Life after ACE schooling (and hello!)

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Sasha94's picture
@cognostic Thanks for the

@cognostic Thanks for the advice! This is actually my biggest downfall, memory, and I don't know whether it was, again, down to my schooling, because they employed an educational system which was akin to "read the text and fill in the blanks" and progress at your own pace. What a dumb method to get a hyper-active dyslexic kid like I was to learn anything. Me sitting at my boxed off desk just staring at a book while twiddling my thumbs for 10 years was the result. Definitely need to get on top of my memory work so this will be useful!

Cognostic's picture
I had no time to study at

I had no time to study at university. I had 3 books minimum to read for each of 3 classes. I spend my weekends reading and studying. I had to recall vast amounts of information. TRUE STORY:

I had a test in a class and so I bought my blue book and went in to sit for the exam. The professor put two questions on the board. ESSAY. I began by opening the blue book and recalling all the concepts I had read over the last 3 months (Quarter System).

I wrote about 60 different concepts by recalling them using the Roman Room. Then I looked at the first question and went through the list of concepts. I put a check by all that applied to the question. I wrote my reply. I then did the same thing with the second question.

The next week the teacher was giving back the papers. I was waiting for my name to be called. It did not get called. After all the names had been called and all the tests handed out, the professor held up mine, called out my name, and said, "see me after class."

I met the teacher after class and he asked me about the list of 60 or so concepts that I had written on the inner leaf of the front page. He thought they might have been in the book prior to the test. I pulled out a slip of paper and simply began writing them again. I got to about #10 and he said thank you Mr. ___ great job. I got my 'A'

Seriously, spend some time on this. You can cut your study time in half over night and even more the more you use the system. YOU HAVE A PERFECT MEMORY. Memory is not something you have, it's something you do.

Sasha94's picture
@Cognostic It is a pretty

@Cognostic It is a pretty motivating true story. Getting better at memory is something I will HAVE to master. 90% of all my studying is reading as I am distance learning and you know what they say about how much information from reading actually 'sticks' (like <30%?). My school never 'did' exams, so my first exam is in June and I haven't really developed those timed under pressure memory skills yet. I'm going to give these techniques you've sent me a good rehearse and start implementing them!

LogicFTW's picture
@Cognostic

@Cognostic

Playing word games is also very useful. The Planets - "My Violent Evil Monster Just Scared Us Nuts. Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, (Pluto is no longer a planet.)

What happened to Uranus? (Us) ???!?

Yeah yeah, I know juvenile, but... I just could not resist, you set it up so perfectly.

Tin-Man's picture
@Logic Re: To Cog - "What

@Logic Re: To Cog - "What happened to Uranus? (Us) ???!?"

Please, please, please, don't ask him that!!! I'm afraid he might actually tell us!... EEEEeeeeek!

Cognostic's picture
He he he ..... And it

He he he ..... And it certainly helps to review. It's up there "Us" Obviously I missed it. Still would have been a decent test score.... -1 . LOL

terraphon's picture
I have not heard of ACE and I

I have not heard of ACE and I didn't have an extreme religious education (outside of getting things rammed down my throat by the Mormon church for years and years). That ACE thing sounds like a shit-show to me, though.

There have been a few good stories in here that show you don't have to have the best formal education or childhood experience in the world in order to succeed. I'm going to add mine.

I was removed from High School in the third month of my fourth year, due to anger management issues that resulted in violent outbursts, assaults, etc.

A couple of months later I went to court on a traffic ticket and, due to my juvenile criminal record, was adjudicated a "juvenile delinquent". I was told to have a job and GED within 90 days or I would be placed in juvenile detention until my 18th birthday, then in prison until my 19th.

Considering the fact that I hadn't received a passing grade in any class since my second year of high school, life was going to be a bit of a challenge, I thought.

So, I got my GED, I got a job, I started making a paycheck and I never looked back. I tried college and that lasted me about half of a semester before I realized that I don't do well being taught by conventional methods. I wasn't as bad off as Cog...I could read and write but my spelling was atrocious, my grammar was like that of a goat that had been struck in the head with a brick and due to the ADHD which had carried over from childhood, I couldn't concentrate on anything for more than five *oooh...sparkly*

My Mormon family told me that I would never get anywhere without a degree from a university and I believed them, for a long time. I allowed myself to slip into despair for a few years and settled for a crappy, $11.00/hr day job and moonlighting as a bouncer in dive bars, on which I could barely pay my bills and put food on the table. I lived on ramen noodles, grilled cheese sandwiches, bar food and 5 hours of sleep a night for a long, long time.

Then I got fed up.

I looked at my life, one day, and said: "nope, I'm not going to live like this!". So I did the only thing I could do: I started to teach myself. At this point (I'm 47 now), I am entirely self-taught beyond the tenth-grade education I had. I taught myself to spell, I taught myself grammar and the rules of American English, I learned the rules and methods of logic and reason. I taught myself networking and technology and science and some basic engineering and physics and chemistry and medicine and law and philosophy and myriad other things. I learned to express myself without violence and anger, and how to be a viable social creature. I learned how to harness my ADHD and turned it into something that benefits me. I never gave up. I always pushed ahead.

To this day, I am interested in little more than bettering my position. I can only do that through knowledge and hard work. I don't have that piece of paper to fall back on and I highly doubt I will ever be able to achieve that university degree. Without it, though, I have a good job, working for a great company and get paid a very good wage. I could ask for little more in life.

