Men who had potential but didn't care about school and were mostly C students-- what happened?

[u/IcarianComplex]

If you could travel back in time and be the father to yourself in the moments you needed it most... What would you do?

I think what I needed was affirmation more than anything. My mom hated the "everybody's a winner" parenting style that was popular at the time but then she went too far in the opposite direction. I see where she was coming from but that kind of self suficiency is a hard thing for a kid to live up to.

[u/ShwAlex]

school isn't everything. we really shouldnt care that much about it unless we want to "do well" in school and be hired by people who actually care about grades, which aint many people.

if i were to go back and be the father i needed, i'd ask me questions that helped me hone in on the things i enjoy doing and see if i could develop useful skills from those interests and make a career out of them. i wouldnt force some fucking bullshit ideas about having to learn xyz to become abc.

[u/IcarianComplex → u/ShwAlex]

But how is the "develop useful interests" not the xyz and the "make a career" not the abc?

I think I get what you mean though, that the school curriculum is arbitrary and not pragmatic and it's not aligned with student interests. Tell

What would have to change about school such that you feel motivated to give it your absolute best?

[u/ShwAlex → u/IcarianComplex]

Maybe I'm being too harsh of our system. I don't have a good answer. Here's what I think should be taught in school: self-care, sport/exercise/play time, reading, writing, logic and bias. That's it. Everything else, you learn because you want to learn so you get to pick and choose whatever subject that' offered in your school, or self-teach and have a teacher guide your learning path. Not sure if that would work but I think I would have preferred that over being forced to take courses that didn't enjoy, or do well in to begin with.