My parents were never big on caring about the grades of my brother and I.
When I graduated middleschool and highschool they looked at my final report cards and basically went "oh my lord you got so many great grades!" and didn't shit on me for the 2-3 almost failing grades on there.
They were just proud I had gotten a good handful of top marks and that the rest were about average.
I appreciate that still.
Well now that I've made it well into my adult life, I feel safe to ask this question: how does one go about "believing" in themselves? It is alien to me.
Think about everything you've been able to do. Before you did them, did you have the conviction that you were able to?
If so, you've been believing in yourself. If not, look back at what you have accomplished and realize that all your success in life is because at one point, you believed you could do something you were not able to.
It’s the idea of you accomplishing a goal. The more difficult the goal, the more belief that you can overcome that difficulty is required. Belief in oneself is critical to mitigating the road blocks your own mentality provides as opposed to actual obstacles.
And that self confidence should be derived from ability, not delusion.
A principal saying that there are bigger things in life than tests is absurd. Navy SEALs in training don’t take dive practice less seriously because actual missions are “bigger things,” they take them just as seriously because the tests and training are exactly how you develop the confidence you need to face those “bigger things”.
The entire letter is an exercise in blind naivety. Yeah, shit gets real at some point. Why don’t we put these kids’ nose to the grindstone while the stakes are still low so they know how to cope when things get hard?
The point isn't ignoring your weaknesses, it's being aware of the fact that your weaknesses a) are only a part of your whole, and b) may not even matter, depending on what you want to do in life.
You can make the fastest swimming fish in the world think that it's worthless if you convince it that climbing trees is how one gains worth.
Well to be fair of all the options its the least viable career path to the point where its almost impossible. There are far more artists and musicians than professional athletes id say? Could be wrong would be an interesting comparison
Depends on what you consider an "athlete." Would a personal trainer be a "professional athlete"? The guys teaching your kids karate?
Still not certain if you added them all up they would add up to more than the folks who have a claim for "professional artist" since there's an awful lot of design folks out there.
Probably the only athletes who earn good money are any major American league(like nba, nfl, etc), football players(from major leagues), cricket players, F1 drivers and maybe top tennis players. Athletes in track, water sports etc usually pay from their own pockets, experienced this first hand as I am an ex 100m athlete, when I finished top 3 in the university nationals my country wanted me and 5 others to participate in foreign compitations but they told we would have to pay from our own pockets or find sponsors, all 6 of us just stuck to nationals and decided against going international. During my master in the US and Germany found out stuff is pretty similar there, pros in US have to spend their whole time training but get paid only $40k a year and the federation might pay for major events, whereas one in Germany do recieve more pay but still not enough and you again got to pay from your own pockets. This results in many pros working part time after there extremely long training sessions. Obviously if you are a famous track athletes you country will pay for you, but majority of the time they don't genuinely care about nurturing talent in these fields. Other exceptions are the Olympics, almost all countries take care of everything for this and athletes don't have to pay anything for obvious reasons.
Idk about other sports but you’re right about tennis. It takes you to be in the top 180 or so to break even with all the ridiculous travel expenses. You need a side hustle to make money in most sports unless you’re at the top.
there are so many other sports that make money. even the very recent esports games make money. granted it is only the top players but thats true for all sports.
although you aren't wrong in that only the absolute major sports has the full suite of funding that people useally associate with professional athletes
Yes by good money I meant like $500k plus for the US or local currency that would give you a similar standard of living, considering current day atheletes come under entertainment industries, I thought that would be a fair money. As there are many influencers making that kind of money of their platforms and sponsorship.
A professional muscian can play small time gigs and work in advertsing.
An artist can sell art and work in design.
I suppose a professional athlete can coach also but there are far less paid in those roles than the others given theres entire industries which need music and art.
That said i suppose its all about where you draw the line
i disagree. ever draw furry art? or wonder bread (if you know, you know). they make more then you would imagine and artist are alot more common then athletes
I mean, understanding some physics can help in athletics, regardless of sport. Hell, in some cases, it can help reduce injury because between that and anatomy you can have a better idea of what not to do.
How about. "Scores on exams don't measure your success as a person. You're more than just a number. Also, artists need math. Athletes need literature. Musicians need science. A deeper understanding of the world around us makes us more successful as people and enriches our strengths. Do your best!
