<p>Hi, I'm currently a hardworking high school student - but I just have a question for some of the parents here. I asked this doubt to some of the other students on this forum, but I would just like a parent's view.</p>
<p>My simple question is why we (students) are pursuing high level, advanced careers - and taking such advanced courses such as AP and IB in high school. It seems that if a student has a reasonably good work ethic, they are funneled into this path. </p>
<p>Although I do take college courses and get quite good grades, I'm still rather confused as to why we do this. I've read considerable texts from the ancient philosophical thinkers, and true happiness and wisdom is found in ways unrelated to career and monetary income. </p>
<p>My basic doubt is why we are working so hard, and limiting our true enjoyment of this temporary existence we know as life. Even if we gain a very high position career, life is only temporary...</p>
<p>I think the reason the system has been set up this way is help shorten the path. If no AP classes were offered, kids would have to spend another year in college just to fulfill those classes. The same can be said with all those special 3/2 programs that colleges offer -- a person gets a BS and a MS in 5 years instead of 6. </p>
<p>The reality is that college life is expensive and the sooner a person can move through it and get on with his career, the better. If the process takes tooooo long, then people are more likely to drop out so that they can start earning some money -- after all, their parents can't keep supporting them forever!!!</p>
<p>It does not always make sense to equate a quest for knowledge and career goals. Some people need to learn and grow and don't care that much about financial success. Others are motivated mainly by making money. Most of us are somewhere in between.</p>
<p>The reason i've pursued a high-pressure, high-paying career is because for most of my life, I have had difficulty remaining challenged in what I do every day. Challenges are almost exclusively what motivates me, so they're what I seek out, because otherwise I get bored to tears. The job I have now requires sufficient creativity, intelligence and work ethic that it hasn't just helped me avoid boredom, it's actually been fun. The money helps too, but really that's just validation that I have skills that are in demand.</p>
<p>...But I don't get an option at those careers unless I prove myself capable of them first, as with the "high-achievement path" you refer to. That's a price I was OK with paying.</p>
<p>Why do I want to put myself through difficult work, stress, and possible failure in order to attain a powerful position? First, I want to see if I can do it, the challenge of being able to be the best is always there no matter what activity I'm engaged in. Second, if I want to travel around the world and be free to do whatever I want, I'll need some sort of financial support. Have you seen the Thomas Crown Affair? I want to be Thomas Crown, except without stealing paintings; I want to be able to do whatever I want, whenever I want, be my own boss, and experience the world for all its worth.</p>
<p>Maybe some people are able to, but I could never be content working at some deadend job as a manager at McDonalds or Target, where's the adventure and challenge in that? Besides, you don't even get compensated well for your time.</p>
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I've read considerable texts from the ancient philosophical thinkers, and true happiness and wisdom is found in ways unrelated to career and monetary income.
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<p>Money doesn't buy happiness, but it does buy a good amount of freedom, usually an important prerequisite. The reason that good kids are funneled toward the AP/top college/good career fast track is that it is pretty hard to have a high probability of a reasonably large, secure, stable income any other way. (Graduated from an average or worse college? The job market is pretty tough. Millions of amazing people make it and have great lives, but it's a battle.)</p>
<p>A good income lets you make choices about how to find happiness, whereas otherwise you'd be worrying more about how to get by.</p>
<p>And, as BusinessGuy points out, jobs that pay often also happen to be the challenging jobs that will allow you to find excitement and fulfillment.</p>
<p>The reason my sons worked hard in high school was so they could get into the colleges where they could best pursue their passions. For them that does NOT mean a high paying career. It means a career which will use their talents and give them fulfillment. They could have just enjoyed the moment in high school more, I suppose. But that would have made it less likely that they would find careers that they can truly enjoy for many years. A little delayed gratification can mean a more fulfilled life in the long run.</p>
<p>Why would anyone want to get college over with as fast as possible? For most people, its the best time of their lives. I just don't get it. That is unless you're spending $40,000 a year which doesn't make sense to me either</p>
<p>highschool000, sometimes I wonder this too. I am a fifty year old parent of 3 and in a conversation with my 75 yo. mother we discussed how students today, beginning in high school and continuing through college, seem so much more stressed than in my generation or hers. It does seem that there is not near as much time for unstructured fun and recreation as there used to be. Maybe I'm looking in the wrong places, but I just don't remember high school students of the past being so concerned that every class and every activity be something that will "get them ahead". There's something to the old saying "You're only young once" and I fear many kids are missing out and moving right to adult stresses.</p>
<p>mkm56, You do have a good point. I think there has to be balance. While it is good to work hard and do your best in school, I don't believe in kids wearing themselves out to get into an Ivy League school when they might be able to find just what they need in a less selective college and still be able to have a little time for fun and relaxation. A student needs to decide what his or her goals are, and then do what is needed to reach those goals, but that doesn't always mean taking a dozen AP classes and being president of 3-4 clubs, along with being an all-star soccer player and first chair in the school band.</p>
<p>these are some very interesting views you all are discussing here. And I do take the point that high-level careers often do provide a greater challenge - and perhaps more contentment at the end of the day.</p>
<p>It's just that sometimes, as a high school student, I have to make sacrifices in order to study, or do homework for college courses, etc. Yet, it's often confusing if it is worth it in the long run.. It's just something lingering in the back of my mind. =)</p>
<p>Opinion from high school student with four APs (Calc, Chem, USH, and Engl) in 10th grade.
