For all you cranky old guys who complain about what young people are like

[Otter74]

Pretty sure this kid is going to do just fine:

Teen sells newspapers for 5 years, earns enough to pay off college before he even starts | Q13 FOX News

[GH85Carrera]

Cool Kid. There are for sure sure some young folks with drive and ambition. We will need their leadership in the future.

Why back in my day, I mowed yards to earn money, I had to push my mower to each customers yard in 130 degree heat and it was always uphill and I never stopped to get water and I was paid just a quarter for each yard and I liked it!

[flatbutt]

Somehow we continue to produce young people to be proud of...just ask Seahawk.

[scottmandue]

Any of you in/near Los Angeles should get down to the Science Center when we have the science fair. Literally hundreds of kids show up, set up there booths, dress to the nines, and present their science projects... many of the projects are beyond my comprehension (yeah, I know... not hard to do )

Now remove thyself from my ornamental ground covering!

[intakexhaust]

Terrific.

This is the sort of news that should be posted in all school's and required reading for kids.

[Alan A]

The bit that interests me most about this story is the thought that he can finance his entire college education with 50k ($52x200x5).

I thought I was looking at that a year for each of mine.
I can stop saving and buy a 991

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by flatbutt

Somehow we continue to produce young people to be proud of...just ask Seahawk.

Ask any of the parents here: I am always delighted at the sharing of stories from folks here...Rangers, Naval Academy, science, scholars, etc...genuine pride in the people our children have become or are becoming.

[Otter74]

Originally Posted by Alan A

The bit that interests me most about this story is the thought that he can finance his entire college education with 50k ($52x200x5).

I thought I was looking at that a year for each of mine.
I can stop saving and buy a 991

I don't know if that came from the writer, or from the kid, but I suspect Tennesse State University is not that expensive for an in-state student, and for all we know there may be scholarship money involved, too. When I got my engineering degree at Georgia Tech (a great engineering school) 20 years ago, it was cheap!

And how many kids have that degree of forethought when they're 12?!

[gatotom]

Well, speaking of which, my son who graduated from Naval academy, starting June 16, will be employed by FEMA in DC. he currently is working at Fort Dix in Frederick, MD.

He will move to Arlington with his Coast Guard buddy that he went to summer seminar with before the Academy, small world.

[LakeCleElum]

I started college at age 17. I had enough to pay the 1st 2 years and living expenses....30 days into college, I was bored and got a job.....Before graduation, I had paid all college and put 75% down on my 1st house....Mowed lawns, newspapers and started working 7 days a week in a gas station at age 15......All without a cell-phone....

[gacook]

Originally Posted by LakeCleElum

I started college at age 17. I had enough to pay the 1st 2 years and living expenses....30 days into college, I was bored and got a job.....Before graduation, I had paid all college and put 75% down on my 1st house....Mowed lawns, newspapers and started working 7 days a week in a gas station at age 15......All without a cell-phone....

That's awesome, and commendable. Keep in mind, however, that college is about 300% more expensive now than it was when most of the geezers here did it

[gprsh924]

That's a great story about paying for everything but it doesn't exist now (for the most part).

Even with a 20% scholarship, I would have needed to earn $160k while going to school from age 18-22 to pay for education myself, another several hundred thousand to pay for 75% down. Even at 20% down at age 27 it was still a big deal.

[strupgolf]

gprsh924, you got screwed by going full time to Trump University. Your numbers don't add up at all.

[carambola]

Isn't Ft Dix in NJ?

[Bowling]

Very impressive, considering I and many others haven't purchased a paper in over 7 years.... good for him.

[flatbutt]

Originally Posted by carambola

Isn't Ft Dix in NJ?

yes, near McGuire AFB.

[fintstone]

Originally Posted by Otter74

Pretty sure this kid is going to do just fine:

Teen sells newspapers for 5 years, earns enough to pay off college before he even starts | Q13 FOX News

The fact that folks find this strange and unusual enough to write and article on it...or post here tells me that the cranky old guys who complain are probably right.

Who the heck here didn't work as a teen or pay their own way through college? Is that supposed to be a rarity?

[CJFusco]

I teach high school English in Connecticut, and I can tell you that a vast majority of my students are thoughtful, caring individuals. Every time I get a student who isn't, I wonder why... until I meet the parents. The kids are always a reflection of their parents. So if you are tempted to blame (or praise) the young generation, it's not a bad idea to look at their parents to see where the example came from.

