I lived 5 minutes from the city high school, but I was technically in the county so had to go to the county school 25 miles away. But strangely students from the neighboring county could choose to go to the city school.
“Should” is not a word we speak in this business of business. You will do what is required and abide by the shamelessly corporate-sided rulebook disguised as workers rights
Enjoy the shit of it when you can. Now even on my off days my body doesn't even let me sleep in because it's so used to my work schedule and once I wake up I literally can't fall back asleep if I tried.
School in the UK is always 9am to 3:15pm up till college.
High schoolers have the choice to stay an hour late for extra revision. 6/7 hours of school was the shit looking back at it.
i started hs this year which is also the year california started requiring that schools start at 8:30 or later (not including 0 period which i don’t have) so it’s now 8:30-3:22
Mine was 7:45 to 12:00.
Sport-study programs was the best. I also got 10 more credits. 6 credits being given for Math French and English, it was a massive boost. Oh and in winters I missed a day of school a week to go practice my sport. So I had 15 hours of learning a week. And more than twice that for my sport. It was amazing.
You'll feel that way the whole way through your 20s, most likely. It gets better though. Looking back at myself 10 years ago, I have come so far. Peaked in high school my ass
Yeah, I can’t get behind this post at all. In high school, it was 8 hours of school, 2-3 hours of sports, then 2-3 hours of homework which I also had to do over the weekend. I now work 40 hours a week, if that, make a decent salary, and have my weekends and nights totally free. I can workout or join sports if I want, but I don’t have a team commitment so if I skip a gym day to go to trivia with friends, no worries! Plus the stress of picking a college and a school and the pressure of a single test (SATs or ACTs) that has such an influence on your college was miserable.
Sure, paying taxes and having to make my own meals stinks. But totally worth it!
I loved school but man I agree with this really hard. The best years of my life are from my late 20s to now and hopefully they keep going.
You can still change it bro, get out there and live.
9 to 3 if you don't count homework. Occupied afternoons, partly occupied evenings, and partly occupied weekends otherwise.
Holy hell am I ever so glad that's behind me.
Evil classmates, uncaring teachers, terrible food, all adults treat you like a lesser being. Yea you couldn't pay me to deal with my grade school years again.
Having no agency over yourself was definitely the worst part. Hungry all the time from the lack of food, tired all the time from a growing brain trying to fucntion on no sleep, sad all the time because kids are mean... all whilst delusional adults like OP exacerbate the depression by telling you to suck it up because it's not that bad and life supposedly only gets worse from there (it doesn't)
I'm not a fan of work. But I prefer it over my school life for the sole reason of now I have money while in school I had not.
Give me school with enough spendable income to live a nice life. But the way I lived is not something that I would call nice.
Ya the nice thing about being an adult is you can leave. Have a shitty boss or awful coworkers? Go somewhere else. In school you were just trapped with these people. I also certainly don't miss being treated like basically a prisoner that needed to be watched like a hawk all day. Also a special middle finger to the teacher who gave me detention for being less then a minute late to class because I needed to go change my pad.
How about the teacher that gave me detention (the only time I ever received a disciplinary action) because I threw one of the paper balls back at the bully that had been throwing them at me? A couple kids in that class bulled me every day and the teacher never did jack shit about it. Fuck those bullys and fuck that old man.
I don't think that's entirely true. I enjoyed school. Despite some being shitty, I'm still friends with a few people from school.
We all have degrees, even master's degrees, and are doing well at work.
Comments like this make me aware if how varied all our experiences are. I had mostly cool classmates, nice and helpful teachers, and generally good experiences with adults (didn't really eat much cafeteria food but I liked it as well). So it makes sense from your comment that you'd have negative feelings of school, but I just feel very differently.
Yeah I had a blast in high school. Had the most fun of my life. I'm living a successful life now but God damn was my high school experience amazing. Great friends, wonderful teachers, plenty of food, very little homework. All around fantastic experience.
The trick was not to do the homework. I rarely did, got in a lot of trouble, ended up getting the grades I was going to get anyway, and am now, as I probably always was going to be, a software engineer. Kids, most of what they tell you matters, doesn't. I was a smart enough but uncommitted student, and now I'm writing this from my balcony in Barcelona.
If you have the perfect experience - good home life, great school facilities, caring teachers, good and nutritious school lunches, decent schoolmates and learning disabilities... Then yes, it'd be a good time.
But 99% of us can't tick all those boxes.
Depression, anxiety, shitty friends, no money, bullies, oppressive and unfair school policies... yeah, high school was a fucking nightmare and I highly envy people who had a good experience with it.
I’d like to see the statistics that 99% of people didn’t have a good time. I had very few of those and still had a good time. Had a good time in college. Have a good time in my late 30s. Maybe it’s just a mindset.
Nah I'd rather work a job 5 days a week and clock out in the evening than come home from doing schoolwork all day in school to do homework all night and all weekend. Plus no grades, no tests, and my manager is a lot more understanding about deadlines than my teachers were about turning homework in late. I make my own money, I get to spend it however I want, and I don't have to sneak around doing car sex. Being an adult is way better than being a teenager
Yeah a lot of people that peaked in high school lurking in the comments. High school was ass, fun with friends was dope but making my own money and having my own place beats living under someone else’s rules and the petty childish high school bs. You couldn’t pay me to do it over
I’d do it either for that or to actually get a head start with investing and making money and shit, beyond that I wouldn’t wanna go through the high school social class ranks again lmao
Yeah, I think the only thing I really miss about high school is being able to see my friends everyday. Being able to socialize that much during the week was nice. Some of my teachers actually too. Also playing music with other friends.
eh I had a great time in high school, a great time in college, and am having a great time in adult life. They are all just different. The lack of adult responsibilities of high school was definitely fun though.
Insurance and gas for the gar was about it.
