Dreading High School

[citrusbreath95]

Originally I was pretty exited about high school, I thought this might be a time where I could actually pick classes of my interests, escape to the library during lunch instead of sitting for a mindless half hour watching kids put beans up their nose, meet more interesting people in higher grades, etc. Yet, today we got some lecture explaining what to expect in high school which pretty much crushed my dreams. Well they basically pick all of your courses (Which all seem rather boring) for the your freshman year, and I discovered I can't take physics or astronomy until 11th or 12th grade, so I am wondering coming from an INTP's point of view, for you guys who have already experianced (or are experiancing) high school was it/is it a drag? Better/worse than elementary/middle school, challenging? productive? Did you learn anything that you carried throughout your life? I just fear high school will be an exact clone of middle school just with longer classes...

 

[walfin]

I never went to "high school". We have a worse system in our country.

Try to wait for university and maybe life will get better.

 

[ashitaria]

Well, on the plus side, it's real easy to get a GPA of 3.7 -_-

Well, I'm going to be sophomore next year, and I get to take an AP class. The problem, most of the courses I want to take aren't in the medical class pathway that I'm currently on, and if I want to have a profession in research...

 

[jhbowden]

If I could do high school over again, I would do whatever I wanted, including a bunch of chaos and mischief. I was nerdy anyway, so fuck it!

Word-- life is the same damn thing over and over again. College is mainly a detailed repetition of what you will do in High School, which in turn echoes what came before it.

But there is hope for you! You're underage-- you can go crazy, and the worst that can happen to you is what, detention? Even suspension is not scary-- ooh, you get a few days off schoolwork, darn. The possibilities are endless!

Oh, how we don't realize the freedom we had until we become corporate office zombies! That's because young people are way influenced by the sentiments of their parents and peers. Your future is not in jeopardy-- quite the opposite, it is probably written in stone. So lighten up and have fun.

God have mercy upon the world if I spawn children!

 

[Kassie]

I'm a sophomore currently, and yes, once I first experienced what highschool was like, I was bitterly disappointed. Sure, there are some classes I do enjoy a lot (Math Theory), but for the most part I dread going there every day.

 

[fullerene]

Your motivation for high school: if you do well and go to a quality college, you actually are surrounded by people with brains and who you may enjoy hanging out with.

I didn't mind high school too much, though I did get sick of peoples' conversations fairly frequently (especially by the time junior year rolled around). We had some fun, I did well without trying very much, and all was well. I did get the benefit of having a semester of physics in my freshman year, though (they experimented on us), and a high quality science teacher who came to teach AP chem (and AP mechanics and some quantum mechanics, to the 3 of us who wanted to do it) as some volunteer work during my jr/sr years. The grades did come in handy, because I absolutely love my college. Occasionally it's hard as fuck, but the courses generally give really fun homeworks (especially the computer science ones), the kids are my style of people, and the teachers are nearly all quality.

I was basically pulled through high school by building the sets for school plays and doing soundboard for the music stuff (ridiculous amount of time spent, but it was a lot of fun). It was nice having a teacher who basically handed you a schedule of choir rehersals and said "make sure the concert runs smoothly" without checking up on you too much.

You can definitely find stuff cool stuff to do, if you want to. I wasn't very excited about it, but it turned out to be a nice time. I was excited to move out of the house for college, and so far that's been fantastic. I would say that it's worth it to care and put in effort in high school just so that you have the options later, when you actually do have a choice.

 

[Infinite Regress]

If I could do high school over again, I would do whatever I wanted, including a bunch of chaos and mischief. I was nerdy anyway, so fuck it!

Word-- life is the same damn thing over and over again. College is mainly a detailed repetition of what you will do in High School, which in turn echoes what came before it.

But there is hope for you! You're underage-- you can go crazy, and the worst that can happen to you is what, detention? Even suspension is not scary-- ooh, you get a few days off schoolwork, darn. The possibilities are endless!

Oh, how we don't realize the freedom we had until we become corporate office zombies! That's because young people are way influenced by the sentiments of their parents and peers. Your future is not in jeopardy-- quite the opposite, it is probably written in stone. So lighten up and have fun.

God have mercy upon the world if I spawn children!

