I was always a good student, but I don't do well in any other context.

[/DG/]

1. OK, this is where I have a problem - throwing out "any direction" and asking why it's "totally unhelpful". There are a million different possibilities in the world, I could as easily suggest working starbucks because "many graduates do that" and ask why that's completely unhelpful.

Again, I have no idea why you keep spewing random nonsense like this. Someone suggested for him to check out academia as a direction. This is indeed an actual career path. Being a barista at Starbucks is not a career path--it's a part time job.

2. What I am saying is that any superficial knowledge you have of "the academic system" that you gain, whether through being a student or through TA-ing, has nothing to do with the reality of it and is about as accurate as someone who has NOT been through college.

Oh, get your head out of your ass. I know more about it than a random person who has not been to college.

That first statement indicates how little you know about how universities are run these days. Most large college classes at community colleges, smaller state schools and non-Ivies are now run by adjuncts/assistants who are contract staff and are paid less than minimal wage. Why would universities hire master's degrees when PhDs are so damned cheap and common? There are master's profs. but they tend to have come through from the 70s/80s and no one hires them to teach at unis anymore.

Professors with master's degrees are quite common at my university, and some of them are very young-looking (the youngest I personally know looks to be maybe in her early 30s). Perhaps this is unusual?

Edit: Interesting...I'm looking through the staff directory at my university and when I look at the staff in the arts departments, I'm seeing decent amount of professors with only BAs and BFAs. I didn't know you could teach at the university level with these degrees.

 

[nonsequitur]

Again, I have no idea why you keep spewing random nonsense like this. Someone suggested for him to check out academia as a direction. This is indeed an actual career path. Being a barista at Starbucks is not a career path--it's a part time job.

What I am saying is that it is NOT a career path. As someone ON this supposed "path", having committed the last 10 years of my life to academia, seeing the statistics, the pay (or lack thereof) and the lack of stability, you might as well get a part time job because it has better prospects than dreaming about such a thing.

Oh, get your head out of your ass. I know more about it than a random person who has not been to college.

You would like to believe so, but what you're saying implies otherwise.

Professors with master's degrees are quite common at my university, and some of them are very young-looking (the youngest I personally know looks to be maybe in her early 30s). Perhaps this is unusual?

1) Very unusual these days.
2) Unlikely to be a professor in the sense of being FT faculty. Probably an adjunct, i.e. contract based office hours, teaches a couple of classes a week across different unis, barely able to feed themselves, trying to publish on the side to compete for tenure-track positions.

 

[/DG/]

What I am saying is that it is NOT a career path. As someone ON this supposed "path", seeing the statistics, the pay (or lack thereof) and the lack of stability, you might as well get a part time job.

That doesn't mean that it isn't a career path. It may be a shitty one, but that doesn't suddenly mean that it doesn't exist. I'd argue that becoming a physician is also a rather shitty career path (though with this one you can actually start making a lot of money when you're in your 50s or so), but that doesn't mean that it doesn't exist.

It's not a good career path, but it's there.

1) Very unusual these days.
2) Unlikely to be a professor in the sense of being FT faculty. Probably an adjunct, i.e. contract based office hours, teaches a couple of classes a week across different unis, barely able to feed themselves, trying to publish on the side to compete for tenure-track positions.

Yes, they mostly appear to be part time, but they are definitely there and definitely very numerous where I am. Does that mean they are satisfied with their jobs? I can't say.

-----

Look, if you want to recommend against going down a career path, fine. State your reasons and be done with it. Don't start arguing irrelevant things.

 

[Avocado]

That doesn't mean that it isn't a career path. It may be a shitty one, but that doesn't suddenly mean that it doesn't exist. I'd argue that becoming a physician is also a rather shitty career path (though with this one you can actually start making a lot of money when you're in your 50s or so), but that doesn't mean that it doesn't exist.

It's not a good career path, but it's there.



Yes, they mostly appear to be part time, but they are definitely there and definitely very numerous where I am. Does that mean they are satisfied with their jobs? I can't say.

-----

Look, if you want to recommend against going down a career path, fine. State your reasons and be done with it. Don't start arguing irrelevant things.

7th grade social studies

 

[EcK]

I honestly don't know what I can do with my narrow skillset.

You have to tell us about your skillset.

Or maybe copy paste a redacted version your resume or smthing?


And stay positive, you can always become a pimp.

 

[Avocado]

You have to tell us about your skillset.

Or maybe copy paste a redacted version your resume or smthing?


And stay positive, you can always become a pimp.

