Growing Up..

  • Thread starter Thread starter Lee
  • 39 comments
  • 1,200 views
Don Vito
Not to get off the topic but, I could have sworn, that your profile said you were 19 or 20 a few weeks ago...
Click to expand...

Nope. Must have been someone else.

kennythebomb
Why is graduating high school not an accomplishment?
Click to expand...

Because it's easy? Because pretty-much everyone does it? Because it's a requirement, kinda like passing the 6th grade.

kennythebomb
Why has your respect for your parents steadily declined?
Click to expand...

When I met my wife, we both provided a much-needed outside viewpoint on each other's families. She (and her parents) showed me that my parents are insane. I showed her that hers are as well... but in a different way.

Without that outside perspective it takes more time to separate yourself from their influence. Now, if you have great parents, maybe you'll spend your entire life thinking they're fantastic. If you don't (which many of us do not), you'll realize that they have their problems just like everyone else. And that superhero status you give them when you're a kid kinda falls apart. TC basically covered it.
 
Danoff
When I met my wife, we both provided a much-needed outside viewpoint on each other's families. She (and her parents) showed me that my parents are insane. I showed her that hers are as well... but in a different way.
Click to expand...
Meet the .....
 
TheCracker
The older you get, the more human your parents become. When you're a kid you think that everything your parents say and do is true and correct. As you gain more life experience you realise more and more that, like yourself, your parents views are just opinions - not facts. If your views grow to become opposing to those of your parents than you are likely to respect them less.
Click to expand...

This is true to an extent.

I'm 20 and my opinion of my dad has stayed about the same since age 15. I get more annoyed at some of his stronger opinions now.. but the respect I didn't have for him then because of certain things is still not there now, because his situation hasn't changed.

Don Vito
Because a high school diploma is something that you HAVE to earn. If you're really proud of graduating from HS, then that indicates your goals were never set high and you were not expecting much of yourself.
Click to expand...

Danoff
Because it's easy? Because pretty-much everyone does it? Because it's a requirement, kinda like passing the 6th grade.
Click to expand...

How about foreigners/poor people who work hard and celebrate bigtime when the first kid graduates from high school?
 
kennythebomb
How about foreigners/poor people who work hard and celebrate bigtime when the first kid graduates from high school?
Click to expand...

Why would it be harder for them? Are you saying that foreigners and poor people are stupider than the rest of us? From what I remember of high school it was a glorified daycare. Getting the diploma basically required showing up.
 
Danoff
Why would it be harder for them? Are you saying that foreigners and poor people are stupider than the rest of us? From what I remember of high school it was a glorified daycare. Getting the diploma basically required showing up.
Click to expand...

Harder for foreigners: English barrier anyone?

Harder for poor people: Can't afford college and can barely afford public school?
 
TheCracker
The older you get, the more human your parents become. When you're a kid you think that everything your parents say and do is true and correct. As you gain more life experience you realise more and more that, like yourself, your parents views are just opinions - not facts. If your views grow to become opposing to those of your parents than you are likely to respect them less.
Click to expand...
My respect for them sort of dipped in my teens then grown again, I've never held them in any regard as being more than just regular people, even as a kid. I think I have more respect for them now than I ever have had though.

On the topic, getting older doesn't mean you have to stop enjoying life. You don't suddenly wake up one morning and all of a sudden because your 18 your life has changed. It's just another day in your life, just like any other day. The only difference is that in the UK, your now legally allowed to get drunk in pubs, vote, bet and in many situations you can now legally make choices for yourself instead have them made for you. 18 is just another age, it will feel no different. When I turned 18, all the things I was doing at 17 didn't just get packed in, growing up is gradual, you will grow up at your own rate.
 
kennythebomb
Harder for foreigners: English barrier anyone?
Click to expand...

Ok, maybe it's an accomplishment for someone who has no knowledge of english and is dropped in at the 9th grade level. I doubt that happens often. It's also an accomplishment if you have to overcome other obstacles, like for example if you had a mental disability.

Generally speaking, it's not much of an accomplishment.

kennythebomb
Harder for poor people: Can't afford college and can barely afford public school?
Click to expand...

All of the public schools that I know of are "free" (not counting taxes collect). But if they weren't, my response would be that people should not have children if they can't afford to send them to school. And that if they had children anyway and could barely afford to send them through school, it's more of an accomplishment for the parents being able to pay for the child than it is for the child to be able to learn the material.

Again I come back to the notion that graduating high school isn't a big accomplishment. Yes, there are ways to make it one, but for most of us it isn't.
 
Back