If I could revisit / re-run a chunk of my schooling:
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Second time's the charm... (Score:3)
I'd like to do high school again, but not get expelled this time...... B)
Re:Second time's the charm... (Score:3)
Really? I was kicked out for the entirety of 11th and 12th grade. Instead of wasting my time in class from 7-3 I had a tutor who would drop off assignments, administer tests, and answer any questions I had for about 4 hours or so each week. I took the same tests the kids in regular classes did and my grades actually improved, plus I had time to do things I actually cared about.
I ended up finishing undergraduate and graduate school with honors. If I had been stuck in that shithole who knows what prison I'd be in now.
college (Score:3)
Re:college (Score:3)
Re:college (Score:2)
Re:College: If I knew then what I know now..... (Score:2)
Youth Wasted on the Young Me (Score:3, Insightful)
I'd rerun College because at the time, I didn't know how great I had it.
Yes, I could barely make ends meet. Yes, I was working a full-time job *and* studying engineering full-time. Yes, I was building up massive debts. I couldn't wait to graduate, get a real salary, and afford to eat and own a car.
But you know what? I still partied my ass off, climbed up mountains, skiied down them, shagged like a rabbit, and smoked enough weed to incapacitate a basketball team.
Then I graduated, got a real job, started working 12-16 hour days almost immediately, and eventually gained 100lbs, got married and had a kid. I can't do any of that fun shit now... well, except for skiing.
If I could go back and tell myself one thing, it would be to enjoy it, stop worrying, and maybe even go to grad school. (Alright, that's three things...)
Re:Youth Wasted on the Young Me (Score:2)
Well, you could had not gotten married, have kids, etc. [grin]
Re:Youth Wasted on the Young Me (Score:3)
You have an impressionable and rebellious mind. Neither "Married With Children" nor Satanism are good religions.
Re:Youth Wasted on the Young Me (Score:3)
I'm still waiting for the money to eat a car as well :-/.
...sorry
Re:Youth Wasted on the Young Me (Score:4, Insightful)
You could get a job that treats you like a human being.
Re:Youth Wasted on the Young Me (Score:3)
Sounds like you'd rather relive it than redo it. I was all serious during my university years, 19-24. And when not serious, then bum ass lazy. If I could go back in time, I'd tell myself to live a lot more and not act as if it's all a transport leg. I suppose I can't really complain too much because that me set the current me up rather good financially and career-wise, but in retrospect he was an idiot. An extremely smart idiot in a top school with very good grades, but an idiot none the less. I guess both of us put together show that it doesn't matter if you did or didn't, you'd like to go back and tell yourself to enjoy it more either way.
Re:Youth Wasted on the Young Me (Score:3)
I went this route. Did a McJob part time and through the summer, took the bus, made my own lunches, partied very little.. and as a result came out _almost_ debt free (couldn't quite do it).
Looking back, if I absolutely had to do it again (I've posted somewhere else why I wouldn't want to) ... I think I'd go the route of the parent. In reflection, university could have been a lot more fun... and I see people who went through it like that, and minus a few years of paying off loans, they are no worse for wear.
As was said, it's really the only time of most peoples life where you can get away with that kinda stuff. I kinda feel shafted that I didn't make the most of it and spent most of my time working/studying, which I was quite proud of at the time. It's kind of like hear about "that guy" who half assed it all through school and is now in a better job than you are. Kinda pisses you off that in the end, being a "good student" meant very little after just a few years out in reality.
Redo My Parents (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm finally trying to get that education, but it's tough in middle age.
Re:Redo My Parents (Score:4, Interesting)
It is tough going back to school in your later years. Not that the school is tough. if anything, it is easier. I had more life experience to make the lessons relevant.
However, the degree I received was almost unmarketable (Business Admin). Entry level jobs just are not open to older students and graduates. Further, people look at your resume and see a progression of "work" jobs and assume that the applicant is not capable of any "think and communicate" jobs.
In my case I have over over ten years of experience in technical service work: fixing large copiers, high volume printers, and the like. Of course I also have the IT training and experience that goes with that skill-set.
I then returned to college and got my MBA. The result is that I remain virtually unemployable. People who want technical workers specifically DO NOT want people who understand the business side of business; and people who want MBAs' do not want technical experience.
I happen to know that I am not alone. There are a surprisingly large number of people who have "good degrees" that are, at best, working for near minimum wage.
I hope you the best; but, if you are thinking of returning to college in, or past, your late thirties, don't quit your regular job. You may, very well, find yourself in the middle where no one will touch you.
Re:Redo My Parents (Score:2)
It wasn't so much my parents the people, but their divorce and my subsequent adolescence without a male role-model. I switched to a vocational school and loathed the very idea of higher education. (Oddly they were both educators)
Now I'm almost 50 and getting my B.S. next year. I'm trying to emphasize to my kids how good an idea it is to get a degree while they're young and how hard it is later.
Can I change anything? (Score:2)
Do I just get the wisdom?
Or am I to just sit back and watch as I go through school?
Re:Can I change anything? (Score:2)
Yeah, I voted based on "knowing what I know now, I would..." In high school I was not only smart, but had a body reasonably endowed for athletics, was relatively handsome, and fun to be around. But I didn't know that; i thought I was a geek and a dork no one would like, and the only thing interesting about me was my brain. So I acted a bit dorky and hung out with dorks. I also thought that getting A's was all that was required of me academically; and since that didn't take much effort, I didn't spend much time studying.
