Lost in This World......

[Craftwarft]

I'm at a point in my life where I feel i have made such a huge mistake i can no longer go forward with my college career. I'm 19 turning 20 this year and my academic life hasn't been par to what it should be. I'm a softmore at a community college and getting C's, which in turns equals doom. Are grades everything in this world? Everyone and everything around me tells me grades are everything to this world and if u want to make something of yourself u gotta do good. I really don't know what to do at the momment, i'm lost. In high school i remember thinking to myself going to college and getting all A's and getting into a college of my dreams but things have changed. I want to live a life love, happiness health and wealth but at this point i need some guidance. Are there others out there, that have gotten C's in school and made something great out of yourselves? Please share your stories, i hope i'm not alone in this world.

[Brutha]

Notes are not everything. The question is, to you have something else?
Do you learn and aquire valuable skills?
Do you build relationships that will be valuable in the future?

[moriez]

Hi,

Let me try to give you a perspective. In todays society its all about grades. Thats what your parents, family and friends are telling you, thats what society is telling you and what it is geared toward. Because good grades means, a "good" job, a nice car, a nice house blablabla. A comfortable life that a lot of people in the world are living or want to live. Something worth striving for in their opinion and nothing wrong with that.

In your case its not going as you have hoped for. No panic, thats part of the process. It might mean you have to change your ways of studying. It might mean something is bothering you and affecting your studying. It might mean you think school stinks and you just dont want to do it. I guess what I am trying to say is, try to find out whats going on. What do you think is the reason? Remember, school is not everything. Theres a lot of pressure on you from the outside that makes it seem like it is everything!

I dropped out myself and never knew what kind of profession I would want. I have had loads of ideas and jobs since my college years and some worked for a while and some put me through dark days. I am still swapping jobs whenever it suits me. Next month I am going to do voluntary work on a farm. It might give me new perspectives for my life. Just to give you an idea of how it can be.

[PianoManGidley]

Tons of people have achieved amazing successes without good grades or a "good education." And these successes range anywhere from the kinds that most people who tell to get good grades value (high-paying job, nice place to live, nice material possessions, etc.) to the kinds of successes that one cannot measure with simple mathematics or tangible goods. Famed film composer Danny Elfman dropped out of college after one year, and then spent the next three years backpacking in Africa. He came back to the States, formed the band The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo, and eventually ran into Tim Burton (a fan of the band), who got him really started with scoring films (before then, the only film he had scored was "Forbidden Zone," which was produced and directed by his older brother Richard Elfman). Look how far he's come.

You don't necessarily need good grades or a college education to be successful. And conversely, having good grades and a college degree won't necessarily make you successful, either. I graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Music in Composition. I have yet to have any pieces published, I rarely produce any new music anymore, and I am currently working as a waiter at a restaurant. I graduted in May 2006--two years ago.

[Jennihul]

Please...your assumptions are based on nothing. No one looks at your grades in school when you apply for a job unless you are applying to be a professor or a lawyer or applying for a career as a permanent student for the rest of your life. They want to know you graduated for real and didn't lie on your resume. That's about it.

If academics were so important to you, you would be in Harvard, not community college. Obviously academics is not a priority in your life. Get your degree, move on and then be the best you that you can be.

Jennifer