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What do I do about High School?

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I am a Sophmore in High School, who has been battling with a question for a long time. See in the school system we are given grades that are supposed to represent our knowledge in a certain subject. A good idea for a way to prove knowledge. However how it is implemented creates a deep lie and contradiction. This is because your grade consists of a large amount of assignments and tests. Instead of one final test to assure knowledge they insist on averaging previous measurements of knowledge along with the final to achive THE FINAL MEASURE OF YOUR KNOWLEDGE. How that could more accuratly display how much you know at the end of the semester than a est at the end of the semester I cannot comprehend.

The use of work and other assgnments as part of a grade is nonsense. How do you propose copying down definitions or other types of work as adequate proof of knowledge? How can you pull yourself to do this work if you 1. Feel you already know the subject and would not benefit from doing it 2. Think about the fact that this is not necessary to prove you know this as you take tests to prove that 3. Realize that by doing this in order to keep your grade up you are conceding to them that they are right and your work is required to prove that you know something. The only way, rationalizing. You think you need to get the grade so you can go to college and go into a career. You tell yourself there is nothing you can do and that it wouldn't be so bad for you to just do this little bit and this little bit, trying not to actually think about what you are doing. You justify upholding thier lie by thier power over you. I have attempted to do this for as long as I can remember. I never actually succeeded in convincing myself in it and have only just made it by so far even though I get A and B grades on my exams only. Doing just this little bit had dropped my self esteem to a very low point. I however discovered the works of Ayn Rand recently through my brother who read The Fountainhead for the essay contest and told me I was "Just like Howard." Well now that I have read a large portian of her other works as well I am at a tough point. I cannot go on like I have, I now know better. I no longer can do any assignment unless it is to furthur my learning. This has caused me to get failing grades in several of my classes. If I continue this way I will not graduate. Yet oddly I feel better and happier than I ever have my entire life. These decisions will lead me to nto be able to pursue the career I want to.... but still make me so happy. I fear the main question I'm asking here is, should I continue like I am now and fail, or is there some other way for me to pass that does not require rationalization?

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This is because your grade consists of a large amount of assignments and tests.  Instead of one final test to assure knowledge they insist on averaging previous measurements of knowledge along with the final to achive THE FINAL MEASURE OF YOUR KNOWLEDGE.

Assignments are meant to test different areas of your knowledge such as report and essay writability on many times more subjects than are possible on one exam. Sometimes teachers look to how often one completes homework as a display in reliability. Nobody said knowledge was the sole purpose for your high school; if you don't agree with their goals, a better option is homeschooling.

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Sometimes teachers look to how often one completes homework as a display in reliability.
But are we to do the homework for no reason?

Nobody said knowledge was the sole purpose for your high school; if you don't agree with their goals, a better option is homeschooling.

My parents refuse it.

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I disagree strongly; some people may be very intelligent, but perform poorly in exam situations for whatever reasons. I don't think that a person's ability to answer questions under pressure within a set period of time reflects a full picture of their capabilities - exams often test your memorization skills and ability to perform in pressurized situation, rather than your conceptual grasp of the given material and your ability to utilize it in a creative way. I think supplementing exams with assessed coursework is important in order to get a fuller idea of someone's ability/potential; it doesnt seem 'fair' to give a person who has performed well all term a bad mark just because they have a poor performance on one day out of 365.

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I no longer can do any assignment unless it is to furthur my learning.  This has caused me to get failing grades in several of my classes.  If I continue this way I will not graduate.  Yet oddly I feel better and happier than I ever have my entire life.  These decisions will lead me to nto be able to pursue the career I want to.... but still make me so happy.  I fear the main question I'm asking here is, should I continue like I am now and fail, or is there some other way for me to pass that does not require rationalization?

Unfortunately, school is compulsory, but you may have options. Depending on the laws of your state, you may be able to engage in a self-study program, learning what you want to, under the guise of "home-schooling."

There are also very flexible web-based study programs accredited by recognized credentialing organizations you might want to look into such as the Laurel Springs School at http://www.laurelsprings.com/.

If you tell me what career(s) interests you, I may be able to make additional suggestions.

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to give a person who has performed well all term a bad mark just because they had a poor performance on one day out of 365.
But it is fair to ask one person to perform over and over again to prove the same thing just because another person cannot perform whenever they are asked?