If I could go back I would
Re:Can I change anything? (Score:2)
If it's the go-back-and-change-things option, then I'd probably pick junior high (middle school?), but if it's go back and re-run w/o changes, I'm going to shock people because I'd probably pick high school. We moved to a college town when I entered high school, so being smart wasn't anywhere near as much of a social handicap as it had been in Jr. High, and that, combined with the fact that I was able to learn from my mistakes in Jr. High meant that High School was a great experience for me. College would be my second choice for an unmodified re-run, but I had a couple of bad breakups in college that I'm not excited about re-living.
UK or US college? (Score:2)
I am guessing that the poll's "college" option is based on the US meaning, in other words equivalent to UK university level.
In the UK we finish school at 16 but many people go on to do another two years of college and then three or four years of university.
Re:UK or US college? (Score:2)
Re:UK or US college? (Score:2)
Scotland doesn't have "6th form" like in England (two years). We have a "6th year" which is the year after 5th year in Secondary school.
In my day, You could get accepted into university on the results of your "Highers" (taken in 5th year). O Grades/Standard Grades were taken in 4th year (15 to 16 years old).
6th year was for doing more Highers (I did 5 in 5th year and got accepted into university) if you wanted or things called "Certificate of Sixth Year Studies" which were roughly equivalent to A-Level standard. Although, looking at this year's English A-Level Maths, I did harder stuff for Standard Grade when I was 15 back in 1990.
I should not have stayed on for 6th year. That was a huge mistake. I got 3 As and 2 Bs for my Highers aged 16 and was unconditionally accepted to University to study Astrophysics.
The extra year at school was soul-destroying and I developed clinical Depression that has followed me everywhere since and my academic decline began.
I felt very frustrated in 6th year at school both by the stupid pupils I had to endure (in my year and below) and the petty, small-minded ignorant and bigoted teaching staff.
I was also working (too hard) part-time in a fascist supermarket amongst idiots which helped to grind me down physically and mentally. I was sleep-deprived and disillusioned.
If I had my time again, I'd have listened less to the small-minded "adults" around me and taken my own direction. I could have used that year much more productively.
Re:UK or US college? (Score:2)
Re:UK or US college? (Score:2)
In America you get a college education after high school, which would be right around 15-17 depending on your birthdate and other various timing issues. A college is a school, which may be a subset of a university, which is made up of several colleges, or it may be a smaller standalone educational facility that is just a generic higher education or more specific towards a specific career goal.
For instance, a high school graduate here, could enroll at NC state university, college of engineering ... or at the local generic community college which is general purpose and not specializing in anything such as engineering. The could also just go to NC state and take generalized classes with no focus, and no specific college they would attend, but still take classes from any of those colleges ... assuming they don't want a specific degree. Degrees require specific programs to be followed (naturally). I for instance with no concern for the degree however take one or two classes every year in things I just want to learn about, but it'll never get me a degree unless I enroll in a specific college and perform the required work, and if I wait too long, the classes I take now won't be counted towards it.
Our local community college recently changed its name to a university, because it now offers multiple colleges internally, for specific career paths rather than just general education after high school.
In general terms however, most people think of college as a small university, and don't think of colleges as subparts of universities themselves. Its probably that most Americans (which haven't been to college/uni) would not actually be able to tell you theres a difference, some would say size, but most wouldn't know, and almost all would be probably wrong by the actual definitions people in colleges and universities would use.
Re-do or re-experience? (Score:2)
Re:Re-do or re-experience? (Score:5, Informative)
I quite enjoyed my time at University (in the UK, is that called college in the USA?), and wouldn't mind doing it again. Not becuase of poor results (I did well), just because the experience was great. But selected "I did it right the first time" because, well, I did, and that poll option implies the question is just about trying to get different grades.
"Going to college" in the US generally means attending a 4-year institution that grants Bachelors degrees (but it could grant other degrees, too). You would generally start "college" after a 13 year process of kindergarten, elementary school, middle school or junior high, and high school (these terms vary a lot by region). Most kids starting college at this point are 17 or 18 years old, since most of them started kindergarten at 5.
Although you could probably get a 2-year Associates degree from "college," a school that only grants 2 year degrees would be called a "junior college," "JuCo," "Community College" or the like. Junior College students also frequently transfer to Universities after 2 years to complete a 4 year degree. There are also 2 and 4 year tech schools that often have "Institute" in the name -- but they could call themselves a "University", too. Funny, right? If you go to "college" you generally mean you're not going to somewhere with "college" in the formal name . . .
If you're getting your Masters or Doctorate, you'd probably say you were "in grad(uate) school".
Oh, curiously, most of the schools where you would "go to college" in the US would have "University" in the name. ("Where are you going to college this fall, Jimmy?" "University of Iowa"). A "university" usually grants degrees in more than one field and is made up of more than one "school" or "college" ("school of journalism", "college of liberal arts and sciences".)
And for the pedants -- and you know who you are -- there are exceptions to everything I've said. There are regional differences I haven't accounted for. There are other educational paths to follow. Primary and secondary education policies and practices vary from state to state. This is not a complete or exhaustive description of higher education in the US. I do not endorse the University of Iowa. Really, it's not my school, it was just an example. No, really.
Do it all over...home school (Score:2)
I got cancer in the 2nd Grade, if I could go back, I would have home schooled with my grandmother (she was a CPA, trained to be a teacher) and my uncle (private pilot, instructor pilot, engineer), at least until I got over the cancer, then transferred to a different district for Jr High and High School.
They wanted me home schooled, but there wasn't a lot of resources back in the early 80s to do it, so I went to a very crappy public school on the Reservation.