If you're wondering what the point is, here it comes:

You're at a disadvantage, educationally. That sucks. You're also clearly intelligent and articulate. Those things go a long, long way. Never give up. Never slip. Always push on. NEVER SETTLE. No matter how far away that light at the end of the tunnel appears to be, it's there...And I promise it's not always a train, even though sometimes it is. When it is a train and you get squashed by life, get up. Dust yourself off and carry on. "Walk it off" as my father would say. If you keep your chin tucked and keep pushing forward, you will be surprised where you can get in life.

You got screwed...handed a bad lot in life, thus far. Take that and own it. Make it a source of power for yourself and see how far and how quickly you can rise above what should be your "limits".

I'll offer the same thing Cog did: If you would like to discuss this further, want some advice or just need a sounding board to bounce things off of, feel free to PM me.

Sasha94's picture
@Terraphon Thank you for your

@Terraphon Thank you for your really inspirational story, and sorry I am pretty late in replying to it. Your shared experience along with a few others' on here have really boosted me up and made me feel less of a crap hopeless thing that I was only a few weeks ago. It seems there really is a lot of people who have gone against the odds and achieved a lot despite their crappy upbringing. Its really too easy to look at the high achievers who had it all come their way from day 1 and think that only these types of people succeed. Especially when it comes to wanting to go into a highly academic field like science where the majority of graduates had a pretty wealthy and normal upbringing. "Walk it off" is a very good quote, I will have to remember this!

Cognostic's picture
Terraphon; I loved your

Terraphon; I loved your story. If we had met up as juveniles we could have gone to jail together.

What I really liked was "The Turning Point." I still remember mine, I was working as a stock clerk for $8.00 an hour at the Grant Boy's warehouse in Costa Mesa California.

I was stacking Levi's jeans, three this way and three that way, so the stacks would be even. There were two men next to me talking about their families and bills. I was probably 18 at the time. I had enough sense to realize, as a single man, I was barely making ends meet. Then I wondered how the hell they were doing it with families? I needed to grow the fk up and get an education. That was the turning point. I did not want a life like my own family. *grew up on welfare with a single abusive mom. I did not want a life like these full grown men. Probably in their 40s. I knew my only way out was education. (Obviously it wasn't as evidenced by Terraphon. ) That is when the switch clicked. It was not always up hill from there, but I had a goal and come hell or high water I stuck to it. There was a low point where I was living in a Toyota pickup truck. Sleeping under a camper shell in the back. I would study at Denny's until 3 AM and then go out in the rain, get under the leaking camper shell, and cry myself to sleep. Okay, it was only a few weeks and it did not rain every day. But I continued to study and I hung in there. Make it your goal and you can do it.

Cognostic's picture
Okay, I shared my turning

Okay, I shared my turning point and one occasion that I really had to work through to be successful. ANOTHER WORD OF ADVICE. VERY SERIOUS!!!!

STAY AWAY FROM LOSERS. STAY AWAY FROM POISON PEOPLE.
If anyone says anything discouraging to you, you mark that person off your friendship list and never see them again. Winners do not have time for losers. This includes family. You find people that support you, encourage you, and sometimes even help you. You will find that when you are serious and really trying to achieve something, help comes to you. People love to help others who are really motivated to achieve a goal. People don't like donating to deadbeats. It may be tough but I think you are going to find that with the right mental attitude help will usually come from some of the most unexpected places. People like people who are successful. BE SUCCESSFUL Don't waste time on the nay-sayers. Your life is important. Treat it like it is.

Sasha94's picture
@Cognostic Funny you should

@Cognostic Funny you should say this, I had a pretty toxic relationship with someone recently who completely took advantage of my said poor education. He tore me down and made me feel like there was something wrong with me in order to make himself feel very intelligent. This contributed towards my paranoia of being deemed 'unintelligent' as he was constantly testing me and trying to show me up for not knowing certain things. It still eats away at me and contributes to my motivation to one day be really well educated. After this experience I promised myself I'd never be in a situation where my partner could take advantage of me intellectually ever again, and most certainly not mix with this kind of poisonous person who drags me down, so well said, I couldn't agree more!

Cognostic's picture
A smart person is someone who

A smart person is someone who thinks he / she knows a lot. A wise person is someone who understands what he/she does not know.

The information is always out there and you can fact check anyone on any topic. There is never an occasion for a wise person to feel "less smart."

terraphon's picture
@Cog

@Cog

I knew my only way out was education. (Obviously it wasn't as evidenced by Terraphon. )

I feel the first part of this statement was more correct. If I hadn't educated myself I'd still be a mess. I don't have a formal education but I'd wager I am better educated than many people who have advanced degrees...And I know what it's like to sleep in the car, my friend. I've spent more nights there than I would like to remember. Does wonders if your goal is to have aching joints!

@Sasha

Cognostic said this:

STAY AWAY FROM LOSERS. STAY AWAY FROM POISON PEOPLE.

He is more correct than I can express. Surround yourself with positive minded people who are better educated and more successful than you are. Network. Feed off of their knowledge and success. Use it to ground you and steel you. If one of them dumps on you, write them off. Negativity has no place in your life. Always be moving forward, no matter what.

From time to time, you will have to look at someone and say "You're dead to me" (metaphorically, of course. I've never actually said that to anyone but I've scratched many a name off my list of acquaintances.).

Another thing I'll add: Strive to be more than you are, every day. Never look at a task or job or anything and say "I'm not qualified/educated/good enough for that". If something scares you, DO IT. If you feel like you're not qualified for a position, go after it and make yourself qualified. Thumb your nose at that little voice that tells you that you're not good enough...Hell, give it the finger!

You got this!

edit: that/than

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