advice

[magickmumu]

some more examples of people who didn't get a college education
Simon Vinkenoog.
Albert Einstein.
Abraham Lincon.
Ernest Hemingway

Jimi Hendrix
Bill Gates
David Geffen
Paul Allen
Woody Allen
Jane Austen
Alexander Graham Bell
William Blake
Agatha Christie
Athur C Clark
Charles Dickens
Walt Disney
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Henry Ford
Benjamin Franklin
Buckminster Fuller
Malcolm X
Edgar Allen Poe
J.D Salinger
Harry Truman
George Washington
:? :lol:

 

[st.bot.32]

The American Dream...

 

[st.bot.32]

Lots of uneducated, so-called spiritual people I met in the past 20 years live on welfare or constantly harass their friends and relatives with multi-level marketing and other get-rich-quick schemes.

I'm sure some people make it without any education, more power to them. But my experience has been pretty much the same as yours, especially since I grew up in a religion where people assumed god would feed them if they dropped everything and did His work.. in other words people relying on other people to financially sustain their lifestyle. But pretty much everyone I know whose gone through a (long) phase like that has broken down in the end and got a trade or something. Education doesn't just mean going to college, it means learning some (any) kind of practical skill. Even if you decide to run your own business you'll probably have to take some basic courses in finance and management if you want to survive

I guess I'm lucky in that I always knew what the things were I was interested in, so I had no problem figuring out 'what to do'. Of course not everybody figures that out.. or they may know what they want to do, but are afraid to pursue it for some reason

What I want to do with my life will most likely never make me any money, but fortunately I found a job that keeps my mind active and allows me to pursue what I want to do without draining my creative energy.

 

[Brewmaster]

I'm 27 and went to the best art school in the country to get my BFA in Painting. You know where that got me?
About $50,000 in debt.
Granted, I loved it and am a better, smarter person because of it and a damn fine painter ( IMO ) but selling a few paintings and doing a couple tattoos a year doesn't cut it.

Now, I live in a tent because I got sick of working for $13 an hour and needed to get away from civilization and "the man".

Honestly, my advice is if you're going to make the commitment of time and money to go to school; take a career path that will make you money later in life. Otherwise, go to a trade school for a lot less and learn to become an electrician or HVAC Technician; something everyone needs no matter how bad the economy gets. EVeryone wants electricity and air condition right?

There will always be time to take guitar lessons or painting classes but college should be about planning for the future. I know it's hard to do when you're 18 ( that's why I went to art school ) but think about when you're old and want to retire.

But hey, maybe you're like me and don't mind being 85 years old and sleeping on the ground! :bear:

 

[magickmumu]

Think about when your old and want to retire. :lol:
Another fear based motivation.

But brewmaster has a point. It maybe good to learn a trade.
I droped out of school myself, because I didn't want to pay a lot of debt later on. Now I am learning a trade and my boss is paying for it.

 

[darkwolfunseen]

Honestly, University is a rare opportunity. Most people don't understand how many people don't even have the option of choosing to get a higher education let alone getting it. I don't have any specific advice for you because I really know nothing about the details. The only thing that would come remotely close is a simple concept: BALANCE. High school sucks, college is not high school. It sounds like you're too bored with high school as is, not in the sense that you don't want to learn, but you don't want to learn on someone elses terms.

High school I did terribly, and was a screw-up. Someone was kind enough to see potential in me, saved me with a good recommendation, and I did great in college and loved it. It gave me time to think (honestly classes are 4 hours a day, the rest can be used, dare I say... recreationally), learn anything I wanted (philosophy, chemistry, business, etc), and even wade through the "man's" bullshit. If anything, college is one of the few places where if you don't like something you're being taught, you can just drop the class and move on to another.

Overall point: Go to college to free yourself, and don't worry about how it may or may not suck. Either way, it's better then high school, and it will give you awesome networking opportunities (some of my best mind-altering friends were met there...)

 

[????????]

wow great advice guys :)

i would add:

yes, money and future-money is important but DO NOT pursue some career just because people say it will pay well but you don't actually like it that much... IT WILL SLOWLY ERODE YOUR SOUL.

what i believe in is: study something in which you have sincere interest, something you enjoy. i believe that when someone enjoys their craft they naturally become good craftsmen and this in turn leads to good remuneration, because you do a job well done; you like doing it!

you and only YOU know what you like. don't fall on the trap of assimilating someone else's views without appropriate filtering!

fortunately I found a job that keeps my mind active and allows me to pursue what I want to do without draining my creative energy.

i'm curious, what is it that you do?