Re:Do it all over...home school (Score:2)
I hate you.
I just noticed your nick, so I decided to go read some info on Wyatt Earp ... 4 fucking hours later ... I hate you and I hate the life sucking the Internet can do to you!
Just kidding of course :)
I did want to say you're probably the only one who'll post here that would go back for something other than pathetic reasons.
I'd go back just cause I could take advantage of all the knowledge I have now to have more fun then, others would go back (or wouldn't) because 'i didn't fit in in school and it sucked', which of course EVERYONE felt like that. You seem to have a completely understandable reason to want to go back.
I dropped out (Score:2)
I dropped out during my second junior year of high school. School doesn't work for me. I did well in the honours classes, but I was getting poor grades elsewhere. It was extremely hard trying to get by when I couldn't concentrate, could no longer force myself to keep up on homework, and started falling farther and farther behind. It left me stressed out and depressed all the time.
After dropping out I began educating myself. I read a lot. The rise of Wikipedia has been wonderful. I miss having a teacher who can explain things when I get stuck or need direction, but those problems are much smaller than the trouble I was having in school. I'm glad I got through Algebra II, Physics, and Chemistry, but it was at a very great cost to my mental health. I know I have gaps in my knowledge, and I certainly haven't learned as much higher math as my intended course through college would have given me. On the other hand, my knowledge and skills are much more diverse than a degree program would have given me. It's been a fair trade.
I'm a decade and a half into this and I'm still learning. My lack of a college degree has never come up in a job interview. Perhaps my resume has been tossed out more often, but I think at this point experience counts far more than credentials.
I have never regretted dropping out, though I sometimes wish I had done so sooner.
Re:I dropped out (Score:2)
Dude. I really thought you were trolling, lauding Wikipedia and taking a jab at school. I am confused, but will say that if you don't have the perseverance to grind out a college degree or at very, very least a high school diploma, there is very little chance of being able to hold down a job of any sort of complexity. Self control, forecasting, setting / reaching goals, teamwork...you name it...these things seem trivial, but play a vital role in any career.
Joke is on me if I missed the whoosh...joke is on you if that was a honest post.
Re:I dropped out (Score:3)
Education is not supposed to be endured to prove you could do it to a future manager. If that is why you are advocating it, you ought to be locked up. As a country we do not spend billions of dollars on universities and schools to give HR a brain-dead method of "weeding out" people. We spend those billions on the idea (but I say lie) that education somehow helps the person going through it. Either way, though, it proves nothing. You can very easily have self-control and all the other elements you list having never gone to an education institution, and perhaps shockingly, most of the greatest thinkers in history avoided and often openly disdained organization education. You can similarly cheat your way through a degree in almost any field.
People like you are why I think we need to cut government funding to universities. The easy availability of degrees has made the brain-dead of out society believe they somehow prove something about a person, and that if you don't have one, you are worthless. That needs to stop. We need to stop wasting 4-8 years of our brightest citizens' lives on proving a point, at the cost of the tax payer, to morons like you.
Re:I dropped out (Score:2)
People like me earned scholarships, degrees, jobs, and income. We too think the American education system is awful, but played our hands regardless. I earned a math degree; I didn't cheat.
My wife and I still live in the town of our alma mater. She is a CPA and I develop banking software, in a setting with a gigantic talent pool due to the university. Honestly, between that and this sluggish economy, it is tough to get a job mowing lawns without a high school diploma. We have paid off our college debts, own our vehicles, and have a rugrat on the way. Not morons...opposite of that in fact.
While commendable, your altruistic approach regarding education is a joke. Put yourself in a situation whereas you had to hire somebody to perform a task. Assume you had to hire somebody else to staff that position. What sort of criteria would you suggest they use as a baseline? Say what you will about a college fucking degree, but you at least know that a college fucking degree holder has some level of mental competence and drive. Unless you are willing to hold something akin to an open casting call for a job, you may be hard-pressed to find something that is a more adept gauge of general competence. Pass these hurdles...then dig further.
In case you and the other star fleet dipshits want some ammo for future reference, the whole shtick about learning more on the job than in school is a good one with which to stick. Also, the whole 'jump in and actually do some coding' thing as all sorts of merit. Stick with those.
Re:I dropped out (Score:2)
I would compare it to advertizing - one company spends a million on TV ads, so another has to spend a million to counter it... the only people who win are the people selling ad space, and the people losing most are those who didn't have a million sitting around to spend.
If degrees did not exist, no one would advocate they should, and even the most insane would not think to suggest they exist as they do. The current system is just a remnant of something that used to serve a purpose, and now does little but widen class gaps and waste productivity. You defend the system only because, having already gone through it, you stand to lose if it ceased to be. There is nothing altruistic or indeed reasonable about your position: it is just pathetic self-righteousness. You go around belittling people for not having bowed to the same useless hurdles you have. Yes, you are a moron, and I don't think any letters after your name prove otherwise; your words speak louder than they possibly could.
Re:I dropped out (Score:2)
Re:I dropped out (Score:2)
You earned a degree; it came with some knowledge. I earned some knowledge; it didn't come with a piece of paper, but I'm OK with that. Please don't treat me like I'm freeloading, though. I also put years of hard effort into cramming knowledge into my brain.
The degree shows that you can grind through years of tedium imposed by a bureaucracy. I'm not knocking this - it's a valuable capability which I do not have, and which is essential in many jobs. I avoid those jobs because it won't work out well for anyone.
