high school

[mcnbns]

My cousin has just sent me this speech written by a college student as an inspirational writing to high schoolers. Apparently the guy who wrote it never actually got to deliver it because the high school admin voted to keep him from coming.

If you are a high schooler (or if you've ever been to high school) please read this. It may (at the risk of sounding corny) change your life.

I can scarcely keep my hands steady enough to type this message because I'm so excited.

[Aphex_Tom_9]

im a junior in HS, i'll give it a read

[LSANTHRAX]

wow

[sandman]

I'm a sophomore, I just read it. Nothing really earth shattering.

[blinky]

that guy is full of himself

[mcnbns]

Man, I'm almost sorry I started this thread...

I don't know why you guys hate it so much. I, being a naive grade 10 student, found it to be interesting and informative, even if I didn't necessarily agree with all of his ideas.

In the interest of keeping an open mind, what did he say to make you think he is conceited, Blinky?

[bh2k]

I need ambition? Wow, I just had an epiphany.

[mcnbns]

This speech was written for the average lethargic teenager. Many of you here are not simply average lethargic teenagers.

it. Nevermind, guys. I don't think you understand.

[mcnbns]

Okay, that last post was a little harsh. What I mean is, there are some cool concepts in there, like not letting school define your life and just letting it be a day job. "Work to live, don't live to work."

I thought some of you might be interested in what this guy had to say, but I guess you're not.

[lalPOOO]

I think that while this is a pretty good speech, its not really motivating and if someone didn't understand it, it could be pretty detrimental to their academic success. Thats probably the reason they didn't allow it said. While he is speaking mostly the truth, the truth probably isn't the best thing that a lot of high school students hear. Most of them already think that what they're doing and learning is usless, and hearing it from another person isn't going to benefit them that much.

[HermS]

Well I really enjoyed reading it, I think there is bits in there that anybody could draw from, not just kids. Thanks for posting it.

[LoudHoward]

I wish I wish I WISH I had read this earlier and put into effect what it is saying. I have been a lazy bum in high school up until now. My views on intelligence and hard work and how they relate to marks were all screwed up. Working hard for my last set of exams sure straightened things out.

I agree, he is full of himself but that doesn't matter. He has something good to say and I'm glad he said it.

[mcnbns]

I can see your point of view, lalPOOO, but I still think many high schoolers would also benefit from hearing that school is just a game. The problem is that they would also need to be told that if you don't do well in the game you don't do well in life.

He said school should not define your life. That's what I found interesting. Now that I've heard it, I believe it.

I realize the importance of doing well in school and getting good marks (and I do get good marks in school). I also realize that school is not who I am. School is merely a mandatory social/education program for young people funded by the government.

People that do all the extra-curricular stuff just to be able to write it in their resumes are annoying. They spend all their time doing useless crap for no reason and end up with nothing accomplished in the end.

Even if this guy had delivered his speech, out of the 1000 or so people that might have heard it, only 100 or so would have even considered what he said. Even fewer would have put it into practice.

[sjohnson]

mcbns, if what you've posted reflects your concept of schooling, then indeed that speach might be motivating.

But, school is a game, one that each student should try and win. Outside of shallow, superficial aspects your schooling is the one game in your life where you compete against yourself.

You can choose to ignore what schooling ultimately teaches and lose, or embrace the hardships, ugliness and ignorance coming from within and use your schooling to win a life of your choosing.

I'm not talking about what you study, but what you learn.

School is about finding the ability to independently learn and overcome whatever problems come your way. Any future career or employer isn't concerned about what you learned so much as your proven capability to learn.

So, those good grades, curricular and extra-curricular activities and school recommendations are worthwhile because you use them to prove to yourself and to the world that your adult endeavors will have focus and value.

[Stang_Man]

i'm in my 2nd semester of college... and everyone always says, "you get what you put into it".

you can go to college, pass through it easy without doing much work, and graduate the same person you entered as. no one should want to do that.

college is where you go to learn. the lecture room you are taught in, you learn outside of the classroom.

