Chapter 265. Am I in trouble? (3/4)
Aside from first-year math in the first semester, Mr. Oz taught first-year computer science in the second semester. Computer science was a very small elective course in my high school. There was only one computer science class per grade level because of how few students took it.
First-year computer science started with about thirty students at the start, but students quickly dropped this elective by the deadline date so it wouldn’t remain on their record when they either found the course was too difficult or that they weren’t cut out for it. The numbers dwindled to about twenty by the end of the second semester.
Second-year computer science, the number of students to complete it was about ten to twelve students. Third-year was even less, only around six students completed it.
Unlike my first time through life, Rosa had somehow ended up in my computer science class with me. At the start of the second semester, she’d put in a request to drop one of the other electives she’d taken and managed to get added onto the waiting list for computer science. Of course, she got in since there were people who dropped on day one as soon as they saw what the course entailed.
Sadly, though computer science was a course I thoroughly enjoyed, I couldn’t fit it into my schedule in my final year as I was too busy with AP courses, the school’s internship program, work, and volunteering.
The course was quite a time sink after all. We were encouraged to go above and beyond with bonus marks as the reward. I took it to heart and did exactly that for all the assignments we were given. Programming was quite fun, at least, Mr. Oz made it quite an enjoyable experience with the way he taught it.
Every assignment was unique and open to creativity. There were certain things the program needed to do, but how it did it was entirely up to you. The interface and how you got to the end result was decided entirely by you. You could go and hard code everything, or you could come up with clever algorithms to do everything for you.
You were encouraged to find libraries and resources online, import them, and make use of APIs. You didn’t have to code everything from scratch, you could find a function that achieved what you needed and make use of it so long as you understood what it did.
The way Mr. Oz taught computer science was completely different from the stiff, dead way introductory computer science was taught at the university I attended. It was so boring and easy I couldn’t be bothered to take the second first-year introductory course so I dropped it.
They were teaching boring crap like linked lists in Java. These kinds of assignments were the most boring uninspiring thing in the world, creating a linked list by extracting data they provided from text files.
Meanwhile, I’d already coded stuff like an entire game from the ground up in my second-year computer science course in high school.
Haaaaah. University really was a shitty place that sucked the fun out of everything I enjoyed with how stiff, stuck up, and snobbish the majority of the people I met were. Those I encountered held their noses high in the air like they were some sort of supreme overlords, I didn’t get along well with anyone because of that.
Forget it. That’s all in the past.
When I finally reopened my eyes after remaining in silence for quite some time, Mr. Oz asked, “Did you remember when you were last asked this?”
“Yes, it was in elementary school.”
“Oh? That young?”
“Yeah.”
“And what did you say back then?”
I took a steady breath in, looked Mr. Oz directly in the eyes, and calmly responded, “I don’t find class boring at all. Despite how I look all the time, I enjoy it.”
That was what I should have said back then. I shouldn’t have told the truth. Lying was the correct choice if one wanted to live a peaceful, quiet life. Good grades, high scores, big numbers, lots of money, none of those things would make you happy if you became enslaved to and shackled by them. They’re worthless to me. Completely meaningless concepts.
I learned that the hard way.
“You really aren’t bored?”
“No, I’m not.”
“But I still don’t believe you’re trying your hardest.”
“What would I gain out of trying my hardest? Some scholarship money for university? Well, I don’t have any desire to go to university, so it’d be meaningless.”
“After graduation, what use is good grades if I don’t intend to go to university, Mr. Oz? I don’t desire to do anything great in the future. In terms of jobs, jobs that require a high school education typically don’t care about what grades you received at all. As long as you have that paper that says you graduated, that's more than enough for them.”
“You’ll end up in a dead-end job with no possibility of advancement.”
“So what? There will always be people needed to do those dead-end low-paying jobs. If I step aside and take up such a position, it makes it so some other hard-working student with both the necessary ambition and dreams of a big future may be able to one day achieve them.”
“Mr. Oz, let’s say someone like me devoid of true ambition tried really hard and I ran off with a lot of scholarship money, but it turned out I had no desire to make use of the university education I acquired with that scholarship money by the end of it all. What then? I’d have effectively snatched away what could have been a potentially great person’s future.”
