I don't think it's cargo cult. We didn't have a program for skipping years in my country.
My older siblings are much older and in STEM, which means I was informally schooled by them and spoke three languages before going to school. I used to read Science and Engineering magazines laying around as a child, then you get to school and you're put with kids who are just learning how to actually read the alphabet, and they're using pictures and scenes, and write big chunky letters. They're learning addition and multiplication while you at home write programs. Any idea how fucking miserable this could make anyone? I was excited about disassembling programs as a teenager and couldn't wait to get to college and study Engineering and meet teachers so I could avoid reinventing the wheel, only to be disappointed (if you teach programming and a kid who just turned 18 shows you programs he wrote in a bunch of languages including x86 assembly but you don't care: wake the fuck up and turn him to a colleague who does actually care about this stuff). I'm sure a smarter kid would have figured a way to end up at the right office at the right teacher, but I've sampled many professors to loose faith.
I tried to go study abroad in a very respected college to save my soul because I knew I wouldn't last in my college, received a response, then financing fell through like a Damocles sword. I spent 9 years in college. I resented academia where stupidity and cheating were more acceptable than absenteeism. If you didn't show up and did well, you were a cheat; if you showed up and cheated, you were okay. I was so used to proving I didn't cheat because the work was "too good" to be of a student (and this started in 4th grade with my fucking handwriting on a homework not being a child's handwriting. The teacher had accused me and it was my idea to write in front of her to disculpate me). I resented incompetent fossilized professors with out of date knowledge who'd just crush you for not following exactly their (factually wrong) exact way, and you could do nothing about it because they've been friends for 30 years with the dean or know the Minister or something. A system that reproached you of doing a good job, where doing nice work had bad consequences and of course it wasn't your work, just tell the truth. A system where it'd be so much easier to be mediocre.
I hated every fucking day of school from the day I got in, to the day I got out.
I'm all for increasing the average level of education, but "non-average" kids shouldn't be "tied" to average kids. Many people talk about "osmosis" and what the smart kids could bring when they're in class and these people don't really get osmosis: It's not the average kids who end up smarter, it's the smart kids who end up withering away. This may work for adults, but for kids? I think it's hard.
The system judges outliers with the same mindset it judges the average. They're just not the same. Special needs kids are not just on the left side of the Gaussian.
EDIT - To put things in context: I grew up in the midst of a civil war that made 200,000+ victims; son of a father with a job that made him a target; belonging to an ethnicity that is the prime target, and survived a bunch of explosions. Great childhood.
When I say education is the worst thing that's happened to me and that's left the bitterest of tastes in my mouth, I hope I'm able to fully convey to which extent it has traumatized me.
My experience is similar, but I didn't ever have any mentorship. I just decided to stop going to university, because I've hated every minute of school since I was 10 and have been having a very hard time staying motivated for the studies' material in the face of useless teachers and a perverse all-consuming focus on attendance and (group) homework. I didn't want to be stuck there for at least another 2.5 years.
I feel like every bit of will to submit to education has been beaten out of me, and I'm done grinding my teeth. Feeling my energy draining away day by day. I was having symptoms similar to seasonal depression, except they didn't match the seasons but the academic year. The safety net a diploma offers is just. not. worth it.
.
It's a load off my mind and I'm feeling very good about my decision. It's been a week, and I haven't found any good reasons to revert it. I'm getting my website up and running again, setting up backups worthy of a professional and practicing my coding. I've always been interested in the work people around me do, and because of that (and my previous programming experience) I'm meeting my first client right after the holiday.
It's not exactly what I want to do for the rest of my life, but I think it's a great start (developing integration tests for an Angular-based EFQM/project management tool on a fixed-price + costs basis), and I'm considering subcontracting it to freelancers.
(Advice and comments are more than welcome. I'm 21 and HAVE to earn money for the first time, I want to build products as an entrepeneur but plan to do contracting to keep me afloat in the meantime. I'm located in the Netherlands.)
No advice, but plenty of congratulations and encouragement. Staying in college lead to some very unhealthy behaviors and decisions for me. The college I went to was quite competitive -- I kept it up for six semesters and managed to make the dean's list each time, and then crashed my last year and nearly didn't graduate on time. I was also nearly expelled many times throughout, which was incredibly stressful because my parents would've nearly disowned me if I blew the 40K tuition that way.
