What You'll Wish You'd Known 798
sheck writes "Eminent computer scientist, author, painter, and dot-com millionaire, Paul Graham has written down the things he wishes somebody had told him when he was in high school in What You'll Wish You'd Known, suggesting, among other things, that students treat school like a day job, working on interesting projects to avoid what he has found to be the most common regret among adults of their high school days: wasting time."
Learn it all for yourself. It's part of growing.. (Score:3, Insightful)
People
Most of the people you graduate with, no matter how popular/smart/wonderful they were in high-school will probably be completely worthless in college. Some will likely come home to be with their group of friends from high-school again and may not even finish college. They will be happy in their small group of friends forever, which is fine, but certainly don't believe that you need to limit yourself to that.
Class
That the reason I did reasonably well in high-school with very little outside work was because I went to class. Even if I slept through some of it I was taking it all in. You cannot succeed unless you attend class. Don't think that when you get to college or the real world you can succeed by not showing up just because you don't have to. It doesn't work like that.
College
Going to a four-year college and getting a degree really isn't all that important anymore. Yeah, you get a job, yeah you get money, and yeah you have fun but honestly the pay off in the end really isn't all that worth it.
I have seen plenty of people with high-school diplomas or two year degrees from a community college/tech school do just as well (if not better) than me and my more expensive four-year degree.
Don't give in to the pressures put on you by your social group, family, and school when there are plenty of opportunities out there for those of you that aren't interested in jumping straight into four-year degrees.
LPNs, construction, HVAC, general laborers under Union guidance all make great money and may even make twice as much as a four-year graduate starting... If you aren't interested in school for the next four or five years explore some other options. They are open and ready to make you into something that you may not have had the chance to know about.
Wasting time
Honestly, you aren't going to have much of a chance to "waste time" once you are done with school. People graduate and either jump right into working or go to college. After these small steps they start families and their chance to "waste time" is over for the next 25 years.
I hear all the time that "thirty is the new twenty". Take advantage of your age, your freedoms, and your time. Use it however you want. Right now I'm more interested in doing things that I know I won't be able to do 10 years from now. Responsibility sucks use your time however you see fit.
What I learned was that I needed to decide for myself what I wanted. Anyone who might read his article (or mine) might want to as well.
"youth is wasted on the young" (Score:5, Insightful)
I think the biggest cause of regret in young people is mixed messages being sent from all directions from know-it-all nannys who all regret their own youth and so want to live vicariously through others still in possession of it. Laissez faire.
Re:"youth is wasted on the young" (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm still young, just fresh out of college. While my high school days were packed with a lot of outside projects and involvement, I regret not having spent my time better in college. On the other hand, I'm still young enough to see my brothers and a few friends in the same situation.
The result is that I'm able to spend my time better now, which will certainly pay off later. While you can look back and realize that you might have spent your time better (who doesn't wish they'd invested in some tech stocks at the right time?) you can also feel satisfied knowing that you weren't wasting all of it on something with no payoff. I spent so many hours of college seeing how fast I could beat each level of the 8-bit Mario Super Bros.
Speaking of wasting time, I think my Slashdot break has gone on long enough.
Re:"youth is wasted on the young" (Score:3, Funny)
Oh, I invested in tech stocks a the right time, I just didn't divest at the right time...
Re:"youth is wasted on the young" (Score:5, Interesting)
Not as long as mine...I own my own business so I get to read the whole thing. Which brings me to my pet "Wish I'd Know This In School" peeve, which is why didn't anyone, not even my parents, tell me that I could actually start my own business and not have to necessarily go and get a job working for someone else.
During the last year of the English equivalent of high school, me and my classmates would go to the career counselling officer for lessons on how to get a job. We'd also take day trips local businesses and watch people we'd seen in the year above ours working at their little desks or operating machinery. We even took a few trips to local coal mines which really freaked me out (Anyone seen Kes [geocities.com]? that was me).
Luckily I was interested in playing music - joined a couple of local bands - moved to London - joined a band that toured the World - moved to the Pacific NW - got a life - and managed get the hell out of the cycle of horrible, depressing life I was faced with, but it really needn't have been that way.
How about one single hour a week about how to start your own business. Or how to handle money that your business will generate, or marketing your business, Etc Etc Etc. instead there was nothing. It was ALL about how to get a job.
Needless to say we all knew that the rich kids at the private school down the road were being taught how to hire losers, or how to stay rich, so there was never any real mystery as to why things were the way they were, but I still feel sorry for my classmates.