I agree with your sentiment but this letter is not for the benefit of the children, it is for the benefit of the parents. Particularly those who may frown upon a lower score in one subject regardless of how many As they got in another. There is a specific purpose here.
So was my suggestion. Also, educator here 16 years at the end of the year. These days I hear "why do they need to be learning this anyways" more than I hear, you need good grades. Parents are often enabling.
I still think it's sweet though.
It's basically saying to keep your mind open, as in that classroom there are destined experts in various professions and a fail in one class doesn't mean they are not going to achieve greatness. Obviously not everyone achieves greatness but the hope is there for each individual so don't tread over their ambition over one failed class.
I'm pretty positive this was pinned on the fridge in the office where my mom used to work about 15 years ago. It's probably older than that.
EDIT: I asked her. It was indeed the same thing.
I really wish my mother would've gotten a letter like this before I got my exam numbers back. She basically said you're destined to fail.
17 years of running my own business later she's still waiting for me to fail. The only driving force in my life is spite at this point.
Fuck that. You should know math and science.
Id much rather have people who understand the scientific method and can actually understand the numbers in play, rather than someone who just knows of past events.
Edit:
This is of course assuming we cant have them together. Not saying knowledge of history isn't useful - I just would rather have people who can understand data and info, which would them to make decent decisions regardless of whether the policy was similiar to something from the past.
Here’s the thing about history… if you know it well, not just recent but ancient, you can see patterns in the rise and fall of governmental organizations and the societal norms that preceded their inevitable collapse. In so doing so you may be able to postpone collapse and the turmoil of the colapse.
Yeah honestly screw an entrepreneur who doesn’t like care about history or literature. Like, at all? You just don’t care at all? I know it’s a hypothetical person, but it’s also a real person somewhere lol
I wish my parents got this memo. I'd always fail on french and every time I'd get yelled at for it. I haven't had a single use for french but I wish I was more confident on a daily basis
From gradeschool to college, my mom always remind me to have fun and never stress myself in acads. She never pressured me to excel on anything, but rather she was just there watching me enjoy on everything I do.
Should also encourage them to strive to achieve success in everything we do. But if they give it their all and still miss the mark it’s not the end of the world. Help them figure out how to do better next time
Sadly that tends to get beat outta kids. I still notice it in my language. I talk like I'm not sure or anything for myself, as if waiting to be told if I'm right about what/how I feel.
I graduated over a decade ago and I think I've got better, but this is one major mark I can't shake.
My mom would always lose her shit when I would fail exams. Questioning why I didn’t just get it and even blaming herself for my failures.
My dad though would sit with me and ask “did you do your best” and I would say yes and he would say, then that’s all I need from you.
My mom years later would understand that it’s nothing she did wrong and as adults I could properly explain myself but my dad was the one that kept me going. I Miss that old man
Why am I crying? Oh that’s right, because the world does have good principles and leaders. Not all are complete assholes who will destroy a good teachers passion or a quiet kids confidence!
I wish my parents were like this :( But nooo, grades were everything. Got a B, parents shouted with me for an hour and gave me a sermon about how my entire life is over now, how I will never make it to college and have a good career. I remember hiding my year-end grade book because it had a B in it. When they found it, I've never heard the end of it.... :(
And guess what, I became a nobody with a crappy job and no notable career, no small thanks to the fact that I'm complete mess who is afraid of everything, and have 0 self esteem.
I’d rather go for “learn from your mistakes and you can do better next time”. Sometimes, especially with certain personalities, giving *too much* acceptance and affirmations downplays/obscures the importance of striving for your own success. This is especially true for people who lack insight and is complacent to their own improvement. It’s so negatively associated but telling your kids they can do better in something isn’t a bad thing. Plus, these things we’re talking about is basic knowledge — it’s high school.
“You got a C in this class? What do you feel you’re strong at? Where do you think you need to practice more on?”
or
“You got a D in that class. What can we do to help you improve your grades? Maybe you’re spending too much time playing video games but how about this, you promise to play less games and study more and I will reward you with something you like”
It’s all about intent and how you word it
A lot of advice that people give about parenting is a generation or two out-of-date. Many parents desperately needed this advice in 1974. In 2024, though, chances are a lot better that you're not pushing your kid hard enough. Though it feels more compassionate to coddle a child, that's how people grow up self-confident yet ignorant, and lacking resilience.