+1
Enjoy all the years before you have to enter the workforce

 

[phantome]

high school...
meh. currently being in it I have to say that it is tons better than middle/elementary school. Though that might be because our school has several thousand students in it, and ten buildings total- which gets rid of most of the popularity contests and such that were prevalent in middle school.
I do not, however, find the classes particularly interesting/challenging (though I loved astronomy and all science classes- i'm probably going to take two next year just for the heck of it)
and finding interesting people can be hard at times- you have to know where to look

overall though, its tons better than middle school. Nothing worth dreading

 

[citrusbreath95]

Your motivation for high school: if you do well and go to a quality college, you actually are surrounded by people with brains and who you may enjoy hanging out with.
You can definitely find stuff cool stuff to do, if you want to. I wasn't very excited about it, but it turned out to be a nice time. I was excited to move out of the house for college, and so far that's been fantastic. I would say that it's worth it to care and put in effort in high school just so that you have the options later, when you actually do have a choice.

That's an optimistic way to look at it, and I now I have some hope. I guess just wait until college as then all kinds of people from different places come together, and share common interests as you and won't laugh in your face. I'm curious as to what college you attend (I need to start getting some ideas)

 

[EditorOne]

"most of the courses I want to take aren't in the medical class pathway that I'm currently on, and if I want to have a profession in research... "

Gosh, it's far too soon for you to worry about that. Simply seek courses that teach you how to think. Somewhere there have to be teachers who understand that the purpose of education is only secondarily the specific knowledge they impart; primarily it is to develop brain "muscles" in all the activities necessary for thinking, analyzing, critical thinking, logic, creativity, etc. EG: Spanish courses may teach you Spanish, but what they primarily teach is how to learn language and, perhaps even more importantly, to learn that there is more than one set of rules for arranging thoughts and words in order to communicate. Algebra for sequential thinking and an appreciation of the occasional leap of intuition, etc.

A lot of vocational school thinking has taken hold of academia. Even universities seem determined to generate vast numbers of "employable" graduates with very targeted knowledge banks at least theoretically at their command. My thinking is that leaving any school with just the knowledge could leave you in the same position as those who bought Betamax players and video back at the dawn of the video era: When technology and life pass you by, you've got a bunch of movies you can't look at and a machine you can use to anchor a boat. Or to use another well-worn example, you could be someone whose only skill is making horse-drawn wagons at the dawn of the auto age. You'd better, like the folks at the Studebaker wagon works, know how to learn the principles and applications of the gasoline motor if you want to go on being successful for more decades. Lacking the ability to learn and adapt, you join journalists and others on the unemployment line.

If you don't have an opportunity to learn what you want to learn at any point in the academic cycle, then just learn what there is to learn. I remember clearly that courses never plumbed the depths of any textbook; there were always chapters skipped. Often they turned out to be the most interesting, and absolutely nobody ever told me not to read every word. These days no one is stopping you from going beyond the porridge offered in class to the banquets on the same topic available on the internet.

Anyway just rambling. If it really gets bad and they start projecting slides or some other timewaster you can always make a device to blow the electrical circuits in your wing of the building. Ahem.

 

[Trebuchet]

No, I liked high school.

You are only focusing on the classes. Classes are just there to be got through. Do what it takes to maintain a high GPA and don't look for the classes to be entertaining. You will probably have a handful of teachers that inspire you, earn your respect, and make you glad you knew them. Treasure those people.

As for taking astronomy, I learned it myself from books. I never had a class in it until college, but I knew a lot about it. Learn whatever you want, and don't worry about what the class titles are. I do think it is worth trying to excel in math and science, because they take so many years of work to get good at them, that you can't waste the high school years.

But high school has more going for it than classes. The students are more grown up. Not mature, yet, exactly, but they don't tease people for being a "brainiac" or whatever nearly as much as in middle school. You can be yourself more, and get along better, than middle school makes possible. High school is a great time for making friends, even if you are an introvert.

It is also a time to take a few risks. Challenge teachers on things, if you know you are right. Be polite about it, of course, but don't be afraid to speak up. It sounds like you love learning, so if you aren't learning in a class, demand that something change. Come up with the changes yourself. If you don't like the way the school operates, get involved enough to make a difference. And dare to be wrong. Mistakes in high school can usually be fixed later (though some can't, of course, so try not to get yourself killed or pregnant, and don't get any tattoos).

 

[shoeless]

best thing you can do -- make friends who will keep you sane.
i didn't figure that one out until it was too late.

i'm in the middle of my junior year now, probably going to be the shittiest year of your high school career if you're doing it right, and i'm facing an existential crisis regarding the future thanks to the constant mind-fucking from all sides of the authoritative spectrum.

for freshman and sophomore year... well it was pretty boring for me, i didn't have many friends, and i was constantly depressed. junior year, i've had friends, but i've also had more bullshit than i can deal with in a lot of other ways. senior year... we'll see what happens.

bottom line is, work-wise, high school is easy and boring. everything else is what you make of it.