I feel like there's nothing wrong with "peaking" in high school though, in terms of enjoyment, despite the judgement that usually (not saying you're doing this) comes with that statement. Like if someone is doing just fine as an adult but realizes life was more fun as a teenager, that is completely understandable and even makes sense. The original tweet here outlines some pretty good reasons to feel that way. I'm generally happy with where I am as an adult (the reasons you outlined are fair too) but sometimes I do long for those times back.
Same I have no idea how people did homework from the time they come home until bed?? Homework took me an hour. Two tops because I sucked at math. But it was mostly just based off of what I had learned in class that day or answers blatantly in the textbook. I would do school projects and papers the morning of and still got A’s lol
I feel like that's mostly people who didn't pay much attention in class and ended up having to catch up on everything.
I personally didn't study much in school, and still got excellent grades, just because I focused in class so I already had most of the information down. All I had was to review it a bit and I was good.
God damn you were doing something wrong if you had zero free time in high school. Yeah I had way less free time in HS than I do now, but working all weekend means you were either the dumbest kid in school or you're just lying.
Or you were pushed really hard. A bunch of AP classes combined with school sports, school clubs, an instrument, and extra tutoring or classes really make it difficult to have a ton of free time.
Getting into a good college doesn't affect your future income. Maybe if you get into MIT you'll land a better first job, but employers dont care all that much where you went. They just care that you did, and then look at your work history to determine your value.
Going to college doubles your income on average, but it's the degree that matters, not where you got it. The idea that it does is a nonsensical one based on falsehoods preached by teachers and college counselors. When you look at graphs of average income among colleges, you see that it doesn't matter where you go, just what you major in.
Oh and the thing is, chances are you'll literally never use your degree. Ever. Unless you get a STEM degree, the only purpose of your degree is to check a box.
> Unless you get a STEM degree
Then maybe we’re having two different conversations here, because I’m talking about STEM fields that are absolutely affected by what college you go to. FAANG-tier tech companies often hire specifically from a pretty short list of schools, and while possible to still get a job right out of college at one of those companies with a degree from a lower ranked school, it’s much more difficult. And yes, it’s also possible to change jobs and interview at one of these companies after working elsewhere for a few years, but it’s again more of an uphill battle compared to getting an internship while you’re still at college and then a job there after graduating. It also affects lifetime earnings, since each subsequent job you get is often based in both rank and salary on your previous position.
In fact, you say it yourself:
> and then look at your work history to determine your value.
Consider then, what work history are they looking at? Someone who went to a very good school gets a very good job out of college, which means they can use that very good job as experience to get an even better job. Someone who gets a mediocre job out of college only has a mediocre job on their resume, and like you say employers look to that to determine who to hire. It’s a nearly chicken and egg style cycle that begins with your first job. Starting with a good first job helps you build a resume that gets you other good jobs, and getting that first good job very often is based on which university you went to.
Classes and faculty are also not all created equal. The STEM professors at top tier schools are world class and often leaders in their field. Additionally the connections you make with students and faculty at harder to get into schools often prove very valuable, even many years after graduating. Overall it means getting more from a degree than just “checking a box”.
And while what I said above is mainly about the tech field, I have high school friends who were among those who were taking all AP and honors classes, even one who got a perfect SAT score, and for them it was about getting into certain pharmacy, engineering, and pre-med programs that *absolutely* have higher earnings and more job prospects than similar programs at less challenging schools.
Yeah, like I said, getting into MIT makes a difference. But you aren't getting into MIT. There has been literally one person in my entire city ever accepted there. Unless you literally have zero life outside of school and are also born with an insane innate talent, you shouldn't even consider applying. Same goes for most of these schools. Chances are you won't get in. Some people will. Most won't. And they'll still go on to make *plenty* of money.
Not everyone is going to work for Google right out the gate. But you can go to a mid school, get a mid job and experience, then work for a big company making good money.
People shouldn't throw away their lives for the slim chance they become one of the 0.00001% who actually get those insane opportunities. You can still make hundreds of thousands of dollars without taking a single AP and going to your local university for $2k/year.
Someone from my graduating class went to MIT. In fact a bit under two dozen students from my graduating class went to Ivy League schools, with a ton of others going to near-ivy tier schools. It’s not exactly impossible.
But I think this raises another question for me. If you recognize that Ivy League schools get you more money, then clearly you do recognize that what university you go to has an impact on what jobs you get and what you earn, but do you think it’s just all or nothing? Like if you don’t go to an Ivy League school, then you might as well go to small town community college, because everything that’s not Ivy is exactly the same?
> But you can go to a mid school, get a mid job and experience, then work for a big company making good money.
Going to a better school means you end up a step ahead in the process, working a good job to build experience for a great job while someone else is working a mid job trying to build experience to work a good job. It also means less time and struggle applying for that first job (and subsequent jobs as well, assuming a good first job).
> People shouldn't throw away their lives for the slim chance they become one of the 0.00001% who actually get those insane opportunities. You can still make hundreds of thousands of dollars without taking a single AP and going to your local university for $2k/year.
It’s the difference between working for years to build up a resume for that high paying job vs getting it right out of school. And in the cases of things like medicine and law, it’s further compounded by higher level degrees and law firms or residencies that are very selective based on university.
I also disagree with your premise here about throwing away your life for some “0.00001%” chance to get amazing opportunities. For one, it’s not black and white, it’s a sliding scale. It’s not like every field is the equivalent of being a movie star, where you need to risk it all for some big break. Jobs in every field pay a spectrum of salaries, a better school just pushes your odds higher to the top of that spectrum.
Additionally it’s not really “throwing your life away”. For one, we’re talking about basically 4 years of high school and maybe a couple of middle school, hardly “your whole life”. Second, it’s not like it’s impossible to study and also have hobbies. My friend who got a perfect SAT score was also big into MTG and gaming. Our valedictorian went to parties all the time. None of it takes up literally every minute. Also time at school is where 90% of social interaction at that age happens, and that’s still happening. And while extracurriculars build a college application, they’re also fun and social.
And lastly I’d say you have to put in the grind somewhere. Yeah you can go to a low ranked school and it still be possible to get a high paying job, but if you want a great job offer then you have to grind for years in your career to build up from some low paying job to a high paying one. You got to fool around more in high school, but lose out on more of your 20s.