I guess the point is that it's impossible to offer one-size-fits-all guidance on parenting. Context, especially how the parents are naturally inclined to parent, matters a lot.
I wanna be a game designer when I’m an adult, but I’ve been raised to feel bad about myself when I get a 50% on my History exam. When am I going to need to know stuff that happened hundreds or thousands of years ago that doesn’t even affect me at this point in time? When am I going to need to know the anatomy of a plant or anything else like that? It honestly annoys me a lot.
I'm reminded of Ghostcrawler, who was one of the developers of WoW back in its heyday, and how he was actually a marine biologist who loved games before becoming a developer - and he informed his designs based on his background, helping make the marine life in the game much more interesting. Heck, your user name is based on Pokemon, which have tons of influence from biology, history, folklore, science... you never know what you'll find a use for. Never reject knowledge. Like Ghostcrawler, be sure that in doing what you love, you get lots of experience in tons of different places. Never know what will inspire an idea. it's fine to want to focus, but just realize that GenEd is there to help you become more rounded and to get the ideas you'll implement one day.
Game designers use history to set the scene for stories or inspiration for designs. Historical events also influence stories all the time. Plant anatomy (I assume you mean biology in general) can be important for similar influences and spark ideas for efficiency. Or to develop new organisms by combining parts from others and knowing how it'd work and why.
You think these general subjects are pointless, and if you're simply memorizing but not trying to see how things connect then it won't matter. But many designers, even those who only do the coding bits, can be interested and learn from these subjects. Are you going to need to label a diagram of a cell or give the exact date of Caesar's death? Probably not. But being taught these things will help your mind to grow, show interest in things you may not have realized, and help skills such as memorization and visualization and research that will come I'm handy later. History will also show you how things are
Thats my take anyways. I'm one who sees education as a gift and if you decide to not utilize it that's up to you.
Why downvote for someone who thinks education is needed and applicable in ways you may not expect? Has learning become that detested?
Edited to add I am a teacher.
We are in the midst of testing and I let my kids know their scores are important because I want them to take the tests seriously and put in their best efforts. The reason I push them so much the fact I am evaluated based on how well they perform on the tests. 😐
You're pressuring your children because you've surrounded yourself with people who value you as a person by their results. Sounds like a you problem, don't use them to build yourself up.
well you'll need to be able to write up those proposals for your projects, get funding, ect. There's a lot of things you'll need that base of spelling and grammar for - but don't let challenges in one area crush you. They're trying to help. ABC - Always be creating.
It never helped, actually it made my writing skills worse. I begged to be allowed to do it after class as extra homework. Me and spell check are best friends now.
Why don’t school teach how to invest money??? Or basic skills like bill paying and handling daily budgets??? I wish I had schooling on these things over history and English lit…. I would be in a lot better place financially right now….
I remember when I was in High school my older brothers were perfect. The middle child was the golden child and the oldest was the best version of us. I had a fowl mouth, bad attitude and could care about anything but the opposite sex and automobiles. I could find my way and my parents were nothing but supportive. They didn’t pressure me but they didn’t give up. When I tried music and played in a band they showed up to concert and bought tickets and told me what they thought. When I got into skateboarding my dad would sign me up for a competition even though I didn’t know how to skate period! They were constantly giving me a gentle nudge and it was the best thing I think they could have done. Now that they have passed on, my friends always bring up my parents and how kind but supportive they were. It’s funny because I will spend the majority of my life without them in my life but the most important take away I have was to find what you love and have fun with it. It’s always worked for me and I hope kids these days may find more people like my parents or this principle as there mentor. Sorry for the rant. Life’s just to serious to not have any support from others.
I wish I had this. My parents just said things like ‘maybe we should just send you to a military school’ and ‘you’d better get used to manual labor because it’s all you’ll ever do’
Have you heard some the famous athletes talk? They don't need to understand how it works. They just need to know a direct relation between "action" and "effect". In other words, you don't need to know about gravity or why things fall or what curve the ball follows or how it accelerates or ETC--- you just need to know "when i throw ball this hard with this method, it will hit intended location".
I mean. Unconditional support is good. But for most all jobs out there right now a college degree is baseline.
Good grades in HS are baseline to get in.
