@finnian I can appreciate your experience, and the thoughts behind what you have shared. I was very involved, from the business club to music. The friendships and experiences I had couldn't have been replicated elsewhere, and I am glad I created those opportunities for myself.
That being said, I should have gone with my buddy to do every other day's school at the local community college, saving the other day for the fun stuff. If you do all the lower level classes for an engineering degree, you will have enough literacy and mathematics to supplement whatever it is you choose to pursue.
The other undervalued education today is vocational school. The economic freedom that is achieved early on my be capped by the lack of an advanced degree, but if you are an enterprising person, you can use what you have learned and your innate skills to be successful. The key is to find your passion(s), and learn everything you can to be successful in that.
I can't go back in time for myself, but I will make my own children aware of the opportunity that exists. That way, hopefully, they can avoid the feeling of "wasted years."
You didn't need to go to school to meet friends and do social things though. My wife is always saying that the kids have to go to government schools to learn "social skills." No, no they don't. That's learning crowd and conformity skills instead. ;-)
I am a teacher at
I agree finnian - social skills can be learned in many places
Thanks! I worry about the other things school teaches way more than what the kids might not learn by missing it.
For example one of my middle son's teachers a year ago told him, "It's not right for one person to be more successful than another."
Bwah?! Don't be teaching that garbage to my child, communist! haha
Whaaaaat? Ok that is just plain weird
But I say again , there are sure some problem parents out there that are not following the open minded approach I am trying to teach my kids - the textbook said this and this and there is no room for we can actually figure out a few things for ourselves and questions can maybe have more than one answer