I don't think that a person's ability to answer questions under pressure within a set period of time reflects a full picture of their capabilities - exams often test your memorization skills and ability to perform in pressurized situation, rather than your conceptual grasp of the given material and your ability to utilize it in a creative way.

What other types of situations would you perform in? If you can perform under pressure, isn't that adequate proof you can perform without the pressure? What is a creative way? I am not only talking about tests with a series of fill in the answer type questions, an conceptual essay question can give a very good indication of whether they know and understand why the answer is a certain way. However I do not see what a lot of work I do has to do with this at all, copying definitions, solving the same type of math problems over and over again, etc.

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What possible good does it do to lay out the perspective of education's bureaucrats? What does that have to do with Som Guy's problem? That teachers have their reasons doesn't mean that those reasons apply to everyone. When applied collectively, they stiffle the best individuals, not to mention waste their time. I recommend the article The Comprichicos about what this does to the human mind. This young man isn't complaining about being bored, nor is he simply trying to get out of work, he is concerned about his integrity.

Good luck in finding an alternative, Som Guy.

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What possible good does it do to lay out the perspective of education's bureaucrats?

I sometimes find that understanding the justification for something I don't like helps me to cope with it (as long as I agree with the justification of course). I suppose its not that important here though.

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You are putting yourself in a much more difficult situation by disregarding your grades. Be aware that when colleges evaluate your application they won't know about your situation nor will they agree with you on your position on grading policies. They see only your transcript, your essay, and recommendations.

The public school system is bad; I hazard to say that I for one know it more personally than most. The best teacher in my high school has just decided to resign because of the grading policies enforced by our school principal. This caused quite a fury among the top students, who felt offended by the principal's remarks and indignant of their being deprived of perhaps one of the best teachers in the country. It even made some students cry, (I nearly cried myself when our teacher had to explain to us in front of the class). :(

His integrity is admirable. Yet I cannot help but wonder and worry about the next school year, because this year many of the better teachers are resigning or retiring. Still, though, I intend to get good grades--it's the only way I can get admitted into good colleges, especially with my family's financial situation.

Like I said, they really have no other means of evaluating you.

You should pass your classes, if for no other reason than to get out of the public high school ASAP. But you should do it in order to get your academic credentials and get the career you want. It'd be next to impossible to get into a good college with F's all over your transcript, and your are highly unlikely to find a Henry Cameron in your career field who may see your talent and hire you instantly despite your poor grades and recommendations.

This is assuming, of course, that you have no other alternative but public high school (like me). But if you can afford home-schooling or private school, then I'd suggest you take those instead.

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You should pass your classes, if for no other reason than to get out of the public high school ASAP. But you should do it in order to get your academic credentials and get the career you want. It'd be next to impossible to get into a good college with F's all over your transcript, and your are highly unlikely to find a Henry Cameron in your career field who may see your talent and hire you instantly despite your poor grades and recommendations.

The ends do not justify the means for me. I will not say to them or myself that these things are actually neccesary for me to do this job. Regardless if this would be the only way for me to get the job, that is irrelevant. Actual circumstances do not change what the issue is. They do not matter because I will not swallow or pretend to swallow anyone else's values nor even act as though they are vaild if I do not think they are.

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My opinion is that you can view these tests as a matter of reading comprehension. I would assume you were tested on your comprehension of fictional books before in school, albeit not under a deceptive guise. Your taking and passing the tests does not have to imply that you agree with the knowledge, but rather that you understood what you were taught, even if what you were taught was wrong. Demonstrating your comprehension abilities is not tacit agreement with what you are being tested on. Many posts on this forum are evidence of that. :(

Or you can attempt to take to the field as a rebel. You can fight the system and prove them wrong where their knowledge and values conflict with what you know to be real. However, in doing so you must be willing to accept the risks. How well have you thought through those risks, and are you willing to live with them?

VES

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Som Guy, I understand how you feel about the grading policy of public schools. In fact, there are a lot of things wrong with the world that after reading Ayn Rand for the first time seem to become all the more unbearable because you are aware of the alternative. I feel the same way you do about qualifications, i.e. that the only thing college admissions people or interviewers should look for is talent related to the specific task you are applying for, whether learning or working.

