[Wodgy]

In response to mclaren20's original post, high school can range from unimportant to extremely important depending on your intended major in university. If you intend to major in the humanities (English, History, etc.), your high school grades and community college experience won't count against you too much. If you're applying for admission to a selective program (some kinds of engineering, computer science, pre-medicine, etc.) your high school grades will be considered, even if you've taken some community college courses in the meantime. Don't kid yourself about that. You're competing against many people for a limited number of spots in a program, and you'll need to look as good as you can. It's worth working hard in your last year of high school, just for this reason, even if you're thinking of going to community college right afterwards.

One thing worth thinking about is whether you want to go to university at all. I hate to say it, but depending on your major and goals in life, university is often not worth it. You'll end up with tens of thousands of dollars in debt and no practical experience. IMHO, the armed forces are a much wiser choice than spending time in college getting a humanities (or even a pure science) degree. You'll come out of the army/navy/air force with a huge number of benefits, a little bit of money saved up, no debt, and a lot of experience that people respect. Unless your chosen career path needs a degree (e.g. you're planning to go to law, business, or medical school, or if you want to teach), think long and hard before taking the plunge.

 

[CRESCENDOPOWER]

Well, it's your life, and you can do what you want to, but at the place I work I get to see first hand every day how people who don't have an education are treated. Workers now days have almost no rights, and employers know this, and seriously take advantage of it. It is to the point of being so bad that I have been looking for employment elsewhere, because I refuse to treat someone like a piece of **** when they are doing all the work, and I am sitting on my lazy ass. I swear if I were a billionaire I would fight for the labor rights till the day I died.

 

[MusicJunkie]

I graduated high school but never took the SAT. Then I waited a few years before I started college. I had no chance of entering a university right away so I went to community college, graduated and fulfilled the requirements to get me into a UC. When I went through the application process for the UC they didn't even ask about my high school transcript or SAT, all they cared about was my community college records.

Point being a community college is a great way to start your college career, and if done correctly your high school career can have little or no bearing. Of course if your goal is to get in to a 4 year university as a freshman then my experience won't help you at all.

Good luck!

MJ

 

[smokey]

mclaren20,

If it means anything to you, I did the exact thing you are planning, but for a different reason. When I was in HS I had zero money, and I couldn't afford anything but a community college. (Nine dollars a semester when I went.) So I got a full time job, and went to community college during the day, and worked at night. After taking all of the basic classes that I could, after a couple of years, I was making enough money that I could afford to transfer to a four year University. I received my business degree from that University, after which I got a job in my specialty. I have now been working for nearly 20 years for the same employer, making decent but not spectacular money.

So the lesson today: At least in the dim and distant past, your planned path is a viable option.

 

[guzzler]

at least it's not like the UK in the States, I don't think:

here the government wants 50% of school pupils to go on to higher education (ie university), and to meet this goal, they've started these poufy degrees like -ing "Leisure Management" and things in the same vein, which could be just as easily taken at college, or just learning on the job... My real beef is it detracts from the people, like me I hope, who work their ass off to get the best they can for themselves, then get landed will a huge debt to pay for the rest of the bloody no-lifes to spend their lives getting pissed!

Education is important, and your final at high school will determine a lot of your plans for the near future, but it's not a total disaster, many people go on to greatness without a formal education, not to say they are stupid by any means!!

g

 

[dd3mon]

Quote:

Realalisticly, how important is high school...

Another important point: perhaps if you complete high school, you could spell realistically properly

-dd3mon

 

[mclaren20]

Quote:

Originally posted by mclaren20 EDIT: if i spell any thing wrong, which i know i did, ignore it. Im basically high right now on my medicinee. *pukes*

*falls over*

 

[KR...]

Well, if you want me to be brutally honest, then prepare yourself.

1st of all college isn't for everyone, but it is extremely important if you want to get certain high end jobs, but not everyone can do these jobs which is why they pay so much to begin with.

2nd, High school is brutally easy compared to college, even with the hardest classes in high school I only had to put in barely any effort in order to get all A's. To get all A's in the hardest classes in college, I had to breath, eat and **** those classes

So if you are not smart enough to handle High school, then what makes you think that you are smart enough for college?

If you are smart but just plain lazy, then what makes you think you can keep up with the very demanding college courses, and some of them almost take a superhuman effort to keep up with their demand [ what's sleep?

]

So in other words, you have to think very hard on just what it is that you want and just how bad you want it. Once you figure this out , you must seek it very aggressively with great passion or you will never make it.

 

[Dusty Chalk]

I have three sets of friends: those that have graduated high school, those that haven't, and those about which I don't know.

Those that have: co-workers and peers.

Those that haven't: work at the record store, and meet in clubs.

Pretty much.

I also agree with everything KR said. High school was a breeze compared to college. (What's a 'life'?)

