Thoughts on school

[crazyflyingdonut]

I start senior year of high school tomorrow (August 13)... School has always been a pain for me. I do like to learn, but I don't like the other students around me. Plus, I'm autistic so I'm in one of those "special" classes. You want to know what it's like from my perspective? Well, here you go. It's shit. The reason why I hate school is solely because of the other students in my class. I hate having to deal with their drama. And especially considering how I have my own problems to think about (a lot of things get me angry in real life), having to deal with their shit at the same time makes me really angry.

Actually, when I started high school, I was given a choice to either go to summer school or stay in school until I'm 22 (because it takes longer for me to learn than most people), so obviously I chose the latter. Next year, I'm hoping that I can stay home every Friday because they said that I can be more lenient with my attendance once I get past graduation.

Tomorrow marks the beginning of my last REAL year in school. I'm probably going to suffer yet again.

As for a job I should get in the future, I'm not too worried about all that shit like going to college or working for a big business... all I really want is to work at the gas station nearby, I just need money to pay the bills and to eat.

I don't want to move out or anything. I'm happy with my life the way it is, aside from going to school and getting angry over stupid shit.

My life in general goes like this: I don't go out much (most of the time I only go outside when I absolutely need to) and I like to eat, and play video games. That's it. There's not a whole lot of other things I like to do.

[Zen3001]

Yeah school sucks, it's worthless

[Enjay]

School's great. It pays my wages.

[RexS]

I wasn't very good in High School. I was skipping classes to get high or hang out with this girl I had a crush on, and by 11th grade I was... doing things I won't discuss here. By then, I did NOT care about school at all, I had pretty much straight F's. Then, I was arrested on school grounds for assault, harassment and intimidation (but for a "good" reason, even the cop said it was noble of me, just that I was a dumb ass about it. I was protecting a girl.) I was told I could either go to private school, or drop out and get my GED, because I was considered a "threat to student safety" and could no longer attend public schools. I just got my GED a month later, and that was that.

[Reactor]

Haha RexS it's like my earlier years. When there was a girl on "da horizons", I deliberately skipped classes too! And even though we broke up, it was much better to waste my time with her rather than sitting in a completely useless and boring lesson, which does not expand my knowledge whatsoever. I believe most of the subjects are simply fillers, and serve no real purpose. Yes, I'm talkin' about university.
I'm a big fan of the English language, culture, literature and everything else I can think of, this is why I've chosen to grab an englishtics diploma. I was hoping that I actually learn useful stuff. Welp...sad to say, 75% of the subjects and lessons are total garbage. I don't like the community either - just as before thru my whole life, I'm such an outsider, I can't and I don't want to fit in at all. Too bad I never had schoolmates like you, RexS lessons wouldn't have been better, but my companion is!

[crazyflyingdonut]

I wasn't very good in High School. I was skipping classes to get high or hang out with this girl I had a crush on, and by 11th grade I was... doing things I won't discuss here. By then, I did NOT care about school at all, I had pretty much straight F's. Then, I was arrested on school grounds for assault, harassment and intimidation (but for a "good" reason, even the cop said it was noble of me, just that I was a dumb ass about it. I was protecting a girl.) I was told I could either go to private school, or drop out and get my GED, because I was considered a "threat to student safety" and could no longer attend public schools. I just got my GED a month later, and that was that.

How do you get arrested for protecting a girl?

[xenoxols]

I wasn't very good in High School. I was skipping classes to get high or hang out with this girl I had a crush on, and by 11th grade I was... doing things I won't discuss here. By then, I did NOT care about school at all, I had pretty much straight F's. Then, I was arrested on school grounds for assault, harassment and intimidation (but for a "good" reason, even the cop said it was noble of me, just that I was a dumb ass about it. I was protecting a girl.) I was told I could either go to private school, or drop out and get my GED, because I was considered a "threat to student safety" and could no longer attend public schools. I just got my GED a month later, and that was that.

How do you get arrested for protecting a girl?

That's not how it works, it doesn't matter why you break the law. A judge might give you a lighter sentence if you are sympathetic, but that's it.

[RexS]

I wasn't very good in High School. I was skipping classes to get high or hang out with this girl I had a crush on, and by 11th grade I was... doing things I won't discuss here. By then, I did NOT care about school at all, I had pretty much straight F's. Then, I was arrested on school grounds for assault, harassment and intimidation (but for a "good" reason, even the cop said it was noble of me, just that I was a dumb ass about it. I was protecting a girl.) I was told I could either go to private school, or drop out and get my GED, because I was considered a "threat to student safety" and could no longer attend public schools. I just got my GED a month later, and that was that.

How do you get arrested for protecting a girl?

