<p>Honest to God I've been spending my past two years of school trying to find redeemable qualities of high school. Then last summer I took this class online where I had to observe a "subculture" and write about it so I chose a "free school" about twenty minutes from me. It's completely democratic, there are no required classes, and you must simply show up for six hours or more each day. The school is run out of a rustic farmhouse and it's a really interesting place. After spending some time observing it, I found that most of the kids seemed very intelligent. They knew a lot about politics and history, more than I would have ever known. They knew a lot about etymology and higher level math, but there were some very basic things they struggled with. Most of them lacked pretty basic social skills even though they are in a school with other children. They also had absolutely zero sense of organization to the point where I would think the board of health might shut down the school for its unsanitary conditions and complete and utter chaos. I think that its important that kids learn a sense of time management and some task oriented learning. So even though I still despise high school and its entire premise, I am thankful that I have a sense of time management and know how to keep myself clean and organized enough to function in life. But really, those things could be taught without school...basically, I really don't know what to tell you but just wanted to share this antecdote.</p>
<p>What is the importance of anything these days? It would be ideal if society would allow people to pursue what ever they desired. Unfortunately there are many things that could go wrong with that. The purpose of school (society in general) is to form the structure of how one should carry out their life. We all conform to the general routine of growing up (school, job, retire, die...). </p>
<p>Think of it like this: if you weren't in high school, what would you be doing?</p>
<p>^i'd probably vegetate on my couch watching tv or sit outside and people watch while getting high of stuff. Maybe then I'd write a book on why high school is necessary.</p>
<p>At some point in education, you need to switch from learning a little about a lot of things (like HS, with lots of subjects but none gone too in depth into) to a specialty (like most college majors, with a narrow subject gone into in depth). </p>
<p>It appears that you believe the switch should come after middle school. The majority think it should come after HS. Some think that's too early (thus liberal arts colleges). </p>
<p>I think having the switch come after middle school is far too early. A 14 year old shouldn't have to choose what he wants to do for his life that early. 18 is perfect. HS is necessary.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I will honestly never use what I learn in real life. The internet makes learning trivia rather silly. I can look up the rivers in africa, or a physics formula when I need to know them, rather than memorizing them.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Good luck applying that formula you found on the internet without ever taking a physics class and with only rudimentary knowledge of mathematics.</p>
<p>Two distinct questions being asked:</p>
<p>1) What is the point of high school? Exploration. Learning more about the world in which I live as well as about myself. High school isn't just classes, as you make it seem. School is, or, at least, it should be, about interaction of all sorts - with books, with theories, with art, with teachers, with peers.</p>
<p>2) Why do I get up in the morning? For the most part, because I honestly enjoy school. I got pretty lucky this year with regards to my teachers, all of whom ended up being very good and make their subjects interesting and challenge me. Are there days when I wake up at 5 AM and think, "Oh, my god, just two more days..."? Of course. Are there days when I'm bored in lots of classes? Yeah, occasionally. But there are also days when I know we're going to have a great debate in U.S. History or I have a math test, yippee!, or I'm going to see some friends perform in a school play after classes. I'm generally an optimist, and I enjoy learning not to get a job or get into a good college but because I just like it. I love being able to participate in a good discussion or do research in a topic I'm interested in for a paper or challenging myself to find new ways of applying math and science formulae I know. I'm sorry if that's not the case for you, or if you don't feel like your classes are worth anything, but I would say that that's probably a difference either you and I have (hey, not everyone likes learning lots of different things, and that's fine, too. I wish you all the best) or between our schools. My high school encourages creativity and discussion strongly, and I truly appreciate that.</p>
<p>Note: high school is a selective public high school that requires passing an entrance exam in order to gain admission.</p>
<p>High school is not important !Things you learn there (most of them ,at least ) are not useful in real life.However,you need good grades to have a successful life (in most cases) .If you can get good grades without learning much ,good for you ;if you cant ,you must study ;}No one cares what you know,no university is interested how much you know - they only care about your grades ,and you must find a way to show them the grades they want to see ;}</p>
