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Just so there's no more conflict on the issue...

I know first hand that...
Success is not a promise, even when you finish things faster than others or get involved in a lot of clubs and organizations.

I was homeschooled starting in the third grade, and graduated from a high school in California when I was 14. I was enrolled in my first college when I was 14. My sister got a full fellowship from Syracuse University for graduate studies in mathematics when she was just turning 18. I moved to New York when I was 16, pursued other things that interested me, and went to SUNY. Made obnoxious grades, got too many awards...was the image of the student government...elected Student Trustee, Resident Assistant...studied Turkish with the Turkish Student Association at Syracuse University...

And believe me, I don't fit the stereotype of what these credentials say.

It doesn't make me better or more favored than anyone else in any way. I just got involved in a different method of education, is all.

Even so, with what I have done, and what my sister has done, we have both had our days working at fast-food restaurants. I think it's funny, that the general public thinks people who work at those places are lazy, incompetent high-school drop-outs (I'm an elementary school drop-out, thank you!) and should be treated with less respect than those who hold higher-paying jobs.

All I'm saying is that, when someone says they were in the top 10% of their class or they speak 3 languages fluently or they have a PhD...that doesn't mean they're living the high life, or have been promised it by some unwritten law.

It's still difficult...don't let credentials fool you into thinking you have a shelter! It's not really there! It's difficult for all of us, but what makes it fun and what really counts is exercising your smarts in how you deal with life, not whether you memorized the table of elements.

End of preaching. Okay let's talk about airplanes now wheee! [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/spin2.gif[/img]

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Holy cow! You were in college at 14???!!! [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif[/img]