I can't relate to most "Dreamers" in the media. - Page 2

^^ That's what CIR is for.

Hey man you are NOT alone. I don't even have a GED! I'm studying for it right now actually! I was diagnosed with ADHD, recently.. I came from a broken home where my dad would threaten me all the time, my mom wasn't strong enough to do anything about it, and whenever i wanted to call the cops because i was so scared for our lives, and my dad said if i called the cops we would be deported. anyway i got kicked out of 4 highschools.. until i found a great performance art school and made it really close to graduating! but now im just going to get a GED., i am currently taking acting classes and auditioning for stuff and doing all kinds of performance arts and loving it. I didn't trust to tell anyone my status until i was 21, im 22 now. Glad i did, i feel more free. I am often couch hopping because i left my house when i was 19, best thing i ever did. I am lucky to have good friends. Because i am open to it, visualize yourself doing things and you will do them. Find people like YOU, who think like u. They are there! I didn't know it till i had to have my eyes opened.. and the darkness goes away. You can make things a reality. Life is beautiful, and we will all pull ourselves through to our dreams.
If u ever want to talk, message me. Im there.
Love & Peace Dreamer.

I want to thank everyone for the kind words. Sometimes I get down and need to let out my emotions. I actually logged online today to delete my op but after reading the responses, I realize that I am not alone in this and that I must have faith for a better tomorrow.

I can't relate either to people who call themselves "Over Achievers" just because they have a 4.5 GPA and 7 AP Honors classes or whatever. There are other ways to be a valuable and intelligent human being.
Here's a clip where Professor Noam Chomsky Explains my point:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0g2Gn...eature=related

Although I have an excellent academic standing (ugh, I feel so lame writing that), I must say that grades and standardized testing doesn't say too much about a person. In fact, it pretty much breeds mindless competitiveness and grade-obsession among students. It's lamentable that a lot of educational institutions these days have too many stellar students but not enough stellar scholars.

Gone are the days where peers would start a conversation about something they recently learned for the mere purpose of discussion. Nowadays, chemistry and biology courses are filled with dishonest pre-medical students scheming together to "make the grade" (I witnessed 5-6 students who were caught "working together" on laboratory assignments that were to be independent work; it was hive mind at it's finest) and countless other academic disciplines with students who don't comprehensively understand what they learn. Professors are sometimes partly to blame because of their "this part of the textbook isn't important" attitude and their "the-night-before-cram"-promoting multiple-choice exams. A lot of countries admire the American system of education, but it's slowly turning into education systems similar to that of Asian countries where it promotes rote memorization rather than critical thinking.

However, I must say that grades and test scores are a good supplementary indicator to one's intellect. Nonetheless, other factors are equally important when judging ones' value and intellect, and I guess that is precisely why we have holistic admissions criteria in the American higher education system.

Note that a few of the things written above are generalizations. There is still faith in a lot of people involved in academia. Also, sorry for the tangent post. It's 3:04 AM! Leave me alone.

for some reason im getting sick of people that keep saying oh i cant relate to people who call themselves over achievers or i cant go to college because i dont have a 4.0 GPA. how do you think we got that far. we worked hard in highschool, we pushed ourselves.those damn ap classes were not freaking easy.We had to study hard to do well on the ACT and SAT.not only that some of us did a lot of community service and played sports.

i was that girl who used to sleep in all her classes but i would do well on all my tests..i used to get the shit beat out of me if i bring home a B-.

Alright fair enough, I admire that. I also took AP classes in High School and I am doing pretty well in college now. My point is that it is not a question of whether you got an A on your AP classes or a 4.5 GPA, it as a question of whether you learned anything from the classes, it is a question of having passion for Knowledge and not just mindlessly memorizing what's on the textbook. If anything a good student would be challenging the knowledge in the textbooks( which i did and often got me in trouble).

Watch the video i linked to. Chomsky said that the Educational System does not create freethinking individuals but it is a way to filter out the obedient individuals.

I guess I will hijack this thread to respond to this comment.

I have always seen education as important for three reasons. Access, assessment, and a spark.

1. Access:
You need a degree to get the job you want. You can't legally practice law or medicine unless you have a degree.