I don't want to hijack the thread, but a girl told me she was scared this kid was going to rape her, so I beat the ever living fuck out of him and left threatening messages on his answering machine "if you go near her [...]". Because I was underage, I was able to go through an Arbitrator and not become a felon, but I got like 100 hours of community service, restraining order from the kid and his family, and I had to write an apology letter to my parents for making them go through all this shit with me. The cop at the community service said it was honorable to stand up for a girl and protect her, but leaving threatening messages was stupid as fuck of me. And, he's right.

[RexS]

Haha RexS it's like my earlier years. When there was a girl on "da horizons", I deliberately skipped classes too! And even though we broke up, it was much better to waste my time with her rather than sitting in a completely useless and boring lesson, which does not expand my knowledge whatsoever. I believe most of the subjects are simply fillers, and serve no real purpose. Yes, I'm talkin' about university.
I'm a big fan of the English language, culture, literature and everything else I can think of, this is why I've chosen to grab an englishtics diploma. I was hoping that I actually learn useful stuff. Welp...sad to say, 75% of the subjects and lessons are total garbage. I don't like the community either - just as before thru my whole life, I'm such an outsider, I can't and I don't want to fit in at all. Too bad I never had schoolmates like you, RexS lessons wouldn't have been better, but my companion is!

I hear you, hahaha. I regret in some ways some of the things I have done in my life, but in the words of Max Payne "The illusion comes afterwards, the forks in the road are always in the rear view mirror. If you had done anything differently, you would be a different person asking a different set of questions."

[crazyflyingdonut]

I wasn't very good in High School. I was skipping classes to get high or hang out with this girl I had a crush on, and by 11th grade I was... doing things I won't discuss here. By then, I did NOT care about school at all, I had pretty much straight F's. Then, I was arrested on school grounds for assault, harassment and intimidation (but for a "good" reason, even the cop said it was noble of me, just that I was a dumb ass about it. I was protecting a girl.) I was told I could either go to private school, or drop out and get my GED, because I was considered a "threat to student safety" and could no longer attend public schools. I just got my GED a month later, and that was that.

How do you get arrested for protecting a girl?

I don't want to hijack the thread, but a girl told me she was scared this kid was going to rape her, so I beat the ever living fuck out of him and left threatening messages on his answering machine "if you go near her [...]". Because I was underage, I was able to go through an Arbitrator and not become a felon, but I got like 100 hours of community service, restraining order from the kid and his family, and I had to write an apology letter to my parents for making them go through all this shit with me. The cop at the community service said it was honorable to stand up for a girl and protect her, but leaving threatening messages was stupid as fuck of me. And, he's right.

Wow... I'm sorry you had to go through all of this.

[Reactor]

Not joking - in the English topic, I've learn from Gez just as many as in a whole year at the University Which actually is funny is that I remember his words a lot better than anything else I've been told at the boring lessons. If this forum would give me a diploma, I'd gladly spend all my time here. Yes, it is that useful!

[Enjay]

While I too am sympathetic that you went through a lot of unpleasantness, RexS, I am also aware of this line:

but a girl told me she was scared this kid was going to rape her

Now, I realise that I simply don't have the full context, I wasn't there, I don't have the evidence that may have existed and I can't really assume anything from a brief statement like that but, based purely on the face value of that statement - and if that's all there was - then it's absolutely right that you got called out for that.

"A girl told me she was scared of some guy so I beat him up and threatened him."

The questions that should immediately go through the head of anyone investigating this are: Were her fears in any way justified? Did you know that they were justified? Was she actually scared or did she just have a grudge against him and was looking to give him some payback or something? Did you just beat up some guy because a chick told you to? If you thought there was a genuine risk, isn't here something better that could be done (certainly something that wouldn't involve you being classed as a danger to other students)? etc. etc.

I'm not actually asking about the details of what actually happened; like you said, no need to derail the thread, and I'm pretty sure you've discussed it here before too - and I'm sure at length in real life. I'm just talking general principles. So, all I'm saying is, as it stands, the guy did not rape the girl, but he got a beating and threatened "just in case". No one knows whether he was going to rape anyone.

I'm not saying that, if her fears were justified, that something shouldn't have been done, and I'm certainly not saying that the something is just wait until the rape happens and then deal with the fallout. What I'm saying is, I get why you were in trouble for beating someone up based on what someone else though might happen. It sucks, but what if someone beat you up, or someone you care about, because someone else was scared (for real or imagined reasons) that you might be going to do something?