“In life, there will always be those left behind. Trying to leave no man behind is idealistic and naive. The lives of those who blindly strive for success are founded upon the sacrifices of those beneath them whose bodies they stepped over to reach new heights in life.”
“I’m not interested in people being sacrificed just for myself to get ahead in life. I’d rather struggle on the ground as I trudge through the mud and gradually climb my way up. To slowly create my own path forward rather than following the previously tread one laid out to me by predecessors.”
“For me, the path lined with artificial flowers isn’t the correct one like it may be for many others. The only desire I have is to build a sturdy foundation for myself where I can remain comfortable at ground level. I do not wish to mindlessly build an unsteady skyscraper all in one go to reach for the stars. Such a hastily made construct is destined to collapse once it reaches a certain height. I’m content as long as my life can remain stable, I have no interest in needless luxuries or living a lavish lifestyle.”
Mr. Oz suddenly chimed in, “Are you not being a bit narcissistic to think you’d be able to take up enough scholarships to snatch away another student's future?”
“Maybe, but the fact remains, good grades wouldn’t benefit me in any way with the path in life I wish to take.”
“Then you’re admitting you’re not trying on tests and exams?”
“I’m not admitting to anything. I’ve only given you a hypothetical situation. My personal belief is that it’s best to not be too good or too bad at things. There is something wrong with being too much of an extreme. Everything needs a balance. Too much of a good thing often leads to a bad result. One should do things in moderation, to maintain a delicate equilibrium and learn from the natural laws of this world.”
“I believe society’s notion of trying to push everyone along a spiral of endless specializations to be an obsolete and incorrect methodology. To dedicate your entire life to one small thing and that one small thing alone leads to dysfunction. When you lose that one small thing, you lose your way, your sense of self.”
“But by your logic, isn’t an approach where you’re trying to make everything balanced also an extreme in a sense? Everything being in a state of equilibrium is also a form of extremism.”
“Maybe you’re right, but how I live my life is my decision alone.”
“Haaaaah. Did you end up thinking like this because of that chronic illness you have?”
Chapter 265. Am I in trouble? (3/4)
Aside from first-year math in the first semester, Mr. Oz taught first-year computer science in the second semester. Computer science was a very small elective course in my high school. There was only one computer science class per grade level because of how few students took it.
First-year computer science started with about thirty students at the start, but students quickly dropped this elective by the deadline date so it wouldn’t remain on their record when they either found the course was too difficult or that they weren’t cut out for it. The numbers dwindled to about twenty by the end of the second semester.
Second-year computer science, the number of students to complete it was about ten to twelve students. Third-year was even less, only around six students completed it.
Unlike my first time through life, Rosa had somehow ended up in my computer science class with me. At the start of the second semester, she’d put in a request to drop one of the other electives she’d taken and managed to get added onto the waiting list for computer science. Of course, she got in since there were people who dropped on day one as soon as they saw what the course entailed.
Sadly, though computer science was a course I thoroughly enjoyed, I couldn’t fit it into my schedule in my final year as I was too busy with AP courses, the school’s internship program, work, and volunteering.
The course was quite a time sink after all. We were encouraged to go above and beyond with bonus marks as the reward. I took it to heart and did exactly that for all the assignments we were given. Programming was quite fun, at least, Mr. Oz made it quite an enjoyable experience with the way he taught it.
Every assignment was unique and open to creativity. There were certain things the program needed to do, but how it did it was entirely up to you. The interface and how you got to the end result was decided entirely by you. You could go and hard code everything, or you could come up with clever algorithms to do everything for you.
You were encouraged to find libraries and resources online, import them, and make use of APIs. You didn’t have to code everything from scratch, you could find a function that achieved what you needed and make use of it so long as you understood what it did.
The way Mr. Oz taught computer science was completely different from the stiff, dead way introductory computer science was taught at the university I attended. It was so boring and easy I couldn’t be bothered to take the second first-year introductory course so I dropped it.
They were teaching boring crap like linked lists in Java. These kinds of assignments were the most boring uninspiring thing in the world, creating a linked list by extracting data they provided from text files.
