 |
| Register | Login | |||||
 |
Main
| Memberlist
| Active users
| ACS
| Commons
| Calendar
| Online users Ranks | FAQ | Color Chart | Photo album | IRC Chat |
|
| | ||
|
| Register | Login | |||||
|
Main
| Memberlist
| Active users
| ACS
| Commons
| Calendar
| Online users Ranks | FAQ | Color Chart | Photo album | IRC Chat |
|
| | ||
| 0 user currently in Lost Section. |
| Acmlm's Board - I2 Archive - Lost Section - So, College is coming, and my mother is telling me what I should and should not learn... |
 |  |  |
| Add to favorites | "RSS" Feed | Next newer thread | Next older thread |
| User | Post | ||
Grey the Stampede Don't mess with powers you don't understand. And yes. That means donuts. Level: 82  Posts: 742/3770 EXP: 5192909 For next: 16318 Since: 06-17-04 From: Kingston, RI, USA, Earth Since last post: 2 hours Last activity: 1 hour |
| ||
| As several of you may know, I am a senior in high school this year. This means that college is coming up for me, and now my mother feels it is her duty to interfere with my choices in life. Apparently, she doesn't want me to go to college to educate myself, but to learn to sell myself to people in order to gain a career. I was intending on going to the University of Rhode Island for a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, possibly minoring in either mathematics or music. I wanted to learn to program. I wanted to do it just to be able to do it, because it was a skill that I felt would not only be necessary but also interesting to have. Her exact words to me were "You cannot be Thoreau. You cannot be Emerson, you cannot be Frost." I cannot, in her eyes, learn things for the sake of knowing them, when in fact that is all I want in life. I want to learn! I do not want to become a clone, someone who learns simply for the sake of getting a job and making six figures a year, someone who works unintelligible hours each day to live an empty life driven by money and posession. I want to learn to program so I can spend long nights designing games, writing codes, building webpages for other people, and offering my skill as a service to the world, rather than a mercenarial tool, purchased and thrown away like other tools are. That's why I've decided something. I'm going to do what she says only for a short time. I'm going to amass as much money as I can in as short a period of time as I can, work as hard as I can and gain the ability to leave this place. I'm going to leave it, I'm going to take with me whatever or whomever I think will be important, I'm going to get a career that allows me to travel as much as I can, whatever I need to do in order to get as far away from this place and see as much of life as I can, to learn as much about the world as I can, and to prove to my mother that life isn't just learning in order to sell oneself, but learning in order to be a better person overall. I will get away from this place. |
|||
Prier Archangel Administrative Priestess. NUCLEAR SUB WEEEOOOO Level: 119  Posts: 2734/8392 EXP: 18790939 For next: 138352 Since: 03-15-04 From: Nerima Dist. - Tokyo, Japan Since last post: 1 day Last activity: 1 day |
| ||
| I guess I can figure on why she would encourage the sell yourself bit...but wow...what encouragment on what you can and can't be. Maybe she should've added 'you can't be Bill Clinton, Jerry Seinfeld' or someone else from the day and age to modernize it a bit (although I don't recall if Robert Frost is still alive or not). So, I don't get where she can get off on discouraging a pursuit of learning of this form, just because it's one of those things that most people that go through high school (and that actually take it seriously) strive to achieve/go to eventually. Now on a very limited defense on her behalf for the selling and maybe waiting for a bit to get into college, she might have something there. First off, a lot of kids that don't have a clue what they're doing when they're entering college (even if you have a major or not) can easily screw something within the first year, it's definitely not as easy as it looks. She might be worried that you aren't mature enough to do something like that or, what I'm thinking, is possibly she doesn't want you to grow up and be out on your own. Especially if this uni is a place nowhere near where you live (U of RI, I'm going to assume it is, somewhat) or a place where you can dorm at regardless (if you so choose to). The other point, the selling yourself part, is actually quite true, but should be in line WITH college, not against it. She does have the point that a lot of people the go through college and that might get the grade can more than likely tank when it comes to getting a job out of college for any profession, or interning really. A lot of people out of Bradley (in Peoria, IL) heading to CAT on an intern will get told about this, even if they're majoring in some of the best areas like Business and Computer Science/Engineering, and sometimes get in a position where, even though the have the knowledge, they definitely don't have the experience. That much is true if you don't have any interns or actual work experience behind your back before you decide to take a job out of college, however, if you go the smart route, you'd do both: college and keep your job experience up. I think what she's thinking could be around that, but she -definitely- shouldn't discourage the college trek. In fact, just to be on the 'pleasing her' aspect...she should really want BOTH out of you. That would be the smart thing really...and a lot of times they'll either want this for a career or you to go to college no matter what...but I don't think I've heard a lot of people wanting both at the same time...or at least anything I've come across. Maybe it's because they figure that if you go to college, you'll have the common sense to sell yourself...or if you get a career that eventually you'll be in a position to further yourself and your career by going to college...instead of just both at the same time. That's what I would assume you would want to go for overall, ideally. I can honestly say though, it's not always what you think it'll turn out as. I mean college can be a rather bitch at points, just