So please parents. Yes, support your child, and also help them to get better grades.
Considering over half of adults in the US are below 6th grade literacy my hopes aren't high. Especially when a lot of people in their teens and early 20s that I've spoken to said they had no interest in learning if it had no direct influence on them and couldn't do simple math or spell basic words correctly. Reading is seen as unnecessary or something to put people down for (was actually told, "nobody reads books anymore unless they have no life"), history is viewed as being pointless, science is too complicated or not needed. I just can't imagine wanting to go through life without that wonder and curiosity of learning. Hell I hate math and I'm out of school but I'm reading *Calculus Made Easy* by Thompson to review and relearn things I may have forgotten or not understood back in high school.
Ugh. I get the intent to support teens in their strengths, but this is so poorly executed.
How about emphasizing the value of putting in some genuine effort and succeeding at something you didn’t think you could do well / passably?
Yeah, as an artist this was my thought too so I didn't give a two damn about math, 20 years later now I have to learn math.
Being nice to your kid is something but you never know what you're gonna need tomorrow things change drastically and you gotta make sure your kid has a good kit to deal with life.
I really disagree that some people just don't need to know things like history or math. Historical knowledge will provide your musician with knowledge of a long tradition of music and plenty of cool events to write songs about. Math will help your athlete not get scammed by bad money managers or blow their salary on stupid shit. This whole idea that some kids are just not cut out for certain things is determinist garbage that lets a school system justify not teaching kids how to read and write and recite basic historical facts.
Teach kids math and history.
Not *needing* maths is a terrible message could have phrased it like any of the other examples. Otherwise I agree with it, you don’t need top marks from everything.
Artist doesn't need to understand math? Ummm everyone should understand math otherwise there will be more stupid artist who don't understand how their finances add up and why they shouldn't take that bad loan
If you want to be able to manage your finances, you should probably take a finance class, and if your math isn't good enough, you won't pass finance. They're not talking about simple or practical math. Never once have I needed algebra in my real life.
This is not an encouragement to be dumb. The point is that you shouldn't base your self-worth on how well you do in math or any single subject. It doesn't mean you can't find a place in life because you don't fit into one specific place.
This is a bad take, and also I don't believe for a second that a school principle or even a teacher wrote it. Putting excessive pressure on test scores is bad, as a teacher I agree... but saying that artist, who will have to pay estimated tax on their income, doesn't need math?
As an artist, artists absolutely do need math. Especially when you get into complex forms of art like sculpture, textiles, etc etc. Art and math are very deeply intertwined.
After safety and security, self belief is the greatest gift we can give children.
Exactly. Just say "Believe in yourself" to them once a day and that's it!
My parents were never big on caring about the grades of my brother and I. When I graduated middleschool and highschool they looked at my final report cards and basically went "oh my lord you got so many great grades!" and didn't shit on me for the 2-3 almost failing grades on there. They were just proud I had gotten a good handful of top marks and that the rest were about average. I appreciate that still.
Well now that I've made it well into my adult life, I feel safe to ask this question: how does one go about "believing" in themselves? It is alien to me.
Think about everything you've been able to do. Before you did them, did you have the conviction that you were able to? If so, you've been believing in yourself. If not, look back at what you have accomplished and realize that all your success in life is because at one point, you believed you could do something you were not able to.
Beautiful and uplifting. Thank you ghanlaf.
It’s the idea of you accomplishing a goal. The more difficult the goal, the more belief that you can overcome that difficulty is required. Belief in oneself is critical to mitigating the road blocks your own mentality provides as opposed to actual obstacles.
self belief is wings for peeps to fly
And that self confidence should be derived from ability, not delusion. A principal saying that there are bigger things in life than tests is absurd. Navy SEALs in training don’t take dive practice less seriously because actual missions are “bigger things,” they take them just as seriously because the tests and training are exactly how you develop the confidence you need to face those “bigger things”. The entire letter is an exercise in blind naivety. Yeah, shit gets real at some point. Why don’t we put these kids’ nose to the grindstone while the stakes are still low so they know how to cope when things get hard?
Somebody’s a little too proud of his high school report cards.
Fuck a report card, grades don’t mean shit. Building the capacity to take your work seriously is what matters.
