Did you care about high school? Then and now...

[SmashMan]

Re: Did you care about high school? Then and now...

I had a terrible high school experience. No problems with the school or any of the people (no bullying or anything similar) - I just never felt that it was worth it, so I showed up to do the bare minimum to get through it.

In retrospect, I wish I cared more, but it is what it is. Aside from having more life experience now giving me a better perspective, I also have a better work ethic; so even if I didn't find it "worth it" I'd like to think I would've at least made more of an effort for myself.

I actually work with an elementary school now, and they had a volleyball game at my high school in November of 2011 - so I took the chance to go and take a look around. It was a little weird, but nice to revisit after almost ten years (graduated in 2002) when I was (and am now) in a better frame of mind.

[Redacted01]

Re: Did you care about high school? Then and now...

Since now we're talking about who we went to high school with, I graduated with K.J. Wright.

My school had 3 paths. They had the AP/Honors which I did. They had the accelerated, for those that probably wanted to go to 4 year college, but weren't going to do AP or anything like that. And then we had basic courses for those going the CC route, or just passing time until they finished/dropped out.

[DaveDQ]

Re: Did you care about high school? Then and now...

I got to 11th grade by coasting and being a C/B student. By the time I hit 12th grade I started to realize I dropped the ball some and felt somewhat bad about it. When they came around and asked what my quote for senior year would be I put, "Like snow in summer and rain at harvest, honor is not fitting for a fool."

Through my college years and then after, I started to hold a lot of regret. I was an average student at best. My wife would sometimes mention physics and how her parents took her out for dinner when she passed. I never even took physics.

For a while I was hard on myself, but now I look back at how things were then and I made out ok. I have some regrets about not following through with wrestling. Grades don't bother me as much as the fact that I quit wrestling early.

[Gotmadskillzson]

Re: Did you care about high school? Then and now...

High school was a pain to me. But then again I lived 90 minutes away from my high school. Walking, taking a bus, 2 subway trains and walking again just to get there got old fast and made it seem like a damn job then school. School was severely over crowded by a good 1,000 students. My high school had close to 3,000 students in a building that was designed for 1,500 to 2,000 students.

Vast majority of the gym lockers were broken, so you had 15 people sharing 1 gym locker. It was about 50 students per a class. Most of the textbooks were over 10 years old. Majority of the teachers didn't care because they got paid either way. Hell even had some teachers literally tell the class that several times doing my schooling. Even had one teacher say statistically speaking you will be dead or in jail by the age of 16, so live your freshman life to the fullest. Then add the amount of gang fights that went on inside and around that school, yeah.....my high school was a war zone free for all.

I knew it was a bad sign of things to come when on the 1st day of school during my freshman year a kid got shot in the head point blank range right at the school door. I still graduated the top 5% of the class though.

So what I learn from high school ? Learned how to bob and weave. Learned what a knife fight was like. Learned what being shot at felt like. But more importantly I learned I needed to move the hell away from Chicago.

I never really knew how damn bad my high school was until I lived in other states and seen their high schools and was like holy crap I was severely ripped off. Compared to them, my high school was like a 3rd world country.

When I was in high school, they didn't focus on college period. Considering they thought most of us was going to be killed or in prison anyway. They only had a couple AP classes but other then that they didn't talk about college, SAT or FASFA. Only test they even mentioned was ACT. But damn it if the military recruiters didn't live in my high school. They were there 3 days a week every week. When I was in high school they had $2,000 enlistment bonus and for every person you got to enlist by the time you enlist you would get a promotion in rank all the way up to E4.

[24]

Re: Did you care about high school? Then and now...

Not to go off on a tangent but to any parents that are sending their kids to High School, I would highly consider sending your kid to a 1 sex school. I went to an all boys school and it was actually a great experience. Since we were all guys we didn't have to worry about impressing the opposite sex so we were able to be more casual with each other and in turn have more fun during the school hours. I also feel like you develop closer bonds without girls to cause problems.

Lets be honest here gentleman most arguments at the high school age concern girls .

[Chrisksaint]

Re: Did you care about high school? Then and now...

Got straight As Freshman year, then Sophomore year once I got on JV I just didn't care. I failed Honors Chem cause it was just crazy so I gave up and slept(retook it online for an A), i'd be exhausted from weight lifting so in Algebra 2 Honors i'd sleep half the time(class was easy and the teacher was a big football fan so it was all cool). Got big into partying, etc. as well which was fun being in a 3k student HS in South Florida.

Don't regret any of it as I finished with a 3.2 GPA, aced all state standardized tests and got a 28 on the ACT. Got into LSU, but couldn't afford it so I'm currently going to FSU which was an awesome choice.

The only thing I regret is not being lazy senior year and applying for more scholarships

[SuperBowlNachos]

I had it made in high school. My junior year I had yearbook and broadcast journalism with a teacher who loved me for some reason. The broadcast class turned into 55 minutes to do homework. She would send us to wal mart to "develop film", which was really go get breakfast. Then senior year I took a digital graphics class. The teach left at the end of the semester and a history guy took over. He would give a week to do something that took me 20 minutes to do cause I was good at photoshop. This tuned into 3 hours a week playing a N64 emulator. Plus my senior year I only went for half a day and missed 10 days for golf tournaments.