My education shows that I am a self-starting, self-motivating, natural learner. Your degree does not show this one way or another. My resume shows it clearly from the things I have accomplished. I seek jobs that need these virtues, and employers who recognise and value them.
I think you're mistaken that there's any correlation between degrees and success in the latter kind of role. But clearly I'm biased so you can dismiss whatever I say. :)
Re:I dropped out (Score:2)
Nope, no joke.
In school I was bored out of my skull. I'd read the book, I'd get it, and then every day it's just busywork trying to drill the concepts into me after I already got it. Sure, the slowest guy in the class needed it, but it was /killing/ me. Why should I keep pursuing that path? I switched to one that works for me: buy the books, work at my own pace. I passed the GED with high marks a few months later.
One problem I have in higher education is when I don't know enough to realise I'm only learning one section of a field. WP isn't the source of all knowledge, but it's a great way to prevent a great way to get a high level overview of a subject before I delve into it, and it's prevented that problem several times for me.
I'm not cut out for processing schoolwork, and I would fail in a career doing drone work. If I got a job as a filing clerk, I would crash and burn. I take jobs where I can do actual problem solving and apply my creativity. And as such, I have a great career. I have a lot of experience now, and I have no problem getting and keeping jobs. Yes, involving complex tasks (architecture and design), meeting goals (successful multi-year projects), and teamwork (as a team lead).
The default route didn't work for me. The alternate path has, and I'm living a great life. Why is that impossible to believe?
Re:I dropped out (Score:2)
The fact that you're too ignorant to realize what you've missed out on by dropping out is mind blowing.
I was on the brink of suicide before I dropped out. I'm doing great now. I have a solid career and have never been laid off even in the crappiest times. I'm acutely aware of what I've missed. There are big holes in my knowledge that will not be filled. I would have enjoyed a few years in the dorms living the college life. I'm jealous of those things, but I do not regret missing them, because I know that it would have literally killed me.
Look at the big picture: I enjoy what I do and it pays well. I have great friends. I'm enjoying life. What more can I ask for?
If no one has asked you about a college degree ... ever ... then you've never actually worked anywhere that matters, or your lying.
It's the flat honest truth. I expect it would be different if I spammed my resume to every job listing, but I don't do that. Most jobs I've had I was recruited by employees, so the interviews are about interpersonal skills, not background. I don't know what you consider a company that "matters" to be, but my ride includes tiny startups, stable operations, companies that soared-then-crashed, and megacorps that everyone has heard of.
It's come up later of course. I have an unusually broad skill set and it makes people curious. I tell the truth, and other than being surprised and usually even more curious for a bit, it's never really come up again, and I've never had work relationships go sour over it.
I might be wrong about some of it, but your either a liar or an ignorant fool, either way, you're not nearly as bad ass as you're trying to tell us you are.
Parents, teachers, TV, magazines... Everyone's telling you to stay in school or you'll be a failure. Perhaps that's true for most people, but I failed in the system, and thrived after I got out. That doesn't take badass superhuman skills. It just requires self-motivation and a desire to learn.
Re:I dropped out (Score:2)
If no one has asked you about a college degree ... ever ... then you've never actually worked anywhere that matters, or your[sic] lying
I have a PhD in computer science, but I don't think I've ever had any work as a result of either of my degrees. I've only been asked to provide evidence of either degree twice: Once when I did some teaching at the university that awarded my PhD and once when I applied for a job that I didn't get. Most of the work that I've done - writing and consulting - I've got based on other work that I've done, not based on my qualifications. I've got consulting work based on my open source work and I've got writing work by having a portfolio of published material, the earliest of which I did for a now-failed startup in exchange for shares, effectively meaning that I did it for free.
I did both of my degrees because they seemed fun, and I don't regret either (I sometimes consider going back and doing another PhD in a different field) but neither was really essential to my career.
Comment removed (Score:2)
Re:A Levels (Score:2)
I had a similar experience. I got 3 A*s, 7As and one B at GCSE. Not the best results in the school, but in the top 5%, which is pretty comfortable. A-levels, I just found very boring. I only got 2 Bs, 2Cs. I didn't get into my first choice university as a result. In hindsight, that was probably a good thing: I think I did better at a slightly weaker university, where I had a lot of free time and could get involved more in student activities (I was running 3 student societies in my second year), go to lectures outside my field (I went to some very interesting lectures on propaganda in the politics department - the lecturer was quite disappointed when he discovered I wasn't actually enrolled on the course), and explore the bits of my chosen subject that were not covered in lectures, and still get a first, and later a PhD.
Looking back, if I'd got better A-level results, I'd probably have gone to Cambridge, but I doubt I'd then have gone on to do a PhD. I've just finished writing my fourth book, but I only made contact with my publisher via my involvement in the XMPP standards process, which only happened because I had a lot of free time as an undergrad. If I'd been busier with academic work, none of that would have happened. I probably wouldn't have learned to dance the tango either...
I was really disappointed with my A-level results at the time, but I'm quite pleased with where that failure led me: to a house overlooking the sea, where I work only on projects that I find interesting, and periodically get invited to travel elsewhere to give talks.
None of the above (Score:2)
I got expelled from high school three times, so that's as far as I got, but my experience was that schooling is anything but "book learning". The books you could read were censored and academic work mostly consisted of regurgitating what you were told.
Re:None of the above (Score:2)
"regurgitating what you were told" was my beef with English Lit. We'd be given a book, and I'd read it cover to cover in a day or two, chew it over for a week, and form my own opinions and interpretations. Those were almost always different from the "official" ones in some companion book that I refused to read on principle.
