Go Back To School (a hypothetical)

[Sabby]

No clue where this one goes, so playing it safe... we've all had that dream where we, as adults, return to high school, for some reason, either as teenagers again or as the people we are today. Sometimes we're suspicious that we're only dreaming, and sometimes we believe it, and sometimes we awake with the strange feeling that this is not the first time you've had this dream, but can't remember any other incidents.

But what if you could do it for real?

I passed Grade 12, but it was a hand out (won't go into it) so I didn't attend most of that year and just took some tests to make it up. School sucked for me, I was awkward and going through a very stupid Goth phase which I still can't live down. I honestly don't know how I would feel about taking Grade 12 the honest way.

Go back to the 9-3 routine, packed lunch, school uniform, timetable, all that jazz, and just be treated like any other student.

Was school awkward or not so great for you? Do you feel like your a better person now and could have a better experience if you went back?

[ausyandy]

I've had the old back-to-school dream a few times. 


I dropped out after finishing year 10. If I could go back and do it all again, I'd most likely leave sooner than that. I was basically coasting along the whole four years I was there until it was finally time to say "fuck-you school" and I was out of there. I would certainly not want to do it all again

I hated school. The school I went to sucked and so did the people that went there. The best friends I ever had went to another school and I never saw them again, and the people that went to my school were not the type of people I'd want to be friends with - for four years I had to 'be friends' with people I actually really disliked, which left me with no friends at all after I left and actually quite fucked my life up.

Maybe if I went to a different school I would have stayed to finish year 12 and/or actually enjoyed it at least a little bit. I also wonder if going to a different school would have helped me avoid 6-and-counting years of depression......


If I went back, knowing what I know now, I'd turn around and leave as soon as my foot hit the school premises.....

[CmdrRenegade]

Makes you wonder if all the home schoolers are onto something.  Unless you were a muscled varsity sport member or something similar you were good.  Of course, you could be like all the young Machiavellis who have zero empathy out of the gate.

[Ensilumi]

I've had that dream... and I finished school five years ago.

If I had the chance to do it all again now... Honestly, I'd take it but go to a different school. I didn't have a good time at school, I was actually bullied and I feel that has kept me from achieving a lot of things I would have liked to achieve. For example I didn't get the German equvalent of a high school diploma (but I'll work on that for the next two years, starting this september). I do know I have the smarts to achieve that, it has just been so horrible that I didn't stand a chance.

[Callie Del Noire]

I have it every month or so. (usually when I'm boning up for something like my midterms or finals on the 8 week school cycles I'm in now) It sucks but most of the time I remember the things that I did that isolated me. (I was a comic book/gamer/video game nerd WAY before it got to be a cliche). The worst part of high school for me was that I relocated to a small South Carolina town where I was the outsider for most of the time I was there. (One of the guys circulated a rumor that I was gay, and as a result my dating was iffy at best. A few times I thought I was going to get beat up and tossed in a ditch)

[consortium11]

I had a pretty damn good time at school. Good friends across a range of social groups, no real "dramas", pretty much aced the work, no issues with getting girls. Enjoyed myself really. Would I go back? Yeah, probably... the sheer amount of free time and lack of responsibility I had then was great although the lack of funds would annoy me. Would I do better if I went back with the personality I have now? Again yeah, probably... I think in the majority of cases you're going to be a more developed person at 20+ then you would be during your school years.

[Oreo]

School was pretty fun for me. Of course it was long ago before computers and we actually had to turn in hand written reports and go to the library to study. For the most part I think, knowing what I do today, if I could go back I would concentrate way more on academics and far less on the social aspects. I got decent A/B grades, but with a little more self discipline I could have been a straight A student

[NotoriusBEN]

I've had the school dream a few times too. Mostly it was infuriating like some technicality that would make me go back and waste 6months of my life and it'd eff up my current career. (cant work cuz I dont have a diploma, but how do I pay the damn rent when Im stuck at school and not working ?!)  Id literally feel my chest bind up with those thoughts in the dream.

school was ok. when I first moved out to my school it was in 7th grade. and being the little snots they were, I usually ended up scrapping with some little shit that thought itd be fun to pick on the new kid. only thing I had going for me was that their friends wouldnt back them up, so the fights were 'fair' being 1v1. 9th grade it stopped, guess I beat some sense into them and I finally started enjoying school.

