EdiblePlastique Posted November 20, 2013 Posted November 20, 2013 Hey guys. This is my first post on this forum. I've been listening to the podcasts for a few years now, and have recently really gotten into philosophy. I'm in my last year of high school and I work at Laser Quest. I have three classes in school this semester: Social Studies 30-1, Media Broadcast Communications, and Drama 20. I haven't been going to school very often... Laser Quest takes a lot out of me, and when I'm done working a weekday shift, it's incredibly difficult to get to sleep afterwards. I'm mostly working four hour shifts, but in those four hours, I drink an energy drink and have to be in a very high energy mood, which lasts through the night until I fall asleep. I end up just going home, lying in my bed and waiting for the sleep to take me away, but it doesn't and I end up lying there for an hour. Then, I don't go to school the next morning. I think to myself, I'll go in the afternoon. I only have one class in the afternoon: Drama. And it's a blow-off class. You get a mark just for participating, and recently we've been given a project where we have to write scripts. So we've just been getting free classes to write them, which I could be doing at home. I'm also an amateur photographer and musician. I take pictures with film, get the processed, scan them myself, and upload them to Flickr. I pick a song I really like, get really good at it, record it studio-style, then upload it to Soundcloud. If I'm not in school, at work, or hanging out with friends (which is like 90% of the time), I'm pursuing my passions in the arts and philosophy. This is what I plan on doing today, as I didn't go to school. Today, I woke up and it was -25 outside. I took a shower, and essentially fell asleep in the shower. I woke up and got ready to go, and asked myself, am I really going to benefit from going to school on this particular day, when it's cold, when I know all I'm going to be doing is working on scripts and writing standardized tests? When I have a lot of negatives that still need to be scanned, and a lot of music bubbling around in my brain? If I miss a day, I make up for it the only way I know how - by doing something productive in the time when I'm not at school, such as scanning, recording, listening to a podcast by Stef or exploring wikipedia pages about the Cold War (that's what we're learning about in Social right now). And still, it brings down my average and respect by everyone for not going to this stupid place where I have to put up with high school drama bullshit and frankly incompetent teachers. I've been missing a lot of days lately, and both my dad and my boyfriend are concerned. They both know that I'm doing these things that I love to do when I'm not at school, and that I don't really have much time to do them otherwise. Still, they say I need to play the game to get into a good university, that I need to stop having the attitude that I'm a part time student, and that I need to see the value of going to school on days where I see no value in going. I could go today, to school, and do my one class where I sit and write a script and then have to go home and then directly to work, all the while enduring the shit weather of this dumb city. Or I could stay at home, explore philosophy, record music and scan negatives. To me, the latter is the better option. And even with my crap attendance, I'm still maintaining an 83% average. I guess what I'm asking for is a solution: How can I better balance my passions, my academic career, and my job? Where do I start? How do I force myself to go to school when the alternative (staying home) actually seems better for my education as a human being?
Melissa McWilliams Posted November 20, 2013 Posted November 20, 2013 Save your soul. Save your mind. Get out of school. I'm in California and I took the CHSPE (California High School Proficiency Exam) in Nov 2012, which is basically a get-out-of-jail-free card for high schoolers in 10th grade onward. I don't know which country/state you're in-- have you looked into the possibility that an equivalent of the CHSPE might be available to you?
MrCapitalism Posted November 20, 2013 Posted November 20, 2013 Social Studies 30-1, Media Broadcast Communications, and Drama 20. I haven't been going to school very often... Holy crap, congratulations on putting in the effort to show up to that nonsense...
EdiblePlastique Posted November 20, 2013 Author Posted November 20, 2013 I live in Alberta, Canada. I'll definitely look into it. Thanks guys.
CrazyCanuck Posted November 21, 2013 Posted November 21, 2013 I live in Alberta, Canada. I'll definitely look into it. Thanks guys. Obviously you don't value school high enough to go to school on consistent basis. Write the things you value and put them in importance. Obviously you need school/learning to be at near the top. Now if you should write them everything you can gain by finishing school and getting a degree and write down everything you have to lose if don't follow through. It needs to be written down for both. That is if you want to go to school.
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