2. Assessment:
You need a way to see how you stack up against others. This is mostly true in college; not so much lower educational levels because college is less about studying for the test. "Assessment" really allows you to learn what your personality is. Do you want to be different from everyone else, or are you content with being like everyone else?

3. Spark:
This one depends on the person, and is normally found in college. People who are truly intellectual in my eyes are those who used what they learn in classes to learn more on their own. Basically, school doesn't end for them when the class is over. They want to learn more than is already known in the world, so they do their own research to discover more. These students normally turn out to be the professors in academia and college. One day ask your professor if he or she is doing research, and talk to him/her about it. You will see there is a completely different side to your professor.

Overall, there are two types of "overachievers" and two types of people in general. Those who achieve because they are told to, and those who do so because they want to. People who normally go to college, graduate, and never pick up a book afterwards are usually the former. People who go to grad school, spend endless hours getting their Ph.d, and do heavy research are usually the latter. Professor Noam Chomsky alluded to the latter group when he said people after grad school need to be able to think creatively. There is a reason why those people are there.

I'll give you an example.

Doctor who cares for people vs Doctor in academia

Both are smart and overachieved to a certain degree to get to where they are. So what is the difference?

Well, the private doctor really really isn't a "freethinker". He or she is happy to be able to practice medicine and start making money. Basically, they are following the normal path for a doctor. Practice medicine, make money, etc.

Now the doctor in academia is a lot different. They wanted to create and discover. They will take the lower pay to be a professor and do research, even though it may not be as glamorous. Interestingly, if they are truly smart, they end up being more successful in the longterm.

Basically we need to add the words "create" and "discover" back into school. The people who realize this are usually the ones that end up happier in live and actually making a difference in society. Bill Gates is probably the most famous person who exemplifies this. Professor Chomsky wasn't bashing overachievers. He was bashing a certain type of overachievers that our educational system has created.


Back to the OP's original point.

I know this may be difficult, but I think you should try to save any money you can, and attend some sort of community college. In that type of environment you can get to know people and network. There is when a lot of opportunities can open up for you with the resources available. This has helped out a lot of undocumented students.

lol, I dont even know why I'm in school. Maybe to keep me busy and I know that it will help me in the end. I actually like school just hate some subjects that I have to take in order to graduate. Right now I am taking this critical thinking class ,and I feel like crying. We are assigned to read stuff and I have no idea what I'm reading. I've read the assigned pages like twice and I dont remember anything.

My problem is that if its not interesting then it will go straight out the other ear. I really need to pass the class and hopefully I will get better. Its only the second week of school. This always happens to me in these sorts of classes. I just hate reading stuff that I find no interest in. What kills me is that I need to know what I am reading ,but I just dont

I've just never been book smart. I've always maintain a 3.0 lol but thats nothing compared to everyone else.

I'm just not meant to do a lot of things. I like to sing,dance,act etc ,but sometimes I feel like I am not even good for that since I also get depressed lol

I just hate math,science,etc Surprisingly I am good at history and actually understand it.

I understand how you feel. In fact I'm an underachiever as well. I never realized the urgency of my situation in high school. I always just thought that things would eventually fix themselves before I went to college, but of course that never happened.

I never really pushed myself in school since I never realized how much my parents worked to support me. All I cared is about doing a good enough job to not be in trouble and play video games and generally have fun in life, thinking that I'd seriously apply myself in college to find out what I'm capable of. How wrong I was, now it's too late for me to get any help for most school funding. Then again, I probably wouldn't have gotten anything anyway if I worked my butt off, since I'm not latino (no offense to those who are).

I'm a senior in high school now trying to take challenging classes and 2 AP courses to make myself look good. Too bad that I found out that it won't improve my chances for scholarships at all. In IL colleges only look at your GPA from the first 3 years of high school, which I did not well in. My cumulative GPA is a terrible 3.3. Even now I'm trying my best, but I just never do well on tests even if I study. I fail no matter how hard I try. Sometimes it just makes me want to kill myself, knowing my life has almost no meaning. I have so much schoolwork that I don't even get time to have fun. I just don't get how other dreamers cope with an all-work lifestyle.

But, I just want you to know that you're not the only underachiever here. All you can do is just try and find happiness in small things in life. Maybe DREAM will pass someday soon, but I'm about as distraught as you I guess. Sorry if I'm not much help and just venting.