I graduated from high school with a 3.75 GPA and a 36 on my ACT, and I always aced tests without studying or even really having to pay attention in class. My mind could always fill in the blanks in tests and see patterns which inferred the answers. This was true for all subjects. Many of my written articles from school have won national awards for their quality, and I have written and published a book. My attention to detail, pattern recognition, and insight into the world can be profound provided I am given generous time, space, and quiet. I am currently employed as a pharmacy tech and perform passably well, and I am enrolled in the local college of education seeking an education degree.

On the downside, I am klutzy, forgetful, absent-minded, very dry "off-putting" in interactions with others, largely oblivious to my surroundings, and cursed with a pretty nasty speech impediment which makes it difficult to speak well. I also have very sore and swollen joints and a bad back, which makes movement difficult.

When people tell me I am "off-putting," they tell me it is a combination of my inflections, posturing, and expressions that do it, plus my "stiff, robotic" manner of speech. I've heard this from many people.

 

[kyuuei]

Well fucking duh .. you haven't done much of anything yet. I was pretty much the WORST person at selling ice cream to people ever when I first started a job doing that. You learn. If you're a good student, it means there is literally NOTHING you cannot do because you're great at learning. And many jobs are life-long learning experiences.. so being a good student is pretty much one of the bigger priorities.

Magic, I care hun I really do.. but this screams "I'm making excuses because I have anxiety" all over it. And it makes me want to punch you in your cute little face with a giant Nike check-mark set of knuckles.

 

[prplchknz]

Well fucking duh .. you haven't done much of anything yet. I was pretty much the WORST person at selling ice cream to people ever when I first started a job doing that. You learn. If you're a good student, it means there is literally NOTHING you cannot do because you're great at learning. And many jobs are life-long learning experiences.. so being a good student is pretty much one of the bigger priorities.

Magic, I care hun I really do.. but this screams "I'm making excuses because I have anxiety" all over it. And it makes me want to punch you in your cute little face with a giant Nike check-mark set of knuckles.

I've never been a good student i've always had to work really hard i even been offered accomodations and ieps tutors through out school because i'm not academically smart but i don't go around saying it's hopeless i can't do anything. even though I often feel that way, I just keep trying even though so many times i feel like giving up. But what's frustating is people who've worked with me have told my mom that i'm really smart but there's this disconnect with me knowing and me relaying the info especially in an academic setting. Like my brain doesn't expel info in that manner. I dunno maybe i'm ranting but i get tired of people being like i wrote a book i got all a's i don't have to go to class to learn but i can't do anything. I have to go to class and sometimes I'm lucky if i end up with a c but I know i can do something. just makes me angry. sorry for ranting.

p.s. I hate accomodations that make me feel even more defective. I've not had accomodations sense highschool as i have figured out how to compensate for my shit. and i no longer have iep but i had one from preschool on, and was in and out of special ed through high school. i started in a speech and hearing preschool went to a regular kindergarten was in special ed til 4th grade but got to start leaving in 3rd went into another special ed program in middle school was in traditional all through highschool.

 

[Thalassa]

I was a good student and I tend to win at life in an unconventional way, like being able to keep a rood over my head in LA, but my family are same kinds of people. ..dude if you can do nothing but be a good student, you are a tool, and you should look at other skills your family taught you like shooting a gun, seducing people, or selling auto parts. Was no one in your house in the military? All that being good at school teaches you is writing, acting, performance, doing exactly what you are told, or teaching public school.

 

[Thalassa]

Honestly, just like everyone else said. . It requires something else to survive at life...though I'm very sure being a good student helps me converse with people irl, cook, clean, manage money,move to Los Angeles,dress attractively, have sex with people, shop, meditation, go to church, go vegan, go organic, go on vacation, post on the Internet. ..I never fault my family for making me a good student, I fault other families for only teaching their children that.

 

[Tilt]

I'm infamously socially inept and disorganized, but I always tested very well. There is even a trope in popular culture regarding my troubles:
Ditzy Genius - TV Tropes
The ACT, SAT, and schoolwork were effortlessly easy for me, some of my papers I wrote in my English classes won awards, and I almost instantly recognize numeric patterns and logical inconsistencies. Despite this, I am described as "dry and robotic" in my speech and having "absolutely no common sense" by family, employers, acquaintances and many other people. It's not that I'm stupid, so much as I either analyze something until I pass up my opportunity to act or I decide to act and forget to consider something. The former is more common as I detest being rushed or doing things before I've processed a problem from as many possible angles as I can envision, as well as used a few people as sounding boards for my potential solutions. My ADD may make me seem reckless at times, but at heart I am a very cautious man who avoids taking risks without some sort of safety net.

I am relatively socially inept, but I got a few people to see my unpolished value and learned TONS of skills just from those few connections. Half the people who meet me probably think I am stupid but there are a subsect of people who think that I am valuable enough to invest time into. If you put yourself out there, there will probably be people out there who see your value (professionally) and will help you along the way.

