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11th grade

xkcd.org

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Re: 11th grade

#41

Post by sown »

timr wrote: post #35
sown wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I was in HS I recognized it as a waste. I didn't really learn much. The people around me didn't care and it mostly felt like day care. It all was mostly busy work. The only way to get a "challenging" education was to jump through a bunch of hoops, such as joining Key Club, marching band, AP everything, extracurricular this and that, all of it just a way of padding a college resume. Now those are things you will…

You're talking to someone who not only went to a public high school (and not a particularly great one), but had to fight to take college courses, as well as the few AP classes the school offered. I was just as bored as you writing five-paragraph essays; I winced my way through such winning courses as "Home Economics" and "Typing", as well as a chemistry class where everything was taught as a fact to be memorized, wit…

I sucked a lot of the time.

I guess then you are one of the few who liked things like debate team, key club, the school newspaper, or other clubs. I didn't. I would wager that a large number of people don't, either. Yet we're forced to sit through it and be told that if we don't like it we are being arrogant or that it is bad.

I'm sorry if I just can't see the value of spending hours and hours of my youth putting together the school newspaper that no one reads, or the joys of blowing on an instrument that no one likes listening to but if you do, that's fantastic. I don't think you're bad or different for liking them.

But I don't like them or cared to spend time on them. And that doesn't make me a bad arrogant person. It just means I had different goals.

Re: 11th grade

#42

Post by timr »

jackowayed wrote: post #32
timr wrote: post #15

Ugh. Why is it that self-professed "nerds" are always so blatantly anti-intellectual? It's such short-sighted nonsense; nothing but pandering to the immaturity of every 16-year-old throughout history who day-dreamed his way through the classes that he didn't like, and justified it by whining: "when am I gonna have to use this?" You know what? Sometimes you have to learn things that you don't think you'll "use in real…

This seems like somewhat of a reply to my comment, just more general. I actually am very intellectual. I kind of want to drop out, but that doesn't meant I have any intentions of doing so. I know that learning to write and such will be useful once in awhile in my adult life. And more importantly, I know that good grades will get me into a good college (and hopefully also get me a good scholarship). I'm #1 class rank…

I really wasn't targeting my comment toward you. This rant was a long time coming.

Re: 11th grade

#43

Post by staunch »

timr wrote: post #24
PieSquared wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe I'm misinterpreting you, but you seem to think that high-school kids who are reading this are arrogant and stupid. I'd be willing to bet that most aren't, and most know that the long-term gains of staying in high school will outweigh the short term losses due to boredom. As for learning things you won't "use in real life"? I agree, it's good. But I'm sorry, some classes don't just teach you things you won't use…

"Maybe I'm misinterpreting you, but you seem to think that high-school kids who are reading this are arrogant and stupid." You are. I'm talking to the people who see stuff like this, and think about dropping out. Clearly, that set doesn't include all high school kids. "As for learning things you won't "use in real life"? I agree, it's good. But I'm sorry, some classes don't just teach you things you won't use - they…

> I was an idiot. Back then, I didn't have the perspective to know what was important and what was unimportant...

And what makes you think the people designing your high school curriculum knew any better or that teaching you important things was even their goal?

I think with a little guidance from well educated people I could have spent my high school years learning a hell of a lot more important things than my school wanted me to.

I agree with your advice that dropping out of HS should be discouraged, but mostly just because it'd hurt you later if you didn't have a decent grasp of reading/writing/math and a diploma to get past the stigma of not having one.

Re: 11th grade

#44

Post by vaksel »

the problem is that our school system wastes WAAAAY too much time. Why? Because they need to coddle to the slow and dimwitted, instead of hurting their feelings and sending them to remedial classes.

They could probably teach the K12 material in half the time if they tried.

Re: 11th grade

#45

Post by ivank »

mattdennewitz wrote: post #16
tptacek wrote: post #13

Putting it in a poorly-drawn web cartoon doesn't automatically make a trivial observation funny. Isn't this the topic of, like, 438973489 blog posts and essays?

sprinkle in a little "oh my god i had sex with a real girl look guys look at me she was real and we had actual sex im a god" and you've summarized my opinion of xkcd. thanks for the help.

xkcd was great back when it was http://xkcd.com/144/ or http://xkcd.com/123/

But no good things last forever.

