Skip Class

by nate • 13 years ago

40 29 13 years ago

lbr2• 13 years ago

When people say "I need a job in X, to learn Y, before starting Z," do you think they actually mean it?

I understand that sometimes it's necessary. But most of the time, I think people ask use this excuse to take the less risky path.

indubitably• 13 years ago

I like class.

ek• 13 years ago

I skipped many of my undergrad classes to do more important stuff, and I'd go back and do it again. I showed up for the important stuff, and attended lectures that actually taught me things, but quickly figured out that just because a professor tells you you have to show up doesn't mean that it's not your judgement call any more. Most successful and highly motivated students figure out this sort of a scheme for skipping busywork and pedantry.

quasque• 13 years ago

I'm not sure what the author is implying here. Is it that figuring stuff out on your own and learning it from others are mutually exclusive? Surely it's better to do both.

afontaine• 13 years ago

I enjoyed reading your post. I also struggle to get up to listen to a professor go over material at a very slow pace. I'm taking a class now and I only show up on the day before the exam and on the exam. There are 2-3 weeks of lectures before an exam.. Usually 5-7 hours of studying is enough to get me a B+.

I'm not saying everyone should do that. But I'm running my startup and my CS degree isn't getting me anywhere closer to being a success story. The things I've learned by "doing" are probably the equivalent of getting CS and MBA degrees.

yid• 13 years ago

So you're majoring in hubris then?

icegreentea• 13 years ago

Don't know about his specific case, but after a couple years (at most) of undergrad, you quickly learn how to tell which classes are the ones you'll actually need to attend. You'll pick out the profs who just teach 95% off the slides and textbooks, and which ones actually have useful lectures.

If you're willing to risk that 5-10% 'oh shit, professor included that one unique thing he taught in class that wasn't included in the textbook/slides' on your examination, then you really can usually blow off the lecture and learn at your own pace. And really, its liberating. You can focus on the classes and projects that you enjoy, and are getting the most out of, and still pass all your other classes.

It has nothing to do with hubris (at least in my case), but a combined case of just enough confidence and self-respect. I did not pay 6000 a term to attend inane, information sparse lectures. 90 minute lectures which can be successfully condensed into 15 minutes by your TAs are not worth my time. I've already been burned once by being forced to take these lectures (and paying for it!), I'm not going to let to burn me again by suffering through the opportunity cost in time and mental stability.

analog31• 13 years ago

Maybe this helps explains why a B+ isn't worth anything any more.

jdmt6• 13 years ago

Rather than go to class I created a popular custom discussion forum for students to help each other with the homework problems (back in the early 2000's). Ended up teaching myself perl, html, css, javascript and sql in the process which landed me my first job. Never had to do my physics homework (useless busywork) because the answers were posted on the forum. Still received grades of B+ or higher.

jdmt6• 13 years ago

wow, why the downvote? I'm very proud of the website I created. It was what got me started with programming and lit a fire under me to learn new programming languages. I don't share much on HN but a downvote to this post makes me want to refrain from ever sharing.

enraged_camel2• 13 years ago

>wow, why the downvote?

Because of this: "Never had to do my physics homework (useless busywork) because the answers were posted on the forum."

chasing3• 13 years ago

Again, different people learn (and enjoy learning) in different ways. Not sure why the title of this post is the directive "skip class" and not "I skipped some classes and did some other stuff and still made elementary mistakes at my start-up, so that worked out."

jccalhoun• 13 years ago

Maybe if more students were as self-motivated as this guy I wouldn't have those two or three students every semester who do go to class and still don't follow directions no matter how often I go over them.

pmelendez• 13 years ago

Am I the only one who really enjoyed going to class ?

This kind of post pop up once in a while here, some guy tells the experience about skipping classes or dropping out of school. If that works for you, great! But I am actually one of those guys that could happily get back to school if I could afford it.

School gave me so many things: My wife, my first job, my first client, etc. I could connect my dots back and everything started from the three different occasions I had been enrolled in three different universities. Should you skip class and doing it great? Sure! But your mileage may vary.

d23• 13 years ago

I really liked skipping class. Once I made that decision to skip and go back to sleep, it was the greatest sleep I could possibly have.

It definitely wasn't a good decision though. I wasted a lot of money and probably missed an opportunity to major in something valuable rather than something that would just get me by.

csmuk• 13 years ago

Opposite anecdote for you...

I skipped class, a lot. So much so that I nearly got kicked out of (a red brick) university in the UK. Up in front of the dean and everything. I was too busy reselling and refurbishing Unix kit and installing network kit and cabling. Oh and like yourself, sleeping when I desired :)

After a year, I quit my electrical engineering degree anyway much to the disappointment of my entire family.

I don't regret this for a minute.

Firstly, most of the entire higher education system in the UK is a scam. It was primarily an exercise in shutting up and sucking cock which I really can't stand for. I'm not willing to trade my ethics and morals for an education.

Secondly, prospects are terribly inflated. None of my peers are employed in that sector as it's cheaper to get your designs and production knocked up in the far east. All of them have a shit ton of debt, even after 15 years and are way down the ladder in their respective industries. At best, they're just about breaking even at the end of the month. The university in questoin is still selling the same course with false promises at the end.

My practical knowledge and experience over the years turned out to be more valuable than the education would have been.

Obviously I make no recommendation but higher education was a social event and business building opportunity for me.

yeukhon• 13 years ago

The problem is I rather use my internship to substitute course credit and my department won't let me do that. To be honest, why not. To me credits, diploma is just business. I would be working with a tech giant and my internship will be better than whatever class I was going to take. There are classes I love to take but either I don't time or I just don't trust the person teaching it (they just not very good at conveying material to students).

kevincennis• 13 years ago

What's a ninja sand robot?

lbr2• 13 years ago

ninjas and robots?

derefr• 13 years ago

Sadly, the classes I most wanted to skip were the ones where you'd get flunked for a single unexcused absence.

Skip Class

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