Find people who can help balance out your ADD and it will make a world of difference. From my experience of working with someone with severe ADD, please try to remember business commitments, be punctual, and don't overcommit. Those are little things to make people feel valued and maintain healthy and worthwhile business bridges.

 

[Avocado]

I was a good student and I tend to win at life in an unconventional way, like being able to keep a rood over my head in LA, but my family are same kinds of people. ..dude if you can do nothing but be a good student, you are a tool, and you should look at other skills your family taught you like shooting a gun, seducing people, or selling auto parts. Was no one in your house in the military? All that being good at school teaches you is writing, acting, performance, doing exactly what you are told, or teaching public school.

No, nobody in my family were military becuase they all think the end of the world is any day now and committing to anything else but "God" is wrong. I grew out of such foolishness, though. The only other thing I do is write stories, but they never sell well.

 

[Thalassa]

No, nobody in my family were military becuase they all think the end of the world is any day now and committing to anything else but "God" is wrong. I grew out of such foolishness, though. The only other thing I do is write stories, but they never sell well.

I also believe that the end of the world is any day now, if people don't stop eating like pigs and guzzling gas like drooling morons. I believe in God, but my concerns about the future of humanity are more immediately based in scientific findings about the world's sixth mass extinction.

This has shown me my life's purpose though, and I'm no longer bummed I didn't feel like public school teaching fit me. I spent about 3-4 years feeling a little lost, but I came from a bootstrapping sort of people, so I have a natural perseverance to generate income and seek things, even when I was seemingly coping poorly at times with drinking, I actually came out of that time more whole and sure of myself than I've ever been.

Never give up. If you don't know what you can do yet, keep looking. If you don't know what job to do, try something like cooking or landscaping or something you might think was "beneath" you in order to build job skills and get life experience, and get over yourself. You can still write stories in your spare time.

 

[Avocado]

I also believe that the end of the world is any day now, if people don't stop eating like pigs and guzzling gas like drooling morons. I believe in God, but my concerns about the future of humanity are more immediately based in scientific findings about the world's sixth mass extinction.

This has shown me my life's purpose though, and I'm no longer bummed I didn't feel like public school teaching fit me. I spent about 3-4 years feeling a little lost, but I came from a bootstrapping sort of people, so I have a natural perseverance to generate income and seek things, even when I was seemingly coping poorly at times with drinking, I actually came out of that time more whole and sure of myself than I've ever been.

Never give up. If you don't know what you can do yet, keep looking. If you don't know what job to do, try something like cooking or landscaping or something you might think was "beneath" you in order to build job skills and get life experience, and get over yourself. You can still write stories in your spare time.

Yes, those two things about people not taking care of themselves and destroying the planet make me feel dejected and like nothing I'll ever do will ever matter anyway. The vast majority of people make me so irritated I want nothing to do with them, and the few people I can tolerate aren't tolerable for very long. I'm in a kind of limbo where the only reason I do anything is because I have to in order to exist. Even when I write, there is the little voice in my head that asked what the point of it is, as it doesn't solve any problems or will likely be read by many people. My mother, my mother's mother, and my mother's mother's mother were all employed in the school system, so there is precedent there. I will also try to keep this pharmacy job on the side since all it will be is extra income. I observed a middle school today, and I did double duty--observing both the outer world and my inner world. I think anxiety plays a big roll when it comes to my percieved ability to do things and depression is a factor when it comes to my will. I accidentally gave somebody the wrong medicine and I could lose my job over that, so I hope nothing comes of that. As for cooking, I used to not know how to cook at all, but a couple months ago, I started learning the basics of it, and I like that as opposed to just mindlessly munching on fast food. Maybe I will eventually do something with cooking, but I'm only at the very start of my learning curve.

 

[Galaxy Gazer]

This is just a random suggestion, but have you thought about going into law? Law schools place a lot of importance on academia and GPA, and they're really not that hard to get into. It's the ultimate academic field.

If that's not your thing, you could always get a Master's degree or PhD and teach your favorite subject, maybe at a university.

 

[/DG/]

This is just a random suggestion, but have you thought about going into law? Law schools place a lot of importance on academia and GPA, and they're really not that hard to get into.

Eh??? Care to back your statement up a bit there, pal?

 

[Galaxy Gazer]

Eh??? Care to back your statement up a bit there, pal?

Some of the lesser-known (as in not Ivy League) ones require a GPA of 3.4 and a decent score on the LSAT (not sure how their scoring system works). It seems reasonably doable for an academic. I almost did it myself, but I procrastinate way too much.