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Ben909
Trad climber
toronto
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Dec 18, 2013 - 10:35pm PT
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I was dismally bored in high school and yearned to be elsewhere. My parents pushed me to go to university and "find myself" in my computer science studies. Uncertain of the path presented to me and lacking motivation I partied a year away and flunked out. I spent a year in culinary college before travelling and eventually working in a gear shop and finally pursuing a rope access career.
I wouldn't recommend dropping out to anyone, regardless of how enlightened and learned you become in your free time a lack of degree will be held against you. To some this will be inconsequential, but for most it will have measurable repercussions even if you can't hear the doors closing. At the same time I empathize with anyone who is disillusioned with the current state of public education and can't be bothered to waste their time pursuing a degree which will addle them with debt, potentially lead to an unpaid internship so they can develop "actual skills" and eventually move on to another job that requires a degree regardless of whether the degree has any relevance to the work. Worst of all they will run into people who posses superior degrees and inferior intellects (f*#k you every engineer I've had to work with). Still, even if the process is flawed it is an opportunity that one can either reject or attempt to make the best of and now that I'm a little bit older I wish I had been able to see that opportunity in a different light.
I hope that the democratization of production (through 3d printing, cheap electronics, accessible production platforms and universal access to quality self study education) will empower those that could not handle the rat race to explore their potential. Seek until you find something that drives you and pursue it.
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tooth
Trad climber
B.C.
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Dec 18, 2013 - 11:53pm PT
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I dropped out of grade 9. For two years. Worked construction 12 hr days. Decided after pulling a tooth in Venezuela that I could help people doing that as well, and I thought it would be better to work with a bunch of good looking women than construction guys.
Almost 20 years later and I'm not so sure! But I do love what I do, and I still build a lot. And I can climb a lot too.
edit: I am kicking my kids out of school when they are 15 and making them work full time. If they still think they need to go to college, they have to have a reason to have my support. I'm also going to encourage them to work up north in the oil fields to earn the money to learn whatever they think they need to learn in college, and when they have the 100k in their pocket, they will be able to make a better decision - and then not get out of school in big debt like I did.
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jgill
Boulder climber
Colorado
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Dec 19, 2013 - 12:01am PT
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Actually happi I think the Israelis have it right - all citizens should have compulsory 2-year service to their nation. A buy-in to earn the right to vote. No service, no vote, no adult citizenship, no exceptions (DM)
I agree. And how about all those congressmen who have no military experience? Not healthy for the nation.
I'm educated, but I took significant breaks along the way, including the USAF. I would have had neither the patience nor the sustained interest to go straight through without some variety (including climbing) in between degrees.
It was well worth the effort.
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RyanD
climber
Squamish
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Dec 19, 2013 - 12:13am PT
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Nemesis
climber
Dec 18, 2013 - 05:41pm PT
I think I finally discovered why everybody sucks on this site and in society in general-they are all drop outs.
Ha!
Yep for sure Nemesis. At the same time some people- Take yourself for example, are stupid no matter how much "education" they have.
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RyanD
climber
Squamish
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Dec 19, 2013 - 12:15am PT
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Ahhhh thanks for the tip dingus.
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WBraun
climber
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Dec 19, 2013 - 12:19am PT
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I didn't learn a fuking thing in school.
When I got in the real world that's when I learned.
I always sought out, watched and studied under the best in the real world .....
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tooth
Trad climber
B.C.
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Dec 19, 2013 - 12:47am PT
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.....and then what went wrong?
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Dec 19, 2013 - 12:53am PT
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I had a very meaningful conversation with a Russian truck driver on the Afghan border about
Jack London and Hemingway. Pretty sure he only went to high school but he got him some
edification somewhere, not to mention some serious soul.
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RyanD
climber
Squamish
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Dec 19, 2013 - 01:13am PT
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That tattoo is awesome, errrr I mean awsome.
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Gary
Social climber
Desolation Basin, Calif.
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Dec 19, 2013 - 10:53am PT
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Graduated prison, er...high school, with a 3.75. Despite never doing any homework. Was a Hoosier Scholar, so that gave me free tuition to any college in Indiana. We were dirt poor, so I got a Basic Educational Opportunity Grant and a Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant. In other words, I had a free ride to Indiana University. A great school in a cool town.
I majored in F*#king Up with a minor in Psychedelics. Lasted one semester. I wouldn't recommend that to anyone. Education gives you options.
No real regrets, though.