Re:"youth is wasted on the young" (Score:3, Insightful)
Of course, if you're smart enough to do it, you're probably smart enough to learn it yourself as I did and apparently you did too. It's strange though, as our culture, or at least substantial portions of it, in the US definitely does value entrepreneurship, it's just that people often don't realize this until they get out there and are confro
Re:"youth is wasted on the young" (Score:5, Insightful)
As for the aforementioned "Slashdot break," I'm discovering that I am even more strict with my time than any of my previous bosses. I have been working 16+ hour days because 1) I know it's going to pay off for my business, 2) I love what I do, and 3) working hard for myself is far more rewarding than working hard for someone else.
It's not hard to find a small business owner that you can talk to about starting your own company. Luckily, I've got a few contacts like that - uncles, friends, etc. that were willing to point me in the right direction. But when you're in high school or college, there's a ton to learn and not many folks that will encourage it. Still, I'm glad I took a "real" job right out of college. I had an opportunity to learn from others' mistakes and develop fantastic experience and skills (while someone else did the legwork of getting the projects and running the business). When I felt I was solid enough to start those, I made the jump.
It's beginning to pay off now. I landed a big contract this week... it'll take care of my paycheck for another six months.
Re:"youth is wasted on the young" (Score:3, Insightful)
Some classes on how to deal with middle management would also be cool. You know the type; people who have risen to the level of their incompetence and have power over others; Human Resources, Licensing officials, etc.
ouch (Score:4, Interesting)
The whole purpose of this article wasn't to create robots (it actually says don't be a worker robot), but to motivate people into a direction that will eventually provide a fulfilling career, one where as an adult they can get up every day feeling life is fresh and new. The message is pretty simple: do stuff because you find it fun and challenging, not because you need to fit better into some existing mold.
Here's a neat truth: there's a very good chance neither you nor I will be remembered 1000 years from now. Should I be so overwhelmed by my own mortality that I can't enjoy myself past the time of realizing this? No way. Don't go chasing some childhood innocence either, time will move on with or without you.
Don't motivate squandering, you can work at something and enjoy it, even that guy from Office Space [imdb.com] found his calling.
-Matt
Re:"youth is wasted on the young" (Score:5, Insightful)
Regrettably, this is due to age discrimination. Thanks to the public schooling (which has setup this concept of people of the same age range, all from a very early age, doing the exact same thing as everyone else, and worse, socializing with people of a very small age range.)
So people grow up with this bizarrely narrow view of the world...people who are 19 do X, people 24 do Y, people 36 do Z.
As I like to say, if you're over 14 and half your friends are within 5 years of your own age, you're doing something wrong. Widsom and expertise will come to you from a wide range of people.
Re:"youth is wasted on the young" (Score:3, Funny)
Re:"youth is wasted on the young" (Score:5, Insightful)
That is a myth that way too many younger people believe. Frankly life is still pretty much life. The problem is when you are young you are experiencing so many things that are new to you that you mistakenly believe that they must be new to everyone.
They really are not. What most people find is the older they get the more their parents knew. Not everyone mind you but most people will find that.
Now there is another myth that older people fall into. "Everything was better when I was younger." Humans tend to forget the bad stuff and remember only the good stuff. My parents have told me time and time again how they would not want to raise kids today. When I ask them they talk about how much better things where when they where just married than they are now. This was in the 60s so I asked them what about the Cuban missile crisis, the Manson murders, the Zodiac killer, and the Texas tower shootings? Older people need to remember the bad things in the past and not just the good.
The biggest regret of youth is what you do not do. What you did not accomplish and who you did not listen too. A smart young person will listen to an older person with an open mind. You never know what wisdom you may gain. A smart older person will listen to young people with an open mind. You never know what what wisdom a new mind might bring to the world.
Re:"youth is wasted on the young" (Score:3, Interesting)
Yeah, as kids, we could run around at 8 years old, on our own, for Halloween. Now, I can't let my kid go out after dark. 'Course, I can go around with long hair and no one hassles me.
Air flight in the early 70's was like taking
Re:"youth is wasted on the young" (Score:3, Informative)
Take a look at some of the old TV shows from the 60s and you will see people talking about how they miss the simpler times. How things where better. And of course the We fought Hitler so these dang long haired kids can do this?
Honestly in most towns you can still let you
Re:"youth is wasted on the young" (Score:5, Insightful)
But, as somebody who came from a family where nobody in the previous generation had gone to college, I would have appreciated more useful advice about college (and related preparation).
For example, I've done extremely well academically and career-wise, but I was overly-stressed and worried throughout high school and college, and didn't spend enough time just living and having fun. This led to under-socialization, which is probably the biggest problem in my life today.
Whereas my parents exacerbated this because they wanted me to be successful, peers who had parents (or other adults in their lives) with college experience had an advantage: they had a better understanding of how that world worked, what was really important, and what was coming.
The internet now makes it easy for people of all backgrounds to learn from the life experiences of others, although the noise probably drowns out a lot of the useful stuff.
