I know this is highly anecdotical in nature, but perhaps there's some useful information to it :-).
I'm part of the "global workforce"; I don't live in the US, but I have done some contract work with US employers as an independent consultant. I was born and currently live in Europe.
Funny thing is, while I absolutely loved learning and still do -- to the extent that an important factor in my choice of avoiding large corporations (after getting burned twice) was that a job there would leave me too little time for history, philosophy and programming of my own -- I didn't go to school that much. I was one of the top students in the class (I even unintentionally ended up as a valedictorian, so besides my BSc in Instrumentation Engineering they also handed me a badge of nerd shame or something), but I was regularly getting into trouble for skipping classes, faking illnesses and, every once in a while, challenging the professors' authority.
Fortunately, I actually had my parents behind me on this, and both of them are teachers (high school and university level, respectively). I'd literally tell my dad I was too hung over to go to school this morning, he'd shrug and tell me that as long as I think it's best to stay at home, I can stay at home.
And it was ok. I'm not starving -- I'm actually quite well off -- I have a job that I love, I do what I like and what I am best at. Despite my trouble with authority, my academic credentials are fairly good (to the extent that I am a published author -- my work ended up in IEEE journals -- but that was before I got my BSc, and I didn't push for an MSc after that).
Quite frankly, I'm horrified at the amount of work we put children to. I managed to dodge it because the system in my home country is shaggy enough that, as long as you're blunt and cunning enough, you can get away with anything. The sheer thought of actually having gone to school all that time is simply unrealistic, I'd have broken down.
I think this is a typical case of "when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail". No one bothers to think what the problem is, and appears to put it strictly in terms of MOAR SCHOOL MY LITTLE MINIONS! This is woefully unproductive. I swear, if I'll ever have kids of my own, I'll do just like my dad did with me -- encourage them to think for themselves and learn what's interesting for them, treating school as the necessary diploma-producing evil it seems to have ended up in our days.
Your parents are truly nice, but that makes you the exception, not the rule. Most students at my university perform like crap because their parents are either too demanding or don't give a damn.
I also observed that people who get great grades at school usually can't get anything serious done on their own.
I know this is highly anecdotical in nature, but perhaps there's some useful information to it :-).
I'm part of the "global workforce"; I don't live in the US, but I have done some contract work with US employers as an independent consultant. I was born and currently live in Europe.
Funny thing is, while I absolutely loved learning and still do -- to the extent that an important factor in my choice of avoiding large corporations (after getting burned twice) was that a job there would leave me too little time for history, philosophy and programming of my own -- I didn't go to school that much. I was one of the top students in the class (I even unintentionally ended up as a valedictorian, so besides my BSc in Instrumentation Engineering they also handed me a badge of nerd shame or something), but I was regularly getting into trouble for skipping classes, faking illnesses and, every once in a while, challenging the professors' authority.
Fortunately, I actually had my parents behind me on this, and both of them are teachers (high school and university level, respectively). I'd literally tell my dad I was too hung over to go to school this morning, he'd shrug and tell me that as long as I think it's best to stay at home, I can stay at home.
And it was ok. I'm not starving -- I'm actually quite well off -- I have a job that I love, I do what I like and what I am best at. Despite my trouble with authority, my academic credentials are fairly good (to the extent that I am a published author -- my work ended up in IEEE journals -- but that was before I got my BSc, and I didn't push for an MSc after that).
Quite frankly, I'm horrified at the amount of work we put children to. I managed to dodge it because the system in my home country is shaggy enough that, as long as you're blunt and cunning enough, you can get away with anything. The sheer thought of actually having gone to school all that time is simply unrealistic, I'd have broken down.
I think this is a typical case of "when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail". No one bothers to think what the problem is, and appears to put it strictly in terms of MOAR SCHOOL MY LITTLE MINIONS! This is woefully unproductive. I swear, if I'll ever have kids of my own, I'll do just like my dad did with me -- encourage them to think for themselves and learn what's interesting for them, treating school as the necessary diploma-producing evil it seems to have ended up in our days.