30 Pieces Of Advice For High School Students

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PrisonerSix
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10 Mar 2010, 2:11 pm

I actually did live by many of these rules, and they didn't help me much, I was still tormented and miserable the whole time. I did know how to say NO, but it caused me just as much trouble, I'd often get tormented and even told there was somthing wrong with me because I chose my own activities instead of doing what most others did.

As for joining clubs and activities, most of that was pretty much closed to me, because at my school, it was all by invitation only, and since I wasn't one of their pets, i.e. someone who was of their religion and went to their elementary schools, churches, etc., I didn't count.

I had few friends in high school, and I wasn't close to them, so there was nobody to let slip away. As for seeing things from others' perspectives, I never understood what any of them had against me, other than the fact I hadn't been going to school, church, etc., with them their entire lives.

As for the stuff about time, eventually you get tired of hearing how tomorrow will get better and it never does no matter what you do. By the time I hit high school, I had been hearing since 4th grade how it will get better once I went to my new school, and it never did.

The other list of such things as "don't go to school dances" makes sense to me. For me, it was bad enough I had to be in school with those people everyday, why would I voluntarily subject myself to being around them when I didn't have to be? As for bullies, I did often report them as did my parents, but of course nothing was done. I also never talked about anything to the school counselor period. I was forced into one sit down with her, but told her next to nothing, and all she could do was tell me, in other words, I had to conform or I wouldn't make it there. We actually had 2 school counselors and both were totally worthless.

As for dating, I couldn't date anyone in the school for the reasons I mentioned and since I didn't have opportunties to meet girls from other schools, and my parents didn't believe in teenage dating, I was pretty much locked out of that aspect of teen life.

The only way for us to survive high school today is either homeschool or going to high school online.


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swansong
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11 Mar 2010, 12:50 am

ursaminor wrote:
swansong wrote:
7) Have Respect For Authority
No matter how much you may dislike them at the time, just remember that teachers and
parents care about you and are only doing their job. Listen to their advice and
heed it. Don't argue with them and just obey them.

8.) Get Your Driver's License Right Away
Keep that on a high priority. Pass the written test as soon as you can. Get as
much practice as you can and pass the driving test as soon as you can. Don't push
this off until later. Get this out of the way as soon as possible.

11) Do Not Draw Negative Attention
Don't say anything offensive and do not be a pessimist. Don't have bad hygeine or
act immaturely. It takes a lot of time to repair a bad image and it is better to
have no attention at all than to get negative attention.

12) Join Several Clubs / Activities
It is a great way to meet friends, take up new interests, augment your college
application. What's not to like? If you don't, you may be missing on several
opportunities.

22) See Things In Other People's Perspective
The decisions people make, may seem odd to you, but try to step in their shoes and
try to imagine why they would do the things that they do. Were they a victim of of
something, do they have good intentions, do they have something to gain out of what
they are doing, are they thinking illogically, or are you thinking illogically?

Please share your thoughts on this list.
22 I do not really disagree with, it is just impossible to do.
Actually not possible.
Anyone who say they know, either do not, are lying, or guessed right.
There is no way to check if they are right, because the other person might just as well lie.

Quote:
18.) Your Views Will Change
The views you have now, even if you hold them 100% firmly, will most likely change
as you get older and begin to mature. Your political views, your opinions, your
beliefs, your interpretation of your past, everything. So keep that in mind that
what you think now might not be true at all.
I do not disagree with this, it just makes me sad.