Needless to say, I scraped a marginal pass every term, and I'm sure that's only because the teacher didn't have the heart to fail me. But I deeply resented, and still deeply resent, being told what to think by someone with a book to sell.
Yes, I should have been a good little sheep and played the game properly. But I don't care about that; I'd rather do over and figure out the whole social interaction thing. Sociable geeks are dangerous :)
Re:None of the above (Score:2)
some companion book that I refused to read on principle.
And what principle is that? That no one elses opinions or ideas on anything matters but your own? Or is it that they could not possibly have a different view point than your own? You know all there is to know about what the author of the book was thinking when the wrote it? Clearly you must if only your opinion is the one that matters.
Of course, you refused to read it ... so how the fuck do you know what they were thinking? Did you or didn't you read it? Doesn't go both ways, they are mutually exclusive. Did you read it and disagree so you pretend you didn't read it ... or did you not read it with the excuse that it was telling you what to think even though you have no fucking clue whats inside?
being told what to think by someone with a book to sell.
So ... you're too stupid to know the difference between reading someone else opinion and interpretation of a book, and when someone is telling you what to think?
What do you think of book clubs where people pick a book to read each week then sit down and talk about what they think various bits mean? Just the very thought of that must make your head just explode, eh? All those other peoples ideas and opinions ... its gotta be a living hell for you, just the thought of it alone must be scary.
The whole point to those sorts of assignments is for you to form your own opinion and then see how someone else has a different perspective and forms a different conclusion from that.
You don't have principles you have ignorance and arrogance, perhaps if you'd had a little less of either one then you'd have a lot less of both now. Instead of learning from others, you did the exact opposite, and it even offends you that others think differently.
Your life must suck ass if something as minor as someone else's personal opinion makes you so resentful. They make medication for that. I'm serious, you're clearly one of those people that struggles so hard to hate the man that you end up hating everything and not knowing why. Typically that ends when the hormones die down after puberty, but sometimes, like your case apparently, you'll need medication to balance it all out. You sir have an unhealthy fear of being exposed to other peoples opinions and ideas.
Re:None of the above (Score:2)
I have no regrets (Score:2)
Would I have done some things differently in hindsight. Maybe. But it made me who I am, and overall I enjoyed a pretty good education combined with enough goofing around. I wouldn't want to do it over again, I'd end up making the same choices probably anyway, because of who I am.
Re:I have no regrets (Score:2)
That's why I voted Elementary school, just because they had recess.
Really sucked coming to the US after a few years in an international school abroad, only to find out that they had gotten rid of recess, and none of the kids actually played schoolyard games with each other anymore.
Alcohol (Score:3)
Re:Alcohol (Score:2)
I've been having a lot of similar dreams lately. Mainly, I'm back in high school/college and it's coming up on finals. I step into a classroom with a week to go realizing I've never shown up to that class. You get that futile feeling that it doesn't matter how much you cram, you missed all the course work and have a 0. No hope.
I did just get transferred to a new project at work, maybe it's my fear of not being qualified or whatever that's got my subconscious freaking out.
Re:Alcohol (Score:2)
You know, the one where there's an exam tomorrow and you don't remember ever having gone to class.
That's almost exactly like my dream. Except it's not math, it's 7th grade English. And in the dream I'm my usual 31-year old self. And I pass the test, because of course a 31-year old can pass a 7th grade English exam. Also, I'm naked.
But still, pretty much same dream.
Re:Alcohol (Score:2)
That wasn't a dream. You never did go to that class, it interfered with the parties and drinking.
Re:Alcohol (Score:2)
I actually did have almost that experience. I turned up at school one morning during my A-levels to revise for the exam in the afternoon, and then discovered that I had an exam for a different subject - that I thought was still a week away - that morning. My performance wasn't exactly stellar in either exam.
At university, I discovered that I did better in exams if I was relaxed. This had a much stronger correlation with success than how much I had revised. I adopted a strategy of stopping revising for a subject two days before the exam. The night before, I'd have a drink or two and chill with friends. Half an hour before the exam, I'd do some quick revision to fill my short-term memory with things. Revision beyond that was largely useless: if you haven't learned the material in the previous ten weeks, you probably won't put it in your long term memory in a couple of days in the run up to exams.
I'd rerun my life since age 9 (Score:2)
I'd rerun my life since age 9. Not because I don't think my life up till now was bad or heading the wrong way, but simply because I'd have a way different stance to any bully getting pissy with me and a few other trials coming my way. I'd also take on a different responsibility towards the things I do and approach. I'd probably also be able to handle the divorce of my parents better yet.
Oh, and I'd handle my art training differently, more self-aware and I'd cash in big on the first dotcom craze by building some shoddy web development shack and selling it for a bazillion dollars. :-)
They were all torture (Score:2)
grade school: homely
junior high: ugly
high school: fugly
university: ugly
If I had to choose it would be grade school since it was the least torture.
A better foundation (Score:2)
For me it's college. I found my passion and career 2nd part of my freshman year when I walked into the "computer room" at my school. Just a bunch of terminals hooked to a PDP 11/45, but writing my first program in RATFOR, learning C, Pascal and assembler was a blast. Unfortunately I was also struggling with some mighty personal issues at the same time and dropped out my fourth year. It was easier then to get a job in IT without a degree so I started from the bottom and have done okay to date.
These days I ponder if my career would have been that much different with a degree. I've never been management material, I still enjoy designing writing code and have the dollars and time to enjoy life. Yet I live more in fear these days for my position (downsized twice) even though I continue to stay current on languages and technology. Since we cannot go back I carry one with no regrets for the past, but try to apply the lessons learned to hopefully have a positive future.