<p>Because we need to be taught what we desire.</p>
<p>So profound.</p>
<p>Have you ever heard of research?</p>
<p>Are you gonna go and google ***** every 2 seconds?</p>
<p>People talk about it not affecting their real life.</p>
<p>That is cause you don't need an actual job. You're just living.</p>
<p>When you fail to have the skills to attain a good job, you fail.</p>
<p>learn da skillz to pay da billz. </p>
<p>ps. 15 year olds in college strikes me as the worst idea ever</p>
<p>Because that's the way the system works. In many respects I agree with you, most people will never need to know about the Civil War, most people don't need to know about calculus, etc. But if you don't do well in high school then you don't go to college. If you don't go to college, then you will have a very hard time finding a job that you will be able to live off of. In some ways it's ironic; in order to succeed at life you need to really focus on learning things that for the most part won't help you to succeed at life. But that's how it works.</p>
<p>In response to your point about the lottery: I realize that money is not everything. I know many people who don't at all make top dollar and they would consider themselves very happy. But they all make decent money, and they all went to college. What I'm saying is, you don't have to be rich to be happy, but you'll find that it will be very hard to be happy if you don't/only have a high school education, because you'll be struggling to even live comfortably (unless you're the next Steve Jobs, in which case I say drop out of high school now).</p>
<p>Ronaldo is right, colleges just want to see your academic performance. And that's why it's important.</p>
<p>Personally, what motivates me to work hard is my desire to learn and discover new things every day; most of these things won't help me when I get out in the real world but nevertheless I enjoy learning them.</p>
<p>Your rank is still very good, at this point you could probably stop trying and still get into a decent college, make decent money, etc. But that would be a huge waste of potential, in my opinion.</p>
<p>To be successful you cannot base your goals on how you want the world to work, you have to base them on how the world wants you to work. Unfair, but that's life.</p>
<p>because high school is FUN and it gets you off your duff and off of CC ....</p>
<p>no high school -----> no CC ------> no duff sitting on computer all day</p>
<p>high school ------> CC ------ > want to sit on computer all day and post on CC ------> cannot do that ------ > thinks if he/she is successful can post on CC later in life (parent forum I am looking at you) -----> success in life --- > profit</p>
<p>I win.</p>
<p>your ideas are well-articulated, even if not well-thought-out, which indicates that you have some good potential for success.</p>
<p>however, if you don't bother getting through as little as high school, you will not have reflected the intelligence or work ethic necessary for anyone to take you seriously. your ideas will be ignored. and with good reason. if you are too lazy or too rebellious to deal with high school, the real world won't want much to do with you.</p>
<p>everyone has their way of sticking it to the man. don't think you're special for doing so.</p>
<p>...because society says it's important.</p>
<p>as the title of a book next to my dads desk once told me, "if you like school, youll love work"</p>
<p>I think by stating outright that you don’t care that you’re now 35th in your class, ironically, shows that you do care. Plus the fact that you’re asking people to prove to you that high school matters. Otherwise you wouldn’t have made this post. You’d be enjoying your high school free life. </p>
<p>Anyway, most of what you said is true, OP, but I think high school is the least of all evils. They need an institution like hs to satisfy the needs of as many people as possible. Just because high school may not have been that great for somebody like you does not mean that it is not useful for the rest of your classmates. High school doesn’t take up ALL of your time, you are still left with time to do whatever you want to do.</p>
<p>I’m not feeling democratic right now, so I’ll say that I think Flannery O’Connor said it best in Total Effect and the Eighth Grade
</p>
<p>To the OPs comments, I think a lot of what he said is correct. Two things I’d like to mention:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Not all schools are that bad. There are some bad teachers but also some great ones who teach you not just memorization but analytical skills as well. Writing, presentation, and leadership skills will serve you in the “real world.”</p></li>
<li><p>What positively motivates me is college. I want to go to the best college I can and not limit myself. This is what keeps me going. College (to me) matters, so high school matters</p></li>
</ol>
<p>
</p>
<p>Maybe you’d learn what circular reasoning really means…
Just saying.</p>
<p>I have to say I agree with alot of what you’ve said. School is important to me because it’s been engraved in my head that it will open up opportunity for a “better future”, which is why I’m working so hard. :P</p>
<p>You have some valid views. I personally find alot of the academic work to be more so a test of a person’s work ethic ability. </p>
<p>~ Theos</p>