Post: #1

I've been reflecting back on my experiences in school lately, likely because I've moved to a new apartment near a middle school. I'm wondering if there is anyone else on this forum, likely suburb kids, who suffered from academic burnout by the time they hit high school, or even before, in middle school. I had attended those "academic prep" schools, which were modeled on some of the older preparatory schools on the East Coast, so I was basically force fed shit tons of pointless, dull homework every night, until I turned 15 and moved to a public school.
I look at some of my classmates now who were enrolled in IB or AP programs at these prep schools, many without jobs or prospects. The kids I knew in public school, however, never had busy work, and with their free time, basically learned trades (tattooing, graphic design) and are fairing far better.

Post: #2

K-12 was a total waste of time. All that comes after is better as long as it's working for you and not against you.

Post: #3

I did, yeah. College in comparison is somewhat harder work than high school but I have way more actual free time.

Post: #4

I've been suffering since the day they made me learn to read and write, but I have to say it's come in handy.

Post: #5

I was burnt out pretty early in the school shtick and I only graduated because they shuffled me trough the grades because I drew stick figures shooting at each other and I wound up in special education as a result.

K-12 is a pretty big time waster and the staff (maybe just in my own school) seems keen on medicating those that can't sit through eight classes a day for five days straight while being forced to get up at 6 AM in the morning.

College is "harder" but a lot more agreeable. I can actually walk off campus, leave the class room to take a piss without asking, and there's a lot less classes. Five classes on two days of the week is considered "full time".

Post: #6

I'm actually feeling it more now that I've graduated. The last thing I want to do right now is go back to school for more education, but its probably the best option for me. I have a Biomedical sciences degree, but the job prospects are shitty. I also want to eventually make over 200k (or at least have the potential to make that much) and I doubt I could do that without more education.

Post: #7

I worked multiple jobs in HS and saw guys with 4 year college degrees barely making more than me and so, I thought most of high school was a waste of time. A HS degree had long proven at that stage in my life to have zero value in the job market.

What was the point of all this? No one was going to pay for my college or help in any way financially post-HS nor did it college seem very appealing once I realized how much debt I would have to go into to make it work. I didn't have a lot of time to fuck off and discuss goddamn Homer and the Odyssey and the meanings of silly bullshit; I needed to figure shit out ASAP on how I was going to make a living and be self-sustaining after high school. Yet, I can't recall a single person who told me it was OK to NOT go to college and advocated an alternative path like working a trade.

Therefore given the aforementioned and all the senseless busy work, I became bored with HS and basically stopped giving a shit. As mentioned, no one pushed trades or non-college options in my school; I sure as shit didn't know about oil fields or anything of the like. Even the military, no one dared say you should enlist; go to ROTC and be an officer. If you didn't go to a 4 year university, you were pretty much viewed as a loser essentially.

My burning out of HS largely stemmed out of the simply fact that HS wasn't addressing any of my very critical needs and was wasting my time with non-essential shit that would be of zero use post-high school. Way too much time wasted on pointless academic concepts and no focus on practical concepts. High schools could easily cut out 12 grade and maybe even parts or all of 11th grade since a lot of it was just regurgitation of stuff I already knew.

Post: #8

I did. My public high school education experience was very good. If anything, I think my college education was a waste of time.

My school let us take IB classes without needing to take the test at the end of the year so I loaded up on them because an A in an IB class meant a higher GPA weight.

College on the other hand was a total waste of time. I spent the majority of my classes regurgitating bullshit and putting up with never being able to break sexist glass ceilings when it came to grades. I'd watch girls pump out nearly identical papers and get higher grades than me. Going to professors and asking, "What can I do to make this B+ an A" never resulted in anything fruitful.

Tis the punishment for going to a liberal arts college.

As an adult, I use more skills taught to me in high school than I ever did for college. I owe my life success to my high school.

Post: #9

I was really sick of going to school by the time I finished High School. I was planning to study business and economics, just like everyone else in my age group, but decided I'd rather get a job as a pilot. Took me 2 years to do the education and get a job. Another 2 to make a good salary. Keep in mind, I was very, very fortunate. I wouldn't recommend this route to others, because the risk of not making it and being stuck with a lot of debt is very real.

Post: #10

I basically coasted through high school. When I started college it was the first time I really put a lot of effort into school and I actually enjoyed it most of the time. If I had worked really hard all through high school though, I could see getting burnt out in college.

Post: #11

I suffered burnout in late junior year of high school, though in a way I'm grateful for it. It wasn't until I was exhausted I realized which particular subjects (truly) interested me and I elected to prioritize them. Such is obviously not the path to take if you have Harvard or the likes in sight, but I graduated much happier than many of my beleaguered peers who worked so hard (likely since kindergarten) to only earn rejection letters.

From Harper's:

Quote:Youth, now, is nothing more than a preliminary form of adulthood, and the quiet desperation of middle age has been imported backward into adolescence. (If Arthur Miller had been at work today, it would have been Death of a Senior.) And as everybody knows by now, it isn't just postmodern youth; it is also postmodern childhood—for children, too, increasingly are miniature adults, chasing endlessly for rank and status.

I don't blame kids for getting tired; there's a lot of noise that exacerbates any workload undertaken in school: passive-aggressive comments from lousy teachers, overdose of demanding extracurriculars, and support staff obsessed with college admissions. If Sallie Mae had a buck every time my counselor in high school said "college", there would be no need for them to ever ask for a loan repayment.

Meanwhile, there's absolute silence on character development. I think burnout will inevitably occur when your academic foundation isn't strong due to lack of instilling discipline from the adults involved in education.

From Quintus Curtius:

Quote:Students today are not taught discipline; they are not trained to control their impulses; and they are not conditioned to accept habits that make for civic order. Instead, they are coddled, pampered, and taught that each is his or her own little emperor, who can do no wrong. There is limitless talk of rights, privileges, and benefits, yet almost no corresponding understanding of the responsibilities and duties that must come before any of them.

My math classes in middle school, while "advanced" on paper, were too easy and gave me the false impression I was some sort of genius which naturally led me to coast until I realized junior year I had neglected study of new, denser material. I should've known better, yet no teacher bothered to call me out for slacking. I should've said no to the teacher who wanted to use my homework as the answer key out of principle, but I took the easy way out since it meant guaranteed As.

If AP/Honors/IB/etc. weren't offered so easily, I think there'd be less burnouts from more realistic expectations on the part of students. Of course, that's practically an impossibility given nearly every secondary education institution in America might as well be renamed Lake Wobegon High....