High School Isolation (Score:2)
High School was tough for me. I moved to a rural area after living in a city suburb, my freshman year, and so I knew nobody, was shy, and the kids weren't really inclined to be friendly, and I was plenty awkward. I was one that didn't fit in. I would love to redo those days just to have the confidence that I was on the right path by putting my education about all the distractions and popularity contests that were ongoing in that time. I think of all the kids like me that were just wanting a little friendship or kindness, and I wish I'd been more outgoing--willing to reach out to the strange kids--sure we were awkward, there's puberty, hormones, a lot of confusing labels get put on you, and we all had stuff to work out--but with a little perspective, the bullies and jerks in High School could've easily be put in their place, rather than keeping us isolated and wondering if we were going to survive from day to day. There were days when I would wish my future self could go back in time and tell my immature self that things would be okay.
Going to college and discovering that the young adults there actually were there to learn was a HUGE confidence booster for me. I was suddenly in heaven.
Re:High School Isolation (Score:2)
High School was tough for me. I moved to a rural area after living in a city suburb, my freshman year, and so I knew nobody, was shy, and the kids weren't really inclined to be friendly, and I was plenty awkward. I was one that didn't fit in.
Other than having moved ... you were no different than anyone else in high school ... EVERYONE is shy and feels awkward and thinks they don't fit in. You weren't unique, you just weren't as good at faking it. It was no harder for you than anyone else. Trust me, you aren't special, I never attended a full school year in the same school until my senior year of high school.
More details needed (Score:2)
Are we talking about going back into the past to rerun school, or being 16 again in a modern highschool with todays technology?
I figure I would get better results in essay type subjects if I could use a computer wordprocessor, than I could back in the 70's when I had to write by hand.
However going back into the past with todays knowledge would be useful, you could bet on sports, invest in the stock market etc and make yourself very rich. Who cares about schooling.
re-do college and NOT go $50k into debt! (Score:2)
I loved my college experience at RIT. I learned a TON of stuff and had great teachers, classes, and classmates.
But was it worth my grandparents spending my inheritance, my parents getting a second mortgage and the government saddling me with $50k of my own student loan debt? NO! I'll be lucky if I can afford to buy a house before I'm 40.
Never go into debt for your education. Never ever ever. It is not worth it. I could have done just as well at the community college.
Re:re-do college and NOT go $50k into debt! (Score:2)
I went into $80k of debt at RPI. Paid it off in under three years, and am now living quite comfortably on a six figure income with no debt in my mid-twenties. It's well worth it if you go to a good school for a valuable major. As with any investment, you have to consider what your ROI is going to be. If you're just going to school for the parties, don't. You can go to plenty of parties in the Real World (tm), and they're a hell of a lot cheaper.
PTSD (Score:2)
I'd so redo it if I could. Differently. And not in that bloody school.
Wouldn't redo school (Score:2)
But I wouldn't mind redoing what I did after school.
I spent so much time being bored that I could have spent learning to work on cars, shooting, camping, rock climbing, performance driving, playing guitar - all the hobbies I now try to spend my free time doing that I hadn't developed yet when I was in high school.
Bus rides suck. (Score:2)
Riding the bus sucked and I didn't do no learnin in skool anyhow.
Missing Option: High School AND College - At once (Score:2)
Oh how I wish I'd done that!
Middleschool (Score:2)
Re:Middleschool (Score:2)
Depends... (Score:2)
High School (Score:2)
That being said, I'm pretty satified with who I am now, so I can't really complain.
Comment removed (Score:2)
Prerequisite knowledge (Score:2)
Hm. If I had all the knowledge I had now, I'd say none of it. Because that'd be boring. I'd already know everything I was being taught, but I'd still have to be in the classes? Even if I just skipped the classes themselves, that'd screw up a LOT more than it'd help, I'd think. I'd probably wind up a smug asshole and alienate even the few friends I had then.
But, if it were more similar to taking me, with my knowledge of the time, and re-running it with only a few slight hints from my future self (like, say, "although you live close enough to reasonably commute, spend the money and move on to campus instead, it'll be a lot better all around", not something specific like "avoid this one exact girl"), that's a different matter, and I'd pick college. Though I try not to be bitter about it or whatnot ("try" being the operative word), I do sometimes wonder what would've happened if I changed just a few key choices in my life, and college seems like the most likely nexus in that respect for me.
Re:Prerequisite knowledge (Score:2)
If I had all the knowledge I had now, I'd say none of it. Because that'd be boring.
Why? If I went back to university with the knowledge of someone with a PhD in computer science, I'd enrol in a course like economics or philosophy, or something else just for fun, as well, do all of the CompSci coursework for a term in a single weekend, and graduate with two degrees.
None of the above (Score:2)
In SEVENTH FUCKING GRADE, you know what we did for an entire semester in math class? We studied the addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division of FUCKING FRACTIONS. You know how we went about it? Playing with fucking colored wooden blocks. As I recall, a green octahedron was a whole, and a red half-octahedron was a half, and we would put the little blocks together to show what happened when you added fractions. Further, that teacher didn't count off points for missed answers, because, and this is a direct fucking quote, "checkmarks lower self-esteem." I shit you not. If you put some scribbles down on a page and numbered them in order, you would get a 100%, same as the person who knew what the fuck they were doing. My Algebra II teacher (the one who couldn't add single digit numbers) also spent the first semester of the class reviewing fucking addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division of fractions. Why? Because none of the students knew how the fuck to do it. That's right, sophomores, juniors, and seniors enrolled in an advanced algebra class had no idea how to work with fractions. The reason? Because they had those same shitty teachers as me, because the administration only cared about getting good scores on standardized tests, so they didn't give a fuck if the kids knew a damn thing at the end of the year, so long as they knew it at test time. That same algebra teacher allowed, encouraged, even, her students to bring cheat sheets with formulas in for the tests. Said everyone could us a 1 square inch cheat sheet, which, given a half-decent printer at the time could hold everything for the semester.
