Save all your ideas. Don’t assume that you will always remember all the best ones. I carry a notebook with me and jot down every idea I get, putting a star next to the ones I really want to pursue.
This is a good tip even if you aren't learning on your own.
We’re part of a self-schooling movement that includes people of all ages who have taken their education into their own hands.
A combination between this method and college would probably be best for most people
So I stayed in high school and then headed off to Oberlin College, but my desire to pursue other avenues of education persisted.
We tend to forget as a society about the alternatives to college- the first question seniors always get asked is "So how many of you are going to college?"
I will use this article to argue that college isn't for everyone.
Learning isn't exclusive to college. Instead, it can happen through experiences in the real world. There's no point in learning from books if that knowledge can't be applied.
Not everyone can learn in college. Ever yone is different and sometimes it just doesn't work, even though society expects it too. People can succeed and grow without excelling in college.
I will use this article that not everyone benefits from college.
I try to find books familiar to everyone.
This is like the hardest thing in the world.
Telling someone that college is not for him seems harsh and classist and British
I think ever since our beginning we've been harshly contrasting with Britain. We don't want to be like them, even though it might be a good thing in this case.
But although I may be biased, being an English instructor and all, I can’t shake the sense that reading literature is informative and broadening and ultimately good for you
I have this bias too because I've grown up loving reading.
I’m working a second job; they’re trying desperately to get to a place where they don’t have to.
We need to fix our classes and our economy so we can improve this. People shouldn't be forced to have second jobs.
Ms. L. had done everything that American culture asked of her. She had gone back to school to better herself, and she expected to be rewarded for it, not slapped down.
American culture expects too much out of people and babies them up until they actually do the thing, in which case it's a shock of reality.
She simply was not qualified for college.
We put so much pressure on going to college but not everyone is cut out for it.
I will use this article to argue that not everyone needs to attend college.
Schools teach us to be the best test takers. They don't teach us how to actually learn. That comes from your own desire to actually grow as a person.
I no longer cared about self-advancement. I wanted to lose myself. I wanted to read. I wanted to find out what others thought.
This is the self-betterment the boss mentioned earlier in the article. He's forgotten about the type of self-betterment where you only make yourself appear good and he has instead started bettering himself for himself.
If my schooling had taught me anything, it was how to mold myself—my words, my range of references, my body language—into whatever shape the day required
I find that I've picked up this skill as well. It's sort of like code-switching.
This time the competition was all too personal—about a dozen of us remained.
I've gone to an interview for Brown University and for a scholarship at SIU Carbondale- seeing the competition up close is really unsettling.
I'd learned by then that the Masters of Advancement use a rough quota system in their work, reserving a certain number of wild-card slots for overreaching oddballs.
Quota systems can be such a hit or miss. On the one hand, it ensures a diverse group of people get a chance but it also might prevent someone better suited from getting a chance.
"Perpetual self-betterment," my boss said. "That's man's purpose on earth, you know."
This is true. However, people try to fake it so it's become convoluted and corrupted.
I hadn't had a place, but here I did: several levels down from heiresses who charged their roommates to drink free champagne
Again, the theme of "worst of the best" is repeated here.
red-eyed former valedictorians
What do you do when you're among people who are all on the same level as you? No longer are you the best of the best- you're the worst of the best. It's a weird shock.
used to being the exception
We build up this culture of "I am special" that can only lead to failures in the long run.
our talent for multiple-choice tests has landed us without even the sketchiest survival instructions
We need to rework our education system- our ability to take multiple choice tests shouldn't mean we're smart.
Percentile is destiny in America
This is an unfortunate truth. In society's eyes, we are only numbers.
I've known this since my first day of kindergarten
This is something I relate to- I've known this since I started honors classes in fifth grade and made my current friends, some who have dropped out of honors classes or have ended up in lower honors classes as high school has gotten harder. It especially became prominent with the ACT.
It'shardtodescribe-c-theatmosphereisthesameatalotofturalMidwestevents.
It doesn't just happen with the atmosphere at events either- there's a ton of actions or things that people do that are agressively white. You see it and you know it's a white person thing. It's a culture, almost.
caveatemptor)
Let the buyer beware
Thesoundisbothhumanandinhumanenough
This is an interesting description because a human scream would make a normal person feel a pang of empathy while an inhuman scream would make a human's blood chill to the bone. By describing it as both, it creates a completely different reaction.
NativeCompanion
What is the significance of not giving his companion a name? Maybe it's to continue vibe that the author is not connected to this piece. Or maybe it makes the story generic.
Animalscanbebought,emotionally.
This seems to be the beginning of a comparison- maybe that humans cannot be bought emotionally?