[pik-ard v1.1]

...He has something good to say and I'm glad he said it.

the ironic thing is, he never got to say it.

it was ok, didnt seem to uplifting, but it seems like that wasnt the tone he was going for anyways.

[jjcom]

I looked at it a bit...looks nice...I get what he's saying I believe. Work hard, but don't take it too far. There is also some other things in there. I'm in Jr. High (8th grade) and I thought it was a nice speech.

jjcom

[smokey]

Perhaps you should read http://www.paulgraham.com/hs.html - anyone notice any similarities? College student my arse! This man happens to be an extremely influential essayist throughout the FOSS movement and the tech community at large. I would suggest reading some of his other work before passing heavy judgement. In the interest of protecting the ideals that many older and wiser men than those responding to this thread (including myself) have worked hard to protect and nurish, I ask that you all reconsider this man's background and his message. Should you need any help in understanding anything in _any_ of PG's essays, feel free to email/PM me.

[MaxxxRacer]

Interesting. Im tool lazy to read it. I didnt read enough of it to get inspired. Maybe thats why i dont keep a 4.0 average.

Personally, I think that if you cant pass highschool with a decent gpa, your really sad, or have some sort of medical problem that makes it so that you cant. Such as dislexia.

[lalPOOO]

I looked at it a bit...looks nice...I get what he's saying I believe. Work hard, but don't take it too far. There is also some other things in there. I'm in Jr. High (8th grade) and I thought it was a nice speech.

jjcom

This is what I was talking about in my post above... While you 'get it' you probably don't fully understand what hes talking about. He's not giving you the level of effort you should or shouldn't put into it, he is just saying that it is important you realize that school isn't the be all and end all and that while you need to suceed in school, explore your other interests aswell. Something else that he talks about but doesn't really reinforce (even though it seems almost crucial to his point) is that you should try to keep as many doors open as possible. I hope I didn't offend you, and its possible you did understand more then I thought, but I just wanted to say that just incase.

When I was in grade 9 I had thoughts similar to the ones the guy giving the speech has. I thought that I was really smart because I realized that 90% of the stuff we're doing in school was pointless when you try to apply it to the real world, and that I should try to learn other skills. That was fine and dandy until I started devoting all my time to the other skills, "whatever, school sucks". Shortly afterward I developed 3 main problems; Complete lack of motivation, Loss of work habits and an extremely negative view of life. Obviously it was pretty hard to be motivated to do a great job on something when you thought there was no point at all. Similar to how you don't really want to do something you think is useless. The negative view on life came from the fact that I knew day in day out I'd be doing pointless garbage for 6 hours a day for the next 3 years. What I didn't realize is that it wasn't about what I was doing or accomplishing through my work, it was about what I was accomplising through myself.

To this day I am still plagued by having to overcome those problems. Not to say that I am dissatisfied with my life right now, just that I am now worried about how I'll get into college and get a good job... This is the reasoning for what I said above, which is to avoid taking this speech to heart without realising both sides to it.

Sorry for the loooooooooooooong post.

[mcnbns]

Smokey, that's the link my cousin gave me, but the site was down so he gave me the .doc instead. I guess I misunderstood who it was written by. My bad...

[charlie]

......slackers

[blinky]

it just sounds like this speech is targeted towards kids who spend most of high school trying to keep their grades near perfect, and hes tellin them that school should not dictate their life, it should only be one part of it. the thing is though most students in high school arent getting near perfect grades, and this guy telling them that school isnt everything doesnt make them want to work hard for good grades any more than if they hadnt heard him. i dont think we need to worry about kids spending too much time on schoolwork, although that might lead them to have no life, its not as serious as the kids who arent doing any schoolwork and are flunking out of school.

[smokey]

@blinky: is your 'Shift' key broken?

[blinky]

@blinky: is your 'Shift' key broken?

what is this shift key you speak of