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My god, when you are older, you will look back and wish that you pursued the "shallow" things in high school. Some of those experiences are not going to be ava

My god, when you are older, you will look back and wish that you pursued the "shallow" things in high school. Some of those experiences are not going to be available at any other time in your life. Being an intellectual is overrated; don't be so quick to judge your peers, many of them are wise in ways that you cannot see.

oleganza 13y ago
You seem to extrapolate something from his words and then make a judgement. Can you give an example of one "shallow" thing that shouldn't be replaced by "being intellectual" and makes peers "wise in ways"?
- foobarbazqux 13y ago
  I just mean whatever he happens to find shallow. I can't read his mind, I can only speculate. It might be joining the football team. It might be doing donuts in the parking lot. It might be getting drunk at a party and having his first sexual experience. It might be shopping for cool clothing. It might be riding a skateboard. It might be skipping class, getting high, and failing the 10-point math quiz after recess. It might be joining student council. There are hundreds of things to do as a teenager that really have not much at all to do with intellectual activity, but that nevertheless require subtlety and nuance.
  - dag11 13y ago
    Whoa there. You're projecting your own regrets onto him.
    - foobarbazqux 13y ago
      Yes, I'm projecting my regrets; it's a useful mechanism for making predictions. I was like that, and I certainly have regrets about high school experiences that I missed out on because I was too busy being intelligent. But mostly, high school got a lot better once I realized that intellectual superiority was overrated and I made an effort to fit in socially. The things I value most from that time are the "shallow" experiences, that I also looked down upon for a number of years.
strlen 13y ago
As someone approaching 30, but with very clear memory of their mdi-to-late teens, I will disagree. I did not pursue any of the "shallow" things in high school and I do not at all regret that. I had only a few high school friends, I neither attended prom nor anther school-related party, never joined a sport-team[1]. Fast forward 11-15 years I have great friends (only a handful of whom were my classmates), am engaged to a wonderful woman, and have no dearth of hobbies. What do I think was most important? Learning, pursuing things that were interesting to me and cultivating a passion for them (note how so many people are in a quixotic search for pre-existing passions, i.e., in a quarter-life crisis?), interacting with older individuals (they took me seriously, did not make fun of the way I dressed, did not mock my accent or my lastname, did not beat and otherwise bully me, etc...), taking AP classes as well as classes at near-by colleges (the last two activities opened my eyes to new subjects, taught me to learn, and convinced me to pursue a higher education), etc... I regret not paying enough attention to academic subjects that I _thought_ did not interest me (in college, it turned out that they interested me a great deal), assuming that I had no chance of getting into certain colleges or paying for them, not cultivating an interest in topics like philosophy or history early enough (sticking to just computing, etc...), not participating in "nerdy" clubs (like robotics, programming competitions, etc...) Yet on the "social" front I've zero regrets: it is much easier to make friends when you've got more in common with people then a school district boundary; dating is much easier when you're independent (not living with your parents, not reliant on a group of friends for all of your social outings), well read, educated (whether formally or self-taught), and otherwise interesting. I don't feel I've missed anything by foregoing that part of life. [1] Caveat: if you do enjoy a sport, by all means join a sport team or play intramurally. Just don't play a sport for the sake of playing a sport or for a college resume (universities want well rounded student bodies, but they don't necessarily require that every student be "well rounded").
- foobarbazqux 13y ago
  That's awesome, really. If you feel like you've got no regrets about skipping the typical teenager stuff, then great. I genuinely hope that if kunai continues on the same path that his experience later in life is like yours.

oleganza 13y ago

You seem to extrapolate something from his words and then make a judgement. Can you give an example of one "shallow" thing that shouldn't be replaced by "being intellectual" and makes peers "wise in ways"?

foobarbazqux 13y ago
I just mean whatever he happens to find shallow. I can't read his mind, I can only speculate. It might be joining the football team. It might be doing donuts in the parking lot. It might be getting drunk at a party and having his first sexual experience. It might be shopping for cool clothing. It might be riding a skateboard. It might be skipping class, getting high, and failing the 10-point math quiz after recess. It might be joining student council. There are hundreds of things to do as a teenager that really have not much at all to do with intellectual activity, but that nevertheless require subtlety and nuance.
- dag11 13y ago
  Whoa there. You're projecting your own regrets onto him.
  - foobarbazqux 13y ago
    Yes, I'm projecting my regrets; it's a useful mechanism for making predictions. I was like that, and I certainly have regrets about high school experiences that I missed out on because I was too busy being intelligent. But mostly, high school got a lot better once I realized that intellectual superiority was overrated and I made an effort to fit in socially. The things I value most from that time are the "shallow" experiences, that I also looked down upon for a number of years.

strlen 13y ago

As someone approaching 30, but with very clear memory of their mdi-to-late teens, I will disagree. I did not pursue any of the "shallow" things in high school and I do not at all regret that. I had only a few high school friends, I neither attended prom nor anther school-related party, never joined a sport-team[1]. Fast forward 11-15 years I have great friends (only a handful of whom were my classmates), am engaged to a wonderful woman, and have no dearth of hobbies. What do I think was most important? Learning, pursuing things that were interesting to me and cultivating a passion for them (note how so many people are in a quixotic search for pre-existing passions, i.e., in a quarter-life crisis?), interacting with older individuals (they took me seriously, did not make fun of the way I dressed, did not mock my accent or my lastname, did not beat and otherwise bully me, etc...), taking AP classes as well as classes at near-by colleges (the last two activities opened my eyes to new subjects, taught me to learn, and convinced me to pursue a higher education), etc... I regret not paying enough attention to academic subjects that I _thought_ did not interest me (in college, it turned out that they interested me a great deal), assuming that I had no chance of getting into certain colleges or paying for them, not cultivating an interest in topics like philosophy or history early enough (sticking to just computing, etc...), not participating in "nerdy" clubs (like robotics, programming competitions, etc...) Yet on the "social" front I've zero regrets: it is much easier to make friends when you've got more in common with people then a school district boundary; dating is much easier when you're independent (not living with your parents, not reliant on a group of friends for all of your social outings), well read, educated (whether formally or self-taught), and otherwise interesting. I don't feel I've missed anything by foregoing that part of life. [1] Caveat: if you do enjoy a sport, by all means join a sport team or play intramurally. Just don't play a sport for the sake of playing a sport or for a college resume (universities want well rounded student bodies, but they don't necessarily require that every student be "well rounded").

foobarbazqux 13y ago
That's awesome, really. If you feel like you've got no regrets about skipping the typical teenager stuff, then great. I genuinely hope that if kunai continues on the same path that his experience later in life is like yours.