A little off topic, but related, I thought things would be so much “better” in college then in high school, with more independence, free time, etc. I was right and wrong. I have more independence, sure, but assuming I’m doing all the work I’m supposed to be I don’t have as much free time and I have a hell of a lot more responsibility. I’m the only one accountable for my performance now. Like Prof. X said, in high school you can kind of slime by and not really have to stand by what you’ve done.
Now, with a little bit of hindsight, I’m assuming that when I get into the “real world” or even graduate school, life will give me more freedom, but also more responsibility, harder work, less time and I’ll be even more accountable for my actions, whatever they be.
Seriously, whatever I am doing, I wish I was doing something else. When college is in session, after a couple of weeks I jsut wish it was the summer again and I could just be working and not have to worry about tests. Part way through the summer, I just wish that I could get back to school and end the monotony that is work. Most people always think its better somewhere else, but its really not.
Please. I’d give anything to go back to high school. Really back to college. I wouldn’t waste your breath arguing though. He’ll understand once he’s working, in grad school, law school, whatever.
Teenagers know it all. Encourage him to leave home and become a millionaire while he still knows everything.
Mark Twain once remarked that when he was 17 his father was the most stupid man in the world. By the time he turned 21 he was amazed at how much the old man had learned in the past 4 years.
High school sucked. Period. College is going so much better! I only have 2 years behind me and at least 6 more to go though hehe. I will say that I work about 45-50 hours a week on top of school, and when summer rolls around it’ll be back to me working at least 60+ hours a week. Yay for college life? I laugh when some punk is sitting there gloating because mommy and daddy put him through so all he has to worry about is buying himself nice things, while I sit there grinning about what he will be like when he gets “out there”
[quote]Dr. Ryan wrote:
You: Hey, you better start your homework. I’m going to go fu@k your Mom now. See you in the morning.
That ought to do the trick. [/quote]
Well, there goes my plan for printing out this thread for him to read. Thanks Doc. Maybe I can just white-out that part. Or highlight it. Either way.
Seriously though, I do realize that he’s probably just venting, and it’s something most kids do. But it’s just the closed-minded manner in which he does it that gets annoying. Because of his nature, there’s not much chance for a dialogue. It’s very much like talking to a wall, only the wall is talking back, and is trying to convince you that it’s really a mirror, or something.
[quote]Minotaur wrote:
But it’s just the closed-minded manner in which he does it that gets annoying. Because of his nature, there’s not much chance for a dialogue. It’s very much like talking to a wall, only the wall is talking back, and is trying to convince you that it’s really a mirror, or something.[/quote]
Head…hurting. Too much…rational thought placed towards…irrational teenager. Must…escape.
School is like jobs. If you fuck around or don’t put time into it, it’s fun. I’ve had jobs that were so fucking mindless, all you did was mess around and it was a great time. (Anything minimum wage, no thought required). I’ve had classes that were similarly designed for retards, and way easy. I’ve also had really tough, focus requiring jobs, and tough, focus requiring pain in the ass classes.
If you fucked around in highschool, sure, it was fun, and that resulted in you getting a shitty ass job that’s hard work. So, everyone that argues that school is easy will have a conversely harder job. Self-perpetuating.
I must say I had the same attitude in high school. I thought, “man, i work sooo hard and my parents just come home from work and watch TV, they have it easy for sure!” Well he is going to get a biiiig wakeup call in college if he actually works hard. Ill tell you that between working full time, going to college full time, and training 6 days a week, you will find yourself wishing you were in high school again. Just have him talk to someone like me, because i used to think exactly like that, but i only realized how good i had it untill it was gone.
I guess I’m just lucky in that I’ve enjoyed every period of my life (mostly for different reasons). I never really got labeled in any way because I was friends with people in each category and could move about easily in any of the groups, but then I think my HS was a little easier than most in that regard. Don’t get me wrong, there were emotionally difficult periods during every phase, but life is like that.
I knew my parents worked hard, because I saw it on a daily basis and my sisters and I (5 of us)had to help out with nearly everything around the house and while we never lacked for the basics, there were several years when things were pretty lean. I think most kids nowadays have it a lot easier when it comes to material things. There are just so many more ways to entertain oneself today than there were 20-30 years ago. At the same time, most of them don’t know the joy of spending all day outside doing whatever you feel like (playing the sport of the season, riding bikes, throwing construction dirt at each other, having wars (bb guns, bottle rockets, snowballs, whatever)). Video games were just starting out and the reason they were so much fun was because you only played them when the weather sucked. We had no cable tv, so the only time you could watch sports was on the weekends or Monday night. We had to make our own fun a lot of the time.
I guess my advice is to just keep doing what you’re doing. Like someone said, don’t let the argument take over, but don’t give up on it either. Try to keep it light. I imagine it would be difficult when his father has an influence on him and may not share your sense of responsibility. As long as you are right, stay consistent and he will come around eventually. A lot of it, he just has to learn on his own.
Maybe I can just white-out that part. Or highlight it. Either way.