Why adults still dream about school • Hacker News Board

Re: Why adults still dream about school

#131

Post by sidewndr46 » Fri, Sep 23, 2022, 2:08 AM UTC

ryandrake wrote: post #61

I feel like this is because school, especially college, and particularly exams, is about as high-stakes as most people's lives ever get, so they look back at that time as peak-anxiety. Think about it: you're being evaluated and the result of that evaluation shapes the next step in the pipeline, and ultimately the trajectory of the rest of your life! Well, at least that's what the university officials, professors, you…

The issue is, people believe that to be the case. That sixth grade exam on long division you got a 17/100 on? It doesn't really have any bearing on what you do as an adult.

Re: Why adults still dream about school

#132

Post by Aeolun » Fri, Sep 23, 2022, 2:08 AM UTC

This is odd. I grew up and went to school in the Netherlands, and while I’m often still annoyed with the arbitrary scoring of academic affairs, it’s never been a source of anxiety.

All the dreams I have about high school and university (and it’s not so many) involve having fun with the friends I made there.

I kind of have to wonder what other people go through.

Re: Why adults still dream about school

#133

Post by theGnuMe » Fri, Sep 23, 2022, 2:10 AM UTC

These dreams usually connect to something you are currently anxious about so your brain is pattern matching the anxiety to recorded memories. You can reduce the intensity of the trauma by revisualizing the event/dream while following some rapid visual stimulus. This is the emdr stuff for ptsd etc…

Re: Why adults still dream about school

#134

Post by LgWoodenBadger » Fri, Sep 23, 2022, 2:10 AM UTC

robertsdionne wrote: post #123

sharadov wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When am sufficiently stressed at work - a recurring dream I have is that I am in the exam room ready to take a test, but did not study or I have mixed up the dates and came prepared for the wrong subject. But overall school and college was a great experience - the tests and assignments sucked, but what I remember is the great friends that I made, the interesting people that I met and all the personal exploration that…

I have a recurring dream where the university revokes my diploma years after graduating because I actually somehow dropped out of all my classes and forgot to finish the final projects/exams. That never happened, but I did drop a couple classes before the withdrawal deadline to fix the workload. It feels so real though.

I have variants of this. I have a diploma but I took a class and failed it after and that dropped me below a certain gpa and my diploma gets revoked.

Or I don’t have a HS diploma even though I graduated college and have had a job for 20 years.

Re: Why adults still dream about school

#135

Post by synicalx » Fri, Sep 23, 2022, 2:16 AM UTC

ryandrake wrote: post #61

I feel like this is because school, especially college, and particularly exams, is about as high-stakes as most people's lives ever get, so they look back at that time as peak-anxiety. Think about it: you're being evaluated and the result of that evaluation shapes the next step in the pipeline, and ultimately the trajectory of the rest of your life! Well, at least that's what the university officials, professors, you…

I can't say I ever felt like that during school, Uni maybe a bit but not school. My final school year was stressful during exam time but that's to be expected I guess since my uni application hinged on my exam results.

But having said that I imagine it could feel pretty different depending on what expectations you set for yourself, or more importantly - what expectations your parents set for you. If you've got mum and dad looming over your shoulder 24/7 pushing you for more so you can be a doctor/lawyer/CEO/whatever then you're probably going to feel pretty differently about the whole situation.

Re: Why adults still dream about school

#136

Post by CydeWeys » Fri, Sep 23, 2022, 2:20 AM UTC

sharadov wrote: post #80

ryandrake wrote: post #61

I feel like this is because school, especially college, and particularly exams, is about as high-stakes as most people's lives ever get, so they look back at that time as peak-anxiety. Think about it: you're being evaluated and the result of that evaluation shapes the next step in the pipeline, and ultimately the trajectory of the rest of your life! Well, at least that's what the university officials, professors, you…

When am sufficiently stressed at work - a recurring dream I have is that I am in the exam room ready to take a test, but did not study or I have mixed up the dates and came prepared for the wrong subject. But overall school and college was a great experience - the tests and assignments sucked, but what I remember is the great friends that I made, the interesting people that I met and all the personal exploration that…

Hell, I have dreams that I've forgotten to attend class all semester long in grad school and the final exam is tomorrow, and I never even went to grad school! It's like my brain subconsciously realized the undergrad panic dreams no longer make sense as that's too long ago, so now they've evolved to something more suitable for later in life, even though I never did that thing.

Re: Why adults still dream about school

#137

Post by s1artibartfast » Fri, Sep 23, 2022, 2:22 AM UTC

ryandrake wrote: post #61

I feel like this is because school, especially college, and particularly exams, is about as high-stakes as most people's lives ever get, so they look back at that time as peak-anxiety. Think about it: you're being evaluated and the result of that evaluation shapes the next step in the pipeline, and ultimately the trajectory of the rest of your life! Well, at least that's what the university officials, professors, you…

It is all bullshit.

One of my favorite engineers dropped out of college because the university (UC) demanded an English proficiency test for the diploma after completing 4 years of of school.

Now they have 40+ patents and confounded 3 biotech companies with 9 digit exits.

Friends from the old days ironically refer to them as Dr. because they are the smartest person they know.

Sort of a community bestowed honorary doctorate.

Re: Why adults still dream about school

#138

Post by celim307 » Fri, Sep 23, 2022, 2:23 AM UTC

exolymph wrote: post #103

ryandrake wrote: post #61

I feel like this is because school, especially college, and particularly exams, is about as high-stakes as most people's lives ever get, so they look back at that time as peak-anxiety. Think about it: you're being evaluated and the result of that evaluation shapes the next step in the pipeline, and ultimately the trajectory of the rest of your life! Well, at least that's what the university officials, professors, you…

I left high school in junior year (intending to go straight to college — didn't work out, long story). I took the GED test, and I was SO MAD because I realized I could have aced that test straight out of 8th grade. Has anyone ever asked about my GED? No. Lol. Has lacking a college degree held me back? No (though there are definitely fields where it would have). One of the hardest parts of young adulthood is sorting o…

Yeah, and all the advice we get is lagged by 10-20 years. Parents are pretty far removed from the reality of entry level job markets and changes in industries

Re: Why adults still dream about school

#139

Post by kayodelycaon » Fri, Sep 23, 2022, 2:26 AM UTC

kstenerud wrote: post #101

Is it weird that I've never had a dream about school or meeting expectations? I do have anxiety dreams, but they're always about realizing that I'm missing some piece of equipment that I spend the dream looking for while the thing I wanted to do is now not getting done.

I don’t dream about school. I barely think about my childhood at all. (For which I am eternally thankful.)

By all rights, I should have nightmares from those years but all of mine come from more recent events or entirely fictional ones.

The good dreams are usually out of the stories I write.

Re: Why adults still dream about school

#140

Post by SoftTalker » Fri, Sep 23, 2022, 2:29 AM UTC

norwalkbear wrote: post #2

Because modern American public schools are basically prisons and traumatized kids.

If it wasn't school, it'd be something else.

It's hard wired evolved response to surviving life-threatening experiences, such as being attacked by a predator. The brain processes those experiences over and over to help avoid them in real life in the future.

We don't get attacked by predators anymore, but we have the same brains circuits as animals who did. So the process just plays out on whatever unpleasant life experience it can grab onto.