Re:"youth is wasted on the young" (Score:5, Interesting)
By the time you are old enough to want to make a list of things to tell young people they need to do to be happy, you are too old to relate to any young person in a meaningful or influential way. But inevitably, generation after generation, the old people are compelled to spew advice which the young will absorb, but ignore, until they themselves are old and ready to acknowledge its correctness (and then to futilely victimize that generation with advice).
I was the exact opposite. Believed everything I was told and took it to heart. Worked away. Worried about high school grades. Worried about college and prepared for "the real world" in the manner they told me. Once got old enough to gain my own experience and go into the real world, I realized it was all not true, and if it was ever true, it belonged to a world that hadn't existed for several decades. It's good that kids ignore or take what they're told with a grain of salt. Nothing about the wisdom my father gave to me about the white collar business world of the 60's pertains to the casual dress IT world of the 00's. There are no life long careers. Kissing ass just makes you the butt of office jokes. Unless you're looking at a really good college and scholarships, high school grades or even graduating don't matter. Once you have the piece of paper for your degree, your college grades don't matter unless you're attempting grad school. Once you have experience, your piece of paper doesn't matter unless it' used as a bullet item to impress some MBA. The most important thing to getting a job on your resume is the reference who turns it in to the person hireing and says "this is a friend of mine."
No doubt, when I pass this wisdom to my own children, it will be irrelevant to the new world they live in.
Laissez fair worked for mebut in a more subtle way (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Learn it all for yourself. It's part of growing (Score:5, Insightful)
There's also an important corollary to this: The opinion of high-school classmates doesn't really matter. Knowing this would have done me a lot of good. Don't bother trying to impress your peers in high school. In fact, go ahead and embarrass yourself. It won't be the end of the world. A year after graduation, no one will remember or care. If anyone does remember and care, those are the weirdos whose entire life will be spent obsessing on high school, the people who never move on with their lives, and so their opinion isn't worth much worry.
Re:Learn it all for yourself. It's part of growing (Score:3, Insightful)
I agree 100% but I also disagree 100% that high-school is the proper environment to learn these skills.
High-school is nothing more than a popularity contest/fashion show. If you are supposed to learn social skills please explain to me how you can apply those to the real world where no one worth a damn gives a flying rats ass what you wear and who you hang out with?
My suggestion is to just suffer through the shithole that is known as "hig
Re:Learn it all for yourself. It's part of growing (Score:3, Insightful)
Popularity is extrememly important.
BTW looks are also very important. Study after study shows that good looking people do better then ugly people.
My advice to high schoolers, work out, get and keep a great body. Get plastic surgery if you need it. Learn to sidle
Terrible advice (Score:3, Insightful)
As for hanging out with the rich, learning what they like, and thinking of a product to sell to them... while it sounds good on the surface (They have so much money!) in reality the problem is that selling to ANYONE is tricky. By limiting your target market to "The rich" you are also making your job much harder.
Instead I would say - figure out what you can do well that you can s
Re:Learn it all for yourself. It's part of growing (Score:3, Insightful)
BTW looks are also very important. Study after study shows that good looking people do better then ugly people.
My advice to high schoolers, work out, get and keep a great body. Get plastic surgery if you need it. Learn to sidle up to the rich and powerful. Hang out where rich people hang out, learn their lingo, learn their likes and dislikes, learn their habit. Finally think of something that would be irresistable to them and start selling it.
No thanks, buddy. I'd rath
Re:Learn it all for yourself. It's part of growing (Score:5, Insightful)
i have come to the conclusion that the self-taught are the people you want to work with and for.
the self-taught have a better skillset at picking up new skillsets when the pressure is on, they're more willing to and capable of learning by experimentation, they tend to be far more flexible and diverse in their abilities and they're are often more motivated to try out new solutions.
three cheers for the autodidacts [princeton.edu]
Re:Learn it all for yourself. It's part of growing (Score:5, Insightful)
Self teaching works best for those subjects you are really interested in, use school to bring the rest up to 'standard'.
Even if you teach yourself a subject its great to hear it again in school, the teacher will most likely teach it from another viewpoint and I have found that this can help you from knowing about it to totally understanding it.
Jeroen
Re:Learn it all for yourself. It's part of growing (Score:3, Informative)
And they are the same ones who will leave you horrible code, because they learned from web examples instead of a solid base. (real life case: mantain legacy app created by self-taught genius: a few thousands of lines of jav
Re:Learn it all for yourself. It's part of growing (Score:3, Insightful)
I disagree with the willingness to expiriment and self-motivate being teachable - they're something that people either have or don't have. Someone who's (effectively) self-taught will neccesarily have them, but being a graduate certainly doesn't preclude it, either. One problem with being self-taught is the gaps i
Re:Learn it all for yourself. It's part of growing (Score:5, Interesting)
If you want to be a writer, say, just about the only thing a formal education can give you is an understanding of grammar and spelling. (/.ers, take note.) You do need this. After that, though, the way to learn to be a writer is by writing; also by reading, because editors (and readers) can always spot a manuscript written by someone who hasn't read very much. They tend to be cliche-ridden, among other flaws, because if you haven't read a lot, you won't know what everyone else has done before you. Writing, in short, is learned by watching and by doing. I suspect that this generalizes to other arts.