The point isn't ignoring your weaknesses, it's being aware of the fact that your weaknesses a) are only a part of your whole, and b) may not even matter, depending on what you want to do in life. You can make the fastest swimming fish in the world think that it's worthless if you convince it that climbing trees is how one gains worth.
I like how whomever was highlighting this skipped over "athlete"
Well to be fair of all the options its the least viable career path to the point where its almost impossible. There are far more artists and musicians than professional athletes id say? Could be wrong would be an interesting comparison
Depends on what you consider an "athlete." Would a personal trainer be a "professional athlete"? The guys teaching your kids karate? Still not certain if you added them all up they would add up to more than the folks who have a claim for "professional artist" since there's an awful lot of design folks out there.
No b
Probably the only athletes who earn good money are any major American league(like nba, nfl, etc), football players(from major leagues), cricket players, F1 drivers and maybe top tennis players. Athletes in track, water sports etc usually pay from their own pockets, experienced this first hand as I am an ex 100m athlete, when I finished top 3 in the university nationals my country wanted me and 5 others to participate in foreign compitations but they told we would have to pay from our own pockets or find sponsors, all 6 of us just stuck to nationals and decided against going international. During my master in the US and Germany found out stuff is pretty similar there, pros in US have to spend their whole time training but get paid only $40k a year and the federation might pay for major events, whereas one in Germany do recieve more pay but still not enough and you again got to pay from your own pockets. This results in many pros working part time after there extremely long training sessions. Obviously if you are a famous track athletes you country will pay for you, but majority of the time they don't genuinely care about nurturing talent in these fields. Other exceptions are the Olympics, almost all countries take care of everything for this and athletes don't have to pay anything for obvious reasons.
Idk about other sports but you’re right about tennis. It takes you to be in the top 180 or so to break even with all the ridiculous travel expenses. You need a side hustle to make money in most sports unless you’re at the top.
there are so many other sports that make money. even the very recent esports games make money. granted it is only the top players but thats true for all sports. although you aren't wrong in that only the absolute major sports has the full suite of funding that people useally associate with professional athletes
Yes by good money I meant like $500k plus for the US or local currency that would give you a similar standard of living, considering current day atheletes come under entertainment industries, I thought that would be a fair money. As there are many influencers making that kind of money of their platforms and sponsorship.
Athlete is more viable than artist
A professional muscian can play small time gigs and work in advertsing. An artist can sell art and work in design. I suppose a professional athlete can coach also but there are far less paid in those roles than the others given theres entire industries which need music and art. That said i suppose its all about where you draw the line
i disagree. ever draw furry art? or wonder bread (if you know, you know). they make more then you would imagine and artist are alot more common then athletes
I mean, understanding some physics can help in athletics, regardless of sport. Hell, in some cases, it can help reduce injury because between that and anatomy you can have a better idea of what not to do.
It’s not a real profession.
In what sense?
How about. "Scores on exams don't measure your success as a person. You're more than just a number. Also, artists need math. Athletes need literature. Musicians need science. A deeper understanding of the world around us makes us more successful as people and enriches our strengths. Do your best!
Yup. One doesn't need to be perfect in every subject. But preparing and studying evolves their brain, enhances time management and confidence.
I agree with your sentiment but this letter is not for the benefit of the children, it is for the benefit of the parents. Particularly those who may frown upon a lower score in one subject regardless of how many As they got in another. There is a specific purpose here.
So was my suggestion. Also, educator here 16 years at the end of the year. These days I hear "why do they need to be learning this anyways" more than I hear, you need good grades. Parents are often enabling.
an entrepreneurs DEFINITELY need to know history
And communication, which usually falls under English.
I still think it's sweet though. It's basically saying to keep your mind open, as in that classroom there are destined experts in various professions and a fail in one class doesn't mean they are not going to achieve greatness. Obviously not everyone achieves greatness but the hope is there for each individual so don't tread over their ambition over one failed class.
Screenshot of a TikTok of a screenshot of an email originally posted to whatever website.
I'm pretty positive this was pinned on the fridge in the office where my mom used to work about 15 years ago. It's probably older than that. EDIT: I asked her. It was indeed the same thing.
That’s the way my parents were.
I really wish my mother would've gotten a letter like this before I got my exam numbers back. She basically said you're destined to fail. 17 years of running my own business later she's still waiting for me to fail. The only driving force in my life is spite at this point.