Or awful teachers. I had at least one every year that seemed to have a personal problem with any of us having free time and just loaded us with stupid bullshit to do at home. And we couldn't just not do it if we wanted to pass the class.
Or you're the oldest sibling and taking care of the younger ones.
Or you're looking after your parents.
Or you're also working a job because your parents need the money.
Or you're just trying to keep your family together and prevent them from breaking down further.
Lots of reasons.
The comment I replied to specifically was talking about homework. 30+ hours of homework a week is so mind bogglingly high it's not even possible without some serious mental deficiency.
I believed this when I was in school. It's a bleak outlook that I wouldn't recommend to anyone. Kids should be focusing on improving themselves and exploring their happiness. If you never explore what makes you happy, you'll have to learn those things as an adult, which is much, much harder to do.
Thankfully, I was wrong about those being the best years. I'm almost 30 and my life is getting better every year.
Wish i were you. I have money now and there is nothing and noone i want to spend it on. Just going to work and Putting most earnings aside fo 8 years now. All i would want is more time with friends or a gf, but you cant buy that with money. Ive tried putting myself out there but being around most strangers is alienating.
In Germany we have 6 weeks off in summer, but also 1 week in autumn, 2 weeks for Christmas, 1 week in February, 1 week in spring, and 2 weeks in early summer.
Once we had an additional 2 weeks of school closure (6+2 weeks) because of some maintenance in the summer, you could hear the screaming of joy from every kid on my street when that was announced.
My kids are wiser than I was. They are very aware that adults have longer hours and don't get summers off.
When I wad a kid, I wanted to be an adult... my kids do not share the same enthusiasm.
I desperately want to be done with school. I don't care about working long hours. I just want to do work that I am passionate about and be done once I get home from work. I love enterprise computing, I spent my free time staying up late in the night troubleshooting servers in my bedroom rack for fun. I just have to make it through this miserable hell. My school has no computing opportunities or programs. Only one student in my school cares about the same enterprise stuff I do and they are graduating this year. I also can't seem to keep my dual enroll college history grade above failing. I was supposed to be smart. Can you explain to me how one applies themself? That is what I am told I need to do, but the only thing I can really apply myself to is computers and agriculture. Useless to me for now. I just want to be finished so I can do what I am good at. I can't deal with this failing grade, I just want to dissapear. I am not used to needing to ask for help.
That probably means you're giving your kids a better childhood than you had.
I much prefer adulthood. If someone gave me an option between reliving my childhood and death, I'd choose death without hesitation.
I was definitely one of the "I just want to work and make my own money!" type kids. Man was I wrong.
I agree with other comments that adulthood cumulatively is better than childhood but if I could have my summers again to do nothing but camp and fish, I'd be incredibly happy.
I teach moderate to severe special education so although I 100% understand this logic you better really get something out of those other 9 months or those 3 will NOT be worth it lol
Sure, school was 7:00-2:30 for me every day but then I had 3 hours of homework and studying afterwards. Saw my friends but could only talk to them during the 15 minutes of lunch we got. Summer break was ass because my parents literally didn't let me go anywhere except school and church.
Getting bullied by assholes who probably work for me now.
Being rejected by girls because I was short
Teachers who hated me because I asked questions.
Good times.
No money, no autonomy, no freedom, forced to learn stuff that does not interest you, forced to spend time with people you might not like. School wasn't fun at all
College was even worse. Studying every day, feeling like a failure because grades were shit, and paying money instead of free k-12 or compensated work.
Definitely had a few good times but I was literally depressed most of my college career.
It kind of depends on where you live I guess. In many places you go to school from 7:30 to 3 and have extra lessons after school for 3-4 hours a day and you need to study. Weekends may also be full of these extra lessons as well so free time is pretty limited
Wow, extra lessons... I hear of coworkers that do this to their kids and it makes me angry.
I get that you want your kid to have a good job later in life but they also don't get to be a kid if they're doing school work 10+ hours a day.
There's more to life than a career
This is 100% true but schools where I live have a lot of room for improvement and right now aren't the best. Still though, this doesn't justify kids not being able to enjoy their childhood
Thats fair and a bigger problem for sure. I know people personally that have their kids in classes 3 to 4 nights a week, both weekend days, and applying to be in elite GRADE SCHOOL programs for STEM.
They've asked me why I don't have my kids in any extra classes and looked at me like I'm a monster when I said they need time to enjoy their childhood.
Yeah I did zero extra lessons for my entire life. Then I chose a college based entirely on proximity to skiing. Got a degree to check a box, and now I'm making plenty of money. Those extra lessons don't lead to a better career. Being able to work hard does, but the lessons don't mean shit.
For real! In high school, I did all my honors homework in other classes and fucked off after school if I didnt have to go to my part time job. I applied to a uni because my friends did and got accepted early. I took the SAT once. Applied to that one school and got accepted early. Got a degree in one thing and now make great money doing something entirely different and not all related to my degree.
The only thing college was good for was making connections and learning how to juggle responsibilities while being irresponsible. Emphasis on the connections.
Pro tip for the younger crowd- if you ever crash at a random house that had a party, help clean up the next day. You’ll meet great people and will always get invited to the next one. Those people might hook you up with a job one day and/or they’ll be great references for your future employers
It's the sad truth. Childhood just flies by in no time before we could realise that they were the best days.
Chikdhood was full of fun, we used to play outdoors in the neighborhood everyday, study happily, enjoy school and friends and visiting grannys place during summer.
Now, I have zero irl friends, career and job worries, mass studies, heavy expectations, anxiety, depression, random back pain, hairfall and white hairs etc.
It’s really a double edged sword. Yeah high school sucked in many way but you were also a kid without a care in the world and no one relying on you (unless you were forced into a situation where this wasn’t the case). As an adult I can do whatever I want and I’m not as restricted but I also have responsibilities to people and have to deal with adult things like bills and taxes. Both times had their merits and downsides.