On the other extreme, if you want to be a scientist, well, if you think you're going to learn enough about any scientific field to make a meaningful contribution to the human body of knowledge in that area without a formal education, you're insane. This has generally been the case throughout history (contrary to legend, both Newton and Einstein had rigorous formal educations) but it's even more true now, for the simple reason that most of the science that can be done by gifted amateurs has already been done. We know a lot about the way the universe works, and you have to know what we already know before you can add new knowledge into the mix. The romantic image of the lone amateur working away on some brilliant new conception of the universe that has so far eluded all those smart-ass PhD's with their books and fancy papers may be appealing, but the truth of the matter is, if that's the mold you try to fit, you're most likely to end up like these [timecube.com] guys [sollog.com].
Most other fields are somewhere in between. There are a lot of successful businessmen with lots of formal education, and others without. Skilled trades, as mentioned by the GP poster, are largely learned on the job -- but they also have a rigorous and largely formalized system of education within the trade; "apprentice", "journeyman", and "master" are words with well-understood meanings, and if you want to make your living as a plumber or electrician or carpenter you'd best understand them. Programming (to bring the discussion home) is also in between. There are a few self-taught genius hackers out there, but there are a lot more self-taught people who think they're genius hackers but whose code is absolute garbage. Etc.
Re:Learn it all for yourself. It's part of growing (Score:4, Funny)
Wow. I formally request that somebody smart follow that first link [timecube.com] and report back here, 'cause I'm just too dumb (apparently) to understand what that guy is trying to say. I don't even know the answer to the rhetorical questions, such as:
The second link [sollog.com] is easier, as the great prophet (and ebay entrepreneur) Sollog only offers wisdom upon payment of a nominal fee.
The internet has sure made life easier. I used to have to go looking for mimeographed sheets* stapled to telephone poles to find this kind of stuff.
* Usually 8.5x14, printed on both sides, 8- or 10-point type, with ADDITIONAL material scrawled into the margins. I once found a TWO sheet screed in San Angelo, TX on how various corporate logos SECRET CONTAIN THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST, but that was a rare find.
Re:Learn it all for yourself. It's part of growing (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Learn it all for yourself. It's part of growing (Score:3, Insightful)
Now I could continue blathering on about the other things some self taught people do, or we could just admit that both of our statements are hogwash, and that self taught people run the gamut just like
Re:Learn it all for yourself. It's part of growing (Score:5, Funny)
Very good point, and I totally agree, seriously. As the great Judge Smails has stated, "the world needs ditch diggers to".
Re:Learn it all for yourself. It's part of growing (Score:2)
The reason I did well in college was because I didn't go. It took a class full of people 3 weeks to understand an iteration. To me that was a
Advice from an Old AC to young whippersnappers (Score:2, Funny)
Okay... (Score:5, Funny)
I think that when the *very first word* in your story is misspelled, you should probably hand in your "Lil' Editors' Fun Club" membership card.
Well (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Well (Score:2)
I Wish... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:I Wish... (Score:2)
get a Roth IRA (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:get a Roth IRA (Score:2)
1. Your main advantage, taxes, are minimized because you are in the lowest tax bracket. Unless you don't intend increase your salary more than the standard increase your company/union gives you.
2. You won't know how the best way to invest in things. There is a good chance you won't make a good choice.
3. You might be better off paying off loans.
Re:get a Roth IRA (Score:2)
I agree that high schoolers have no clue about where to invest. A personal finance class should be required for all high-schoolers to graduate. Put it into a index fund if you have no clue. Move it when you have a clue if you think you can do better.
High-scho
Re:get a Roth IRA (Score:5, Insightful)
I assumed 10% return under two scenarios:
In the first $3000 is invested each year as a 15, 16, and 17 year-old, for a total of $9k put in. Then no more investing is done. At 65 you have $963,381.
Second scenario is starting to invest at 30 and putting in $3k per year until 65. A total of $108,000 is invested. At 65 you have $897,380.
The moral of the story? You can't afford not to put money away when you are young. Sacrifice early for long term gains.
Note that I am not suggesting that you stop after high school. I am suggesting that you start right now and not stop.
Re:get a Roth IRA (Score:5, Insightful)
how the fuck does a 15 year old acquire $3,000?
And how the fuck does he acquire another $3,000 the next year, and the next?