dealing with everything in general. Considering I should've been at a point where I could've petitioned out for my Associate's at this point (last summer) and I was behind on credits (too many reasons to count) I'm now pulling my third year here...and probably won't be done until mid- or late-2005. That could be another thing she's worried about. That you might come across something similar to this on your way through and not know how to deal with it. You could always take my cousin John as an example of that. Considering he graduated at the top of his class at Peoria Manual (which is a hella big school) and then going through ICC (like me) only to eventually not do the work and fail out. Eventually, he went through military service for a few years, married, and only now he's getting back into the college aspect and he's a few years older than I am and I'm pretty sure I've got the edge on him in credits, even though I'm behind regardless. Point I'm trying to get across, I can, to a point, understand your mother's frustration if she's worried about you coming across a bunch of unknowns and that even if you succeed, having to worry about getting yourself a job with not a lot of job experience to go on. However, I'm not saying that she should discourage you from any pursuit you deem worthy, and college is clearly one of those items, especially with someone like yourself, that she shouldn't try to sway...especially if you're a kid that goes through and is hitting honors every quarter/semester only to graduating from HS with a well-off GPA and then have little or nothing to show for it...or be in a position where you worked so hard these past 13 years of your life to get to college only to be slapped in the face that you need to sell yourself first before you do anything...if anything really. I dunno...there needs to be something sorted out on that one. Obviously, if you don't have your parents backing on the college thing...unless you have a way to get scholarships/grants/student aid to anything (and some require parental consent/signature, FAFSA for one) you might not be able to pull college expenses, at least, not full-time. Personally, I wouldn't really know how to go about it regardless, because I'm in the boat right now trying to get THROUGH college...and there's really not a lot more I can tell you than that...only what I've been through personally. Bottom line: My guess is, if she wants you to really sell yourself, then college would definitely be a plus on that list, among other things...so I would enquire why she would discourage that. (edited by Ranko on 08-25-04 04:20 AM) |
|||
|
Grey the Stampede Don't mess with powers you don't understand. And yes. That means donuts. Level: 82 Posts: 743/3770 EXP: 5192909 For next: 16318 Since: 06-17-04 From: Kingston, RI, USA, Earth Since last post: 2 hours Last activity: 1 hour |
| ||
| No, she wants me to go to college, but she doesn't want me to go there just to learn for learning's sake, she wants me to go so that I can aquire a tool to use to sell myself to the working world. That was pretty much what I was trying to say. But that's not what I want, I want to go to learn, not to get a six-figure job. I'd be just as content living in a shack in Montana with a cat, booby traps around my house, and a huge freaking satellite internet dish as I would in a high-rise apartment with million dollar pieces of art, so long as I had the skill. Far from not wanting me to grow up, my limit is graduating from college, the moment I do that she's throwing me out. I've got no problems with that, I think it's a good idea to force the baby birds out of the nest when they're ready to fly. In fact, I have told her time and again I have every intention of living on campus when I go to college, just as a bit of training (since it's only slightly like the real thing) for when I leave the house permanently and start life on my own. She wants me to go to college as fast as I can, get a degree, and then leave the house so that I can live without my parents to support me. I can deal with that, she knows full well I'm capable of taking care of myself, and it seems to be the only thing we're in agreement on. But no, Ranko, she definitely wants me to go to college, it's just that her reasons for wanting me to go to college differ from my reasons for wanting to go. |
|||
alte Hexe Star Mario I dreamed I saw Joe Hill last night Alive as you and me "But Joe you're ten years dead!" "I never died" said he "I never died!" said he Level: 99  Posts: 1157/5458 EXP: 9854489 For next: 145511 Since: 03-15-04 From: ... Since last post: 2 hours Last activity: 2 hours |
| ||
| My parents want me to do something useful with my life. But I've told them to fuck off, and I'm going to study history and other useless nonsense. I'm not going to make money, I don't care. I hate money, I want to be my own person. I told them I don't want to make buildings or design cars. I want people to remember the past. Your parents can't stop you from learning. |
|||
|
Prier Archangel Administrative Priestess. NUCLEAR SUB WEEEOOOO Level: 119 Posts: 2745/8392 EXP: 18790939 For next: 138352 Since: 03-15-04 From: Nerima Dist. - Tokyo, Japan Since last post: 1 day Last activity: 1 day |
| ||
| My bad in the reading...I thought she was trying to dissuade you from going to college, period. So basically she's putting pressure on you to go through college in a way you don't want to. Yea...like Ziff said...they really can't stop you from learning...and I did get the whole sell yourself thing from my father... ...before he went and cheated on my mother with her best friend after 22 years of marriage...little bit of hypocrisy there. My main concern right now period is just getting through it and picking up whatever I can in the few years I've got there...then it'll probably be the long and boring 9-5 jobs that keep me occupied until I retire or croak from a heart attack on an office floor from being overworked. I'm not in any rush. |
| Add to favorites | "RSS" Feed | Next newer thread | Next older thread |
| Acmlm's Board - I2 Archive - Lost Section - So, College is coming, and my mother is telling me what I should and should not learn... |
| | |