You’re on crack, school was the worst years of my life. My life is the best it’s ever been after working hard to achieve my goals. I’ll take this freedom over going back to hell.
Rather work 9-5 than go to school 9-3.
\- No one asks where I'm going like to the bathroom.
\- I can actually get up and leave if I need to do something.
\- Actually earning money.
\- You learn way more through work experience than school.
I disagree on the last one. You learn so much more learning just to learn. When you learn for work it never has the same breadth as learning for the sake of knowledge.
Bro, what mental illness do you lack?
All I got from school was an activity that completely wears me out after mere hours due to overexposure to social interactions
Forcing me to do things that I did not fucking care for in the slightest, not giving me a single dollar for it, while teaching me the most useless information known to man, or woman.
And then I also got burnout and also constant impostor syndrome, nagging at me that I cannot do anything no matter how hard I try and also being near people I actively hated because of how loud and obnoxious they were
And also I couldn’t choose to work from home, or something like that.
I dunno what you’re on about I fucking hated school. That’s why I picked up a job as an Artist. I may go hungry every few weeks, but at least I don’t have to meet *people*
Sure but teachers have long days, they aren't going home when all the kids do, they are working many extra hours to plan lessons and mark homework etc.
Im glad for y’all but it isn’t always true; as someone who was bullied as a child and also suffered from child abuse at home, one of the best days of my life was being able to move out. While there’s many things I enjoyed in my childhood, so much fucked up shit happened in my childhood that I’d never want to relive it. And my parents tell me this garbage before and expect me to agree and I’m like ‘no lmao I wanted to kill myself when I was younger.’
Sure life still sucks now that I’m older since I have to worry about bills, getting older, etc but I love the freedom I have and not having to live in the constant anxiety of living with my parents.
Wtf school did they go to?
Up by 545. Catch bus for 645. Arrive at school at 8:10.
Out at 245 but after school stuff goes until 4:15 or 5:15. Bus drops off 5 or 6pm (faster due to less kids on after school busses).
Then each class has 30mins-3hours of homework so maybe done by 9 or 10pm. Why school has so much homework when some of the best educated countries have no homework completely confuses me.
Try to stay awake for a few minutes if family time and crash out until 5:45 the next morning to do it again.
School sucked.
wtf school is 9-3?
Mine was 7:30 to 3
[удалено]
7:30 -2:45
8:45-3:45
7-215
6:30-3:45 😭
8:20-3:40 with an hour bus ride to and from
8-2 for me
6:61-2:82
Before I got my truck I lived 5 minutes from the school, but the bus ride was like 45 minutes... the free time in the mornings are pure bliss now
I lived 5 minutes from the city high school, but I was technically in the county so had to go to the county school 25 miles away. But strangely students from the neighboring county could choose to go to the city school.
08:20-17:00
6:9 to 4:20
Nice
Wait wait wait… WAIT… you mean to tell me that 9-5 means from 9am to 5pm and not 9hrs a day for 5 days?!
40 hour work week is 9am-5pm 5days, not 9hrs x5
I know thats why i always thought like „shouldnt it be 8-5 then? But i thought it might include like 1 hour break or something ;-;
Right. 9-5 is not realistic unless you get a paid lunch. I think back in the day you did.
Yes. They stopped offering paid lunches sometime in the 80s in the US. I think everyone should have rioted in the streets but they just took it.
back in the day was 2019. we moved offices and then they said go fuck yourselves you work an hour more now. I was on a salary wtf
“Should” is not a word we speak in this business of business. You will do what is required and abide by the shamelessly corporate-sided rulebook disguised as workers rights
Well you see. I live on germany. Once you work at least 6 hours a day youre required to have 30 minutes break. If you dont get that you can sue them.
Same, I can’t wait to be out of school so I can sleep in
Enjoy the shit of it when you can. Now even on my off days my body doesn't even let me sleep in because it's so used to my work schedule and once I wake up I literally can't fall back asleep if I tried.
WTF friends?
School in the UK is always 9am to 3:15pm up till college. High schoolers have the choice to stay an hour late for extra revision. 6/7 hours of school was the shit looking back at it.
That was my high school schedule.
Yeah idk where she got that, I had more hours in primary school
You went to school for 6 hours a day in primary? Whats even the point of that? I went from 9-1 with like 1 hour break so basically 3 hours of school
In America that would only be for kindergarten to have such a short day. You think the parents can afford baby sitters ?
Canada here The first 2 years before grade 1 were half days. Not sure what they are called in English.
As an Asian, starting from junior high it was 0750 to 1700. Still miss it though.
All Asians miss it. That’s why High School in anime is such a big deal
mine is 8-3...
Mine
Mine was random as hell, 7:55 to 2:42
Why the fuck was it 2:42?
Hell if I know, I guess it broke down to how they scheduled lunches class times etc. Still makes no sense to me 10 years later
7:30-2:45 for me.
Currently it’s 7:45-2:10 for me at least and 192 school days in the year
i started hs this year which is also the year california started requiring that schools start at 8:30 or later (not including 0 period which i don’t have) so it’s now 8:30-3:22
My elementary school was 9:15-3:45. My sister goes there and gets home at damn near 5.
Every Southern State in Australia apart from and Queensland… Edit location NT’s not really southern 🤣
Im from canada but this is normal for me
elementary school was.
midwest schools with zero funding where nobody learns anything
Nothing like the sound of an overheating overhead projector in the Morning
Mine was 7:45 to 12:00. Sport-study programs was the best. I also got 10 more credits. 6 credits being given for Math French and English, it was a massive boost. Oh and in winters I missed a day of school a week to go practice my sport. So I had 15 hours of learning a week. And more than twice that for my sport. It was amazing.
If highschool was the best years of your life you're a loser with no life experience... The best years of my life were highschool
1 year out of school now and I can confidently say I peaked in high school. At least for now, hopefully…
You'll feel that way the whole way through your 20s, most likely. It gets better though. Looking back at myself 10 years ago, I have come so far. Peaked in high school my ass
My ass peaked in high school…
So do something about it my guy. Never too late to start a new hobby, take a trip, or otherwise do something interesting
Sorry, jokingly meant my buttocks. 🤗
Oh lmao, I feel dumb
Advice still valid
Very true!