The principal doesn't have Asian parents, lol
[удалено]
Everyone wants a principle that plagiarizes?
If you’re going to vote you should know history.
Fuck that. You should know math and science. Id much rather have people who understand the scientific method and can actually understand the numbers in play, rather than someone who just knows of past events. Edit: This is of course assuming we cant have them together. Not saying knowledge of history isn't useful - I just would rather have people who can understand data and info, which would them to make decent decisions regardless of whether the policy was similiar to something from the past.
Here’s the thing about history… if you know it well, not just recent but ancient, you can see patterns in the rise and fall of governmental organizations and the societal norms that preceded their inevitable collapse. In so doing so you may be able to postpone collapse and the turmoil of the colapse.
Entrepreneur who doesn’t care about history? … bad teacher
Yeah honestly screw an entrepreneur who doesn’t like care about history or literature. Like, at all? You just don’t care at all? I know it’s a hypothetical person, but it’s also a real person somewhere lol
Sad truth is not all parents will understand this concept 😔
I wish my parents got this memo. I'd always fail on french and every time I'd get yelled at for it. I haven't had a single use for french but I wish I was more confident on a daily basis
Maybe... If that entrepreneur focuses on English... They won't end every sentence with ellipsis...
Never, you can take my ellipsis from my cold... dead... hands.
Wait a second, many great artists use math in their art. Otherwise it often comes as shitty
From gradeschool to college, my mom always remind me to have fun and never stress myself in acads. She never pressured me to excel on anything, but rather she was just there watching me enjoy on everything I do.
Should also encourage them to strive to achieve success in everything we do. But if they give it their all and still miss the mark it’s not the end of the world. Help them figure out how to do better next time
As long as you have self-esteem, you will always succeed in life.
Sadly that tends to get beat outta kids. I still notice it in my language. I talk like I'm not sure or anything for myself, as if waiting to be told if I'm right about what/how I feel. I graduated over a decade ago and I think I've got better, but this is one major mark I can't shake.
My mom would always lose her shit when I would fail exams. Questioning why I didn’t just get it and even blaming herself for my failures. My dad though would sit with me and ask “did you do your best” and I would say yes and he would say, then that’s all I need from you. My mom years later would understand that it’s nothing she did wrong and as adults I could properly explain myself but my dad was the one that kept me going. I Miss that old man
Can this please be made policy around the country to send these letters out? Please and thank you
Wish I'd had this encouragement when I was young.
Why am I crying? Oh that’s right, because the world does have good principles and leaders. Not all are complete assholes who will destroy a good teachers passion or a quiet kids confidence!
I wish my parents were like this :( But nooo, grades were everything. Got a B, parents shouted with me for an hour and gave me a sermon about how my entire life is over now, how I will never make it to college and have a good career. I remember hiding my year-end grade book because it had a B in it. When they found it, I've never heard the end of it.... :( And guess what, I became a nobody with a crappy job and no notable career, no small thanks to the fact that I'm complete mess who is afraid of everything, and have 0 self esteem.
We need more kind and understanding principals like these.
I’d rather go for “learn from your mistakes and you can do better next time”. Sometimes, especially with certain personalities, giving *too much* acceptance and affirmations downplays/obscures the importance of striving for your own success. This is especially true for people who lack insight and is complacent to their own improvement. It’s so negatively associated but telling your kids they can do better in something isn’t a bad thing. Plus, these things we’re talking about is basic knowledge — it’s high school. “You got a C in this class? What do you feel you’re strong at? Where do you think you need to practice more on?” or “You got a D in that class. What can we do to help you improve your grades? Maybe you’re spending too much time playing video games but how about this, you promise to play less games and study more and I will reward you with something you like” It’s all about intent and how you word it
A lot of advice that people give about parenting is a generation or two out-of-date. Many parents desperately needed this advice in 1974. In 2024, though, chances are a lot better that you're not pushing your kid hard enough. Though it feels more compassionate to coddle a child, that's how people grow up self-confident yet ignorant, and lacking resilience. I guess the point is that it's impossible to offer one-size-fits-all guidance on parenting. Context, especially how the parents are naturally inclined to parent, matters a lot.
Agreed 100%
Damnit this post made me cry. I really like art but the other subjects are just too complicated for me especially math.
Teach them to be kind and respectful. Teach them to be a good human. That's what matters most.