 

[Chimera]

Personally? High school is my playground. I'm taking the classes I want, screw their regulations. I'm watching my classmates make fools out of themselves and silently laughing at them with my teachers. I'm talking in fluent sarcasm, then giving a sincere compliment just to watch their jaws drop. I'm developing solid relationships with the teachers I respect. I've created a bubble of "stay the hell away from me, this is my alone time" at lunch. I'm learning about reading people, observing social norms...basically, I'm paying attention to what interests me. The fact that it's school doesn't mean I have to have my nose shoved in a textbook for some class I don't care about.
School is just another setting with another list of expectations.
One of my favorite quotes by Mark Twain: "I have never let my schooling interfere with my education."​

And the only reason I didn't do all of those things earlier is I didn't know I could. Nobody else around me did, they all fell into the trap of thinking school is only about grades and preparing for college. But "school' still falls under the broader category of "things I'm doing in my life", and I'm deciding what to pay attention to in my life, thank you very much.​

( I'm feeling restlessly devious about school, can you tell? ^_^ )​

tl;dr: High school will be as enjoyable or as crappy as you make it. Good luck.​

 

[Ran]

Chimera that's such a wonderful way to look at life. I only wish I had the same mindset when I was in highschool. Now I'm stuck in college with the same "nose shoved in a textbook" behavior I trained myself into since gradeschool.

 

[Mary]

Originally I was pretty exited about high school, I thought this might be a time where I could actually pick classes of my interests, escape to the library during lunch instead of sitting for a mindless half hour watching kids put beans up their nose, meet more interesting people in higher grades, etc. Yet, today we got some lecture explaining what to expect in high school which pretty much crushed my dreams. Well they basically pick all of your courses (Which all seem rather boring) for the your freshman year, and I discovered I can't take physics or astronomy until 11th or 12th grade, so I am wondering coming from an INTP's point of view, for you guys who have already experianced (or are experiancing) high school was it/is it a drag? Better/worse than elementary/middle school, challenging? productive? Did you learn anything that you carried throughout your life? I just fear high school will be an exact clone of middle school just with longer classes...

I'm in 9th grade right now, and although they try to make it seem like you'll have 'freedom' at high school, it's basically the same as elementary school. I was extremely disappointed with high school too..

 

[citrusbreath95]

Gosh, it's far too soon for you to worry about that. Simply seek courses that teach you how to think. Somewhere there have to be teachers who understand that the purpose of education is only secondarily the specific knowledge they impart; primarily it is to develop brain "muscles" in all the activities necessary for thinking, analyzing, critical thinking, logic, creativity, etc. EG: Spanish courses may teach you Spanish, but what they primarily teach is how to learn language and, perhaps even more importantly, to learn that there is more than one set of rules for arranging thoughts and words in order to communicate. Algebra for sequential thinking and an appreciation of the occasional leap of intuition, etc.



If you don't have an opportunity to learn what you want to learn at any point in the academic cycle, then just learn what there is to learn. I remember clearly that courses never plumbed the depths of any textbook; there were always chapters skipped. Often they turned out to be the most interesting, and absolutely nobody ever told me not to read every word. These days no one is stopping you from going beyond the porridge offered in class to the banquets on the same topic available on the internet.

I understand what you mean. So really school is just sort of a place where you can learn the larger concepts out of the concepts your studying, such as Spanish teaches you ways to communicate other than English, and algebra sequential thinking. So, I suppose once you have this knowledge, the people who are really smart (it seems) are the ones who do their own studying on the topics that interest them, I look forward to astronomy and physics in high school, but another part of me says that they will probably state the obvious/basics (even in honors), if I really want to get into it I have to do it myself (which I do now, but not so seriously) well I enjoyed your input, and I'm not nearly dreading high school as before, I may not take the most interesting classes, but there is always books available, and my spare time! so, yeah, now I am off to a meeting on starting high school tonight (now this shall be interesting )

 

[Geminii]

High school can really be very limited, academically. True freedom comes with tertiary education. Make what class choices you can during your time there, but realise that there are things other than class choice to work on - particularly interpersonal interaction.

If the educational issue is really a bugbear for you, talk to the school about additional learning opportunities. And also go look for tutors and experiences on your own; the school will not necessarily know about anything outside its own gates.

Look into local interest groups, even if they're mostly adults. Check out opportunities for after-school and weekend tutoring or workshops. Possibly even look into the classes which other high schools in your area offer from first year to last - perhaps there's a school more flexible or more suited to what you want to learn, even if it would only make sense to transfer in your third year or so.