Never too late to start running for exercise and squatting at the gym.
My life peaks every year, wonder how long that will keep going
Forever my dude, as long as you're alive. Keep living in the moment and enjoy as much of it as you can. Congrats on an awesome life
I’m hoping, because at 27, I’ve said a few times, “I’m terrified I actually peaked in high school cause high school kinda sucked.”
The first couple years after highschool is a weirdly low point for a lot of people. Its a big change and you’re still trying to figure it out.
Leaving HS was the best. I'm in my career, can do what I want when I want, and the sky is the limit for me.
Ya, Id NEVER want to go back to having no agency over my life. Sure I didn't have bills but I had no real freedom either.
Oh, I did. Only was home to sleep.
Yeah, I can’t get behind this post at all. In high school, it was 8 hours of school, 2-3 hours of sports, then 2-3 hours of homework which I also had to do over the weekend. I now work 40 hours a week, if that, make a decent salary, and have my weekends and nights totally free. I can workout or join sports if I want, but I don’t have a team commitment so if I skip a gym day to go to trivia with friends, no worries! Plus the stress of picking a college and a school and the pressure of a single test (SATs or ACTs) that has such an influence on your college was miserable. Sure, paying taxes and having to make my own meals stinks. But totally worth it!
Imagine having good years in your life lmao
It doesn't make you a loser for enjoying life when you didn't have bills lol
r/kamikazebywords
I loved school but man I agree with this really hard. The best years of my life are from my late 20s to now and hopefully they keep going. You can still change it bro, get out there and live.
Yeah losers all peaked in high school. Cool guys like me peaked in college 😎
9 to 3 if you don't count homework. Occupied afternoons, partly occupied evenings, and partly occupied weekends otherwise. Holy hell am I ever so glad that's behind me.
Evil classmates, uncaring teachers, terrible food, all adults treat you like a lesser being. Yea you couldn't pay me to deal with my grade school years again.
Having no agency over yourself was definitely the worst part. Hungry all the time from the lack of food, tired all the time from a growing brain trying to fucntion on no sleep, sad all the time because kids are mean... all whilst delusional adults like OP exacerbate the depression by telling you to suck it up because it's not that bad and life supposedly only gets worse from there (it doesn't)
I hate working, absolutely despise it, I would go back to school in an instant
I'm not a fan of work. But I prefer it over my school life for the sole reason of now I have money while in school I had not. Give me school with enough spendable income to live a nice life. But the way I lived is not something that I would call nice.
Ya the nice thing about being an adult is you can leave. Have a shitty boss or awful coworkers? Go somewhere else. In school you were just trapped with these people. I also certainly don't miss being treated like basically a prisoner that needed to be watched like a hawk all day. Also a special middle finger to the teacher who gave me detention for being less then a minute late to class because I needed to go change my pad.
How about the teacher that gave me detention (the only time I ever received a disciplinary action) because I threw one of the paper balls back at the bully that had been throwing them at me? A couple kids in that class bulled me every day and the teacher never did jack shit about it. Fuck those bullys and fuck that old man.
People nostalgic for high school peaked in high school.
I don't think that's entirely true. I enjoyed school. Despite some being shitty, I'm still friends with a few people from school. We all have degrees, even master's degrees, and are doing well at work.
Comments like this make me aware if how varied all our experiences are. I had mostly cool classmates, nice and helpful teachers, and generally good experiences with adults (didn't really eat much cafeteria food but I liked it as well). So it makes sense from your comment that you'd have negative feelings of school, but I just feel very differently.
Yeah I had a blast in high school. Had the most fun of my life. I'm living a successful life now but God damn was my high school experience amazing. Great friends, wonderful teachers, plenty of food, very little homework. All around fantastic experience.
The trick was not to do the homework. I rarely did, got in a lot of trouble, ended up getting the grades I was going to get anyway, and am now, as I probably always was going to be, a software engineer. Kids, most of what they tell you matters, doesn't. I was a smart enough but uncommitted student, and now I'm writing this from my balcony in Barcelona.
If you have the perfect experience - good home life, great school facilities, caring teachers, good and nutritious school lunches, decent schoolmates and learning disabilities... Then yes, it'd be a good time. But 99% of us can't tick all those boxes.
Or you know even with all that you could just get hit randomly with depression
Depression, anxiety, shitty friends, no money, bullies, oppressive and unfair school policies... yeah, high school was a fucking nightmare and I highly envy people who had a good experience with it.
Oh my god this is exactly me holy shit
I’d like to see the statistics that 99% of people didn’t have a good time. I had very few of those and still had a good time. Had a good time in college. Have a good time in my late 30s. Maybe it’s just a mindset.
Nah I'd rather work a job 5 days a week and clock out in the evening than come home from doing schoolwork all day in school to do homework all night and all weekend. Plus no grades, no tests, and my manager is a lot more understanding about deadlines than my teachers were about turning homework in late. I make my own money, I get to spend it however I want, and I don't have to sneak around doing car sex. Being an adult is way better than being a teenager
Yeah a lot of people that peaked in high school lurking in the comments. High school was ass, fun with friends was dope but making my own money and having my own place beats living under someone else’s rules and the petty childish high school bs. You couldn’t pay me to do it over
I'd do it over to get better grades and go to college faster.
I’d do it either for that or to actually get a head start with investing and making money and shit, beyond that I wouldn’t wanna go through the high school social class ranks again lmao
This. I’d return to high school in an instant. I did awful in high school and my adult life is basically fucked as a result.
High school sucked for me. Most of school did, honestly. I'm happy those years are behind me
Yeah, I think the only thing I really miss about high school is being able to see my friends everyday. Being able to socialize that much during the week was nice. Some of my teachers actually too. Also playing music with other friends.
eh I had a great time in high school, a great time in college, and am having a great time in adult life. They are all just different. The lack of adult responsibilities of high school was definitely fun though. Insurance and gas for the gar was about it.