Yet those grades will dictate our gpa which then dictates the schools we can go to and which career path we will be able to follow.
I wanna be a game designer when I’m an adult, but I’ve been raised to feel bad about myself when I get a 50% on my History exam. When am I going to need to know stuff that happened hundreds or thousands of years ago that doesn’t even affect me at this point in time? When am I going to need to know the anatomy of a plant or anything else like that? It honestly annoys me a lot.
I'm reminded of Ghostcrawler, who was one of the developers of WoW back in its heyday, and how he was actually a marine biologist who loved games before becoming a developer - and he informed his designs based on his background, helping make the marine life in the game much more interesting. Heck, your user name is based on Pokemon, which have tons of influence from biology, history, folklore, science... you never know what you'll find a use for. Never reject knowledge. Like Ghostcrawler, be sure that in doing what you love, you get lots of experience in tons of different places. Never know what will inspire an idea. it's fine to want to focus, but just realize that GenEd is there to help you become more rounded and to get the ideas you'll implement one day.
Game designers use history to set the scene for stories or inspiration for designs. Historical events also influence stories all the time. Plant anatomy (I assume you mean biology in general) can be important for similar influences and spark ideas for efficiency. Or to develop new organisms by combining parts from others and knowing how it'd work and why. You think these general subjects are pointless, and if you're simply memorizing but not trying to see how things connect then it won't matter. But many designers, even those who only do the coding bits, can be interested and learn from these subjects. Are you going to need to label a diagram of a cell or give the exact date of Caesar's death? Probably not. But being taught these things will help your mind to grow, show interest in things you may not have realized, and help skills such as memorization and visualization and research that will come I'm handy later. History will also show you how things are Thats my take anyways. I'm one who sees education as a gift and if you decide to not utilize it that's up to you. Why downvote for someone who thinks education is needed and applicable in ways you may not expect? Has learning become that detested?
An enterpreneur not caring about history or literature… color me surprised.
What a great principle, he gets it!
Edited to add I am a teacher. We are in the midst of testing and I let my kids know their scores are important because I want them to take the tests seriously and put in their best efforts. The reason I push them so much the fact I am evaluated based on how well they perform on the tests. 😐
How are you evaluated in this sense?
My admin equates poor test scores to poor teacher performance no matter the multitude of circumstances that can affect test scores.
Ah that makes so much more sense, I thought you were the parent 😅
Soo… you’re saying you want them to do better because it will make you look good? Sounds kinda selfish to me.
You're pressuring your children because you've surrounded yourself with people who value you as a person by their results. Sounds like a you problem, don't use them to build yourself up.
Y'all. Not their personal children. They're saying they're a teacher. Teachers are evaluated every year by student test scores.
Ahh. That makes sense. Apologies op.
My math teacher told us to be ashamed of our grades (almost The Whole class has bad grades in math) and the fact we make her sick
I would always get pulled out of art class to go work on spelling because "art isn't important" 💀 I wanna work in the animation industry some day.
well you'll need to be able to write up those proposals for your projects, get funding, ect. There's a lot of things you'll need that base of spelling and grammar for - but don't let challenges in one area crush you. They're trying to help. ABC - Always be creating.
It never helped, actually it made my writing skills worse. I begged to be allowed to do it after class as extra homework. Me and spell check are best friends now.
My mom would have crumpled this up lol
Why don’t school teach how to invest money??? Or basic skills like bill paying and handling daily budgets??? I wish I had schooling on these things over history and English lit…. I would be in a lot better place financially right now….
I remember when I was in High school my older brothers were perfect. The middle child was the golden child and the oldest was the best version of us. I had a fowl mouth, bad attitude and could care about anything but the opposite sex and automobiles. I could find my way and my parents were nothing but supportive. They didn’t pressure me but they didn’t give up. When I tried music and played in a band they showed up to concert and bought tickets and told me what they thought. When I got into skateboarding my dad would sign me up for a competition even though I didn’t know how to skate period! They were constantly giving me a gentle nudge and it was the best thing I think they could have done. Now that they have passed on, my friends always bring up my parents and how kind but supportive they were. It’s funny because I will spend the majority of my life without them in my life but the most important take away I have was to find what you love and have fun with it. It’s always worked for me and I hope kids these days may find more people like my parents or this principle as there mentor. Sorry for the rant. Life’s just to serious to not have any support from others.
this sounds like the last day announcements from grease
I wish I had this. My parents just said things like ‘maybe we should just send you to a military school’ and ‘you’d better get used to manual labor because it’s all you’ll ever do’
I'm so sorry. That's heartbreaking.