As to the standardized testing, my high school was doing so shitty that the administration decided to have test "prep" sessions before third period. Guess what that meant? I got to spend the first 15 minutes of every single fucking chemistry class reviewing the meaning of "subject" and "predicate" in grammar, because none of the fucks I went to school with had ever managed to wrap their heads around the concept (my older friend, who had AP English 3rd period, was forced to do the same...). And I'm talking Dick and Jane style examples here. Of course, when we weren't wasting chemistry class reviewing second grade subject matter, we didn't study chemistry anyway. The teacher wanted to be popular with the cool kids (serious lost-youth syndrome there), so she let the preppies run the show, which meant linking up a bunch of gameboy colors and having tetris tournaments, loudly yelling at each other, throughout class. I ended up stealing chemical samples and equipment from the lab in a bid to do some self-study so I wouldn't be completely fucking clueless. So, all I learned in that class was how to be a sneaky thief (the most useful skill I picked up in high school).
The
High School was Bullshit (Score:2)
High school was a bunch of bullshit. The only thing good I got out of it was a love of English. Other than that the only thing I learned was how to turn a wrench on a lawnmower engine and dissect a freaking worm. not even a damned pig fetus. I learned computers on an ancient XT with two 5.25's and typing on an ibm selectric 2. I had a 486.
The most important learning I did was at home with the door closed while I learned how to fix computers and built the basis for a (so far) lifelong career. Oh, and graduating? Missed it by 5 credits. Failed the second semester of my moronic biology teachers class. Yee-freekin-ha. I got to dissect an earthworm! WOO!
Come on guys... (Score:2)
College (Score:2)
You mean I'd be young again for 4 years? Bring it on!
Note: YOU DO NOT GET A RE-RUN (Score:2)
You are not on a rehearsal. Anything (or anyone) that you don't do today, you will regret tomorrow, or in ten years, or in fifty years. You will look back and say "Oh, if only I were 15/20/25/30 again." Wish away, there's no restart.
Do it all, do it now, and tomorrow will take care of itself.
no early school (Score:2)
My mother taught me to read when I was 4. My father taught me basic arithmetic when I was 5. I was eager to start school. Then I found out that school wasn't a place for learning but a place for pain and humiliation. We sat with our chairs in a circle while the teacher tried to teach the idiots to read Dick, Jane & frikkin' Sally. I was excruciatingly bored, so I wrote a note to a girl sitting on the other side of the circle. Of course she couldn't read it so gave it to the teacher. It was traced back to me and I had to sit in the corner the rest of the day. Arithmetic was worse: In the 3rd grade they were still trying to teach the 'tards basic addition so we had to stamp these damned yellow chickens on poster paper. I didn't do mine so they made me stay after school to do it.
High school was just as bad. I got kicked in the nuts almost every day. I learned almost nothing. I signed up for the senior science course which was supposed to contain an intro to computer programming. I was the only one to sign up for it so they dropped it.
On the whole, what should have been some of the most productive years of my life were wasted trapped in a goddam hell-hole where the only lessons to be learned were how to be a good prisoner and submit to authority whenever they wanted to torture me.
Everyone is bemoaning how the US is not pumping out scientists and engineers like it used to. I would be surprised if it were.
Re:What? (Score:2)
Re:What? (Score:3)
Re:Uh (Score:5, Insightful)
Truth.
People look back nostalgically at their schooling, some people even call it their lifes peak (which I've never bought). Personally while I didn't exactly hate school, I didn't love it either. Main reasons being:
- I like having money/a car/a house/a real job
- I can't stand acedemic bullshit. This is more of a problem in university, where certain people and certain entire fields are so removed from reality that they'd better serve the world by getting jobs doing road maintenance and using all the papers and textbooks written on the subject as a fuel source for low income families. I like to be grounded in reality. I work at a real job, making real software used by real people for actual real world purposes. Being forced to listen to acedemic bullshit is bad enough, but having to pander to it in order to satisfy a credit was a very annoying experience.
Re:Uh (Score:3, Funny)
Dude, you studied and wasted time on academia bullshit? I had fun, drank beer and fucked a bunch of girls. Best years of my life. That's why I voted for reliving elementary school.
Re:Uh (Score:3)
Re:Uh (Score:3)
Well, if going back for educations sake ONLY...no, I'd not like to do that either. But to go back for the fun times ( and knowing now how to hit on women properly), and being able to party like a rock star like I used to, without suffering for 2x days of hangovers.....sure, I'd love to go back and do it again. I just want to have my brain and knowledge of the world I have now...when I go back.
Re:Uh (Score:2)
That was my interpretation as well. I would go back to college but this time 'maybe' graduate with a 1.5 GPA instead of a nearly 4.0
I regret 'succeeding'.
Re:I'd skip it. (Score:2)
OTOH, my college girlfriend quit high school and went to college at 16, and she flunked out by 17 because she couldn't handle it emotionally. So maybe waiting a little while longer was the right choice.