If you're in debt because of college, it's a fool's errand to invest unless you can get a much better interest rate than the one you're paying on your loans. Otherwise you'd be better off paying off the loans.
Oh -- and how the hell do you find a consistent 10% return on investment? The stock market historically returns 7%, and that's about as risky as anyone should get for the long-term.
Yes, compounding interest can be very impressive, and your numbers are very pretty. But they're also very unrealistic.
Re:get a Roth IRA (Score:3, Informative)
Re:get a Roth IRA (Score:3, Interesting)
Since when does having no debt make you rich? Seriously, you're classifying someone who has no money at all as rich simply because they don't have negative money?
Forget whether you're invested at 7% or not; if you have a car loan, credit card debt, and some other loans to boot, you're already stupid.
The house loan is fine though, assuming it's a 30 year fixed rate on a house that isn't much more than you need. Real estate generally at least holds its value, and you can live there.
Financial security is
Invest, not necessarily or at all in an IRA (Score:3, Interesting)
Even if its not enough for early retirement (and it probably would be by age 40 or 45), it might be a nice nest egg useful for starting a business, buying a home (outright, or nearly s
reading between the lines (Score:2, Funny)
Emminent computer scientist, author, painter, and dot-com millionaire, Paul Graham has written down the things he wishes somebody had told him when he was in high school in What You'll Wish You'd Known, suggesting, among other things, that students treat school like a day job, working on interesting projects to avoid what he has found to be the most common regret among adults of their high school days: reading Slashdot."
That's great (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:That's great (Score:3, Interesting)
I partially agree. The trick is to convince them that while it's mostly busy work, that's the point. Much of life is busy work - pay bills, wash car, mow lawn, wash dishes, get up in time for work, fill out reports, attend meetings, etc., etc. Busy work is part of life. High School is really (partially) about teaching you to do busy work - some of the actual knowledge will later turn out to be useful, some you'll never use aga
Mising the Point (Score:3, Insightful)
Not that partying and getting wasted are inherently bad things, but I will say that all the people I know who kept telling me "school is a waste of time" are working in grocery stores and casinos, so one can draw their own conclusions.
This seems more like another one of those bits of advice tainted by the rosy hue of nostalgia, and which better applies to adults. I definitely agree that, as an adult, it is imperative that you find something to do in your spare time that interests you. Otherwise the dull drudgery of the daily grind would begin to wear.
What I Wish (Score:5, Interesting)
After I got an A in College Algebra my senior year, I was sure I was ready for the CS curriculum in college. That first week of Calculus proved me wrong. What I learned later was that, despite my grades, I really didn't know math all that well.
That was 22 years ago. I've since picked up higher-level math on my own, but it would have been a lot easier if I'd been given the groundwork ahead of time.
What I'd Wish I'd Known (Score:4, Funny)
Re:What I'd Wish I'd Known (Score:2)
Funny comment aside, maybe you're the one that changed.
Re:What I'd Wish I'd Known (Score:5, Insightful)
Good advice to all you youngsters : a girlfriend in highschool/college is a completely different person after you both start to work and begin a serious (=boring) life
Re:What I'd Wish I'd Known (Score:4, Informative)
Re:What I'd Wish I'd Known (Score:5, Funny)
Einstein (Score:2)
In fact I suspect if you had the sixteen year old Shakespeare or Einstein in school with you, they'd seem impressive
I remember reading that Einstein was considered a "slow learner" back in school, so he wouldn't have been terribly impressive. Of course, that just goes to show that it doesn't really matter how "slow" people say you are, only you can realize your own true potential (as corny as it sounds...).
Re:Einstein (Score:2)
Urban legend. Einstein was an outstanding student.
Re:Einstein (Score:3, Informative)
From Wikipedia:
Re:Einstein (Score:3, Informative)
The popular image that men of eminence are learning disabled promotes an aura of romanticism around the learning disabilities (LD) field. Albert Einstein, arguably the greatest scientist of all time, is usually at the top of the list of famous dyslexics.
According to LD lore Einstein failed to talk until the age of four, the result of a language disability. It is also claimed that Einstein could not read until the age of nine. To strengthen their case LD proponents point to such facts
No wonder he was un-invited (Score:5, Insightful)
"There is some variation in natural ability"
No wonder his visit got the veto! That's public school sacriledge! Actually, it's bad news at Harvard now, too, apparently.
They told me. (Score:3, Insightful)
Go to a library (Score:5, Insightful)
More 'You Must Love Your Work' Brainwashing (Score:5, Insightful)
What you need to do is discover what you like. You have to work on stuff you like if you want to be good at what you do.
Why do our lives have to center around friggin' work? I would rather not work at all. And most people feel the same way, if they would just admit it. If we had the adequate resources, wouldn't we choose NOT to work at all, or just work a little bit?