[pavulon]

This.

I now work with so many high maintenance, anxiety wracked, insecure, self-absorbed adults that the institution has become a reflection of it. So many unable to be "ok" without constant upkeep and adoration. It's to the point that if you do not subscribe to their upkeep, you are deemed some sort of threat for simply not feeding the vampires.

Originally Posted by CJFusco

I teach high school English in Connecticut, and I can tell you that a vast majority of my students are thoughtful, caring individuals. Every time I get a student who isn't, I wonder why... until I meet the parents. The kids are always a reflection of their parents. So if you are tempted to blame (or praise) the young generation, it's not a bad idea to look at their parents to see where the example came from.

[fintstone]

Originally Posted by CJFusco

I teach high school English in Connecticut, and I can tell you that a vast majority of my students are thoughtful, caring individuals. Every time I get a student who isn't, I wonder why... until I meet the parents. The kids are always a reflection of their parents. So if you are tempted to blame (or praise) the young generation, it's not a bad idea to look at their parents to see where the example came from.

While I appreciate your contribution to the education of our next generation...I suspect that you may be more an exception than the rule. They are likely already ruined...or no by the time you get them in high school. Maybe it is different in Connecticut, but although there were occasional impressive teachers that stood out, I always thought that my children's teachers and schools were much of the problem. If I was raising a child now, I would home school (which is where my children learned reading, math, science history, etc. anyways). The curriculum was dumbed down to the lowest denominator and nonconformity was lauded. Most of the school day was wasted. Even worse, the school did just about everything they could to "unteach" the morals and the religious and political views that were taught by their parents. If a child wrote a paper or gave a speech with any sort of conservative stance, they were typically berated in front of their classmates and received a poor grade. The schools did not maintain discipline, allowed kids to skip classes, did not inform parents if their kids had problems with grades or behavior (thinking they were helping the "poor" kids avoid punishment from "abusive" parents)...and spent much of the day teaching social justice, save the whales, racial justice, climate change, sexual liberation/education, etc. No, my 6 year old didn't need lessons on "Heather has Two Mommies" or my 8 year old on how to wear a condom or on anal and oral sex. They needed more math, science, etc.. In one school, they had a school psychologist who treated children without asking permission of the parents or notifying them. Once they were 15, the school would not even give me their grades or let me see their records without the child's permission. It was total social engineering gone wild.

Almost everything they taught (outside of math) seemed contrary to my beliefs or even fair play. or example, in my daughter's middle school, they held class elections much like our presidential ones. They printed up very specific rules where each homeroom held a "primary" and the winners of the primary were the only candidates who ran in the "general". My daughter, who was a relatively new student in that school, ran for President. The previous years VP who was the favorite to win among the teachers (they didn't even know my daughter) was in her class and ran against her in the primary and my daughter beat her handily. The school still put the previous VP on the general ballot (despite their own printed rules) and she won the general (I really believe that was "fixed" as the girl was unpopular among students...and they had already subverted their own rules). The lesson to those middle schoolers was...that teachers/adults will always cheat...and cheating is how you win. So, all that crap your parents told you about fair play was just naiveté...or crap.

It was so painful and difficult to schedule an appointment with a teacher that often parents never met them. I kept thinking that it was just the local administration...and that each time I moved, it would get better...but it did not. It was different, yet the same.

I recently have wondered if the fact that a large portion of the teachers had no children of their own (compared to when i went to school) made them so different than my teachers...or many of those who did...sent their kids to private school and not the one they taught at.

Part of my job was working with teachers and school for several years. One thing I noted was that, when I went to school, although the teachers were mostly women..they were the brightest and best in my community (as teaching was about as well-paying a "women's" job as one could find)...while many teachers now were at the bottom of their class and many...barely literate airheads (the brightest and best became doctors, lawyers, engineers, etc.). I was also shocked at how many lived "alternative lifestyles" and were covered with facial tattoos and piercing, cross-dressed, and wore "goth" makeup, etc...or dressed like hobos for work. This was especially true in inner city schools. I know that this probably makes me sound like an up-tight, bigoted old man...but, it is just not what I expected or wanted for my kids. School was a positive experience for me as a child, but not as a parent.