Validation need not come from anywhere outside yourself. Set your own goals. Do your best. Pat yourself on the back. People who 'recognize' you only do so superficially anyway. No one can truly know what you've done or where you've been.
this post was submitted on 04 Dec 2024
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I mean, sure, but it is still nice to have some external validation now and again you know?
...said the mouse in the maze.
How about climbing over those walls, up the leg of the biggest scientist, enter through the eye socket, and hollow out that skull. That's all the validation anyone needs. Yum!
I have an MSc and have spent the day cleaning gutters, I have no idea what to do and am unsure whether I'd be better off dead.
Yes, schools are prisons. Their purpose is not education at all but rather indoctrination, filtering, privilege, control, etc.
The school to hospice informal incarceration pipeline is omnipresent for the working class, and college/trades level is right there in the middle. Right after kid jail and before wage slavery.
I dunno, I prefer this to having to take care of cows and growing my own crops.
Life and the endless crushing need for resources is the prison.
False dichotomy. This has nothing to do with cows and crops on some imaginary "farm". In reality there's no actual need for people to slave away their whole lives serving capital just so we can destroy the planet.
If one is not inclined to social gatherings but still feel a need for something to signal this passage (or any other), a good option is to perform a personal ritual of choice.
Human brains seem to be inclined to appreciate symbolism.
While I agree with the sentiment, I don't think that the lack of ritual is the underlying problem here.
Good job anon. Now take a long break and get back to it when you have your long term goals sorted.
Til 22-year-olds have long term goals
That's what the long break is for.
Imagine being privileged enough to take a long break and have long term goals.
Why you do graduation ceremony btw? We don't do that here.
It’s a pretty big accomplishment so the schools like to throw a little party. It also allows students to invite family to see the campus and get an idea of how fast they can chug a beer.
We are, we are, we are, we are
We are the engineers!
We can, we can, we can, we can
Demolish forty beers
Drink rum, drink rum, drink rum, drink rum
And come along with us!
'Cos we don't give a fuck about anyone else
Who don't give a fuck about us.
That's what the first engineer I ever met said, but to be fair he was a combat engineer. Those guys are scary. Stick to electronics and bridges...
I just didn't go to my graduation ceremony, despite there being free dinner. Was (and had been for ages) struggling with pretty bad depression and didn't feel I deserved any of it.
I've got 3 degrees and have a Gold Duke of Edinburgh award (if you do bronze, silver, and gold, you get to shake hands with a failed king)
- Never went to any graduation ceremony
- Never went to Buckingham Palace to shake hands with Prince Philip.
I am right now, sitting at home in my jammies eating burritos. I regret nothing.
How do I become smart? All I do are online courses for tech and such. I have an established career. Good money, house family and shit....but I want the prestige of at least having a degree. But I'm functionally retarded with math.
How do I become smart? All I do are online courses for tech and such. I have an established career. Good money, house family and shit
Congrats, you are smart.
The challenge you have now is to acknowledge and feel it.
but I want the prestige of at least having a degree
So here's the problem. you want the prestige, not the intelligence. You can get a degree in various ways if you want, and have the time. You can attend a university course part time, or through their online facilities. Choose a topic you've done a lot of online courses for and try for a degree.
But I’m functionally retarded with math.
There's resources online to help with this, maybe the new methods will help you understand math concepts better. Common core, khan academy, and the sponsor of this lemmy post, skillshare
For some tracks there are even speedrun/lower-cost guides for online degrees through places like WGU. They except transfers from online courses as well. You can do it cheap, especially if you get tuition reimbursement.
I just found out my state (Massachusetts) offers associates programs at any state CC for anyone who doesn't already have a degree. For adults over 25 the program is called MassReconnect. I'd have to look into transfers, but I imagine those could be transferred to WGU towards a 4yr or post-grad degree. Some of the CC programs can also be done all (or mostly) online.
Michigan does this as well.
You don't need to be smart. Back in my uni, there were student initiatives to record the questions and answers of previous exams. The Math department itself gave out previous years exams to study from.
The key to remember: exams aren't written my professors, they're written by the postdocs who have better things to do, and so they just rehash the same stuff from the year before.
If you want to get a useless piece of paper that tells you that you are an expert in topic X, then don't learn X, learn to pass the papers for the X exam, and learn X later in your free time if you're still interested in it.
Something, something judging a fish by it's ability to climb a tree
I think you're a smart person that's terrible at math. It's ok to be bad at math, I am too and I have a degree in computer science with a union job. Now that I've thrown away a bunch of money, I've learned that CS is awesome and I love it but I don't feel like I can qualify myself as being smart with it. With age I learned that I'm really smart with labor militancy and history, and if I could go back I'd get a degree in labor studies. I think you just need to find your topic.
Didn't go to any of mine outside of high school because I was a kid and my parents could force me on that one. By the time I finished grad school I really felt like I was just another person in an increasingly growing rat race. It's not even that I haven't accomplished anything so much as I haven't accomplished anything particularly unique that sets me apart and grants me intellectual value.
I graduated in the winter in 2023, didn't attend the ceremony or anything. I have really bad social anxiety so the ceremony seemed like more stress than a celebration for me, I just ordered food and relaxed. But I do remember, after walking out of my last final, thinking "damn do that's it huh", I know it's just a bachelors degree but I didn't believe in myself enough to even think I'd ever actually graduate. Things turned out okay though, even had a job lined up before graduation which was lucky given the current job market for software engineering. Believe in yourself, your hard work got you that degree, proud of you man!
Thanks. I've done pretty well for myself, I'd like to say. I landed a nice job around six months later and have been able to show my talent pretty well. Due to fighting with depression I entered the workforce around ten years after most of my peers. As an engineer, I've caught up the median pay for my peers with 15 years more experience. Can't complain.
I also skipped my graduation. But just because I don't like that kind of stuff.
Why do you feel like you didn't deserve to graduate? I'm sure you did deserve it.
Felt I didn't deserve to celebrate. Depression messes up with your brain big time.
I get you. It's hard to think otherwise when all the world is a grey mist.
It's what being an adult is like. You don't study for the fanfare, you study for a goal or for yourself.
That and if you have a significant other, you might also score a celebratory shagging.
Edit: Never mind, just realized this is an anon on 4chan posting about engineering school.
I’m kind of surprised; most colleges and universities I’ve seen still have a ceremony for people graduating at the end of the fall semester. It’s not nearly as elaborate as the one ending the spring semester, but it’s still something.
Still, most of life is going to be like that. Usually no real ceremonies for the last day on the job. Move out of your old house/apartment is a lot of work at the end and then you lock the door for the last time.
Congratulations, you’re an adult now.
Slight difference; being an ex on has the opposite effect on your ability to get a job.
Agreed, Exxon is a horrible company but I hear the pay is good. It would be tough for an ex-con to get a job as well.
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I think it's practical. I haven't known many engineer types to make a huge deal of graduation per se. It's just the next step in a bigger procedure.
I've never attended a singe scholarly celebration since my middle schools where I went and realized that it was completely pointless
plus the whole preparation and fanfare is draining for me, id like to actually celebrate by relaxing not stressing over an event
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