I'm not sure if I'm working very hard but I certainly take high courses for next reasons:
a) Percentage of smart people and people who I'd like to talk to (and learn from) in advanced classes is usually very high.
b) I get more enthusiasm when I'm in advanced classes.
c) I want to get up in the morning and go to school :)
b) In case of AP Calc, I like math and self-study it a lot so here it goes.</p>
<p>Trust me or not, but I don't take APs and honors for college and career:)</p>
<p>u can become friends w/ my classmate his father is part of the union of electricians all he has to do is barely pass hs and he automatically gets into electrician school hes going to get any of his hs friends into the program..so far half of r rival 11b(were really all one grade but we used to be 10a and 10b so its a rivalry..) have asked him to get them in..</p>
<p>Simple. I took APs, a challenging major, and a tough post-grad curriculum because I LOVE a challenge and I love to learn. Simply would not be happy if I were not pushing myself, and low-ranked colleges, easier courses, and easier careers would not do that for me.</p>
<p>My son took all of the hardest courses, did all of the extracurriculars and held a job because he wanted to. He is just a driven individual. But not everybody is like that. Although my daughter is a little young to be sure, I don't think she is like that. She can accept less than perfection if it means she has time to smell the flowers. Some people are happy as investment bankers and some people are happy as carpenters. A person with a carpenter personality won't be happy in investment banking and vise versa. The best thing you can do is to know yourself and be true to that. The best thing parents can do is to accept their kids the way they are. :)</p>
<p>Your post has a lot of insight. One issue to reflect on is what you enjoy doing. And what is important to you.</p>
<p>When I was working in one of those sought after financial positions, there was a steady stream of 30-something career changers through our office looking to rectify the choices they had made in their teens and early twenties. In most cases, they had decided (it seemed) that the psychic income, personal satisfaction, and social status of their current position did not compensate them properly for its deficiencies in monetary remuneration. It also seemed to me that this epiphany tended to coincide with having children. My own speculation is that it was also brought on by seeing those they considered their "inferiors" enjoy remarkable material success.</p>
<p>A lot of these people came from well-off backgrounds, and had very highly educated parents. More than a few of them came from industries that have high prestige and attractions for young people, but don't pay a great deal (publishing, the arts, etc.). The ministry and teaching come to mind, also, but we didn't see many people from those backgrounds. In many cases, the attractiveness of a life of "service" pales against a perceived reality of underappreciation, and inferior compensation. Regrettably, but all too often true. </p>
<p>Also, to address your point about work, some people don't like working hard. And I say that without innuendo. If you find that you are one of those people, you need to find some path that takes account of it. Don't pass yourself off as something else unless you can fairly well understand the bargain you are making. There are lots of places where people who are less-than-hard-charging can make a great contribution, and have a big impact on the lives of others. I remember encountering some of these people in my life, and was helped and touched by them. (In most cases, they probably were very hard workers, but what they did did not seem like work to them.) If you decide to take yourself in one of those directions, then more power to you and God bless you. </p>
<p>Ultimately, you are struggling with the problem that its your life, and you need to do what you think is important and worthwhile, in the way you think appropriate. Doing that in a way that takes account that you will grow older, and that things may (will) change is the big trick.</p>