[edit] In fact, to be clear, although the context is RexS' experience, I'm not really addressing the above to him; more making a general statement about vigilante justice, assumed guilt and all that stuff - and why people who are in a position where they are expected to investigate stuff like this cannot accept "I thought someone was going to do something, so I dealt with it" as a justification." [/edit]

[RexS]

While I too am sympathetic that you went through a lot of unpleasantness, RexS, I am also aware of this line:

but a girl told me she was scared this kid was going to rape her

Now, I realise that I simply don't have the full context, I wasn't there, I don't have the evidence that may have existed and I can't really assume anything from a brief statement like that but, based purely on the face value of that statement - and if that's all there was - then it's absolutely right that you got called out for that.

"A girl told me she was scared of some guy so I beat him up and threatened him."

The questions that should immediately go through the head of anyone investigating this are: Were her fears in any way justified? Did you know that they were justified? Was she actually scared or did she just have a grudge against him and was looking to give him some payback or something? Did you just beat up some guy because a chick told you to? If you thought there was a genuine risk, isn't here something better that could be done (certainly something that wouldn't involve you being classed as a danger to other students)? etc. etc.

I'm not actually asking about the details of what actually happened; like you said, no need to derail the thread, and I'm pretty sure you've discussed it here before too - and I'm sure at length in real life. I'm just talking general principles. So, all I'm saying is, as it stands, the guy did not rape the girl, but he got a beating and threatened "just in case". No one knows whether he was going to rape anyone.

I'm not saying that, if her fears were justified, that something shouldn't have been done, and I'm certainly not saying that the something is just wait until the rape happens and then deal with the fallout. What I'm saying is, I get why you were in trouble for beating someone up based on what someone else though might happen. It sucks, but what if someone beat you up, or someone you care about, because someone else was scared (for real or imagined reasons) that you might be going to do something?

[edit] In fact, to be clear, although the context is RexS' experience, I'm not really addressing the above to him; more making a general statement about vigilante justice, assumed guilt and all that stuff - and why people who are in a position where they are expected to investigate stuff like this cannot accept "I thought someone was going to do something, so I dealt with it" as a justification." [/edit]

You are 100% right, definitely. I was a hot headed teenager. I'm a lot more mature now. (At least I think I am.) lol I still have some cockyness from all the things I've done in my life, but I have learned to "respond" to things as an adult, not react to things with this white knight vigilante. There are definitely other steps in between that I should have taken to protect this girl that didn't just involve physical violence. Without going to deep in to it, at 14 I was hanging out at biker bars with my uncle illegally, and I saw how they stomped some guys head in for slapping his girlfriend, and that kind of gangster vigilante shit had a huge influence on me at that young age. But of course, even if THAT is an agreeable defense, like you said... just the random word of a girl I had a crush on... I overreacted 1000%, and should have had checks and balances before it ever came to that. The event that got me arrested I'm describing happened over 16 years ago, so yeah. I've grown up some since than, haha.

On topic, I've always kind of wanted to go to a technical school or something like that. I don't know if it's regret for not finishing High School, or just wanting to learn something new. I'm making "okay" money to pay the bills, but I wonder if some kind of trade of degree would help stabilize me better. I guess it depends on where you live.

EDIT: I'd like to give a shout out to my school resource officer for caring about my future and freedom. He came to my house for a statement about the whole thing, and he was like, "You said here at this part, 'If you go near her, you're dead, son', but by 'dead' you just meant you would beat him up right? That wasn't a death threat, just slang for a school fight, right?" and he like looked at me hard like *HINT HINT take my advice, dummy*. lol He's probably part of the reason I'm not a felon.

[Rachael]

Back on topic, I've always loved school. During my childhood though, I wasn't a great student, needless to say I was going through a lot in my life with events spiraling out of control in 7th grade and continuing from there.

But then I got thrust into the working world. I graduated from high school a year late, got my diploma, and that was all I had - but it didn't matter to anyone except colleges. No one cares if you have a diploma or not. You need a degree. And at least a Bachelor's one at that.

That being said though - my experiences with colleges has always been positive. People are always very nice there, and usually the students are people who actually want to be there - maybe not always, because you know how parents are pushing their kids to do college, but the turnover has already started taking hold at this point so students who manage to stick around tend to be a lot more friendly. This also greatly enhances instructor environments, and it's something you can do for the rest of your life - you can only do high school once, but college you can do forever (if you have the money).

I do plan someday to become a teacher. I'll probably be an old woman when that happens, but I do love helping people and I know the power a teacher can have to make a positive impact on a person's life.

[Graf Zahl]

No one cares if you have a diploma or not. You need a degree. And at least a Bachelor's one at that.

Ridiculous, isn't it? Here in Germany nearly everybody only wants programmers with a degree, screw the fact that there's a severe shortage on good programmers.
I still got a good job last year, though, because some people can still look beyond meaningless numbers on a sheet of paper.