So what is wrong with just admitting the truth?
Re:More 'You Must Love Your Work' Brainwashing (Score:4, Insightful)
Um... just who would be actually producing all of those adequate resources if everyone was choosing not to work?
Re:More 'You Must Love Your Work' Brainwashing (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:More 'You Must Love Your Work' Brainwashing (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:More 'You Must Love Your Work' Brainwashing (Score:4, Insightful)
What irritates me when I don't do anything for a long period of time is that I feel useless. I'm not saying that I am my job, but not having accomplished anything in a long period of time makes me feel that way.
If I had adequate resources, I'd honestly choose to work a little. That way, I'd have enough spare time to do what I want, and enough work to feel as if I've accomplished something.
Do I love my job? Sometimes, sometimes not. Depends on the moment you ask :) But it beats sitting in the couch watching TV all day feeling useless.
The Abolition of "Work" (Score:5, Interesting)
From his essay:
"Liberals say we should end employment discrimination. I say we should end employment. Conservatives support right-to-work laws. Following Karl Marx's wayward son-in-law Paul Lafargue I support the right to be lazy. Leftists favor full employment. Like the surrealists--except that I'm not kidding--I favor full unemployment. Trotskyists agitate for permanent revolution. I agitate for permanent revelry. But if all the ideologues (as they do) advocate work--and not only because they plan to make other people do theirs--they are strangely reluctant to say so. They will carry on endlessly about wages, hours, working conditions, exploitation, productivity, profitability. They'll gladly talk about anything but work itself. These experts who offer to do our thinking for us rarely share their conclusions about work, for all its saliency in the lives of all of us. Among themselves they quibble over the details. Unions and management agree that we ought to sell the time of our lives in exchange for survival, although they haggle over the price. Marxists think we should be bossed by bureaucrats. Libertarians think we should be bossed by businessmen. Feminists don't care which form bossing takes so long as the bosses are women. Clearly these ideology-mongers have serious differences over how to divvy up the spoils of power. Just as clearly, none of them have any objection to power as such and all of them want to keep us working."
Re:More 'You Must Love Your Work' Brainwashing (Score:3, Interesting)
I would rather work. I simply love what I do. I'm sure I could get away without working for the rest of my life, but I'd go up the wall within a few days. Ask most PhD students, they'll probably say the same. (Given how we're paid, we'd better love what we're doing!)
I think it's more of a difference in how you approach it. Today, in fact, I'm going to write part of a paper. It's not particularly fun, but by
Re:More 'You Must Love Your Work' Brainwashing (Score:5, Insightful)
"wasting time" (Score:5, Insightful)
It's only those obsessed with status & material wealth who get wrapped up in the notion that every worthwhile waking hour should be spent working on advancing careers and whatnot.
I agree (Score:3, Insightful)
I wish I had made more friends while in highschool / college. Instead i spent too much time alone. Either studying, playing videogames or chatting on irc. And now that I want to make new friends, I CAN'T. I work fulltime.
So, make sure you make friends in college. It might be your last chance.
wow (Score:2, Insightful)
But what's *wrong* with wasting time? (Score:3, Interesting)
Great Advice for Most High School Students (Score:3, Insightful)
If a high school student actually understands that statement it's pretty doubtful that they need to read that piece or need much academic direction at all.
FWIW (Score:2)
one word.... (Score:3, Funny)
How about Brevity?
(4324 words for chrissakes, and that excludes his footnotes!)
drink beer, smoke weed, and get laid (Score:4, Insightful)
What I plan to tell my kids (Score:5, Insightful)
Our primary advice to our kids will be: "It gets better."
High school will not be, and shouldn't be, "the best years of your life." People will be petty, people won't understand you. You've got to take it, and still treat other people with respect. (Even if you're smarter, you're not necessarily better -- if you're excluded, don't retreat to elitism.)
All that said, I'm not sure if "wasting time" is so bad. Young children should be encouraged to play freely, not subjected 100% to a rigorous schedule of pre-planned activities. Not sure how much that can or should carry over into teenage years.
Graham is advocating exploration of that which interests you -- in my mind, I should've been spending more time practicing social skills
Re:What I plan to tell my kids (Score:4, Insightful)
I wish I had realized sooner that the people I used to get that "best years" line from were always bitter old hags that seemed dissatisfied with their life.
Re:What I plan to tell my kids (Score:4, Insightful)
That's not advice, that's just a statement.
High school will not be, and shouldn't be, "the best years of your life." People will be petty, people won't understand you.
You are well-meaning, and that's important, but don't presume to know that your kids' experiences will be at all similar to yours. Kids can really surprise you, and yours may have a wonderful high school experience.