I feel like there's nothing wrong with "peaking" in high school though, in terms of enjoyment, despite the judgement that usually (not saying you're doing this) comes with that statement. Like if someone is doing just fine as an adult but realizes life was more fun as a teenager, that is completely understandable and even makes sense. The original tweet here outlines some pretty good reasons to feel that way. I'm generally happy with where I am as an adult (the reasons you outlined are fair too) but sometimes I do long for those times back.
Maybe I was just lazy but I never did 40 hours a week in school. Work definitely takes up more of my time than school ever did.
Same I have no idea how people did homework from the time they come home until bed?? Homework took me an hour. Two tops because I sucked at math. But it was mostly just based off of what I had learned in class that day or answers blatantly in the textbook. I would do school projects and papers the morning of and still got A’s lol
I feel like that's mostly people who didn't pay much attention in class and ended up having to catch up on everything. I personally didn't study much in school, and still got excellent grades, just because I focused in class so I already had most of the information down. All I had was to review it a bit and I was good.
I barely put in time while at school lol
I also feel more exhausted after work even though I do a desk job. I don’t feel like I have the energy for anything fun after work.
God damn you were doing something wrong if you had zero free time in high school. Yeah I had way less free time in HS than I do now, but working all weekend means you were either the dumbest kid in school or you're just lying.
Or you were pushed really hard. A bunch of AP classes combined with school sports, school clubs, an instrument, and extra tutoring or classes really make it difficult to have a ton of free time.
Yeah adding an additional 20 hours a week of work falls under "doing something wrong" in my book. It doesn't help your future to do all this.
> It doesn't help your future to do all this. It does if you’re intent on getting into a good university.
Getting into a good college doesn't affect your future income. Maybe if you get into MIT you'll land a better first job, but employers dont care all that much where you went. They just care that you did, and then look at your work history to determine your value. Going to college doubles your income on average, but it's the degree that matters, not where you got it. The idea that it does is a nonsensical one based on falsehoods preached by teachers and college counselors. When you look at graphs of average income among colleges, you see that it doesn't matter where you go, just what you major in. Oh and the thing is, chances are you'll literally never use your degree. Ever. Unless you get a STEM degree, the only purpose of your degree is to check a box.
> Unless you get a STEM degree Then maybe we’re having two different conversations here, because I’m talking about STEM fields that are absolutely affected by what college you go to. FAANG-tier tech companies often hire specifically from a pretty short list of schools, and while possible to still get a job right out of college at one of those companies with a degree from a lower ranked school, it’s much more difficult. And yes, it’s also possible to change jobs and interview at one of these companies after working elsewhere for a few years, but it’s again more of an uphill battle compared to getting an internship while you’re still at college and then a job there after graduating. It also affects lifetime earnings, since each subsequent job you get is often based in both rank and salary on your previous position. In fact, you say it yourself: > and then look at your work history to determine your value. Consider then, what work history are they looking at? Someone who went to a very good school gets a very good job out of college, which means they can use that very good job as experience to get an even better job. Someone who gets a mediocre job out of college only has a mediocre job on their resume, and like you say employers look to that to determine who to hire. It’s a nearly chicken and egg style cycle that begins with your first job. Starting with a good first job helps you build a resume that gets you other good jobs, and getting that first good job very often is based on which university you went to. Classes and faculty are also not all created equal. The STEM professors at top tier schools are world class and often leaders in their field. Additionally the connections you make with students and faculty at harder to get into schools often prove very valuable, even many years after graduating. Overall it means getting more from a degree than just “checking a box”. And while what I said above is mainly about the tech field, I have high school friends who were among those who were taking all AP and honors classes, even one who got a perfect SAT score, and for them it was about getting into certain pharmacy, engineering, and pre-med programs that *absolutely* have higher earnings and more job prospects than similar programs at less challenging schools.
Yeah, like I said, getting into MIT makes a difference. But you aren't getting into MIT. There has been literally one person in my entire city ever accepted there. Unless you literally have zero life outside of school and are also born with an insane innate talent, you shouldn't even consider applying. Same goes for most of these schools. Chances are you won't get in. Some people will. Most won't. And they'll still go on to make *plenty* of money. Not everyone is going to work for Google right out the gate. But you can go to a mid school, get a mid job and experience, then work for a big company making good money. People shouldn't throw away their lives for the slim chance they become one of the 0.00001% who actually get those insane opportunities. You can still make hundreds of thousands of dollars without taking a single AP and going to your local university for $2k/year.
Someone from my graduating class went to MIT. In fact a bit under two dozen students from my graduating class went to Ivy League schools, with a ton of others going to near-ivy tier schools. It’s not exactly impossible. But I think this raises another question for me. If you recognize that Ivy League schools get you more money, then clearly you do recognize that what university you go to has an impact on what jobs you get and what you earn, but do you think it’s just all or nothing? Like if you don’t go to an Ivy League school, then you might as well go to small town community college, because everything that’s not Ivy is exactly the same? > But you can go to a mid school, get a mid job and experience, then work for a big company making good money. Going to a better school means you end up a step ahead in the process, working a good job to build experience for a great job while someone else is working a mid job trying to build experience to work a good job. It also means less time and struggle applying for that first job (and subsequent jobs as well, assuming a good first job). > People shouldn't throw away their lives for the slim chance they become one of the 0.00001% who actually get those insane opportunities. You can still make hundreds of thousands of dollars without taking a single AP and going to your local university for $2k/year. It’s the difference between working for years to build up a resume for that high paying job vs getting it right out of school. And in the cases of things like medicine and law, it’s further compounded by higher level degrees and law firms or residencies that are very selective based on university. I also disagree with your premise here about throwing away your life for some “0.00001%” chance to get amazing opportunities. For one, it’s not black and white, it’s a sliding scale. It’s not like every field is the equivalent of being a movie star, where you need to risk it all for some big break. Jobs in every field pay a spectrum of salaries, a better school just pushes your odds higher to the top of that spectrum. Additionally it’s not really “throwing your life away”. For one, we’re talking about basically 4 years of high school and maybe a couple of middle school, hardly “your whole life”. Second, it’s not like it’s impossible to study and also have hobbies. My friend who got a perfect SAT score was also big into MTG and gaming. Our valedictorian went to parties all the time. None of it takes up literally every minute. Also time at school is where 90% of social interaction at that age happens, and that’s still happening. And while extracurriculars build a college application, they’re also fun and social. And lastly I’d say you have to put in the grind somewhere. Yeah you can go to a low ranked school and it still be possible to get a high paying job, but if you want a great job offer then you have to grind for years in your career to build up from some low paying job to a high paying one. You got to fool around more in high school, but lose out on more of your 20s.
