<p>lets put it this way, folks. </p>
<p>there are approximately 3 million high school graduates. That makes 30000 who are in the top 1 percent. All these kids in the top 1 percent believe themselves capable of getting into a top college and want to. The issue is: none of the top colleges have space for 30000!!!</p>
<p>You are not guaranteed in any way, shape, or form, admission to a great college, even if you are a stellar student. why not go to a good state school that would love to have you and even pay for you to attend, rather than trying to get into these ivy leagues, where, if you go, will put you 200,000 dollars in debt?</p>
<p>you can do well anywhere, from anywhere. you just have to love what you're doing and want to do it.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I think a brain would make one more important than a bacteria that has no knowledge of itself. If you truly believe bacteria = you, then you will somehow destroy your immune system, considering they are evil killers taking out hundreds of thousands of bacteria a day. Personally, I believe there is only value when we assign value to something.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Of course, in your value system, which is just as intrinsically as good as any other, any conscious thinking being has more value than a bacterium. But that is cerebral chauvinism (chauvinistic attitudes towards organisms with more complex brains). Relativists refrain from all forms of chauvinism. Yes, I know, there's the contradiction of the "there are no absolute truths" argument - but the refutation of that argument still doesn't say that any argument is better than any other.</p>
<p>So according to my relativistic value system, anything is just as good as any other.</p>
<p>By the way, the only reason why we are smart is because stupid people exist.</p>
<p>Honestly though, the fact that most of us are academically above 95% of the population (a conservative estimate by all means) shouldn't give us too much comfort about our situation. That's STILL a comparision between people. And of course, if you happen to fall below that for whatever reason (it's hard now, but say your income bracket falls below a certain level), then you'll still become depressed, unless you change your value system. </p>
<p>But of course, you have to be above a certain socioeconomic status to enjoy some comfort in society. Really though, you probably can even live in poverty. Although my version of poverty includes living near a library or university for the books and Internet (and I have far fewer interests than virtually anyone else, so all I really need is vitamins, simple food and water, ADD drugs, books, and the Internet). =P</p>
<p>The thing is - once you have enough income to fulfill all of your basic needs, the social science research indicates that people don't really get happier after that.</p>
<p>==</p>
<p>And if all else fails, move to Sweden. =P</p>
<p>I would agree with most of OP's points. However, there are are some of these problems that I am probably guilty of.</p>
<ol>
<li> Skipping lunch: I have given up lunch a couple years so that I could take AP classes. I didn't take the classes so that I could beef up my college application, though; I took them because I thought they were interesting and because I wanted to learn. Also, as a member of the orchestra, it's very hard for me to get a lunch that isn't during the 9:37-10:18 block of time. So, I don't really lose anything because I never eat during my assigned lunch anyway; I often eat during class.</li>
</ol>
<p>And, to a lesser degree:</p>
<ol>
<li> Caring about SATs in 8th grade: I took the SAT in 7th and 8th grades. I actually had a good time. I guess I didn't really care that much, but that was probably because I scored pretty well, and I knew that I had several years to improve my verbal score.</li>
</ol>
<p>I think some things, like cheating and crazy preschools, are morally depressing. But then again I don't think either phenomenon is new; I believe in the movie <i>Wall Street</i> some random lady is playing around with a 2 or 3 year old and she's talking about how hard it is to get into a good preschool or something.</p>
<p>
[quote]
5. Caring about SATs in 8th grade: I took the SAT in 7th and 8th grades. I actually had a good time. I guess I didn't really care that much, but that was probably because I scored pretty well, and I knew that I had several years to improve my verbal score.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Yeah, caring about them early on actually makes it less stressful when you prepare for it later. I already got the vocab section pretty much nailed down when studying for it in 8th and 9th grades - so that really would have cut down the stress load in the future. And knowing that I would have pretty much aced the math section by early 10th grade also really helped.</p>