Re:What I plan to tell my kids (Score:5, Insightful)
As an old fart (25) in my first year of college, this is a serious understatement. I have met some unbelievely smart people. Students who are in Calc2 or linear Alegbra thier freshman year. Students who already have 3 years in two diffrent languages and aren't stopping. Unfortunatly, because thier entire life has been dictated by a schedual of classes, teachers and parents, these unbelievely smart people are incapable of making descions. They have gotten so used to being taught that they find it impossible to do something they haven't learned or to learn through trial and error. Which makes them useless.
You want a skill any employer wants? Do something that you have no clue how to do. Learn how to learn on the go. And stop asking your teacher for every little bit direction. Figure out how to figure out what your teacher wants without bugger them.
--Cam
Not bad (Score:2)
I'd argue two points:
1) I think goals are just as important as options. It's like a dialogue, really - find a goal you want that also gives you options. Options are nice, but goals are a good way to focus and plot progress.
2) Graduation speeches and such are all well and good. This is a nice one. But I'd argue our culture and our school system need to change, not just the speeches. Guidance counsellors have proven useless for me and my fri
When I was young... (Score:5, Funny)
Ford: Why, what did she tell you?
Arthur: I don't know, I didn't listen.
Complexity and the average high school student... (Score:2)
Wasted worry. (Score:2)
Bullcrap in "article" (Score:2)
This is absolutely, 100% incorrect. He is assuming that a graduate economics program would take a math student without any prior economics training (false). In addition, in order to be an e
Re:Bullcrap in "article" (Score:5, Insightful)
If you think that's an advanced math course, I have a whole world of excitement for you. Seriously, there's wonderful stuff out there that you haven't even gotten near.
I've observed that math is a really great thing to study if you want a lot of options. With a small amount of training, you can do almost anything, because you have the critical thinking skills and the rigorous framework to understand it. I'm not saying that a math major could apply to a PhD in economics and necessarily get in without any additional training, but that it wouldn't be hard to get that training. The PhD program might even be more than interested in accepting someone who they had to train. Going the other direction would be considerably more difficult.
Another interesting example is in finance. Financial companies hire physicists and mathematicians like crazy when they can get their hands on them (I've heard they also like theoretical computer sciences). Basically, they want people with advanced mathematical training, who they can direct at the problems of finance. From what I've seen, hiring the other direction would be very, very difficult.
Math is mind-broadening. There are so many different structures and models to apply to problems in other fields. I've seen quite a few people be very sucessful simply by understanding more math than `needed' by their field, and applying it.
Lea
Companion Essay: Why Nerds Are Unpopular (Score:3, Informative)
Why Nerds Are Unpopular [paulgraham.com]
His old essay explains why high school sucks. This new one explains what you can do about it.
Guy's smart... (Score:5, Insightful)
Oh, wait...
Kidding aside, this is powerful stuff. I prefer the sort of biographies James Burke does in ecxplaining history - you realize things aren't as cut and dried and holy as they seem.
I constantly tell my students and teachers that if they don't pay attention, when they get to college they'll realize what a piece of cake HS was, in grad school they'll realize how much easier undergrad was, when they get a job they'll long for the days of grad school, etc... but if they push and act like a demanding comsumer, each experience can be the best prep they can get for the next.
Demand. One of my former students who's now at CMU Robotics came back to present to current students - he showed off some of his work but then got to the heart of it - never let your teachers off the hook. If they give you a textbook answer, press them. If they say they don't know, the next thing out of their or your mouth should be 'let's find out how to find out'... Never take no for an answer from someone in charge of your future. The late Paul Brandwein used to talk about how ENcouraging students literally means increasing their courage, and DIScouraging students only serves to literally decrease their courage. You want courageous students (OK - hopefully just short of trying out for "Jackass" - but it's their skeletal system...) who truly believe they can make a difference.
I sat thru so many college courses taight by people who were a chapter ahead of us and considered themselves the World's Foremost Authority... During the 80s I could tell my computer students that the mass market software they were seeing was being done by people who had 6 months lead time and a stack of books that you too could buy. I referred them to ads asking for people with 5 years experience on technologies that were 5 years old.
The ones who saw thru the hype and had the courage and believed have done amazing things at all levels - from raising amazing kids to inventing things to changing a small corner of the world.
He forgot a few (Score:3, Funny)
2. Don't drop the soap in the shower after Gym.
3. If you don't get lucky by senior year: become a computer programmer.
4. Sex with the lunch lady doesn't count for #3.
Regret Sucks (Score:3, Interesting)
Not regret, it's useless. It only serves as a warning that it should be avoided in the future. It uses its' sidekick, embarrassment, to keep you from trying things you want to do, but are afraid to fail at. Embarrassment is overrated, it fades over time and can even become a source of humor, but regret stays forever.
