Thu, 23 February 2017
Did you ever fantasize about dropping out of high school? I sure did. So much so that I wound up taking the leap into the unknown. Stupid as it was, I dropped out and left Canada’s free education system without a high school diploma. (Don’t get distracted now … … but for the full story, right-click and open a new tab to read What To Do If You Or Someone You Love Wants To Drop Out Of High School.) The question is … Given all the amazing information I found myself learning on my own without interference of schools, boring teachers and their rules …
Why On Earth Go Back To School?
It’s a simple story, really. I went back to graduate with my friends … even though I wasn’t graduating. Actually, as cool as all my friends in high school were … There was a girl named Kelly. I had a huge crush on her! I don’t remember all the circumstances, but somehow I wound up taking her to a prom to celebrate a graduation I wasn’t completing! Everyone but Kelly thought it was awkward and weird. I mean … just imagine: One of the most popular girls in school was going to attend high school graduation with a dropout.
It Was A Year Of Living Dangerously!
In reality, I was the obvious choice. After all, I’d gone through an entire encyclopedia during my time off and listened to educational radio programming every morning. Whereas most others had sat in desks and tapped their pencils against textbooks they found exhausting, I’d left disgusted by what I saw as an epic waste of time. But as smart as that move may have been, I was still a Heavy Metal Moron with barely two nuts rolling around in my head. No one in their right mind drops out of high school. Even so, I’m glad I did. And because I did, I could make my return as a Heavy Metal Renaissance Man armored in everything but the Magnetic Memory Method. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Oh, my … Kelly … I remember her so well. Kelly wore a tight blue dress.
The Kind Of Dress That Should Be Illegal …
Then again, it’s the illegal character of her dress that made it so memorable! For my part, I dressed like James Bond. My white Tuxedo jacket made me stick out like a sore thumb, but it was fun. Different. Totally my style. Together, Kelly and I looked like we were trying to be undercover spies in a high school espionage movie.
Only Sheep Need A Leader
But at some point during the evening, Kelly squirmed away from my protective grip and I found myself hanging out with Sophie. Background: Sophie and I became fast friends in Grade 10 and worked on a Western Civilization project together. It was called Only Sheep Need A Leader and involved an alternative history of Ancient Egypt. I won’t get into it the entire assignment, but just imagine Moses battling aliens after discovering that the pyramids were actually interstellar space ships. Somehow we got an A on that project, even if we completely rejected factual history in our reports. Whatever. We had weird teachers … The thing is this: I wound up spending a lot of time with Sophie and often went with her on trips to her mom’s place near Vancouver. Her mom was a professor and made a HUGE impression on me. After all, she was an author of a book you actually came across in bookstores in Canada and always seemed to be writing or traveling somewhere to give a speech. But that kind of future as an author and professor was beyond my imagination …
Especially As A High School Dropout!
That’s why it must have been an act of fate when Sophie’s mom found out on graduation night that I was attending only to celebrate, not walk away with a Dogwood like everyone else (Dogwood = fancy talk for “high school diploma” out in B.C.). I wasn’t using memory techniques back then, so can’t rattle the exact discussion off the top of my head. But it started with dismay … Then shifted to refusal … And ended with persuasion. Persuasion so strong I did exactly what Sophie’s mom told me! You must finish your high school degree, Sophie’s mom told me. You’re exactly the kind of guy who should become a professor.
Stay In School Until You’ve Reached The Very Top!
That was her ultimate message. Get every degree you can until they won't reward you any more.Click To TweetEven though it wasn’t easy … Even though I wound up experiencing a long series of mysterious twists and turns … And even though I don’t teach at a traditional university outside of the Magnetic Memory Method Online University these days …
Memory Techniques Helped Me Get Every Degree You Can Get |