I hear you man... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:do over? (Score:2)
I definitely underperformed in college and as a result, my first few years of work were a waste in terms of my career. I had to go back for a different degree in graduate school to correct my mistake and get my career moving forward again.
However, I would not go back and "re-do" those college years. Those poor grades ensured that I could not get hired for the prime starting jobs that I wanted at the time and had to settle for a less desirable job for a fresh graduate. I ended up meeting my wife there and I would never have had the good fortune of meeting her if I hadn't made the mistake of not taking college seriously.
I had plenty of regrets at the time, but I had no way of knowing how well things would work out in the end.
Re:do over? (Score:4, Informative)
Man, if I knew then what I know now about picking up women...how their minds work and all..I'd love to go back and be MUCH more successful with chicks.
Then..that would I assume, lead to a re-do of the college year...and more of the same with all those available girls around. I'd do better in school work too...but man, I wish I'd known what I know now back then when you had all the young, hot women around you all the time. I wish it hadn't taken me so long to figure out how to approach, talk and not be intimidated by them back then.
Its so much easier once you learn a few things, get some confidence and exhibit confidence to them.
Re:do over? (Score:2)
I'd go back a bit further...and re-do high school...IF I could go in with the same brain and life experiences intact.
Man, if I knew then what I know now about picking up women...how their minds work and all..I'd love to go back and be MUCH more successful with chicks.
This is EXACTLY what I'm thinking.
If I could go back with the knowledge I have now ... about how EVERY girl there was totally insecure about herself ... well, I'm pretty sure I could clean house.
I pray to God I can convince my children of the fact that EVERYONE there is completely and totally insecure.
Re:do over? (Score:2)
Re:do over? (Score:3, Funny)
Besides, if I'm going to have the most beautiful, meaningful love story with a woman, and have kids with her, it's likely to involve at some stage my cock sliding in her cunt for at least a few seconds. There's no contradiction there.
Gee, with such poetry at your command, I wonder why you can't get the chicky babes.
Re:do over? (Score:2)
I'ld do college over to have another 4 years of drinking.
I get my body of 25 years ago back to, right ?
Wait, this was an "18 again" thing ?
Re:do over? (Score:2)
Don't look at it as though you would have suffered through it "for nothing", think instead that it would be that the first time was a sort of "trial run" the experience of which you can use to make the right decisions the second time around.
Basically you get a chance to make the right decisions you made then again and not do all the wrong things you did (or at least avoid the ones you regret).
Re:do over? (Score:2)
Are you sure? I also made mistakes that made my life a hell. But if I would undo that, then I suffered the hell for nothing. And I would not be what I am today. Are you sure you would be better without those decisions? Are you sure you would not do some other, even worse decisions if you would not know results of those decisions?
"There are many parts of my youth that I'm not proud of... there were loose threads... untidy parts of me that I would like to remove. But when I pulled on one of those threads... it had unraveled the tapestry of my life."
Re:Girls (Score:3)
Re:Girls (Score:2)
Uhm, studies show that women are actually just as horny as men are at that age. They also show that everyone that age has self esteem problems ... basically girls and boys are all alike at puberty, horny and unsure of themselves.
And THATS where you have the advantage. You could go back to that time with the knowledge and confidence that the only thing actually wrong with you is your hormone levels and you'd get laid day in and day out with very little effort.
Re:College idiots! (Score:2)
I would have done a lot of things differently. I went into college at 16 just because I could (well, and I had a chance to do it for free), I dropped out with less than a year's worth of courses to go, overwhelmed at the work and depressed. I went to a very unpartying school and had no fun, there weren't many hot girls, especially in my male-dominated courses, and it didn't help that I was so much younger than most of them and was particularly short on money on top of being unattractive. My friends used to say I looked like a bum. If I'd gone to a more 'fun' school there's at least a chance I could have got some sloppy drunken action. Actually one time a girl threw herself at me totally at random, all we had to do was go somewhere and fuck, but my rustbucket was in the shop and I was waiting for a ride from a relative at the moment T_T Hasn't happened since. Heck I think the only female that ever showed interest from that time until now was that crazy fat otaku who liked me because she thought I looked like an anime character. She was a really nice person, but so weird and large...
Re:I did it right the first time, (Score:2)
Re:All of it. (Score:2)
I'm severely Dyslexic, they completely failed me in my education, were totally unprepared during my degree and couldn't give a shit when I sat my masters and PhD. I have basically educated myself, to prove them wrong. I would love to do it all again but with the proper support.
I'm thinking the same thing. I'd like to do grade school over again but, this time, with the support that I needed for my dyslexia. (Dyslexia was unknown in Texas back in the mid-60's.)
I actually did go back to college and got my degree at 43. I was such a better student than when I was 19.
--Richard
You are more than slightly misguided on this. (Score:5, Informative)
Re:I wonder... (Score:2)
For me it wouldn't so much be a single event or a handful of events but rather just a chance at going back to being that age with your current knowledge and experience. It would be a bit like playing through a large part of a video game in one sitting and realizing that you forgot to pick up the medpaks for the first six levels, and you didn't upgrade your weapons or maybe you simply missed a whole lot of the game because you didn't have the proper perspective ("oh, I was supposed to pick up those shiny useless crystals on level nine because otherwise I had to spend all my gold on buying them at level 34 so I could defeat the boss"). Going back to elementary school would mean you could fast-track yourself through the education system in a very short time. And assuming you'd actually be magically transported back to your own youth you'd also have a good idea of major events in the world (and thing like the dot com days before they happened and the dot bomb before it happened). You'd simply have a lot more cards to play.