What I said was more directed towards Lex than you. And I can do the drudgework when it is my choice, and when there is a real reason for it. I’ve done it before. It’s the fact that I don’t need the training that makes it impossible for me to do, which might just mean that I do need the training, only I have proven before that I don’t need the training. I’m not going in circles or trying to evade responsibility. I get that it is job training, but I don’t need it, and that fact stops me from doing it somehow. It is really confusing. Also, I said I understand your perspective.
The fact of the matter is , its not even job training yet. Its just a reflection of your personality. It communicates something about you to the people you interact with and more importantly, to the people who will one day evaluate you. And the fact that you tell yourself you don’t need to do work means that you don’t understand why you need the recognition that having done work provides. Its a long term game.
It should also be pointed out that while much of homework seems like busywork, it actually helps to teach the underlying concepts of whatever you’re learning. Doing homework is what helps you go beyond just passing tests to actually excelling at them. Doing the homework helps you learn enough to be truly good at the subject rather than knowing just enough to skate by.
While you’re absolutely right, I was avoiding to focus the argument on that point because it is apparent that GSG doesn’t care about excelling at the subjects he is learning. There is no doubt he’s heard it before and that the argument has fallen on deaf ears.
I get it now, but I still think it is wrong. This is an inaccurate way to determine my personality, and if it actually is accurate, than what the fuck does a high school diploma even mean? That I have the kind of personality that allows me to do a meaningless calculation over and over?
Amy Chua and the Tiger Mother needs to whip you into shape, boy.
I don’t need the homework for that, I never have, that is where the problem came from in the first place.
You said you would pass tests yet fail classes. If you were blowing tests out of the water, you wouldn’t be failing classes just for not doing homework. You would be getting C’s or at best B-minuses. Not failures. Either you lied about failing all your classes or you’re lying about blowing all tests out of the water.
That is where you are very wrong.
This is turning into a thread where GSG is trying to get as many posts as he can.
I haven’t been the same person for my whole life. I didn’t fail all of my classes. I would pass in the subjects I cared about because I would ace the tests, but I would completely fail the classes I don’t care about because I felt I wouldn’t pass anyway so I didn’t put in any effort, even on tests. It was always a surprise when I passed a class. I hope it makes more sense now.
EDIT:
No it’s not. I could have easily passed 500 posts by now if I wanted to, but I try not to post useless shit anymore.
We have some Setz-ian level recreating stories going on now. Everyone ignore the attention whore.
I exaggerated, big deal. All the important parts are still the same.
Alrighty, I’m gonna boil this down without resorting to Wall o’ Text:
Patience, Grasshopper. You must learn to focus. Life is not about the destination, but the journey.
Now go take a Tai Chi class.
The important parts aren’t the same, no. Under one version, there’s an incredible indictment of the system because you could fail every class yet still advance. Under the other version, while there’s still a pretty big indictment of the system, it’s less so because you at least showed some competency to advance in certain classes. Then there’s the important distinction of showing your personality. Under the “exaggerated” version, there is no telling whether you aced tests or merely skated by because you distinctly said you failed every class. Under this new and improved version, the advice can now change to “suck it up, everyone has to do stuff they don’t like.”
So suck it up and do your homework. We all have to do stuff we don’t like.
@GSG: you’re not really addressing much of anything I’ve said.
To answer your small response about my being wrong about your not caring about being good in the subjects you’re supposed to learn, how can you expect us to think you care if you fail them? You’re either lying that you pass all your tests without working or studying and you’re doing great and doing the work is unnecessary for you. Or you’re lying that you’ve been a borderline failure at school since you were 10 years old. Which is it?
Re: what a high school diploma is for, its not there to evaluate what kind of person you are. Not going into the cynicism that it is a giant day care, that high school in theory is supposed to prepare you (even if inadequately) for the next part of your life: independence or college. Who you think you are doesn’t matter in the big picture. The world doesn’t care. The only thing your employer, or the college you’ll go to, will care about is if you can do the work that is required of you. Their measuring stick is how you did in school and your reference letters. Nothing more.
If anything, the problem with the American educational system is that so many people have the same persistent belief which you have: that they don’t need it.
Edit: so now you’re story is that you are surprised that you somehow pass classes you don’t like and thus don’t apply yourself in. Tough, life is all about doing something we don’t like to get something we do.
The new and improved version is the same as the old one, it just doesn’t apply to all classes. I felt that trying was pointless because either way I can’t do homework, and I figured if I don’t do any of the homework I would fail the class. I passed science classes, history classes, and english classes. I passed science because I was able to learn every time I did something and was satisfying my main interests. I was able to pass history because I could just listen to the teacher and remember everything they said and spit it back out onto the tests. I was able to pass english classes because grammar always came naturally to me and that paired with the fact that I was the one coming up with everything (essays and stuff) is what got me through. I failed math, because after I learned something they made me do it over and over and over. You can’t pass a class just by acing the tests.
Now for the story changing explaning. I didn’t come here to talk about me, I came here to talk about why busywork shouldn’t effect your over all grade. The more you look at me specifically, the more you will notice that I am not the model I used for my argument. Of course, I inspired the model for my argument.
edit:
Sin, I am not addressing it because I am learning from it and taking in your perspective. I don’t really feel like you are saying anything that I need to respond to. If you want me to respond to any points you have made, reply with quotes of those points. Sorry if that sounds tedious, but I guess that is just kind of…busywork.
Guess what, homework as a whole isn’t busywork. The problem isn’t that homework affects your grade. The problem is your attitude towards homework.
That is correct, but I wouldn’t have that problem if I could do the homework in the first place.
You mean you wouldn’t have an attitude problem towards homework if you had the attitude to do it in the first place? That’s a circular argument.