[AUChase]

Re: Did you care about high school? Then and now...

I fall somewhere in the middle.

I applied myself for certain classes and was really just content with passing some of them. Sometimes I wish I had tried harder, but considering where I'm at and what I'm looking to do with my life, it wouldn't make any difference. I passed all of my graduation exams on the first attempt and my only concern was getting the credits and required classes for my diploma.

Hell, I did co-op throughout my senior year and only went to school from 8-11:20 ish. That's probably why I missed over 40 days of my senior year.

If I woke up late, it wasn't worth dragging my *** on to school for one block.

[mb625]

Re: Did you care about high school? Then and now...

I didn't care about grades, but if I had, I'm sure I would have done better. Got mostly As and Bs (only got one D... Physics my second semester of my senior year. ) and ended up with a 3.4 GPA (had a 3.5 until after my junior year). Not great, but not terrible either, as it landed me 18th in my graduating class (of around 60). The bad thing was that I developed poor study habits and it's coming back to bite me in college, where I can't get by with just my smarts (or lack thereof. ).

[GAMEC0CK2002]

Re: Did you care about high school? Then and now...

Finished valedictorian in a class of 65 back in 1998. I knew everybody but was only good friends with a handful of people. A small part of me wishes I had hung out with people, but getting paid to go to college made it all worth it. (I banked almost 6K from having too many scholarships)

Do regret not having more fun my first 2 years of college. Coasting through a small high didn't prepare me for the step up in rigor at the USC Honor's College. I had to learn how to really study and manage time.

[BunnyHardaway]

Re: Did you care about high school? Then and now...

Absolutely regret not applying myself more. It got to the point where I would turn in little, if any homework but would still pass the classes because of my test/quiz scores. I started freaking out before my senior year because of college so I did put in a little effort that year...managed to get like an 87 average, but my 4 year GPA was still around a 75, which was bottom third of my class of 99 people. Basically got into college solely on my 26 ACT score. Had I actually tried I maybe could've gotten into Ohio U or Penn State, but instead I went to a second choice school and college has been a downward spiral ever since. So yeah, I'd definitely do that part of high school over again.

[mgoblue]

Re: Did you care about high school? Then and now...

Great posts, guys....keep it up and thank you for posting.

Another observation that I have is that these days, at least in my kids' schools, they seem to place a HEAVY emphasis on college prep. Do you or did you feel over-pressured by this?

I didn't feel over-pressured, but it definitely was a big deal. I took AP classes for college credit and stuff like that.

I went to a private, catholic, all guys school that had 200ish people in each class usually (so small school). I was 11th in my class, and had awesome grades. Got to the University of Michigan no problem.

I took it very seriously, but the all guys school (along with me being a late bloomer) did help slow my social development with girls a bit, but I figured it all out in college lol

[cjonesfan921]

Re: Did you care about high school? Then and now...

I coasted. I graduated with a 4 year average at like 88. I didn't apply myself much outside of school, more of focus in class. I have always been like that.

I do regret having that attitude in my first year and a half at Rutgers. I pretty much didn't study or do my HW, ended up with a GPA at 2.3 after 1.5 years. I graduated with a rounded up score of 3.0!

Looking back, I wouldn't go back. I made it through and am enjoying the working life and the benefits it brings.

[JBH3]

I amd the oldest of 3 siblings. I graduated highschool in 1999. Both my parents worked, dad was and is still a UPS driver, and my mom was and still works for child protective services for the city of Chesapeake.

Given my parents long work days and balancing 3 kids, I never really gave a damn about highschool because there was not enough guidance and supervision to go around.

The military/Marine Corps was truly my redemption, and has set me up for a lot of success for now and in the future.

I am a father of one child, my wife and I have no support system around us, nearest family is an hour away.

As much as standerdized testing or incompetent teachers may be an issue, over-extending yourself as a parent is even more an issue.

My wife had to stay late @ work yesterday. I helped my son w/ his homework, albeit kindagarten homework, however I could not see myself having the necessary time to work full-time and tend to 2 or more children's social, educational, and emotional needs.

[mgoblue]

Re: Did you care about high school? Then and now...

I coasted. I graduated with a 4 year average at like 88. I didn't apply myself much outside of school, more of focus in class. I have always been like that.

I do regret having that attitude in my first year and a half at Rutgers. I pretty much didn't study or do my HW, ended up with a GPA at 2.3 after 1.5 years. I graduated with a rounded up score of 3.0!

Looking back, I wouldn't go back. I made it through and am enjoying the working life and the benefits it brings.

This was me too, now that I think about it. HS was simple for me. I didn't have to try at all and I'd get all A's.

In college I quickly learned that doesn't fly, and ended up graduating with a 2.997, which I call 3.0 lol

I wouldn't change it though, I think everything happens for a reason.