Broccoli21 said:
I certainly felt that I was wasting my time. I too have been immensely saddened at my stupidity of staying in the public school system. Early college entry is really the way to go. The social scene was stupid. Maybe I'm too much of an introvert, but most people I met were sickeningly boring to talk to. HS certainly makes you tolerate this.
Academically, I definitely made what I could of it. But I was still bored. I spent most of my time independently studying maths and physics, as I finished the school curriculum way to early to get any use out of it. Geometry and algebra in most American schools is quite terrible. No proof or rigor in the least. You don't need IQ 200 to be bored with HS math. It would have been better for me to just sit in a cave reading mathematics books and chatting on forums...
But really, college is so much better, so you might as well forget high school and all the wasted years if you feel that way.
While I did get increasingly bored and irritated with the "high school social scene" - that peaked when I was 16 - I learned a fair bit from it. One should consider that there are most probably more persons who are *not* geeks as opposed to persons who are.
I would have very much enjoyed my math classes if I was actually doing more interesting work. The approach is one that is very monotonous and more focused on exam technique - we do standardised exams by an external body - rather than on learning. As a result, I got very bored quickly. When I find the time, I will re-learn geometry, with proofs and all.
nsaspook said:
Yes!
Got a GED and dropped out of HS after completing my electronics courses at the then new concept "Magnet School" electronics program at Skyline HS in Dallas, TX. (taught by some of TI's best) I did a part-time work and school routine until I joined the Navy a few years later for the Vietnam era GI bill.
Never looked back with any regrets.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skyline_High_School_(Dallas,_Texas )
Sounds cool. What have you been doing since?
wukunlin said:
should have learned to get along with people in high school instead of trying to learn every single line in every textbook
For what it's worth, I think many of us here can relate to you! I remember reading an old post of yours, where you mentioned how your class mates in Physics at uni said to you.
Choppy said:
There are no extra points for finishing school early.
I wouldn't necessarily jump into more advanced classes without first having done the prerequisits. There are plenty of posts on these forums from people who have done just that and ended up in over their heads. But at the same time, it's not necessarily a bad idea either. Speak with a teacher whose opinion you trust on this.
If you have lots of time on your hands you might also want to consider getting a job and starting to save for university. This can help you to develop a number of skills that you won't learn in academia, add weight to your resume so that your can work up to higher paying jobs later, and of course, give you a little extra cash to help you enjoy all that time you're apparently wasting.
Other options to consider include starting on your own independent projects. Build something. Write something. Enter a science fair. Audition for a role in a play. High school is a time for exploring yourself. Later in life, when you have a mortgage and a career and kids, you won't have as much time for such things.
Thank you for your suggestions. I very much appreciate it.
I'm currently being home schooled and as a result, I will actually go to college one year later than my peers, at 20. I am studying for A-Levels (some info on that below) in Mathematics, Chemistry, Physics, French and possibly History as well. In my free time, I teach elementary school kids - with the help of my mother - who live in my street how to read English. I'm hoping to expand, get funding for books and hope that when I leave for college, there will be a few persons who will continue this.
Moonbear said:
Whether or not you feel high school is sufficiently challenging will depend on where you attend school. I'm pretty amazed at the variation in schools even within the same county let alone across counties and states. I had a very rigorous high school experience and it was my first year of college that seemed too easy because it was easier than my high school classes. I work in a summer program with the top high school students in my state, and there are vast differences in the classes available to them. Some do take classes with their community colleges, because their schools don't have teachers qualified to teach some subjects nor enough students who progress far enough to need those classes, especially if all they plan to do is work on the family farm when they graduate. Others are in schools that offer the full complement of AP classes and prep kids capable of entering ivy league universities.
In the United States and most places without a standardised high school diploma, yes. There is always the opportunity to transfer if one is in a school which is not a right fit for them. This might not hold true for everyone but if I knew of such opportunities beforehand, going to boarding school to attend a school more suited to my interests would have been a viable option. I'm not complaining as it's really my fault for not looking into such options then.
It would be interesting to know why there are so many differences between high schools, especially those within one and the same state. Is this a question of teachers not wanting to work in certain areas and consequently, the course offerings at certain schools become more limited?
I would have loved to have been in your high school. :-)
Here, things are quite standardised and the only kind of "course selection" one can have is choosing their A-Levels, which they study for two years. Usually 3-4 subjects. The only variation being present is that a few schools are much more selective and they only accept students with the best grades. In my experience, this doesn't really change much in terms of "social scene" as the only difference between the students is that some just spend more time with improving exam technique.
Herricane said:
Most of my high school teachers waisted my time. They took forever to get everyone to settle down, so that he or she could start lecturing. Sometimes the teacher waited for ten to fifteen minutes after the bell rang before starting class. I had seven classes everyday, and just about every single teacher did that. That's one hour a day!
We went to school from 8am to 4pm with a 35 minute lunch break. With all the time teachers waisted, school could have ended at 3!
They also got mad if a student brought homework from other classes to do while waiting. My friend got yelled at for it several times. I didn't though, I was sneaky.
Also, my English teacher spent way to much time talking about politics, but oh well. She would write sentences about politics on the board to show us sentence structure. However, the sentences were very inappropriate and ignorant (For example calling certain politicians stupid, dumb, nazis). I am serious.
I believe that happens in *most* schools. I suppose those disturbances might have been more lengthy and frequent in your case due to the limited time spent outside of class. School was from 08 00 to 14 30, with one 25 min (or was it 35?) break, one 15 min and one 10 min break. After that, most students attend after-school classes for specific subjects (say, English) for an hour and a half to two hours. That usually starts at 15 00 or 15 30.
Jorriss said:
I actually did stop going to high school at 15 and took a proficiency exam at 16, so I started at community college at 16. It worked much better for me. I was far behind starting college (I started college in Algebra II) but I pushed along and I am finishing this year and going to grad school so it all worked out.
I thought HS was a waste of time. Too much time in class, too many completely different subjects at once but mainly I just didn't like the people around me enough. I was admittedly behind socially so I would of benefited from being around more people at that time but after years, I've corrected that too.
How old are you now? 21?
On the social front, the fact that I spent most of high school in an all-boys school didn't help too much. On the bright side, I took an interest in "soccer" (it was an obsession at some point) and I enjoy watching or talking about the odd game. I will probably always have a soft spot for United, even if I'm not as up to date as I used to be.
moouers said:
Some of my classes could have been classified as a "waste of time", but then other classes were some of the best classes I've ever had (the classes that sparked the interest in what I'm studying now). World geography taught by a football coach? Horrible. Four years of math taught by the same excruciatingly difficult (in grading!) teacher? Loved every minute of it.
High school as a whole had its ups and downs, but I certainly wouldn't label it as a waste of my time. I learned too much, socially and academically, to place such a broad label on it.
Your world geography class sounds hilarious!
Understandable. My experience was that while I did learn a few things, I could have not only learned more but also felt much less miserable elsewhere.