However, one important part of Objectivism is that you must live based on reality. Though Howard Roark and John Galt are uncompromising, they also lived in fictional worlds where they were able to affect change with their uncompromising attitudes. Now, I am not advocating compromise as a general practice, but you must realize that in the current state of the world, trying to get into college with failing grades by appealing to your principles will be just as effective as hitting your head against a wall - it simply will not accomplish what you want and value in life.

The changes you, and all of us here, seek have to be incremental to be sucessful. If you value success and aspire to a particular job, it is most certainly in your self interest to play along until you are free from public school. And from my knowledge of high school, it was pretty much a matter of going through the motions to get good grades.

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See in the school system we are given grades that are supposed to represent our knowledge in a certain subject.

I assume this is explicit institutional policy, not just supposition on your part. My philosophy for assigning grades is that they are an evaluation of how you perform certain tasks which require certain knowledge. It is part of an overall requirement for the student to demonstrate sustained knowledge of the topic (so that "cramming" does not help). It means that you must demonstrate the knowledge which is the focus of the course at all times (incrementally, of course), and not just at one brief moment.

There is a very practical reason homeworks are required: doing the homeworks imparts the necessary skills required to do the exam. In Norway, college courses are graded on the basis of an exam and not homeworks, and doing homework is not the norm (they are purely optional). I taught there for a year, and there is no question that the students' exam performance was directly correlated with whether they did the homework assignments. Very simply, doing the homework prepares you for the exam.

Perhaps a more individually tailored approach to instruction would be more useful for you, and if you can persuade your parents to put you in a private school with a lower student/teacher ratio you might be better off. The practice of structuring classes designed around what works best for most students ignores the special needs of the student who is a degree or two off bubble one way or the other. That is in the nature of mass education -- if you don't want mass education, you need to go where you can get individual instruction.

This is because your grade consists of a large amount of assignments and tests.  Instead of one final test to assure knowledge they insist on averaging previous measurements of knowledge along with the final to achive THE FINAL MEASURE OF YOUR KNOWLEDGE.  How that could more accuratly display how much you know at the end of the semester than a est at the end of the semester I cannot comprehend.
It is because a single performance on a brief exam is not a reliable indicator of knowledge. Were there to be a single comprehensive final exam it should probably take 6 hours, at least for an academic subject. You might try to convince your school to implement such an exam schedule, if you find that more attractive. The problem is that in the current "majority rules" climate, you need to make such an approach to exams more popular sounding. This is another argument for the individual education approach.

The use of work and other assgnments as part of a grade is nonsense.  How do you propose copying down definitions or other types of work as adequate proof of knowledge?

I have two answers to this. First, you are basically right but you're shifting the focus from the clearly legitimate strategy of evaluating the entirety of the student's performance, to the somewhat questionable practice of simple asking students to memorize "key facts". Those are different questions. However, since students very often cannot read, comprehend and re-state material contained in a textbook, it is actually not such a waste of time as you make it seem. I agree that it's outrageous that there are such students in the educational system (assuming you are outraged, too), but the reality is that they exist, and we have to deal with reality. The teacher is required by their employer to teach these unteachable idiots. In public schools this is a particularly serious problem, since you can't kick a student out for being stupid. Yet another argument for private education.

How can you pull yourself to do this work if you 1.  Feel you already know the subject and would not benefit from doing it
I take it that your performance on exams and homeworks bears out your evaluation of whether you know the material, that you are getting all A's and you're just doing your time. Have you ever tried discussing your problem with your teacher? Most teachers are quite open to finding more challenging outlets for their better students. The problem is identifying a student who's up for an intellectual challenge -- unfortunately, they don't wear lapel pins.

You think you need to get the grade so you can go to college and go into a career.

Since you're questioning this assumption, then you're on the brink of realizing (if you haven't done so) that you do not have to go to college to find a job. Unfortunately there is little than you can do about the compulsory education laws, but once you're 18 (I presume, depending on where you live), you are free to leave school and take whatever job you can get. You may have to wait a couple more years because of that law, but in the meantime, you can study whatever interests you in your spare time, focusing on whatever you think will best position you to be hired in the kind of job you desire, once you're 18. However, you should take a realistic look at the job prospects. Potential employers do not typically have the time to carefully probe your psyche and knowledge. They may well assume that if you failed courses in high school, you are a screwup and they don't need to hire a screwup if there is an alternative.