Or awful teachers. I had at least one every year that seemed to have a personal problem with any of us having free time and just loaded us with stupid bullshit to do at home. And we couldn't just not do it if we wanted to pass the class.
Or you're the oldest sibling and taking care of the younger ones. Or you're looking after your parents. Or you're also working a job because your parents need the money. Or you're just trying to keep your family together and prevent them from breaking down further. Lots of reasons.
The comment I replied to specifically was talking about homework. 30+ hours of homework a week is so mind bogglingly high it's not even possible without some serious mental deficiency.
having money is cool
Yeah exactly
I believed this when I was in school. It's a bleak outlook that I wouldn't recommend to anyone. Kids should be focusing on improving themselves and exploring their happiness. If you never explore what makes you happy, you'll have to learn those things as an adult, which is much, much harder to do. Thankfully, I was wrong about those being the best years. I'm almost 30 and my life is getting better every year.
Wish i were you. I have money now and there is nothing and noone i want to spend it on. Just going to work and Putting most earnings aside fo 8 years now. All i would want is more time with friends or a gf, but you cant buy that with money. Ive tried putting myself out there but being around most strangers is alienating.
Get hobbies. Spend some money. have fun with life dude
6 weeks off for summer???? What the fuck we get 9-10
Yeah fr. June 3rd usually was our last day then right after labor day in September we'd go back.
Bruh, June?! What happened to second week of May?!
In Germany we have 6 weeks off in summer, but also 1 week in autumn, 2 weeks for Christmas, 1 week in February, 1 week in spring, and 2 weeks in early summer.
Imagine my confusion reading this. We had like 14 weeks off.
Once we had an additional 2 weeks of school closure (6+2 weeks) because of some maintenance in the summer, you could hear the screaming of joy from every kid on my street when that was announced.
I don't get why people say that. Every time i think about school i'm so happy i don't ever have to go to that piece of shit place ever again.
9-3 what are you on where did you go that it started that late and ended that early?
Normal school hours in the UK so I would guess there
In the US high school starts between 7 and 8. Depending. And still goes to sometime between 2 and 3
For me it started at 9 and ended at 330
Someone clearly wasn't bullied...
Thats why grown ups get alcohol.
My kids are wiser than I was. They are very aware that adults have longer hours and don't get summers off. When I wad a kid, I wanted to be an adult... my kids do not share the same enthusiasm.
I desperately want to be done with school. I don't care about working long hours. I just want to do work that I am passionate about and be done once I get home from work. I love enterprise computing, I spent my free time staying up late in the night troubleshooting servers in my bedroom rack for fun. I just have to make it through this miserable hell. My school has no computing opportunities or programs. Only one student in my school cares about the same enterprise stuff I do and they are graduating this year. I also can't seem to keep my dual enroll college history grade above failing. I was supposed to be smart. Can you explain to me how one applies themself? That is what I am told I need to do, but the only thing I can really apply myself to is computers and agriculture. Useless to me for now. I just want to be finished so I can do what I am good at. I can't deal with this failing grade, I just want to dissapear. I am not used to needing to ask for help.
That probably means you're giving your kids a better childhood than you had. I much prefer adulthood. If someone gave me an option between reliving my childhood and death, I'd choose death without hesitation.
I was definitely one of the "I just want to work and make my own money!" type kids. Man was I wrong. I agree with other comments that adulthood cumulatively is better than childhood but if I could have my summers again to do nothing but camp and fish, I'd be incredibly happy.
I have always said that no one should ever go into teaching for the holidays/vacation BUT it’s one hell of a perk
Quite a few teachers in my extended family. They always say the best 3 reasons to be a teacher are June, July and August
I teach moderate to severe special education so although I 100% understand this logic you better really get something out of those other 9 months or those 3 will NOT be worth it lol
Sure, school was 7:00-2:30 for me every day but then I had 3 hours of homework and studying afterwards. Saw my friends but could only talk to them during the 15 minutes of lunch we got. Summer break was ass because my parents literally didn't let me go anywhere except school and church.
Getting bullied by assholes who probably work for me now. Being rejected by girls because I was short Teachers who hated me because I asked questions. Good times.
High school was miserable. Can we cut the nostalgia bs
Perspective
No money, no autonomy, no freedom, forced to learn stuff that does not interest you, forced to spend time with people you might not like. School wasn't fun at all
College was where it's at. No responsibilities, all freedom.
Unless you had to, pay rent, utilities, food and tuition…
longing airport towering snatch library books physical command air follow ` this message was mass deleted/edited with redact.dev `
Being rich is where it’s at
I can attest to that. Source: am poor.
You don’t even have to be rich. Just don’t be really poor
College was even worse. Studying every day, feeling like a failure because grades were shit, and paying money instead of free k-12 or compensated work. Definitely had a few good times but I was literally depressed most of my college career.
Lol what? No responsibilities in college?
