What to do if you hate school?

[SoulRiser]

I'm working on ideas for a step-by-step guide for people who hate school, full of things that should help, and hopefully lead to them being able to get out and try alternatives or something.

So my question is...
What has helped you guys, if anything?

My ideas so far:

1. Read SS intro & other articles
2. Find someone to talk to about school (example: SS forums)
3. Learn all you can about alternatives
4. Try talking to parents about it (this probably warrants a whole guide of its own)
5. Profit??

What else would be helpful?

Eventually I want to turn this into a YouTube video, since Google just looooooves that sort of thing these days.

[no]

HOW TO SCUMMILY SCRAPE BY IN THE BROKEN SYSTEM THAT IS SCHOOL
Written by a National Merit finalist

1. If there is a class you like that you can spend a variable amount of time on and still get 100% (e.g. art), DO NOT MAKE THE MISTAKE of doing the minumum required and using class time for other class. It will drive you positively bonkers. Good classes are rare, savor them or rest even. Stressing 24/7 sucks supernova remnants.

2. DO NOT LISTEN to people saying you must study X amount. I never really studied in high school, absolutely didn't in elementary or middle. Don't even in college much, the difficulty seems rather overestimated tbh, though I've also been told ridiculous claims like "you are in the top .01%" (certainly doesn't feel like it) but it was likely only referring to memory skills. POINT IS, don't spend more time on anything than you need to. I used to put so much time and effort into assignments only to get the same grade as someone else. If you care, ABSOLUTELY put in that time and effort. If you realize it's pointless, you are already thinking more than most of the class, and some of those unthinking people are getting A's. You may get extra leniency later if you go above and beyond, but that's hardly guaranteed.

3. Fuck school clubs. If none of the clubs the school offers completely ignites in you a blazing inferno of passion, DO. NOT. JOIN. ANY. If you want to learn more about something, join a non-school-sponsored equivalent club, in fact you should look into that even if you DO think the school's is perfect. Spoiler warning: they put up a facade. Music can be difficult if you can't afford an instrument though. Sports are probably cheaper (don't quote me on that tho, never did either) but I can still say that if you want to do sports, it is vastly superior to do it outside of school, because when rivalries exist between teams, they aren't as toxic, and the games aren't generally used as excuses to get drunk.

4. If you have friends, TRY THE HELL NOT TO LOSE THEM (unless they are shitty ofc). Hang with people you like and BE HONEST WITH YOURSELF. Is there a group that you "should" like to be around, but can't stand? Probably better to ditch 'em.

5. Again, maybe just because I'm a genius or something, but scraping by is ludicrously easy. Although nearly every assignment has a point value of some kind, the reality is that most of the time tests are weighted very heavily. So do enough homework to get the material and pass the test, and the missed homework points will barely make a dent. Figure out how to get the highest-value assignments the easiest.

6. If you don't intend to go to college, don't waste time and effort on college classes unless they are subjects you actually want to learn at a high level. Learn how to game the credit system. Some places will allow a programming class in the place of a foreign language, for instance, which you may find more useful.

7. Read all the science stuff you can comprehend in elementary school, and I mean go to the public library and browse the science shelves for the kid-friendlier stuff, and you will basically know enough to get you passably through high school. Well, maybe not, but I've found that books that actually want to teach you will lay a concrete foundation that can solidify over a few years, whereas bored teachers and boring textbooks will throw a few rocks down and then yell, THAT'S THE FLOOR, MOVING ON! When there isn't a giant test looming over your head, learning stuff irrelevant to your life actually can be (for some people) fun! Ofc, most of you are not in elementary school, but if you have nothing better to do, learn about stuff in your own time that you will need for future classes. You'll enjoy it a lot more than the class and it will let you breeze through the class with ease.

8. Learn some fucking etymology, goddamn it! They barely teach root words any more and only the most basic prefixes and suffixes. A silly portion of the SAT is just knowing the meanings of words, and it helps a lot on tests in general.

[brainiac3397]

What he said.

[SoulRiser]

That's some awesome stuff, no.
I will definitely include your ideas. I actually kinda wanna publish your post as-is in the articles section on the main site... would that be OK?

I guess I should split my guide into two sections... one for trying to get out of school, and another for surviving in the meantime, or if you absolutely can't get out for whatever reason.

[no]

(11-30-2015 04:13 AM)SoulRiser Wrote:  I actually kinda wanna publish your post as-is in the articles section on the main site... would that be OK?

If you want to, I guess.