I never actually succeeded in convincing myself in it and have only just made it by so far even though I get A and B grades on my exams only.
Wait, I was under the impression that you actually knew this stuff. So now it looks like the problem is that you have deluded yourself into thinking that you have this knowledge when in fact you don't.

I no longer can do any assignment unless it is to furthur my learning.  This has caused me to get failing grades in several of my classes.  If I continue this way I will not graduate.

Now it seems pretty clear that you've deluded yourself into thinking that you know stuff that you actually do not know. If you actually knew this material, then you should be able to demonstrate that knowledge, so the only reason you would be receiving failing grades is that you are deliberately self-destructing. (Alternatively, your instructors might all have it in for you and are counting your actually correct answers as wrong: I assue that is not the case since you didn't mention that).

The first thing I would suggest is that you concentrate on the fact that reality is what it is, regardless of what you want it to be. The second fact you should concentrate on is that man is not omniscient. That means that even if you don't understand the purpose of a particular exam or homework assignment, your lack of comprehension of the purpose does not mean that there is no purpose. Perhaps you have a psychological need to debate the merits of the standard educational strategy with your teachers -- give it a shot, but do remember that your need is not a claim on their lives. If you cannot persuade your parents to pay for private education, if you cannot grasp the motivation for a particular way of teaching, if you cannot discipline yourself to do the work that is required, and if you cannot persuade your instructors to provide free additional instruction designed for your special needs, then you have to simply accept whatever consequences there are, such as failing high school. Remember, your needs are not a claim on anyone else's life.

I fear the main question I'm asking here is, should I continue like I am now and fail, or is there some other way for me to pass that does not require rationalization?

What you need is recognition, recognition of the fact that you will fail if you continue on this path, that if you consider a university degree to be important to your life's goals then you must change your attitude, and stop thinking that the world owes you something that you didn't earn (such as a good grade).

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Well, your situation sounds very familliar. Personnally, I am on my second year off after finishing high school, and headed towards university in the fall. I understand your frustration completely. Unfortunately, I only discovered Ayn Rand's philosophy during my last semester at high school, but I had always sensed without understanding, everything that I later discovered from her. High school was horrible - i ended up getting grades good enough to qualify for university, but only through a inner motivation that I knew what I wanted to do with my life (from the age of 9) and I somewhat knew that the stuff they were teaching me was nonsense, aside from the physical sciences like math. But I also abused drugs during the entire 4 years of high school, something that I quickly found unnessary once I was done. I wish that my experience hadn't been so, I've always wished that I could have gotten a better education, but seeing as the situation of the system (although, I'm in Canada, my opinion is it might be worse here) I am simply glad to be out alive. I have never felt better about my self and my abilities as I do today. But yes, my high schooling involved a lot of 'rationalization', althougth I didn't recognize that at the time. But I don't regret it at all. I often feel overwhelmed by the atrocities that are being commited all around me, but I sincerely believe that if you really want to be effective in standing up for your values, the best you can do, seeing as one cannot teach themselves, is to try to absorb as much of the important information as you can, and to blank out the rest - actually, seeing as much of high school is memorized, it will soon blank itself out when you've graduated. If you continue to develop your values and to learn as much as you can about philosophy, and how to protect and defend your own, you will more ready for university than anybody else in your class.

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Wait, I was under the impression that you actually knew this stuff. So now it looks like the problem is that you have deluded yourself into thinking that you have this knowledge when in fact you don't.

I believe getting 87-98 on my tests is a good representation of my knowledge of the subject, I fail only because I do maybe 5% of the homework.

The reason for me not getting closer to 100 would be small little mistakes in reading a question or if the question itself is subjective(a very common occurance in English).

means that even if you don't understand the purpose of a particular exam or homework assignment, your lack of comprehension of the purpose does not mean that there is no purpose.
But do you realize I cannot do something without having a purpose given to me? Nobody bothers explaining or even knows the purpose as far as I've seen. They say "that is just the way it is." But nobdy will ever answer me when I ask why.

Remember, your needs are not a claim on anyone else's life.

I know, I think you have me mistaken, this thread was intended to find helpfull advice in possible alternatives. I am not asking for anyone to make an exception for me, I am merely trying to find out if there is any path for me to take aside from failing and making my ascent in the career of my choice a lot harder even though going along with this teaching method would be an even harder path for me to follow. It comes down to this, not going along with thier methods and taking the longer and being more risky path will and has made me much happier than taking the other one(I would rather drop the career than my values). I am asking for a possible third path, not to follow the second and expect the results of the first at the expense of someone else.