Just a thought, but living in certain countries can be very cheap while you build up your skills and pick up freelancing clients. If you want a totally knew experience, it can be a great way to educate yourself while working only part-time. Even teaching English abroad can be very lucrative and will afford you a lot of free time to continue learning on your own.
If you're located anywhere near the Amsterdam/Utrecht area, don't hesitate to hit me up for a coffee (or beer)!
I'm a web developer and while I might not have much to teach you about programming, I've been working as a freelancer/small-business owner for the past half decade or so.
In the past year I've been actively working towards figuring out ways to help or collaborate with people who eschewed the typical college path and/or are looking into programming as a career path or just a way to make a living.
> I hated every fucking day of school from the day I got in, to the day I got out.
> I hope I'm able to fully convey to which extent it has traumatized me.
I always feel bad about thinking these two things, because to be honest my life was mostly privileged and because many people would feel lucky just to have access to some form of education, but I truly feel the same way.
I went through the public school system in the US and hated every moment of it, despite being socially adept and not subject to bullying from other students. I was just so incredibly bored. That's not to say that my teachers were necessarily bad, or that every subject was too easy / not worth learning (though some were), it was just that sitting still and silent in a classroom of 30+ kids for 8 hours a day ran contrary to my ideal learning environment in every possible way. It is not natural for most children to be silent, and then be yelled at for giving in to the massive urge to socialize. It is not natural to have almost no physical stimulation throughout the day. Now even as an adult I need to exercise 1.5 - 2 hours a day to keep my mind calm. I was so overstimulated by my environment that paying attention in school was hopeless. I cannot focus when I am around other people (especially at the time the opposite sex). Past 6th grade or so I was daydreaming nearly every minute of the day. I learned literally nothing in junior high and high school. I asked to drop out and home school myself on a routine basis but it wasn't an option. It took a long time after to break certain negative associations and rekindle the love of learning that I always knew that I had.
Sounds like a lot of suffering.. Boredom is a killer. Were you treated for this or have followed it closely? Did you indulge in physical activities and still felt the need to do that?
Some teachers in primary school used to let me play in class (go to the back and sort of move around, get between two tables and play pendulum/swing with my legs). Apparently it was that painful to watch a bored kid. But I think it was better because I also did a lot of physical activities that I think helped mitigate.
As to college, to be honest, the curriculum is truly primo quality, straight out of the Soviet system. The college was about 40,000 students, all in Sci & Tech. (no humanities).
Engineering students go through two years of common core where you study a bunch of Math/Physics/Chemistry/Strength of Materials/Manufacturing(lathe, molding)/Industrial drawing/Programming courses.
Every Engineering student goes through that, except Software people who only do one year (they miss the coolest one).
The syllabus is good.. (we got to learn about RST controllers which are rarely taught).
The problem though is that they don't capitalize on what has been done to do more and they don't have ways to test out of courses (there's a bunch of courses I could have tested out of. I ended up had good grades in them and it just wasted my time). And also some profs are unethical (nice when they give you a class or a half to tutor, and then slaughter your grade and disappear, some don't even correct your sheet).
Plus you don't get to build on what you've learned. Scarce electronic parts. Rare projects. You had to search a lot to find good solder. You can't do PCB traces under a certain width. Forget about SMD.
I struggled to get a credit card, and then the stuff you buy online either got "permanently misplaced", lost, or held at customs. It's like that Carl Sagan quote: "If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe." Struggling to do the basic stuff for so long gets tiring, and dulls your edge.
Yes, general interest -- as I mentioned, the number was the main clue for me. Also, I spent some time in France around 20 years ago, where there were a large number of ethnic Algerians who often discussed the issue at length.
Yeah, 20 years ago is practically the height of the crisis with the more brutal massacres (like 200 at a time). They were probably of those who asked for asylum or the thousands who left the country. It was harder for them because they knew peace before and easier on my generation because we were children who'd only known that, so it was sort of normal.
"Jugurtha" is a pretty easy tipoff. Not that Americans would learn who Jugurtha was in school, except maybe grad school, but a few of us still read books...
Love to hear any book recommendations on the Algerian wars, especially older books in English, not by Alistair Horne, and not taking the standard Western "missionary position." Really like Wolves in the City by Paul Henissart, about the OAS episode...