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Originally Posted by Slava
I don't think I entirely agree with you. I wasn't in the "in crowd" in high school and couldn't possibly care less. Congratulations to people who peaked at 16/17 and had a great time though!
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You misunderstand me. It has nothing to do with peaking. It has to do with developing a balance between achieving your academic goals, but not pushing hard beyond what's necessary to the detriment of equally important developmental opportunities that are only available at certain times of your life.
TBH, there wasn't really even a popular crowd in my school during my years there. We all got along pretty well, but it wasn't like a Hollywood division between jocks, nerds and a-hole popular people. But there was a contingent that was having the most fun as a group by partying and doing the fun stereotypical cool-kid things. There was also a group of perfectly nice, pleasant people that opted to grind out extra hours to get those top scores versus letting loose a little more. It's my view that those ones missed out on some neat experiences just to get a higher random number on a piece of paper that doesn't matter one iota. It's a poor trade of youth/time for a meaningless number (IMO).
Quote:
Originally Posted by Slava
I got good enough grades (and I do agree with you on that part). Undergrad and that phase of life was the absolute best though! In terms of success I guess it depends on how you want to measure that. I don't think it just comes down to money though, and it means some different things to different people.
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Yeah, there are a lot of ways to measure success. I guess I have in my mind a few specific examples of people unhappy in their late 40s because they aren't as successful professionally or financially as they expected - and still believe they're entitled to be - because they worked harder to get better grades in high school and university.
My kids are at such a pivotal age so this stuff is super on my mind right now. We're balancing best places to put their efforts and we're trying to be super strategic. It feels like it's paying off, but plan all you want and the world will have its way with you, anyway, so none of it probably matters in the end hah.