Warning that I just woke up 5 minutes ago, and I have a thought. Whether it be high school, college, or even the importance of school to those around you. Or do you not find it important? If you don't, is it because you think your school system isn't good enough to educate properly, or is it out of dislike of school in general? Personally, I do feel it's an advantage to plan for my future. However, I do not - by any means - enjoy the social stigma of "Hey, go to school, get good grades, go to college, get a degree, and if you don't do any of that you are a failure." Because really. Imho, the only way to fail life is to not enjoy it/not doing what you want to do. life isn't forever, and just because you barely passed high school or college and don't have that great of a job, doesn't mean your life 'is a failure'. Now, that stigma probably came from an economic perspective - high schools get money for attending students, you pay to go to college, stuff gets done when you get a job, and thus money. I've personally came up with a really hard to describe concept of how I look at it. As I said, I think it's in the best interest of you to go to school (how much school is up to you entirely, at least pass High School so you can get a job.), so you can get money for doing the things you want in life. But wait! We have a paradox here! You'll be working your butt off, and won't get time to do the things you want in life. Yes, that also bothers me, but that wasn't my point. But at the same time, it's important to do your interests and whatever floats your boat now. For me, my stories, as in developing them, make me .... well, they sorta fill that hole created by the question of 'what am I here to do', although that question, I believe has no clear answer, and you have to make one yourself (thus mine is stories stories STORIES galore). I try to keep up good grades in school (c-b's) but I realize that it's simply okay to devote time and stuff to other things I enjoy doing, rather than trying to be bogged down by school, which I don't even enjoy that much. As long as I have C's/B's, I don't really try to devote time to school or bettering my grades or anything, just because I feel its' a waste of my time. Thoughts?
I think it is important to get good grades so you can go on to do what you want to do, but I also feel that people shouldn't dedicate their lives to school, it is a waste of your time. Why should you life live if you are going to be constantly working? Enjoy what you have and have a good time, but if you just do that then you will not have a job and thus become a homeless, but if you work all the time then you have no fun and do not have the best experiences, so a healthy mixture between the two is how I see it should be done.
I think that school is very important. I would know since the major reason for poverty in most places is the lack of education. No education would make it harder for you to find work,and in turn make your life harder. However, I don't think school is so important to the point that grades are all you think about. You'll end up having a sad life if you end up doing this. Think about it, if all you do is work, then you'd have no time for friends or family, and you'd end up having no social life. Like what Splodge said, it's best to balance this out, so you'd have an easier life, and a healthy social life too.
I don't hide the fact that I absolutely hate school and would rather be almost anywhere else, but it's necessary so there's not much I can do about it. I feel like school is important almost by default. A good education is more or less necessary to have a well-paying job (unless you have some sort of self-supporting talent, I guess, or you just happen to fall into something.) Pretty much this. I would add more, but that sums it up.
I think school is fairly important, or at least it has been to me. Not just the education, but the environment of meeting people, having topics to talk about, making friends and all that is equally important in my opinion. I don't want to grow up being a wallflower that's dumber than a bag of hammers and partly thanks to going to school, I won't. Of course, that doesn't mean I actually liked going to school a whole lot, but I see the advantages now.
I think it's very important... for most people. I for one rely on it for an education so I can go on to be a Doctor which requires good grades. My life has become a journey about letters and effort grades so I can achieve and get into University but that is just me personally. I also believe it's important to help build a social understanding of the world as that is where you meet a lot of new people and make new friends and generally learn about the world but of course school isn't the only place this can happen. Sometimes it can be a waste of time but I do believe most of the things most of the teachers do are to help the student improve and do the best they can. The main problem with this is, not everyone needs a school education to do what they want to do. They could devote their life to something like art (which is taught in schools but can be done without) and do brilliantly and become very successful. Our social experiences define us and how we react to others and perhaps how we express ourselves in artwork or other creative pieces. An example in Vincent Van Gough who had a terrible life where everyone revered him for being mad which in turn drove him mad but after his death people began to see the beauty in his art. What I'm trying to say is an education isn't necessary for everyone to be and do what they want in life but for others it is. Another example, my Dad hated school when he was younger because he was bullied by this girl (his mother always taught him never to hit a girl so he couldn't retaliate) and so he hated it and didn't do as well as he could have but as soon as he left school he went into catering and became a highly successful manager of his own restaurant by age 18. Of course, school must have taught him a lot about life and social situations which would have helped his social development but school isn't required for these things especially. So, it basically depends on the individual. If someone is just lazy though and doesn't work in school because they feel their life will just fall into place then they should concentrate more.