12, to me, seems useless because it disrupts my established schedule and it makes social contact necessary, but I know for sure that other people will benefit from this.
11, again, has to do with social contact.
Although I agree that no attention is better than any attention.
But my hygiene has only attracted negative attention from my mother.
8, now that I think of it, is not too bad.
But still, I could not drive.
It is too dangerous.
But luckily I live in the Netherlands, where many things are just a bike or train ride away and trains are better than cars because there is space and some trains still jiggle a bit and that puts me at ease.
7 is something I have always had problems with.
Not so much my lack of respect for authority, moreso the response that evokes in those people.
I am going to explain why I have problems with authority.
In every situation, the authority that I am supposed to respect is not built on evidence of some sort.
Whose authority I do not respect usually does not handle that kind of thing well, feeling attacked, and when I ask for a reason for them to have that authority, they do not ever give me an answer that would logically follow from a question, instead chooses to diverge from the topic of the person and criticizes me for questioning authority.
I think this kind of behaviour was also explained in another thread, in the category of Logic Boy.
I certainly do not respond well to rules without logical basis, and when there is, is not provided to me.
Authority is something I do not understand fully and to me seems like a lousy excuse for anything.
Even when I can come up with the answer myself, the person not being able to answer the question or not willing, makes me angry inside because if they cannot even answer why they should have authority, they should not be doing something that, if questioned, relies upon the argument of authority.
Also, using authority as an argument is a logical fallacy and I do not respond to logical fallacies.
They are however, extremely common in interaction.


For #22 (See Things In Other People's Perspective), I agree that it is impossible to fully do that all of the time, but my advice is for people to try to do that the best they can whenever they can.

As for the authority fallacy, it is not always a fallacy. There are times when authority is right and times when authority is wrong. Usually, teachers and parents use their authority out of concern of the child's well being and they are correct much of the time. I did not mean that all authority should be blindly trusted. Nothing should be authoritative and everything should be questioned. But many times, students like to blame everything on the teachers and claim that they are innocent while the teacher has done nothing wrong.

As for driving, I am sure driving is more or less important to some people around the world than others, but in general, it is best to get the license as soon as possible. It is better to get it over with early in high school rather than pushing it to senior year and being overwhelmed. Bottom line: if you can't find time to do it this year, you probably won't find it next year.



swansong
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11 Mar 2010, 1:00 am

PrisonerSix wrote:
I actually did live by many of these rules, and they didn't help me much, I was still tormented and miserable the whole time. I did know how to say NO, but it caused me just as much trouble, I'd often get tormented and even told there was somthing wrong with me because I chose my own activities instead of doing what most others did.

As for joining clubs and activities, most of that was pretty much closed to me, because at my school, it was all by invitation only, and since I wasn't one of their pets, i.e. someone who was of their religion and went to their elementary schools, churches, etc., I didn't count.

I had few friends in high school, and I wasn't close to them, so there was nobody to let slip away. As for seeing things from others' perspectives, I never understood what any of them had against me, other than the fact I hadn't been going to school, church, etc., with them their entire lives.

As for the stuff about time, eventually you get tired of hearing how tomorrow will get better and it never does no matter what you do. By the time I hit high school, I had been hearing since 4th grade how it will get better once I went to my new school, and it never did.

The other list of such things as "don't go to school dances" makes sense to me. For me, it was bad enough I had to be in school with those people everyday, why would I voluntarily subject myself to being around them when I didn't have to be? As for bullies, I did often report them as did my parents, but of course nothing was done. I also never talked about anything to the school counselor period. I was forced into one sit down with her, but told her next to nothing, and all she could do was tell me, in other words, I had to conform or I wouldn't make it there. We actually had 2 school counselors and both were totally worthless.

As for dating, I couldn't date anyone in the school for the reasons I mentioned and since I didn't have opportunties to meet girls from other schools, and my parents didn't believe in teenage dating, I was pretty much locked out of that aspect of teen life.

The only way for us to survive high school today is either homeschool or going to high school online.


As I said earlier, some (or many) items on this list may not apply to some people. Many people told me that they agree and that the list is accurate while a few people such as yourself have said otherwise.

There are several tips on this list that are disagreeable, but there are others which are important and apply to almost everybody.

I personally don't understand your fatalistic view of high school, but I feel sorry that it didn't work out the way you wanted to.



ellenelizabeth
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11 Mar 2010, 4:08 am

This list is very informative
Thanks. :)



PrisonerSix
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11 Mar 2010, 10:40 am

swansong wrote:
I personally don't understand your fatalistic view of high school, but I feel sorry that it didn't work out the way you wanted to.