 

[LAM]

How I envy your "High school". Australian high schools are basically several hundred students from the years 7-12 going through what appears to be a horrible version of the already terrible american high school. It is so, sooo godamn boring. (The year 12s still haven't really moved up from year 7, mentally.) I mean if I stayed in my current HS, I would have been with basically the same 75 people since year7 and some 30 which I have been with from year 8-10.

I almost can't bear the fact that I spent the last 3 years of my life in the exact same routine with the exact same people, none of whom I particularly liked or were interesting. . Well apart from the guy with aspergers, but he can be too much of a jerk sometimes <_< .

Edit: Just to make sure you understood. HS sucks so bad in australia. I actually know that I would get a more fun experience being in Juvenile. its ridiculous about how utterly depressing it is.

It is my prison sentence, one which was thrust upon me unfairly and one which I can't dare to break. It is prison, but to make it worse it is present in all aspects of your life. It seeks to break me, to ruin me, to make me into another mindless automaton, itself unaware of just how predictable and mindless it is. Every day, every hour, every minute.

^that was me writing for my own benefit : P . Seriously though, High schoolers here are truly imprisoned in every aspect of their lives, by the school, the state and their parents. and most of it isn't even in their favour...

 

[citrusbreath95]

How I envy your "High school". Australian high schools are basically several hundred students from the years 7-12 going through what appears to be a horrible version of the already terrible american high school. It is so, sooo godamn boring. (The year 12s still haven't really moved up from year 7, mentally.) I mean if I stayed in my current HS, I would have been with basically the same 75 people since year7 and some 30 which I have been with from year 8-10.

I almost can't bear the fact that I spent the last 3 years of my life in the exact same routine with the exact same people, none of whom I particularly liked or were interesting. . Well apart from the guy with aspergers, but he can be too much of a jerk sometimes <_< .
QUOTE]

I've been with the same class for 3 years as well and it's hard as crap for me. I am nearly going mad with the same people as I don't really share anything in common with them at all. (The routine thing alone is enough to want to kill yourself) Though I will get to seperate from them in high school I do believe. I feel your pain, and I would die as well from the high school set up in Australia Well this makes me feel a lot better about going to high school (sorry it's at your expense)
Why do they put you guys all together for such a long period of time? My class is turning on each other right before my eyes from the amount of time we've had (in fact, we're doing this controversial project unit and so far 3 kids have gotten a lot of trouble, 1 has cried, 1 has told on them and there's so much gossip... I find it hard to believe i'm in honors classes.

 

[Cati]

I hated high school. I went to one of the worst high schools in my county and the quality of the teachers was more than lacking. My GPA was around 3.0-3.2 for various reasons throughout my first two years until I was able to take AP classes, which while tougher than standard classes, still sucked. The social situation of high school wasn't that great either. There weren't many other kids like me and I didn't really get along well with the few that did. I basically kept close to a few people that didn't mind my various quirks and who were pretty cool in general.

I would advise you not to get your hopes up for high school. Its just a horrible extension of middle school with the illusion of academic freedom. You don't really get that unless you go to a private school, get into a special program (TaG, Montessori, etc), or get into college. I wish you the best of luck with high school though. If you find an activity to occupy your time, it's not too bad.

 

[chuwang]

I am in highschool and that if you actually write goals for yourself and set out to achieve them you will grow a lot. My sister and some of her friends who are all 25-23 out of college for atleast a year or two tell me if you take harder more advanced classes in highschool adn succeed you will be able to take harder more advance classes in college and be more likely to succeed. Then you will be able to take harder more fufilling high level more advanced jobs. Also if you spend time studying or getting better at things you like you will beetter off in carers having to do with things you like becuase you already have some experience. Social you will probably only find a few or maybe one person you end up good friends with. If you keeep searching there are some, there are more in college but you would need to have gotten some skills at finding them in highschool, adn more after college where you can really be around more kinds of people due to maturity adn a better understanding of yourself. they also told me the people who party it up and have to much fun in highschool usually don't get to a much higher level in life adn the people who party it up have to much time waste their time in college( basically the same thing) don't reach a much higher level in life afterwards. You seem like the intellectual so i will basically say highschooll will be awesome or horrible depending on the compatiblility of you and your highschool but try to make it as enjoy able as possible adn you migh atcutally enjoy it. College will get better adn life after better if you because if ykou keep trying to enjoy your life you will get better at enjoying it adn you will have much more control over the environments your put in.

 

[Geminii]

if you take harder more advanced classes in highschool adn succeed you will be able to take harder more advance classes in college and be more likely to succeed.

If such things are even available. My own school, for instance, limited students to a choice between Math I and Math II/III, and that was pretty much it. There was some choice about which language to study, but none of the non-Math subjects had any advanced options.