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Spanky
Social climber
boulder co
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Dec 19, 2013 - 11:48am PT
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This thread is super interesting because although I started out as a dirtbag I am currently teaching high school. Hold back the hate though because I am definitely not going to rant about how dropping out ruined your life because in most of the cases here it obviously didn't. School isn't for everyone but as others have mentioned dropping out wasn't an option for me, neither was college, but I will say that college was about the most fun I ever had and I learned a lot too. FYI, there are often a lot of hot girls on college campuses too. Its interesting looking at my students and trying to see the world from their perspective. (they are taking their finals right now) I often talk to kids who hate school about how school, like life is a game. If you want to win you have to understand the rules. Those of you who dropped out decided not to play the high school game but it looks like you learned the rules anyway otherwise you'd be under a bridge. I am glad things worked out but the fact remains that those of you who dropped out and are successful/happy are the exception not the rule. Most dropouts don't move on to bigger and better things and all the stats show that they are more likely to end up unemployed and or in prison, but this thread is a great reminder that the system doesn't work for everyone and that other paths to success do exist.
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wbw
Trad climber
'cross the great divide
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Dec 19, 2013 - 12:26pm PT
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The teachers always have a way of making you feel like you are retarded for flaking. I'm 15 dude! Video games are awesome and you are a tenured dork who gave up trying long before I did. Stop handing out packets and inspire :P
Maybe I'm making to much of the above, but there is an element in that statement that is a big part of the problem with our society: blame the other guy for your own faults. If you were not inspired, that was a failure of either yourself or your parents, or both to not view high school as an opportunity to improve yourself in some way.
Back when I was a kid in high school, my parents would tell me, "you don't have to like (be inspired by) that teacher, but you do have to go to their class and learn everything you can from them. That is your job."
I'm a high school teacher for more than 20 years, and I tell my students that getting one's education is all about being in the position to choose what one does in life. That doesn't mean that a lack of formal education necessarily prevents one from making their own decisions, as many on this site can testify to. But for most people, getting a formal education puts one in the driver's seat as to what they do with their life.
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Karen
Trad climber
So Cal urban sprawl Hell
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Dec 19, 2013 - 01:03pm PT
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My HS Dean hated me all due to some BS another stupid kid lied to him that I was stealing hall passes. Me of all people, totally not the type to do something like that.
Had a jackass Step-Father so told my Mother as soon as I turned 18 I was not only going to drop out of school but also move out of my house. Did just that.
High School was a waste, boring and the would be popular kids were just plain annoying.
Eventually, I went back to school because I wanted to and was not forced. Earned a 3.97 as an undergrad and went on to grad school earning my M.S.
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klk
Trad climber
cali
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Dec 19, 2013 - 01:06pm PT
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those of you who dropped out and are successful/happy are the exception not the rule. Most dropouts don't move on to bigger and better things
worth repeating
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McHale's Navy
Trad climber
From Panorama City, CA
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Dec 19, 2013 - 01:21pm PT
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I wish there was a law that required every 16 year old kid in this country to work behind the counter in retail sales for 6 months.
They could carry guns on the job and call it military service as well!
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Wayno
Big Wall climber
Seattle, WA
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Dec 19, 2013 - 01:31pm PT
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I did average in HS and after goofing off for a few years I earned 4.0 in college for two years straight before dropping out. Drug trafficking seemed so much more lucrative. I cooked my way through college and I am still cooking. I don't really know what happened, but I'm fine with it.
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Russ Walling
Social climber
from Poofters Froth, Wyoming
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Dec 19, 2013 - 01:39pm PT
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I carried a proud 1.66 in High School, but maintained a 4.0 in city College.
Of course I only had two classes, soccer and ceramics, so it was not really that hard.
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Gary
Social climber
Desolation Basin, Calif.
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Dec 19, 2013 - 02:21pm PT
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I carried a proud 1.66 in High School, but maintained a 4.0 in city College.
PHS?
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steveA
Trad climber
Wolfeboro, NH
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Dec 19, 2013 - 02:36pm PT
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One of the most successful guys I know did not finish college; however he did finish high school. A real jock--captain of the hockey and football team. Just a few years ago, after 30 years building his company, he sold it.
Last year they did $360,000,000. in revenue.
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mucci
Trad climber
The pitch of Bagalaar above you
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Dec 19, 2013 - 04:04pm PT
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Yup, End of sophomore year.
Made a ton of money after starting my first business, took the GED and started college, graduated in 5 years with a 3.2 gpa
Then Went back for an associates degree in culinary arts.
My first summer back from college, I ran into a Super prick teacher I used to have for computer class. He asked me "So Mucci, where are you digging ditches these days? Bet you regret being a failure"
I told him I was back from the University for summer vacation, and if he ever talked to me that way again I would break his face.
Next day I got word he committed suicide in front of his wife.
NO wonder so many of us dropped out, can't learn from pricks.
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