Meanwhile, I’d already coded stuff like an entire game from the ground up in my second-year computer science course in high school.
Haaaaah. University really was a shitty place that sucked the fun out of everything I enjoyed with how stiff, stuck up, and snobbish the majority of the people I met were. Those I encountered held their noses high in the air like they were some sort of supreme overlords, I didn’t get along well with anyone because of that.
Forget it. That’s all in the past.
When I finally reopened my eyes after remaining in silence for quite some time, Mr. Oz asked, “Did you remember when you were last asked this?”
“Yes, it was in elementary school.”
“Oh? That young?”
“Yeah.”
“And what did you say back then?”
I took a steady breath in, looked Mr. Oz directly in the eyes, and calmly responded, “I don’t find class boring at all. Despite how I look all the time, I enjoy it.”
That was what I should have said back then. I shouldn’t have told the truth. Lying was the correct choice if one wanted to live a peaceful, quiet life. Good grades, high scores, big numbers, lots of money, none of those things would make you happy if you became enslaved to and shackled by them. They’re worthless to me. Completely meaningless concepts.
I learned that the hard way.
“You really aren’t bored?”
“No, I’m not.”
“But I still don’t believe you’re trying your hardest.”
“What would I gain out of trying my hardest? Some scholarship money for university? Well, I don’t have any desire to go to university, so it’d be meaningless.”
“After graduation, what use is good grades if I don’t intend to go to university, Mr. Oz? I don’t desire to do anything great in the future. In terms of jobs, jobs that require a high school education typically don’t care about what grades you received at all. As long as you have that paper that says you graduated, that's more than enough for them.”
“You’ll end up in a dead-end job with no possibility of advancement.”
“So what? There will always be people needed to do those dead-end low-paying jobs. If I step aside and take up such a position, it makes it so some other hard-working student with both the necessary ambition and dreams of a big future may be able to one day achieve them.”
“Mr. Oz, let’s say someone like me devoid of true ambition tried really hard and I ran off with a lot of scholarship money, but it turned out I had no desire to make use of the university education I acquired with that scholarship money by the end of it all. What then? I’d have effectively snatched away what could have been a potentially great person’s future.”
“In life, there will always be those left behind. Trying to leave no man behind is idealistic and naive. The lives of those who blindly strive for success are founded upon the sacrifices of those beneath them whose bodies they stepped over to reach new heights in life.”
“I’m not interested in people being sacrificed just for myself to get ahead in life. I’d rather struggle on the ground as I trudge through the mud and gradually climb my way up. To slowly create my own path forward rather than following the previously tread one laid out to me by predecessors.”
“For me, the path lined with artificial flowers isn’t the correct one like it may be for many others. The only desire I have is to build a sturdy foundation for myself where I can remain comfortable at ground level. I do not wish to mindlessly build an unsteady skyscraper all in one go to reach for the stars. Such a hastily made construct is destined to collapse once it reaches a certain height. I’m content as long as my life can remain stable, I have no interest in needless luxuries or living a lavish lifestyle.”
Mr. Oz suddenly chimed in, “Are you not being a bit narcissistic to think you’d be able to take up enough scholarships to snatch away another student's future?”
“Maybe, but the fact remains, good grades wouldn’t benefit me in any way with the path in life I wish to take.”
“Then you’re admitting you’re not trying on tests and exams?”
“I’m not admitting to anything. I’ve only given you a hypothetical situation. My personal belief is that it’s best to not be too good or too bad at things. There is something wrong with being too much of an extreme. Everything needs a balance. Too much of a good thing often leads to a bad result. One should do things in moderation, to maintain a delicate equilibrium and learn from the natural laws of this world.”
“I believe society’s notion of trying to push everyone along a spiral of endless specializations to be an obsolete and incorrect methodology. To dedicate your entire life to one small thing and that one small thing alone leads to dysfunction. When you lose that one small thing, you lose your way, your sense of self.”
“But by your logic, isn’t an approach where you’re trying to make everything balanced also an extreme in a sense? Everything being in a state of equilibrium is also a form of extremism.”
“Maybe you’re right, but how I live my life is my decision alone.”
“Haaaaah. Did you end up thinking like this because of that chronic illness you have?”