I did football in my junior year, was a decent running back, but I was fed up with the Offensive players. They were cocky and couldnt back it up, but the cheerleaders dated the QB and the recievers. >.>  Didnt have a single offensive Touchdown that year. It was all the Defensive players and we made sure to run that ball in because the offense couldnt do it. Plus it didnt help that the other teams' coaches would stack 2 and 3 people on me to shut down my game, which ultimatly affected my stats. statisticians dont track how many enemy players have to be put on you because you sack the QB or crush a tight-end.

got tired of doing the heavy lifting for the team and told the coach I was quitting because I didnt need this shit with some life long injury attached to it. the Defensive coordinator was sad to see me go, but was cool with me quitting. Head coach had a fit and tried to eff over my phys ed classes because of it. had to bring in the super intendant for that.

other than that and an english teacher, I had a blast. I was that envious A/B student that didnt have to study. I hung out at the back of the class. Other kids didnt know I was an A student and a Metal-head to boot unless they saw a test score of mine or heard my music. I didnt care for goths, motorheads, bubblegum girls, or other clics but I didnt go out of my way to persecute anyone, though the "OG" punks really deserved a beating for their uppity bully shit.

dating? got boring. I dunno, I can not stand highschool chicks that called me 24/7, and thought it was a travesty that they had to pay halfway for a date every so often. not made of money, and relationships are both ways. or two week aniversary gifts. really? no, not happening.

so yea, that was highschool. college was a little better. took night classes because *I* paid for them and I didnt want some newly welped highschooler sucking up class time. (they took morning classes because it was 'just like highschool'  )

ok, /end rant.

[Lilias]

My dreams about school crop up when I'm feeling particularly insecure or powerless, and invariably involve having to pass a maths or physics exam to graduate, while my dream self, like my waking one, can't deal with either subject to save her head.

I generally liked school and was a mostly-A student without studying much. If I went back now, I'd definitely have a much better time, and more opportunities; material conditions back in the '80s were appalling. So who knows, I might even be able to deal with the maths and physics as well! I'd make sure to be more sociable, as well, and have more acquaintances on top of my good friends, just for more opportunities to go out weekends.

[Jag]

I just want to start by saying that my high school isn't nearly as bad as some schools I've heard of. Most people, for the most part, got along in my school. We had two high school campuses and my graduating class was over 2,000 students (we had kids from several surrounding areas attend our high school because they didn't have a local high school). Middle school was complete hell for me, but by sophomore year it had pretty much evened itself out. The people that used to bother me and make my life a living hell had either matured or been put through enough of their own hell to leave me alone.

Granted, there were horrible times. There were times I got into some fights (verbal and physical) and I did spend a lot of time crying after school, but I've come to realize that I made school worse for myself than it had to be. I was holding myself back. There were plenty of people wanting to be my friends and hang out with me, but I was so scared of everything that happened in middle school that I refused to let myself be put out there. I refused to believe that all those kids from the other middle schools could possibly be nice people.

So yeah, I've had those 'if I could do it again' dreams. I feel like I'm a much better person now than I was back then, but only because I got away from it all. I'm not going out every night getting smashed off my ass, doing drugs, sleeping with random guys at the coffee house, and putting myself around bad people anymore. If ever given the chance to do it again, I'd have to pass.

School would be a much better place without all the other kids around to get in the way. Then again, maybe I would have done better if I had been to a school with less students or at least gone to a new high school rather than still being around those kids that made middle school so hard for me.

[Hemingway]

I made some bad choices in school. That makes it sound dramatic, like I got into crime, or something. No, no. I just picked all the wrong subjects. If I could go back to when I first started upper secondary school, I might have picked a different school. The one I went to was the "best" in the area, with the highest requirement to get in, but that was a joke. If the other schools were worse, then I truly feel sorry for those students. Or maybe I just had bad luck with some of my teachers.

I knew I wasn't much good at math, so why I picked math and physics anyway is utterly beyond me. I could've picked something else, like philosophy, and just breezed through. Instead I ended up failing my final math exam - twice. The result was a completely wasted year, probably the worst year of my life.

It turned out okay in the end. I'm in university now, and staying far away from math. But I could've saved myself that one year.

As far as friends and just my general well-being, I was ... well, I don't know, really. A bit of a pariah, probably. I can't say I really suffered, at least not more than occasionally, but I didn't really have a good time, either. But I don't think I'd be better off now if I'd been a more popular kid with more friends and generally just had it better. I may have been more miserable than I remember, but I got through it just fine, and I think has shaped me in important ways. I don't think I'd want things to be any different. I think those challenges, dealing with bullies and all that crap, is part of the experience we call life.