That is how it was for me, I was pretty much dead in the water the day I walked in the door. My parents promised me that nobody would hate me for being new since everyone in my class would be new to the school. It turned out they had all either been going to school, church, or both together most of their lives and since I wasn't a part of that, I had a strike against me.

On top of that, it was a denominational christian school and since I wasn't of their religion, that was strike 2. I then refused to go through a school sanctioned week of hazing called Freshman Hell Week, when they allow seniors to degrade and humiliate freshman by making them wear outrageous costumes, get down on the floor for air raids, push quarters down the hall with their noses, etc. I was the only one who wouldn't do it, so I was shunned even more.

There were a couple of times I started feeling hopeful when my parents got upset with the school and planned to transfer me out, but that didn't happen. One time they planned to transfer me back to a school they took me out of years before where I wasn't having many problems, but they decided against it at the last minute.

I'm not sure if transferring to another high school would have helped. I do know if I'd transferred to public school, it would have been bad too because I went to a public school for 8th grade and was tormented non-stop both in and out of school. The kids who did it were in the public high school and they would have loved the chance to start ripping me apart again. Sometimes I wonder if another school would have been better, but there's no way to know.

The only sure thing I can think of would have been online school if it had been available, homeschooling, or maybe some sort of independent study program, so I wouldn't have had to deal with all the social games and other general nonsense that occur in high school. I would have been able to get my education in peace.


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SlappedWithIt
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11 May 2010, 11:11 pm

all these long posts have gotten me interested but im tempted to turn on the narirator because it is taking forever for me to read these.



FreeSpirit2000
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14 May 2010, 4:09 am

These are very wise words of advice, I suggest that all High School students take school really seriously so you can graduate from High School, then finish up College on a timely manner and get your Bachelors in 4 to 5 years. You can't let any emotional issues to bring you down and you got to also be patient. Also make sure that you are confident and you really want to do well and succeed. Because I never cared in High School and right now I will have to take a longer time to finish my Bachelors Degree due to my lazy, I don't give a s**t attitude in high school. Right now I am trying to keep my GPA at least at a 3.5 so I can get into a good school and later when the time comes, I can even target for 4.0's.



MathGirl
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23 May 2010, 5:39 pm

I don't agree with the "Friends" and the "Clubs/Activities" thing. I took part in clubs at school in the past, as well as tried to keep friends, but all this did was to overwhelm me. Clubs/activities overwhelm me because 1) they are often not regular, and any change in routine adds to my stress, and 2) social contact with my peers is difficult. Keeping friends is also overwhelming, because you have to constantly make sure that you don't act too distant and too detached, that you don't say anything rude, and that you don't act overly strange. This requires constant effort due to having to switch thinking about schoolwork to thinking about my behaviour, which is very difficult and stressful. I prefer not having any friends at school, but have friends outside of school to hang out periodically with. It's easier, because first of all, I spend my time either with older people who are more likely to be tolerant to my quirks, or with people on the spectrum.

I say, use your time productively in class, and try to not get too overwhelmed during the school day (and if you do, get some rest after school before you get to your studies). Also, speaking up in class won't hurt. If you don't have any friends, it shouldn't matter anyway how you come across if you speak up in class. If you really want to talk to someone at school, try talking to your teachers. I often ended up having very interesting conversations with them. And write things down to stay organized. Keep a separate notebook where you can write down all the things you have to do during the day that are outside of your normal routine. And do try to stick to a routine. I've realized that if I don't have a routine to my day, I become more disorganized and scatterbrained. As a result, I often take longer on tests/quizzes/assignments/etc. And the thing is, I don't recognize it when my mind gets into that state. It's a lesson I've learned over time.

Overall, I say, concentrate on your grades. I know that many scholarships are based on extracurricular participation, but some are based on pure grades, as well. Concentrate on the main aspect of school and excel at it. Because after all, that's what you go to school for. The other stuff is just extra.


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