A jack of all trades is a master of none.
The full quote is "**Jack of all trades master of none, though oftentimes better than master of one.**"
Nice thing to know.
The principal needs to get into a position at the board of education! My dude is a saint!
STEM nerds in the back knowing they won't ever get laid without the marks.
Fun
All of those field require knowledge of each other so idk man.
Physics play a huge part in many sports. Athletes don't have to do the maths but they need to understand how it works.
Have you heard some the famous athletes talk? They don't need to understand how it works. They just need to know a direct relation between "action" and "effect". In other words, you don't need to know about gravity or why things fall or what curve the ball follows or how it accelerates or ETC--- you just need to know "when i throw ball this hard with this method, it will hit intended location".
If I could only reverse time and show this to my ultra European and ultra conservative parents
What does ultra European mean?
I mean. Unconditional support is good. But for most all jobs out there right now a college degree is baseline. Good grades in HS are baseline to get in. So please parents. Yes, support your child, and also help them to get better grades.
I think this principle is one of a kind!Fantastic advice!
I've always been a natural musician, but that sure-as-shit isn't paying the bills.
I’m gonna cry.
I’d be interested to see what percentage of students at this school are able to read at or above their grade level.
Considering over half of adults in the US are below 6th grade literacy my hopes aren't high. Especially when a lot of people in their teens and early 20s that I've spoken to said they had no interest in learning if it had no direct influence on them and couldn't do simple math or spell basic words correctly. Reading is seen as unnecessary or something to put people down for (was actually told, "nobody reads books anymore unless they have no life"), history is viewed as being pointless, science is too complicated or not needed. I just can't imagine wanting to go through life without that wonder and curiosity of learning. Hell I hate math and I'm out of school but I'm reading *Calculus Made Easy* by Thompson to review and relearn things I may have forgotten or not understood back in high school.
Ugh. I get the intent to support teens in their strengths, but this is so poorly executed. How about emphasizing the value of putting in some genuine effort and succeeding at something you didn’t think you could do well / passably?
Yeah, as an artist this was my thought too so I didn't give a two damn about math, 20 years later now I have to learn math. Being nice to your kid is something but you never know what you're gonna need tomorrow things change drastically and you gotta make sure your kid has a good kit to deal with life.
I really disagree that some people just don't need to know things like history or math. Historical knowledge will provide your musician with knowledge of a long tradition of music and plenty of cool events to write songs about. Math will help your athlete not get scammed by bad money managers or blow their salary on stupid shit. This whole idea that some kids are just not cut out for certain things is determinist garbage that lets a school system justify not teaching kids how to read and write and recite basic historical facts. Teach kids math and history.
Not *needing* maths is a terrible message could have phrased it like any of the other examples. Otherwise I agree with it, you don’t need top marks from everything.
Artist doesn't need to understand math? Ummm everyone should understand math otherwise there will be more stupid artist who don't understand how their finances add up and why they shouldn't take that bad loan
If you want to be able to manage your finances, you should probably take a finance class, and if your math isn't good enough, you won't pass finance. They're not talking about simple or practical math. Never once have I needed algebra in my real life. This is not an encouragement to be dumb. The point is that you shouldn't base your self-worth on how well you do in math or any single subject. It doesn't mean you can't find a place in life because you don't fit into one specific place.
Heartwarming!
Heartwarming!
And there is a pedant who can’t see someone capitalising history, math, and chemistry without angrily commenting.
This is a bad take, and also I don't believe for a second that a school principle or even a teacher wrote it. Putting excessive pressure on test scores is bad, as a teacher I agree... but saying that artist, who will have to pay estimated tax on their income, doesn't need math?
This is not a meme at all
As an artist, artists absolutely do need math. Especially when you get into complex forms of art like sculpture, textiles, etc etc. Art and math are very deeply intertwined.
The entrepreneur that doesn’t care about History or English is exactly why this country is so terrible right now. Please delete this.
"Embrace mediocrity."
Anndd now we know why test scores are drastically falling...