What you need is recognition, recognition of the fact that you will fail if you continue on this path, that if you consider a university degree to be important to your life's goals then you must change your attitude, and stop thinking that the world owes you something that you didn't earn (such as a good grade).
I understand that, and have not claimed anywhere that anyone owes me anything. I gave a critique of thier system and asked if there was another system avaible. I said clearly that the only way I can see myself passing is rationalization(which is to say that the way I'm pursuing now will not let me pass). I think you are assuming far too much about what I have said.

And the main problem is me not being able to do the work, it's not wanting to at all. I would rather fail out than graudate this way. I'm only trying to see if there is an alternative.

seeing as one cannot teach themselves

Yes, but I have found that textbooks are infinitly more helpful than the teachers I have.

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But do you realize I cannot do something without having a purpose given to me?

You sound smart enough to me to find purpose on your own.

Would you agree that there is a larger context to school beyond simply the knowledge that they are passing on? I think there is.

School teaches you methodologies for acquiring new knowledge. Study habits, study groups, research and research papers, analysis, etc. etc. That you may disagree with some particular bits of knowledge they wish to impart on you, doesn't mean that you can't benefit from the methodologies you learn. Likewise, tests offer an opportunity to evaluate whether these methodologies have been effective for you. By suggesting this, I'm not suggesting that you delude yourself, or find or create a false purpose in order to achieve an end. This is a legitimate way to look at what can be learned at school.

I assume there is no statement at the top of each test which states something to the effect of "The taking of this test is an agreement that the answers are indeed fact and you are assumed to be in agreement with them." If they did, then perhaps I could better see you concern. But a test is not some contractual agreement or committment to the knowledge that has been passed on.

VES

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Well, good luck to you. This is clearly an inner struggle for you, where you need to find a way of doing what is required of you in order to get the credential that you seek. If it really is a sacrifice of your basic values to do the homework, it would be wrong of you to sacrifice yourself for this potential future career, which apparently is of lesser value to you. If you said something specific about this career you have in mind (and why it is a value), and were more explicit about which values you are destroying by doing homework, someone might be able to make more concrete suggestions.

Since so many school children specialize in whining about how unfair it is that they have to go to school and do homework, teachers may tend to go overboard in laying down the law rather than spend all of their time justifying their methodologies and none of their time actually teaching. If education were a market commodity, students had the option of not going to school, and teachers had to attract customers, then you would stand a better chance of getting an informative reponse from your instructors as to why they require you to do homework. At least you have some idea why I require students to do homework: perhaps they have similar reasons.

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If you said something specific about this career you have in mind (and why it is a value), and were more explicit about which values you are destroying by doing homework, someone might be able to make more concrete suggestions.

The career desire to enter into is Genetic Engineering, which if the current political trends continue might not even be legal by the time I can actually do more than being an intern or assistant, the reason I value this career is because it offers a near unlimited range of ways to improve our lives and food. To be able to change the biological nature of plants(and hopefully one day animals) to man's benefit. Ever since I first heard about it I've wanted to do it. I realize it is a tough profession, but when you are doing what you want whatever you do is enjoyable. Now what is violated by me doing homework that I feel I cannot benefit from doing is the value of listening to reason. To require a reason to do anything I do do. Now if you say that doing the homework simply to get the grade when I see no connection between those two ideas is supporting ideas that I disagree with. I do not think homework should have any bearing on my grade and to do the homework in order to improve my grade I would be saying that there is a connection between the two. Now I sometimes do homework. But this is only when I feel that some practice is necessary to learn the concept better. I'm sure as I advance into harder courses than I'm in now I will do more. But right now a good deal of it seems like they are asking me to do something pointless. I do not wish to have to answer a question more than once or to be seen as not knowing it just because I did not know it at one point. But this is because I think that a grade should show knowledge and understanding of a subject. I do not know what else it should represent and I have no clue what it does represent at the moment.

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See in the school system we are given grades that are supposed to represent our knowledge in a certain subject.  A good idea for a way to prove knowledge.  However how it is implemented creates a deep lie and contradiction.  This is because your grade consists of a large amount of assignments and tests.  Instead of one final test to assure knowledge they insist on averaging previous measurements of knowledge along with the final to achive THE FINAL MEASURE OF YOUR KNOWLEDGE. 