I am quite guilty of this myself. I am a lazy individual; I procrastinate, I dislike doing "unnecessary" work in general and I would love it if I weren't so damn stressed over a dumb letter that won't matter in ten to twenty years. But in the end -- to my complete and utter displeasure -- it does matter. For the time being, anyway. I'm in two college level courses (advanced placement), two honors courses and I two of my class slots are saved up for a "magnet" program (basically lets you focus on what you want to do like art, photography, band, etc.) that allows me to edit on something of a regular basis. Now if it were up to me I'd just take the easy way out and fly through honors courses with an "A" but I'd like to spend less of my time in college so I take these AP classes hoping that I can pass the exam in mid-May. In editing as a whole I highly doubt that you would need an extensive knowledge of American history or language/composition, but I need a high school degree to even be considered for a job at the McDonald's two blocks from where I live. Honestly, in my opinion, your education should depend on your interests. I thoroughly enjoy my two hours of magnet every day and yet so many kids are failing out of school simply because they couldn't care less about the classes or the subject matter. I realize that there are some people who are content with being a, er, burden to society, but what about the kids who want to do well and excel in the subject areas they'd like to focus on? As has been stated before the school environment can be harsh and unfriendly but when you're put into a group with people who have similar interests, not only will your opinion of school change drastically, but so will your ability to communicate (in most cases anyway; some people just aren't comfortable and I get that, but it might just help). It's almost like forums in a way: you join the one that is based on a subject matter you enjoy and get to know people with similar interests as yourself. and this, kids, is what I'm doing instead of Pre-Calculus & logarithms I'm such a good example, I know
I should preface this with saying that I'm in college, currently working towards an Associate's degree in an Adolescent Education / English program. My opinions, therefore, have a ridiculous amount of bias to them. I think education is one of the most beautiful and essential components to development--and not just a child's. It is my wish to never stop attending school. There are so many topics and courses to explore that even when I have a full time job ( and a family, hopefully, if I ever get off the internet; otherwise, lots of neopets ) I could see myself taking courses at a community college. However, I realize my love for education places me in a minority. Others are rather indifferent to it, others abhor it. To those who really hate school, I understand. I loathed high school because I think institutionally, there is something very wrong with the US's education system. The fact that we can offer public education to all is a wonderful thing, but there is room for a lot of improvement--and it is one of my hopes that, in my chosen career field, I can address that. The biggest problem I can think of affects both the "abhor" and "indifferent" parties. Our very approach to education is through multiple choice tests and memorization rather than individual thought and progress. We are lumped together and defined not by who we are as a person but rather what numbers are applied to us. I think testing and memorization do have their places in education, but open-ended discussion is far more important. We need to create an environment where students are engaged in their lessons, formulate their opinions based upon them, question their fellow students and their teachers, and have an open platform to actively participate, rather than passively taking in facts and figures. Basically, a return to the humanistic education, rather than the institutionalized American system. The most prevalent argument of students in why they dislike school is usually "I'm pretty sure I won't need to know trigonometry anytime in real life." And that's true! I totally understand. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't be exposed to it, for two reasons--it teaches you how to learn, and exposes you to something new. Some students take trig and discover a real passion for mathematics, and that's a beautiful beautiful thing! You never know until you try something, and one should be at least exposed to many different things before reaching adulthood--or at least, so says Plato. But there are students who know early on what they want to do with their lives. Some want to be artists or painters, some doctors or professors, some plumbers or electricians. And those students should be allowed to pursue those things. Though I did have some identity crises with the topic towards the end of high school, for the most part, I have known since I was 13 years old what I wanted to do with my life--and felt that high school was just biding time. I took probably a more passive role than I should have, knowing what my passions were and knowing that all I had to do was scrape by in other courses--like Calculus, for example--until I could pursue what I loved. I think those kinds of students should be allowed to pursue those dreams far earlier than they are, once they have gained a sufficient knowledge in other fields, that is (basic math, spelling, grammar, etc.). I know, however, that I was lucky in knowing my path. There are an overwhelming number of kids who have no idea what they want to do with their lives and that is okay too. We place too much of an emphasis on making kids decide their entire futures at 17 or 18 years of age, drill into their heads that they must go to college, they must have a high-paying job. There are some people who simply don't need to go to college and there is nothing wrong with that. If you have a knack for renovating houses, skip college, become a contractor. Just because I'll be getting a Master's doesn't make me any smarter or better than you. Hell if I know what a load bearing wall is. We don't treat those people fairly, though, nor do we treat those fairly who need some time off from school, or some time to just float around from subject to subject, feeling out what's right for them. If you need a semester (or more!) off to clear out your head, that is fine! If you don't go to college until you're several years out of high school, that is okay! If you powerhouse through every advanced course you can find, get a degree in half the time it takes everyone else, that's cool too! Congrats! We need to start thinking of education as a lifelong process rather than a trial period until we are freed into the working world, need to engage our students better, and overall, treat all career pursuits fairly. If we did so, I don't think we'd have any need for this discussion--although, we would be welcome to explore it. it's late pretty much this was 200% rambles
I've become steadily less invested in school as time goes on. The stuff people tell you, about how it'll guarantee a good life and stuff, are no longer true. Education is an arbitrary obstacle course of hoops to jump through in order to get a piece of paper that makes people pay more for certain types of work. It's so incredibly impractical, and the system is flawed beyond belief, with no effort being put into fixing it. I don't learn in school. Anything that is brought up in school, with the exception of math, I have almost always learnt about in greater detail beforehand from another source. Meanwhile, math was taught in such a way that I failed to absorb it, and I barely made it out of High School as a result. Now in College I just can't bring myself to care. There shouldn't be 86 different ways to cite something in MLA style. MLA style shouldn't be constantly changing, arbitrarily adding and removing silly rules. And I shouldn't have to take a bunch of essay writing courses to get into the English courses I ACTUALLY want, ones that specicially AVOID writing essays. That said, if there's one thing I like about College it's the discussions. They're actually interesting and intelligent, which is a nice change of pace.