 

[Zanth]

So far the suggestions have all been good ones. Its very true...high school is generally much easier than a Community College (depending on the high school and community college). College costs money, high school generally does not. College grades could haunt you for the rest of your life...high school grades will only haunt you until you make it to College. HS is your stepping stone into the school of your choice. Do you live at home? Do you have any debts, monthly payments, expenses? If not..school should be your main priority. You can spend much of your time, fairly stress free...studying and doing what you can to make your dreams your actual future.

A word of warning...very few people can whip up a 4.0 gpa. Someone can be brilliant, but without a work ethic...they will fail. Think about Einstein...he just didn't care about school, he was interested in bigger and better things (in his mind) and he nearly failed out of school. He barely found work as a patent clerk...and it was only from there that he really did great things. There are similar success stories...Michael Dell dropped out of Undergrad, so did Larry Ellison...but they were also VERY highly motivated people whose work ethic could supercede the necessity of a piece of paper. They are also very intelligent which helps.

It's not as if HS or College or University makes or breaks a person AS a person. But it can mean the difference between the job you have always wanted and working at McDonald's for the rest of your days.

Some jobs require pieces of paper. If you ever thought of being a doctor...you need to go through medical school (geniuses are welcome but they too must put in the time). Some jobs require ANY degree but a degree is mandatory. I look at Microsoft. I went for a job interview last Christmas. I have no computer skills on paper...and they didn't care about that, but the policy was...a BA or BSc in something. The piece of paper opens doors and that piece of paper needs a piece of paper (your high school diploma).

If you can manage to jump straight into university, then do it, it will save time and money. If you can't manage this...hit the books, get into the CC of choice, smoke it and then get into the University of your choice.

My Alma Mater's slogan is:
Work Hard Play Hard.

I live my life by those words. Good Luck.

 

[akar]

Quote:

Originally posted by mclaren20 Realalisticly, how important is high school...

Not very.

 

[john_jcb]

Completing High School is very important. There are stories of dropouts starting their own businesses and becoming rich. I look at those in the same vane as guys that make it as a prop athlete. It can be done but the chances that it will be you are extremely small.

All of the advice so far has been pretty good. One thing that I read in your original post was that you wanted to take it easy for a couple of years and attend a 2 year school. If you go into it with that attitude you are doomed to fail IMO. You need to treat a 2 year school like a 4 year one and strive to do your best. Going to school is no different than a job. It takes commitment.

I was one of those that hated high school. I rarely did homework as I did not see the point. I did pretty well on tests. I found that i loved the challenge of college. I went to the University of Washington and really blossomed when I started to take math and engineering courses.

Good Luck

 

[wallijonn]

Mac,

as you contemplate going to a community college, see if there is one that gives a course on studying, reading, writing, etc.

one of the failings of people who read is that they can not imagine what they are reading while they are reading it. huh? the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. when you read, learn to see what is being read. (technical manuals with ancronyms are a bitch. but it helps if you can imagine a "box" or diagram and actually see the commands going in and out of the box).

the other problem is that people read too slowly. they let their own thoughts get in between the words that they are reading. the faster you read, the less chance of a stray thought getting your attention and mudding up what is being read. see if your community college has a speed reading course. (I paid $175 for the speed reading CD). as you read faster, the idea is to make your mind remember images. this will help with reading comprehension. (google search for "speed reading and comprehension").

then there is math. basic math can be conquered, especially if you take one of those 'trick math' courses where you can do addition and substraction in seconds of complex numbers. (my nephew was failing math with anaverage of 54%. I spent an hour with him and had him dividing 20 digit divisors into 40 bit quotients (with a ten digit decimal point resolution) without him ever having to write anything underneath the basic statements (the "bring downs"). his average went up to 86% in one week).

one thing I found after taking calculus is that one does not really understand it. but it is more of a subconscious thinking process. it actually taught me how to resolve problems without thinking about them.

next would be grammer. nothing like picking up school books from the 1920's to really show you how to construct sentences. strive to always write formally. 1920 books are hard to find - so you'll have to scrounge large used book stores.

has anyone ever taught you how to study? or how to do homework? there should be courses given in the grade schools for this. it's usually left to parents. there are better ways.

master these "tricks" (spped reading, speed math, comprehension, formal writing (try this: write anything you want to write about. the rules: it must have 3 paragraphs. each paragraph must have 3 sentences. each sentense must have at least 12 words. then tweak it. you'll be wuite surprised with the result), always use a thesurus and a synonym finder.

i learned english from the TV and reading from comic books. then i moved on to some really good books. it's a shame that I can no longer remember "Catcher in the Rye", which was required reading. But when it came to writing historical pieces, I always aced them.

you have a "gift" for one of the arts. find it and exploit it.

good luck in your search for a good community school. while I paid $8000 for my computer training, the Joe next to me paid $1000 at his community college. it can be done. just see which courses really make you tick. then eat them up. by the time you decide to go to college you'll be amazed at what you truly know.

 

[Matthew-Spaltro]

High school is not important, nah.

Unless you want to be like me. Making 8.30 an hour Washing the GROUND, not the floor, The GROUND, while the boss sits in his office drinking coffee doing NOTHING but wacking off all day!!

 

[wallijonn]

http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaver...speedmath.html