Quick Question from an Ex-Enthusiast...

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Get back to your homework.

Having dreams and ambitions as a teenager is good. Thinking that you're smarter and therefore better than everyone else is a recipe for a life of disappointment.

Folks, take a step back. I'm willing to bet dollars to donuts that EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU had life all figured out when you were a teenager, too.

Just because you know now what you didn't know then you seem to expect Stitch to know what you know now, instead of what Stitch knows now.

Or something like that.

I'm willing to bet that becase, as a small cog in the great financial black hole that is the University of Michigan, I see 200 students just like Stitch three times a week. They live, they learn, they stay out too late at parties, and occasionally they even complete an assignment on time and correctly.

In other words, Antuan is right on target. This is precisely where a 15 year old is supposed to be. Actually, I'd say Stitch is ahead of the curve. I don't think you're really supposed to believe you've got it all figured out until a few years after 15---maybe 19 or so.

It also turns out that telling a 15 year old that he is mistaken about knowing everything does one no good whatsoever. I used to try to do that with my students, and I might as well have been banging my head against a wall. Now, I just let 'em figure it out, and try to nudge them when I find one leaning in the right direction already. It works pretty well.

There are plenty of people telling you that getting good grades and having a well-paid career isn't the path to happiness. That's not entirely true. What is true is that it isn't a guaranteed path to happiness. However, it is certainly possible to find a life's work in college that you love doing every single day. I did. I also get paid adequately for it. But, you've got to love what you are doing---the money alone won't make up for not loving your job.

And, as CBuzz's resident well-paid, highly regarded Ph.D., I'll let y'all draw your own conclusions about loopiness.

My, people certainly are quick to talk themselves up around here. I think people have more of a problem with THAT than anything else, Brian. It's never fun to hear how great someone else is.... oooh, look at my degree... and things like that. I know PLENTY of VERY INTELLIGENT (AND HAPPY/CONTENTED!!!) people without degrees, thank you. *** Edited 11/17/2005 9:55:12 PM UTC by ophthodoc***

Stitch is right, after he gra-jee-ates from Harvard or Yale, his life will be set... right after he pays off several hundred thousand dollars of student loans, and if the jobs in his chosen field haven't been sent to India.

I know that if I were standing in the unemployment line, I'd be really impressed to know I had an Ivy Leaguer standing there with me.

Of course, he may be turned down altogether so they can make room for another Bush, Kennedy, Kerry, etc. with an IQ of 32, but connections out the wazoo.

Stich, take some advice. There's more to be had out of life than to spend 12 years of it trying to get into a certain institution of higher learning.

I know a lot of people who went to college. Most of them work with me at Target ringing people up and pushing shopping carts around all day (lol).

Good luck anyways.

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Brian Noble said:
Folks, take a step back. I'm willing to bet dollars to donuts that EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU had life all figured out when you were a teenager, too.

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Nope... I was too busy trying to figure out how to fit in (and failing miserably). And of the hundred or so kids I've coached over the years, none of them think they have it figured out either.

I did have it figured out.

1) I was going to famous - made that one happen (on Coasterbuzz) *check*
2) I was going to marry a hottie - I think I made that one happen. She's hot to me. *check*
3) I was going to make a LOT of money - I'm on the path. *check*
4) I was going to own the coolest stuff - I do. *check*

See? It's possible. ;)

Rob - still completely full of ****.

My Economics teacher graduated Harvard, got his masters at USC, and now he is a high school teacher. The pay is amazing. ;)

At 15 my biggest ambitions were to perfect my impersonation of Christian Slater, get this older white girl Amie to like me, and to figure out how to avoid getting my ass kicked on my birthday (silly girls, thought they did me a favor by decorating my locker like a b-day present...). Nope, my thoughts on world domination didnt occur till 17 (gawrsh, was I *really* that dumb then?)

But it is true that you cant tell people anything. There are certain life events that everyone must experience for her/himself. Actually, that alone is have the fun of life. Though admittefly, I thought high school sucked in general and was much happier in college. Perhaps because college was full of people even nerdier than me =] (who'da thought *that* was possible =])

Good luck thought Stich, I'm sure it will work out well in the end.

lata, jeremy
--who lives nowhere near SFMM so cant help with the questions

geez, and all I said was that he's not going to magically have more free time in college. ;)

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RatherGoodBear said:
I know that if I were standing in the unemployment line, I'd be really impressed to know I had an Ivy Leaguer standing there with me.

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Not that I'm saying this as a defense mechanism because of perceived personal inadequacy, but what exactly is your problem with the Ivy League? While I've seen my share of smarmy snot-nosed silver-spoon-fed snobs who got in because of decades-old legacy, the vast majority of people I associate with on campus are down-to-earth, reasonable people with a great deal of intelligence and no expectations or delusions that the world owes them anything. Not everyone who goes to a top school is an arrogant prince(ss) from an independently wealthy family with pristine lineage.