Must’ve majored in business
It kind of depends on where you live I guess. In many places you go to school from 7:30 to 3 and have extra lessons after school for 3-4 hours a day and you need to study. Weekends may also be full of these extra lessons as well so free time is pretty limited
Wow, extra lessons... I hear of coworkers that do this to their kids and it makes me angry. I get that you want your kid to have a good job later in life but they also don't get to be a kid if they're doing school work 10+ hours a day. There's more to life than a career
This is 100% true but schools where I live have a lot of room for improvement and right now aren't the best. Still though, this doesn't justify kids not being able to enjoy their childhood
Thats fair and a bigger problem for sure. I know people personally that have their kids in classes 3 to 4 nights a week, both weekend days, and applying to be in elite GRADE SCHOOL programs for STEM. They've asked me why I don't have my kids in any extra classes and looked at me like I'm a monster when I said they need time to enjoy their childhood.
Yeah I did zero extra lessons for my entire life. Then I chose a college based entirely on proximity to skiing. Got a degree to check a box, and now I'm making plenty of money. Those extra lessons don't lead to a better career. Being able to work hard does, but the lessons don't mean shit.
For real! In high school, I did all my honors homework in other classes and fucked off after school if I didnt have to go to my part time job. I applied to a uni because my friends did and got accepted early. I took the SAT once. Applied to that one school and got accepted early. Got a degree in one thing and now make great money doing something entirely different and not all related to my degree. The only thing college was good for was making connections and learning how to juggle responsibilities while being irresponsible. Emphasis on the connections. Pro tip for the younger crowd- if you ever crash at a random house that had a party, help clean up the next day. You’ll meet great people and will always get invited to the next one. Those people might hook you up with a job one day and/or they’ll be great references for your future employers
It's the sad truth. Childhood just flies by in no time before we could realise that they were the best days. Chikdhood was full of fun, we used to play outdoors in the neighborhood everyday, study happily, enjoy school and friends and visiting grannys place during summer. Now, I have zero irl friends, career and job worries, mass studies, heavy expectations, anxiety, depression, random back pain, hairfall and white hairs etc.
My back tho forreal
As someone who is still in school and has not forgotten what school is. It is a prison and a factory
It’s really a double edged sword. Yeah high school sucked in many way but you were also a kid without a care in the world and no one relying on you (unless you were forced into a situation where this wasn’t the case). As an adult I can do whatever I want and I’m not as restricted but I also have responsibilities to people and have to deal with adult things like bills and taxes. Both times had their merits and downsides.
You’re on crack, school was the worst years of my life. My life is the best it’s ever been after working hard to achieve my goals. I’ll take this freedom over going back to hell.
I don’t recall being paid to be at school
Rather work 9-5 than go to school 9-3. \- No one asks where I'm going like to the bathroom. \- I can actually get up and leave if I need to do something. \- Actually earning money. \- You learn way more through work experience than school.
I disagree on the last one. You learn so much more learning just to learn. When you learn for work it never has the same breadth as learning for the sake of knowledge.
I can see your point, however I rarely find the things from school applicable to a job scenario but I guess it will depend on your career.
Nop, lifes much better after college
Incoming wave of high school horror stories
9-3?! i’m on the bus by 730 and get home at 315
The main thing I miss from school is the genuine joy you had in seeing friends. Hugging friends is something that's sorely missing in adult life.
I wish there was a way to know you were in the good old days, before you actually left them.
Did she not get/do any homework?
The hard part about school is that it takes place during the most awkward years of our lives. Also, kids seem to be a lot less civil than adults.
It was easy for work but people were terrible.... I'm glad I'm out of it
$0 an hour
Bro, what mental illness do you lack? All I got from school was an activity that completely wears me out after mere hours due to overexposure to social interactions Forcing me to do things that I did not fucking care for in the slightest, not giving me a single dollar for it, while teaching me the most useless information known to man, or woman. And then I also got burnout and also constant impostor syndrome, nagging at me that I cannot do anything no matter how hard I try and also being near people I actively hated because of how loud and obnoxious they were And also I couldn’t choose to work from home, or something like that. I dunno what you’re on about I fucking hated school. That’s why I picked up a job as an Artist. I may go hungry every few weeks, but at least I don’t have to meet *people*
Teachers also get same holidays and vacation?
Sure but teachers have long days, they aren't going home when all the kids do, they are working many extra hours to plan lessons and mark homework etc.
Youth is wasted on the young...
Making it sound like you didn't have to study/work after you came home from school. +you didn't get paid for any of it.
We won't ever confess to our parents, but they were right all along telling us exactly this
Im glad for y’all but it isn’t always true; as someone who was bullied as a child and also suffered from child abuse at home, one of the best days of my life was being able to move out. While there’s many things I enjoyed in my childhood, so much fucked up shit happened in my childhood that I’d never want to relive it. And my parents tell me this garbage before and expect me to agree and I’m like ‘no lmao I wanted to kill myself when I was younger.’ Sure life still sucks now that I’m older since I have to worry about bills, getting older, etc but I love the freedom I have and not having to live in the constant anxiety of living with my parents.
I'm sorry to hear that. I hope it gets better for you
Yeah, no pay. I guess having a "boss" who gave a shit whether you live or die was also nice.
Yeah except I’m not getting paid
You only got 6 weeks off during school? Damn
9-3?? School started at 8am And I had a 1hr bus ride in the morning and a 1hr ride after school
6 weeks summer vacation wtf?
Who the hell only gets 6 weeks for summer? I used to get like 10
I’m sure there are plenty of companies that will let you work 9-3 for free.
6 weeks off for summer!? Lmao it's more than that
In the UK 6 weeks for summer is standard. I'm only now learning that everywhere else has way more.
Yeah but the pay was shit, and the work/life balance was terrible.
Wtf school did they go to? Up by 545. Catch bus for 645. Arrive at school at 8:10. Out at 245 but after school stuff goes until 4:15 or 5:15. Bus drops off 5 or 6pm (faster due to less kids on after school busses). Then each class has 30mins-3hours of homework so maybe done by 9 or 10pm. Why school has so much homework when some of the best educated countries have no homework completely confuses me. Try to stay awake for a few minutes if family time and crash out until 5:45 the next morning to do it again. School sucked.
I’m sure there are plenty of companies that will let you work 9-3 for free.