Though maybe the only way to learn it is the hard way, what I wish I'd known is that you will never regret failing at something, you will only regret not having tried in the first place.
Listening to Rush, Playing D&D in school (Score:4, Insightful)
What would I want the teenage Me to know? That it'll all be just fine.
What else need be said?
Gotta learn from your own lessons (Score:3, Insightful)
I have TONS of things I wish I had done differently. But if someone (even myself) went back in a time machine and talked to me, I would have told you to screw off. After all, I was 18 years old, full of testosterone, and the smartest, hottest thing in the world. I wouldn't have listened, and even if I would have, it wouldn't have been the same.
I like what happened later. I learned from my mistakes. I learned a LOT. Freshman year of college was a huge learning experience for me, and even though I had my fair share of bumps in the road, had someone just handed me the book on how I like to be me, it wouldn't have developed me fully.
So learn from your own experiences - but learn quickly and don't waste too much time getting there. I could rant on and on about what you should and shouldn't do in college (actually there aren't many things you SHOULDN'T do :) -- but you will have to figure it out yourself for the best possible experience.
Wasting time is not a waste.... (Score:3, Insightful)
Time passes far too quickly, responsibilities appear all too unexpectedly.
I *prize* the time I "wasted" in my late teens/early twenties. I travelled, I developed life-long hobbies. I tinkered with technology and developed new skill sets. I learned a lot about what true friendship was (and wasn't).
I may have "buckled down" a bit later than many, but when I did I cinched that buckle tighter than I would have if I hadn't had a chance to mature at my own pace.Few people grow old and regret the fun they had as a kid.
What I wish I had known: (Score:3, Insightful)
I wish someone had told me to read Ayn Rand. (Score:3, Insightful)
My mom tells me I was reading by the time I was 1 1/2. I would sit in a big cardboard box filled with books, and spend the day reading. I remember being 3 years old, talking to a neighbor of ours who was a nurse, and having long, involved, scientific discussions about the human body. Life seemed like a great big toy that just kept growing the more you worked to uncover it.
Then I entered kindergarten.
Holy CRAP, was I ever unprepared for that! Instantly, I found myself on the receiving end of insults and other cruelties, coming from all angles. It had never occurred to me that something like that would happen. I had no idea how to deal with it. Needless to say, I ended up spending far more time with books (and later, my chemistry set & then my computer) than with the kids my age. I was interested in learning about the world, and the vast majority of them only seemed to care about bullying other people, consuming commercial entertainment products, and breaking rules. Even the other "nerds" acted this way and treated me horribly. I did everything I could think of to solve the problem, which mostly consisted of trying to be more like them, and to share their interests. That never worked, not even once: it's like they saw me coming from a mile away and knew I wasn't one of them and never would be.
Elementary school, middle school, and high school were the same -- major social ostracism. (College was a little better, in that there were more people like me, but there was still a massive contingent of the thuggish types.) I could not for the life of me figure out why so many people chose to act this way. How could they attach so much importance to appearance and social status? How could anyone possibly care so much about meaningless things, especially when there was a huge and interesting world out there to be discovered?
The problem persisted once I was out of college and in the workforce, but there was a new wrinkle. The same thuggish types were now working alongside me, ostensibly with the same qualifications I had, but their focus wasn't on doing their job competently or striving to be better...it was on faking their way through their job, goofing off, and stealing from the company. Worst of all, if they found someone like me who, just by existing, proved that they were bad people, they would tend to employ every low-life tactic imaginable to ruin my life. Four times, it rose to the level of getting me fired. Only once, in my early 30s, did I actually succeed against the thuggish types -- nearly all the people I butted heads with decided to leave the company, and I ended up as project lead! True, the 2 or 3 of us left had to do all the work by ourselves, but at least it got done competently. Unfortunately, the executives at that company were as gullible as the day was long, and fell for every con artist that came down the pike, and even though I and my small team improved our product to the point of creaming our competitors, the business end of things collapsed and took us with it.
Then my industry was hit by the dot-com crash and the offshoring trend...getting fired four times didn't help me either. As of this writing, I've been unemployed for 2 years, I live in the spare room of my mom's house, and earn pittances anywhere I can -- fixing people's computers, "handyman" stuff, lots and lots of painting, and other grinding sorts of work. And that, for me, has been the final blow. Over the years, I've had to give up on popularity, on friendship, on happiness, and on hope, but at least I had my employability. Now that's gone. I worked my ass off and kept my nose clean, and have less to show for it that someone that spent their life partying. All I have left are my brains and integrity, and frankly, they don't appear to have any value in this world.
I've been reading a lot lately, catching up on the books that I bought but never read. Finally, I got around to reading Ayn Rand. I started by seeing the movie version of The Fountainhead, then I read Atlas
Re:i should have (Score:2)
Re:Very good article (Score:4, Interesting)