At the same time, while I hesitate to use the phrase "out of touch," I think a lot of the people who are preaching to Stitch are. You need to take some serious time to evaluate where you're at and how you got there. From the way you make it sound, you never had any delusions of invincibility or grandeur, you never made any mistakes, had no high school or college regrets, were a model student and were never a wiseass, and did not change their perspective one bit between high school and your present lives. How many are still standing up now?

I say this because I'm only 20, out of high school a mere three years, and even in what some would (kind of correctly) call the isolated ivory tower that is my school, I've started to learn enough things about the real world that I can begin to anticipate what "life on the outside" is going to be like. Doesn't mean I know it all, doesn't mean I have everything set, doesn't mean I know if I'm going to be happy ten years down the road.

I just know that I'm happy with where I am and confident in where I see it taking me. If you value the education you received from the school of hard knocks more than from your institution of choice, that's your prerogative -- just don't push that belief on me, or on Stitch.

There's no one right or wrong way to do things. I say, if the kid thinks he's doing the right thing for him at this point in his life, who's to judge him for it? If the time comes where he wants to make a change, he'll have the intelligence and wit about him to make an informed choice, just like the rest of us will/did. Like the wisest speakers thus far have been reiterating: just do whatever makes you happy, bottom line.

--Dave

Right, Dave, you said it, "... Doesn't mean I know it all, doesn't mean I have everything set, doesn't mean I know if I'm going to be happy ten years down the road...."

That's NOT what stitch said. He made presumptions about his intelligence, his eventual place at the Ivy League (we're not saying there's anything wrong with that, either), and an illogical assumption that because he was a hard worker and was crossing his T's and dotting his I's, that everything would be "set in life" for him. That reflects a lot of ignorance about life in general. Us "more experienced" life members can't help but recognize some of those pitfalls, that's all. Also, there's certainly nothing wrong with wanting to improve one's place in life by going for higher education.

Finally, we're not "pushing" anything on anybody. I would never presume you're that ignorant (Stitch, as well). I'm not losing sleep because some 14 year old kid thinks he has it all figured out - I really don't care to the extent you would make it seem. What makes him happy now MAY NOT MAKE HIM HAPPY LATER (and I'm using him purely as an example). When you're a bit older, you'll realize that about yourself as well. At least you're open to that possibility.

You don't endear yourself to a group of people by bragging about how smart you are. Just show it by, say, writing a post that doesn't instantly alienate the group of people you are asking advice from.

Right!

^^ That's an entirely different KIND of smart...;)

Working well with others is VERY important...someday I'll learn how to... ;(

The thing is, when I was 15, I couldnt believe how dumb I was at 13. When I was 18, I couldnt believe how dumb I was at 15. When I was 21, I couldnt believe how dumb I was at 18. When I was 25, I couldnt believe how dumb I was @ 21. And now @ 29, I realize I was out of my mind @ 25. Imagine what I'll think when I hit 50!

Live long enough, and youe perspective will change. It really doesnt matter what older people will say because we are all hard-headed to some extent and thus have to make our own mistakes. Actually, some mistakes are quite fun! Just a bit of advie, make as many mistakes now while you still have a support group to fall back on.

As for Ivy League schools, I personally think they are vastly overrated. Maybe because I lean towards science and away from the humanites I tend to discount their superiority (though my favorite Aerospace professor was a Princeton grad). I just dont see what is so special about them besides the name. Even though I believe I would have been admitted, I never applied because, quite frankly, I had no desire to go. I dont see them as any better (or worse) than most universities.

lata, jeremy

From a catalog I was looking thru earlier....Michelangelo himself (who woulda decimated our IQ tests), said at age 87..."Ancora Imparo", I am still learning... :)

The best lessons always take the longest...that's where the time-worn adage about "old age and treachery" comes in... ;)

If Stitch was So Smart and So Hardworking, he would have known where to look for information, would have known what information can't be given because it varies day to day, and would have looked himself instead of coming here and asking for things that are either easier to find on your own, or obviously not answerable.

At 15? I didn't have the world figured out. I was too busy trying to be a kid and get a job and learn how to drive.

At 18? I was just happy to be living on my own and able to have the opportunity to figure out what I wanted to do next.

At 21? I was just happy to be able to go out and have a drink with my friends that were older (they were all older).

At 25? I'm looking forward to moving soon to someplace that I really like, and I'm happy with my life.

I dont' look back past 18 and say "Boy, I was an idiot". I wasn't then, I'm not now. I'm far too young and set in my ways.

Were Stitch really as smart and hard working as he said he was, he wouldn't still be asking the same question, he'd already have found it out for himself...

*** Edited 11/18/2005 8:05:56 PM UTC by TeknoScorpion***

At 15 I was waiting to get my license so I could drive legally. My biggest concern was having enough cash for weekends worth of trojans.
Of Course, that was almost 30 years ago...