Growing up I was never really the best student, I was mediocre at best. If I had to label myself and pick a letter grade that I would fall under it would most likely be C’s and D’s. Luckily I never failed a class.
But I never really excelled in one either, other than gym class.
In my opinion school’s mostly about remembrance, and no matter how hard I tried it would take me longer to memorize the information that was being taught. I was more of a hands on type of student. Learning through visuals was my thing, and I always had a lot of questions.
Unfortunately I never really got to ask all the questions I had. Most of the time, I felt like they were stupid questions or I was afraid of being laughed at.
It’s quite common for most kids to feel the way I did. I mean a school system that’s supposed to teach every kid the same way is a failing system.
Luckily in high school my grades improved a bit. I started getting more B’s and my parents were happy.
I’ll be honest though, I never once read any of the school readings or summer reading books that were required. I hated reading as a teenager and I never really cracked open a book, other than the occasional health and fitness book.
Towards the end of high school, around junior or senior year my grades were the best they’d ever been. I never quite got on honor roll, but I didn’t really care. I was happy with my improvements.
After high school, I decided to go to MCCC, Mercer County Community College in New Jersey.
(courtesy of mccc.edu)
I enrolled in Exercise Science for two years and planned on transferring to a 4-year university after I was done with my associates degree.
Fortunately, and yes I said fortunately I never actually went to a 4-year university.
After spending 2 years in community college and understanding the way student loans work I was nervous in putting myself into the kind of debt most 4-year universities require you to for attendance.
I had friends paying $50,000 a year, and after 4 years that would be $200,000 you owe to someone else.
The sad thing is most school make it seem like you’re guaranteed a job after receiving your diploma. This couldn’t be further from the truth.
Your reputation and networking skills are what lands you a great job. Most students don’t learn this in university.
Universities want your money. Plain and simple.
They don’t care where or how you get it. As long as they receive it, they’re happy.
But don’t get me wrong, education is a beautiful thing. Learning and acquiring knowledge should never stop no matter how old you get.
And with the technology nowadays, you know with the internet being free and shit. Learning should be easier than ever before.
YOU DON’T NEED COLLEGE TO BE SUCCESSFUL
What you need is creativity, discipline, and courage.
Those 3 qualities will get you far and if you’re willing to do whatever it takes to become successful then success is only around the corner.
Society has made it seem like college is a necessity that everyone needs in order to live out their dreams.
I have found this to be completely B.S.
Not from first-hand experience but from second-hand experience. I know people that hate their jobs but have no other choice but to deal with it because they have student loans to pay back.
It’s crazy to me what kind of shit you can get yourself into if you fall behind on your loan and miss a few payments.
This was taken directly from the Student Aid website.
– The entire unpaid balance of your loan and any interest is immediately due and payable. – You lose eligibility for deferment, forbearance, and repayment plans.
– You lose eligibility for additional federal student aid. – Your loan account is assigned to a collection agency.
– The loan will be reported as delinquent to credit bureaus, damaging your credit rating. This will affect your ability to buy a car or house or to get a credit card.
– Your federal and state taxes may be withheld through a tax offset. This means that the Internal Revenue Service can take your federal and state tax refund to collect any of your defaulted student loan debt.
– Your student loan debt will increase because of the late fees, additional interest, court costs, collection fees, attorney’s fees, and any other costs associated with the collection process.
– Your employer (at the request of the federal government) can withhold money from your pay and send the money to the government. This process is called wage garnishment.
– The loan holder can take legal action against you, and you may not be able to purchase or sell assets such as real estate. – Federal employees face the possibility of having 15% of their disposable pay offset by their employer toward repayment of their loan through Federal Salary Offset.
– It will take years to reestablish your credit and recover from default.
This is basically how it is for most people that are still paying off their loans. It takes an average of 20 years to pay back your student loans completely, and if you die before paying it back, depending on what kind of loan you have, the burden gets left on your spouse.
This to be too much bullshit for me to handle.
I’m all about learning and having an education. But when schools want my arm and leg for a piece of paper, then that’s when I have a problem.
See I was lucky enough to find out my direction in life at 14. I knew what I wanted to do when I grew up.
This helped me get in front of the game. I was years ahead of most people in my classes.
I understood the body, I understood program design, I understood a lot of things to a greater degree which made my classes a hell of a lot easier.
My troubles came from general education classes. You know the Maths, English’s, Sciences, Histories. All those pointless classes (unless they’re 100% necessary for your career, I find no point in making students take them. To me it seems like they’re just trying to get more money out of you.)
We’re so lucky to live in the times we do. It has never been easier to start your own business and become successful in it. You don’t need millions in start-up money, a building, employees, none of that.
In the technology era it has become possible to put your own work out on the internet for someone 100’s of miles away to read or use.
It has become possible for you to fix an issue and help someone else thousands of miles away fix the same problem.
It’s possible to create a tribe and support them in whatever you want to support them in.
No class in college is going to teach you this. It takes some balls to put your writings, videos, designs, etc on a platform that the whole world can view.
This is the courage I was talking about. You need to be able to stop your mind from creating fear and just fucking do it.
If you don’t think college is for you then I invite you to drop out. I know this is a big statement but so is saying:
“I hate my job”
“I wish I had more money”
“I wish I wasn’t in so much debt”
“I wish I didn’t waste all those years in college”
“I wish I never went to college”
You never want to hate something that you’re going to do for over half your life.
You never want to wish something. You always have to make it happen.
And lastly you never want to regret anything.
If you feel in your gut that college isn’t for you and you possess the 3 qualities I mentioned above then jump off the cliff and do it.
You’ll learn to fly on the way down.
p.s. If you want to know more about me check out my new interview with TSM. I pour my heart into the interview so you can really get to know who I am and where I came from.