Re: 11th grade

#46

Post by thomasmallen »

markbao wrote: post #39
thomasmallen wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm looking over your stuff at http://markbao.com/ ... it looks like you're more concerned with appearing to be an entrepeneur than with the work itself and product quality. These sites are simply fluff. Also, I'm not sure how you can really create quality small business collaboration tools without having been in the working world. Just an observation. Making $10B is not a very admirable life goal: http://markbao.com…

Thanks for the feedback. > These sites are simply fluff. The sites on there are pretty old, which is why I linked a newer list (incl http://ramamia.com ) The third isn't an open site, fourth and fifth just experiments. > Also, I'm not sure how you can really create quality small business collaboration tools without having been in the working world. Just an observation. You're right, though I'm not really saying AOD i…

> Care to elaborate on why it's not an admirable goal?

It smells like rank materialism when put in those terms.

Re: 11th grade

#47

Post by markbao »

thomasmallen wrote: post #46
markbao wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for the feedback. > These sites are simply fluff. The sites on there are pretty old, which is why I linked a newer list (incl http://ramamia.com ) The third isn't an open site, fourth and fifth just experiments. > Also, I'm not sure how you can really create quality small business collaboration tools without having been in the working world. Just an observation. You're right, though I'm not really saying AOD i…

> Care to elaborate on why it's not an admirable goal? It smells like rank materialism when put in those terms.

Ah, okay. That's what I thought you were getting at. It's not a hard-set goal. I'd like to make money, but it's not the only thing I'm concerned about. The same page has other things not as materialistic.

Re: 11th grade

#48

Post by timr »

staunch wrote: post #43
timr wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Maybe I'm misinterpreting you, but you seem to think that high-school kids who are reading this are arrogant and stupid." You are. I'm talking to the people who see stuff like this, and think about dropping out. Clearly, that set doesn't include all high school kids. "As for learning things you won't "use in real life"? I agree, it's good. But I'm sorry, some classes don't just teach you things you won't use - they…

> I was an idiot. Back then, I didn't have the perspective to know what was important and what was unimportant... And what makes you think the people designing your high school curriculum knew any better or that teaching you important things was even their goal? I think with a little guidance from well educated people I could have spent my high school years learning a hell of a lot more important things than my schoo…

"And what makes you think the people designing your high school curriculum knew any better or that teaching you important things was even their goal?"

I don't think they knew for sure, but they had a hell of a lot better idea about what was important than I did, at the time. And in retrospect, they weren't too far off.

Most people who teach and design high school curricula are incredibly dedicated people, who want you to learn. They certainly aren't doing it for the money and fame.

Re: 11th grade

#49

Post by coryrc »

markbao wrote: post #11

Currently in 11th grade. Can highly relate. I've been working on a few startups for a couple years, exited a few things (not for a lot), working in PHP and now Rails, and it's far more exciting than hs. http://markbao.com (old, somewhat crappy stuff there, new stuff http://files.markbao.com/newstuff.jpg ) I'm not thinking about dropping out, though. The risk is too great to just drop out and work on startups. I'm try…

A website is not a startup. A startup company can have its main business revolve around a website, but you seem to have confused the issue. You have played coder with some websites, but where is the revenue? the marketing? all the non-fun things?

p.s. Poolify -- you have to change the name. Poo-la-fi is how I read it.

Re: 11th grade

#50

Post by jackowayed »

timr wrote: post #42
jackowayed wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This seems like somewhat of a reply to my comment, just more general. I actually am very intellectual. I kind of want to drop out, but that doesn't meant I have any intentions of doing so. I know that learning to write and such will be useful once in awhile in my adult life. And more importantly, I know that good grades will get me into a good college (and hopefully also get me a good scholarship). I'm #1 class rank…

I really wasn't targeting my comment toward you. This rant was a long time coming.

I know it wasn't specifically at me. Just saying that it seemed to apply to comments like mine.
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