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Smart Kids Should Skip High School

sonyaellenmann.com

11–20 of 68 posts

Re: Smart Kids Should Skip High School

#11
post #2

I don't think kids should skip high school, but I think parents could let up on expectations placed on children to compensate for the uselessness and tedium of much of the subject matter. On the other hand, engaging in passion driven projects that also involve self directed study is the way to go. Parents should encourage the latter while being less fussy about grades. Grades don't matter anyway 10 years later when t…

The problem is college admissions. Sonya says, "Skipping college is almost middle-class mainstream at this point," but she's dead wrong. It might be mainstream among the lower classes, but they aren't doing too well these days, are they? And it's mainstream among a certain fraction of the upper-classes who have enough of a safety net in family wealth and connections that it doesn't matter. But for the vast majority o…

Given that I spent my high school years reading anyway, I feel pretty safe in saying that had I skipped high school I would still have spent the time reading. There's nothing about going to high school, or having any other occupation, that precludes you from reading.

I would have spent most of the time playing video games, as I in fact did during college, but I wouldn't have done any getting into trouble. This would have been largely unproductive, much like attending high school was.

Re: Smart Kids Should Skip High School

#12
I hesitate to describe myself as a smart kid, but I wish I couldn've skipped most of my formal education.

I ended up making a living from the things I was doing outside of school, and wish I had been able to pursue those things more, and with less guilt and shame.

I'm still unlearning a lot of the bad habits and dealing with the anxiety I developed when trying to deal with school. Sigh. It's not a huge deal, there are worse problems in the world, but it upsets me to know that there must be others like me going through this year after year.

Re: Smart Kids Should Skip High School

#14
I agree. Despite going to one of the best public high schools in the country I don't remember learning much of anything. Looking back on it it was more like a very pleasant teenage internment camp. Parts of it were fun, the drugs and alcohol being a highlight. Going to school high or getting high at school was pretty fun. Sometimes competing with other students on the tests without studying or doing any of the homework was fun. But I imagine I could have had a lot more fun and learned a lot more elsewhere.

Re: Smart Kids Should Skip High School

#15
John Taylor Gatto [1] says that it's more important to skip as much of the early years of schooling as possible. If the child spends that time in the real world, nothing of importance will be missed. For me, kindergarten was incredibly boring... Nothing of importance to me was ever learned at school, that couldn't have been learned quicker on my own.

[1] http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/

Re: Smart Kids Should Skip High School

#16
post #14

I agree. Despite going to one of the best public high schools in the country I don't remember learning much of anything. Looking back on it it was more like a very pleasant teenage internment camp. Parts of it were fun, the drugs and alcohol being a highlight. Going to school high or getting high at school was pretty fun. Sometimes competing with other students on the tests without studying or doing any of the homewo…

Stuyvesant grad?

Re: Smart Kids Should Skip High School

#17
There have been times when I felt I would be more productive doing something else, at different phases of life.

Statements like this article's really depend on what someone's end goal is. If you are striving for some kind of above average monetary success ... earlier, there's nothing about this that guarantees it. If you aren't, then you need a different end goal to make this useful.

Re: Smart Kids Should Skip High School

#18
Im going to take a different position. I think school is valuable. But only because it informs you about a curriculum and subjects you might not know exist.

People are smart. But people need to figure out what they can be geniuses at. If we remove opportunity in this way, we absolutely must find an alternative to telling people what they dont know they dont know about.

Re: Smart Kids Should Skip High School

#19
Is this like saying "Rich people should hoard their wealth"?

There is something to be said for Smart kids being at school both receive and PROVIDE benefit to/from the other students.

But I guess, who cares about dumb kids, who had less opportunity than the smart ones? They'll get a better draw next life!

Re: Smart Kids Should Skip High School

#20
post #14

I agree. Despite going to one of the best public high schools in the country I don't remember learning much of anything. Looking back on it it was more like a very pleasant teenage internment camp. Parts of it were fun, the drugs and alcohol being a highlight. Going to school high or getting high at school was pretty fun. Sometimes competing with other students on the tests without studying or doing any of the homewo…

crack cocaine in the bathrooms man
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