I think that grading homework is just the proper expression of the spiral nature of knowledge. This means that one does not acquire knowledge in the pattern of a straight line with one endpoint. Knowledge is gained in stages and each stage reflects upon the other—the chronologically later reflects on the earlier and vice versa. During a typical class, you will traverse several loops in a spiral rather than a straight line leading to a definite end point.

To grade students’ homework is just the expression of this fact. Teachers must be given evidence that students are traversing the spiral not just to gauge the performance of the students but also to gauge the methods used and the material covered in class. If teachers only sampled their students’ understanding at the end of a class, they would have no means to correct or modify the content and method of their teaching. Feedback is crucial for all teachers. And for rational students, the feedback gained from graded assignments is just as important for their own understanding.

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The career desire to enter into is Genetic Engineering,

For that you'll need all the math and science you can get. Also, in the biotech business, you will need to be able to express yourself well in writing in order to promote, document, and report on your projects.

which if the current political trends continue might not even be legal by the time I can actually do more than being an intern or assistant,

That's a a good reason to arm yourself with the intellectual ammunition -- the knowledge of philosophy and history -- you will need to fight, politically, for the work you want to do.

So far, you need Math, Science, English, and History. If you are taking any classes in these subjects, see if you can use whatever they are teaching and assigning homework on and testing you on in a way that will add to your knowledge and skills. If it isn't relevant, MAKE it relevant. If you have to do a book report or term paper, select a subject most relevant to your future plans. Etc.

Look into the possibilities of starting your career now. Dream up a great Science Fair or Science Talent Search project. It just might bring you to the attention of a college with a great biotech department and give them a reason for overlooking a not always outstanding high school transcript. Maybe you can get a summer job or internship or work/study program at a college research lab. If a professor there sees how serious you are, he might pull some strings to get you in.

Still another possibility, if you are at least 16, is to take the GED exam and go straight on to college. I know some young Objectivists who, tired of high school, got a GED, went to a local community college (which has to take all high school grads), and then transferred to a 4 year college for their BA or BS. One friend of mine went to a so-so college, then went on to get his MS and PhD in biochemistry at UCLA, and now he heads up a lab at a biotech company.

If you have a clear goal and can map out your way to it, many things become bearable and achievable.

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For that you'll need ...

I am not being biased and I just have to say, that was a wonderful post by Betsy. I was thinking of responding in the same vein as Betsy, but mine would not have been half as good. Leave it to Betsy to find a multitude of ways for finding such positive value and approach. Well done.

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So far, you need Math, Science, English, and History. If you are taking any classes in these subjects, see if you can use whatever they are teaching and assigning homework on and testing you on in a way that will add to your knowledge and skills. If it isn't relevant, MAKE it relevant. If you have to do a book report or term paper, select a subject most relevant to your future plans.
I know they are useful... and I do learn them. The problem is my learning for the most part is done by reading, something I seem to have an affinity for. Most other types of learning have little to no affect on me actually :D; It's useful because most everything you need to learn can be written down and easily avaible and is a quicker and solitary way of learning. Since I learn this way instead of the way most people seem to do(by experiance) I have no motivation to go through those methods of learning. I honsetly like learnign wahtever I can, because that way if my plans fail for some reason I can go for anything else I desire.

Still another possibility, if you are at least 16, is to take the GED exam and go straight on to college.

This has been a plan of mine.... but I cannot afford college unless I qualify for a certain scholarship.... I meet all the requirements except one, a 3.0 GPA at time of taking the GED. I'm near it.... but don't have it just yet. And it really dosen't look like it's going to pick up ethier. If it does I'm taking it though.

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There are two issues here. 1. You think its a waste of time to do assignments you won't learn anything from. 2. You don't think the assignments should be part of your grade.

For the first point, remember that Roark had a specific goal in mind, and was only learning what he needed to achieve that. At high school level you are still learning general knowledge and thinking skills which should be applicable to most any career, so your work probably is contributing to your future.

For the second point, I suspect the teachers know that the students help each other with assignments and look at last years model answer for the same class etc. So they expect that students will all get the same high grade. So even though the assignments do count towards your final grade, they are not the differentiating element - the exam will still be that. So even if people are cheating don't let it bother you, just turn in the best you can for the assigments and know that you will beat them in the exam.

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