's just fine for a lot of people.  Just don't get trapped into being a broom pusher for 50 years because it was fun to tease the teacher for a couple of years.

That's why I figure the easiest way to start out life is to go to an Engineering school.  It is always easy to take a step down.  So might as well start at the top.  If it isn't for me whatever that's fine.  But at least I'll know and have zero regrets.

[MaSonZ]

Eagl, not trying to jump your bones. I very much agree with what you say, however how many seniors fresh out of school have 2 jobs while d1cking off in school? one paying 12 an hour under the table cash money, the other saving peoples lives in the streets of a city? not many. Granted, I only got my EMT certification because the fire department I volunteer on paid the $800 for it, but that isnt the point. the point is some people are made for school, others no so much. Ink happens to be one of them from what I've read about his life on the forums here. School isnt my strong point, and I will never be making 80,000 a year, but even if I onmly rake in 30-40,000 I will be happy so long as I have a roof over mine and my families head, and food on the table. the rest is nothing to me.  

to the OP, thats one other thing I've seen throughout the years. I grew up and still live in a VERY Blue collar, economy dependent area, tis past decade while our economy has been in the toilet, I have had no choice but to learn the value of a dollar, pay my way for things. yes, I have had biorthday money and christmas given to me, but in repairs alone I spent $12,000 on my first car. $4,000 on the car itself. A lot of money to spend in a year and a half of your license with no job, but I managed through not spending money o9n stupid things every time I turned around. Yes, I spoiled myself (~$3,000 in my computer), and I kick myself in the bellybutton for some of my spending (such as mu computer), but I cant change the past. be money wise, dont be buying your girlfriend a dinner every other night.

[ink]

Well, you are right, even the truth can be presented in an insulting or degrading way.  I wasn't trying to target anyone, just blabbing because it is a touchy subject for me, and I get obnoxiously pedantic sometimes.  I hope I didn't get your blood pressure up too high

 

no not at all...I also have that "too blunt" issue, but I am workin on it.

I should have read past the "words" and saw the message. 

[Motherland]

God how I wish I had two more years to make up for my freshman and sophomore years in high school...

[eagl]

I had one class where 10% of the class was based on how many word search puzzles I could fill out.  Talk about busy work...  I aced all the real work in that class and since I was an athlete, at swim meets my Mom and I would see who could complete the most puzzles between events.  The system was stupid so I beat the system, no unwinnable kobyashi maru scenario for me thankyouverymuch for showing me that lesson James T. Kirk.  I learned every single thing that teacher had to teach me, including the lesson about busywork she didn't intend to teach me.  That lesson was that some people, after you learn everything they have to offer, are nothing but obstacles to overcome by any (legal) means necessary.

The sad thing is that some fairly bright but disadvantaged students in that class took their B and thought it was great that they got a B.  It makes me a bit sad thinking about it 25 years later.

I think one class I didn't really appreciate until later was typing...  I spent half a semester banging away on a massive old manual typewriter, copying random bits of poetry and stories over and over and over.  Only the top 15 students got to switch to the high end IBM selectric electric typewriters for the last couple of months, so of course I had to work hard to get that.  Then it was copying mind-numbing random pages while following exacting directions, like "type this page, then go back and change the third word using the typewriter's correction ribbon."  After ending the page, it was "erase the 10th word in the 3rd paragraph using manual correction fluid or correction tape, re-load the page, and re-type the word in ALL CAPS".

A semester of that crazy boring repetition probably cut hundreds of hours off of my proofreading time later during college, but at the time it just seemed stupidly boring.  But I had to get that A out of the teacher somehow, so I stuck with it and was pleasantly surprised at how much benefit in life I got from that one class.

It was also an interesting exercise in mental flexibility.  In 11th grade I'd start the day in trigonometry class using logic proofs to describe why a 3-4-5 ratio triangle ALWAYS has one 90 deg angle, spend an hour banging away at the typewriter, jump straight into a college level physics class (calculus based relativity was covered in the first month), then off to woodshop to build my Mom a jewelry box and hope none of the other kids managed to trick me into losing any fingers, then off to analytical programming in FORTRAN, then spend 35 min on the bus so I could swim on another school's swim and water polo team but only after 45 minutes in a public speaking class that also turned out to be one of those classes I hated but still benefit from.

[TonyJoey]

I don't know about others, but the farther along I've gone in school, the more I've liked it. I guess it's just a personality trait of mine that I love learning, but I'm excited every day I go to class. I truly enjoy the atmosphere and teachers of my school as well so that makes the experience all the better, and I feel that my grades have reflected that excitement. I'm even more pumped about going to college and delving even deeper into my chosen subjects, although at this point I'm not exactly sure which they will be.

[Tordon22]

Agreed, not worth it.

[Rob52240]

I was all set to graduate in October of my Sr. Year. 

Then Herr Galbraith, mein Deutsch Lehrer said that if I wanted to go on the non school trip to Austria and Germany I had to stick it out and finish German 5 and 6. 

Looking back I guess it wasn't not worth it.

[Guppy35]

Keep in mind that most of us when we were school age, didn't see the point as we were clearly brighter then all the adults out there.  That being said, those of us who then got older, figured out maybe there was a point to it after all.

My daughter just got her first teaching job.  She was the AP student, worked her tail off, went to a great school, decided she wanted to teach and got the job.  She's got 4 of those guys who could care less, have it all figured out in her class who spend most of their time disrupting her and the other kids and demanding all her time.  the 20+ other kids who want to make it work and learn end up getting short changed by the screw offs.

Keep it in mind.

If you are smart enough to know better then the teachers, then you'll figure out that the better you do, the more doors are open to you when your school days are finished.  Some times you have to 'play the game' so that you can play better games later.

Take it from someone who has never ever been as smart as I was when I was in high school.  The older I get, the less I seem to know too!

[PFactorDave]

Looking back I guess it wasn't not worth it.

So it was worth it then? 

Do you have Amish relatives?  The Amish are notorius for speaking in double negatives like that.

[Rob52240]

I suppose it was worth it, my german teacher was just fanatical when it came to everything.  At one point he was giving us up to 50 new words to learn overnight and be tested on the following day.

[curry1]

Keep in mind that most of us when we were school age, didn't see the point as we were clearly brighter then all the adults out there.  That being said, those of us who then got older, figured out maybe there was a point to it after all.

My daughter just got her first teaching job.  She was the AP student, worked her tail off, went to a great school, decided she wanted to teach and got the job.  She's got 4 of those guys who could care less, have it all figured out in her class who spend most of their time disrupting her and the other kids and demanding all her time.  the 20+ other kids who want to make it work and learn end up getting short changed by the screw offs.

Keep it in mind.

If you are smart enough to know better then the teachers, then you'll figure out that the better you do, the more doors are open to you when your school days are finished.  Some times you have to 'play the game' so that you can play better games later.

Take it from someone who has never ever been as smart as I was when I was in high school.  The older I get, the less I seem to know too!

I think the older you get the more this pie chart becomes true.