Well I am done - venting

Well, if you want the "silver lining" view:

The military will definitely provide self-discipline and maturity. It will teach him to see things differently and to realize there is more out there than a young person might think.

It will also teach him to make his bed, shine his shoes, cut his hair short, shave every day, keep the toilets clean and a myriad of other pleasantries that fill the day of a new recruit.

Tell him good luck, and HOO-ah!

 

I was actually the same way, although I managed to barely pass every year from 6th grade on. I had to finish my senior year over the next summer as I needed one more math credit. I don't know how your son is, but my main issue was that I have HUGE problems working on things that I see as redundant or useless. I didn't do homework because, usually, I understood the concepts already (thus redundant) and I didn't do class assignments, like reading certain over-hyped pieces of crap books (To Kill A Mockingbird, anyone?) because I considered it useless.

However, that attitude does not translate over to my employement. When I am actually at work, all of the things I do are not seen as redundant or useless because I am being paid to perform those tasks. I honestly think that is more important.

 

Problem is the kids have changed and the education system hasn't. If you want a full explanation on how the education system started out ( and I use this term extremely EXTREMELY loosely ) "broke", read a book by Paul Graham called Hackers and Painters.

I was the same way as Cyrus with the whole redundancy thing, but I saw college as the golden light at the end of the tunnel only to get there and find it no different. Left college but now am planning on going back just so I can at least have that piece of paper to say "Hey I know what I already knew before I went and spent all that money on a glorified high school they call college." It bites, the real world is full of it in my opinion......so much wasted effort going into meaningless things, the worst part is getting told "Thats the way it is get used to it." Why do I have to get used to it? Why do I need to just sit back and get used to the fact that my life is going to suck!?! The people that tell me I need to go to college and have themselves, are probably the people that are most unhappy with their jobs. Where as where I work where a majority of people I work with either never went to college or dropped out, even though they don't make enough, they are happy!.....sorry end rant.

 

the army wasn't allowing people without GED's...now they are. they are hurting for people so bad right now, they'll probably get a waiver for him to enlist, oh don't worry, they'll figure out a way to get him in if they want him bad enough.

if he does make it in, at least he'll be a pretty good janitor, ha! the stairways at ft gordon have never sparkled better! LOL

you don't need a drivers license to be sent over. if they need to, the army will issue him a military drivers license (look ma, no hands!! as the 5 ton dives into the ditch), provided he takes the course and passes.

i think he needs a GED at a minimum...don't take my word as gospel on that though. that's what it was two years ago when i enlisted.

two years and this little police action, things change.

***edit***
education and post secondary education, i'm of two minds about that. see, a BSc for me would fulfill a goal of mine, being the first sibling to earn one, although my brother is going to beat me to that....rat fink!! what my future plans are for myself, i'm going to need that BSc because of where it's going to take me.

on the other hand, sure, people succeed without formal education. that always seems to be dependent upon the individual.

so, whos right? the person that figures out how to manipulate the educational system to achieve their goals, or the one who ditches the who shootin'-match to do their own thing? dunno, but mebbe if you ask jeeves! hehehehe

 

This is the different part for me.. I'm actually enjoying most of college. Public Education was, for me, just way too slow and annoying.

-Math: Great.. I understand how to do this math concept and it only takes two problems to show I know how to do it.. not the 50 I have for homework.

-English: Yay!! Another year of basic Grammar! How about this.. keep the people who can't seem to understand where to place punctuation in those classes while letting those of us with a grasp of the English language move on. And Term Papers? If you want me to write 4-8 pages on a topic, let me chose a topic I am interested in. DON'T give me a list of bullshit fiction books for me to draw the parallels between the author's life and their story.

-History.. some years it was enjoyable (World Cultures was a great class), but they seem to love to repeat the history courses every 2-3 years.

-Science: Once again, a class the public education system seems to love to repeat every couple of years when it comes to general content. The only saving grace is that you can do Biology (Biotech was fun), Chem or Physics in high school.

-Health: Another class that is just repeated content.

-Phys Ed: Alright, good.. I understand the importance of getting people to run around. However, it must be understood that, no matter how many years you try to make someone play a sport, not everyone is going to like playing football or lacrosse.

-Bullshit 'Classes: Did any of you ever have these? When I went through, they forced you to take a class called 'Family Relations' which seemed to be a class specifically made for disfunctional people and loose females. Needless to say, I refused to do any work and had to go through it twice.

 

I just read the "Why Nerds are Unpopular" essay on Graham's website and fully agree with the points he made. I'll have to read some of his others tomorrow morning.

 

A while ago the Service would not take you and were very particular on what you had to do to get in. When I went in, there were 3 others at the Recruiting office with me. One could not get in because of 2 DUI, the other becuase he did not graduate high school and other got in after waivers for a minor assault charge. Now they are reacivating Marines who have been out for 1 to 3 years as they are in a inactive status. This will only continue...