From: Matt Blaze <mab@crypto.com>
Date: Sun, 27 Nov 94 15:42:13 PST
To: Jonathan Cooper <entropy@intnet.net>
Subject: Re: School Admins
In-Reply-To: <Pine.SV4.3.91.941127165326.20580B-100000@xcalibur>
Message-ID: <199411272344.SAA20359@crypto.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


>   Thanks, but no thanks.  I would like to graduate this June and I 
>intend to do so.  This incident occurred last year and the offending 
>admin is no longer with our school.  
>

Hi,

One of the most surprising things that I discovered after dropping
out of high school (in my senior year) is just how little my "permanent
record" in school affected me after I was out.  In particular, colleges
are remarkably flexible about admiting people with interesting backgrounds
who have demonstrated interests and skills in "non-standard" ways
and who seem to know why they want an education.  (In other words, schools
look for reasons to admit people who may not have good grades but who've
done interesting things and who show unusual interests.  Sometimes
all you have to do to show this is write a good essay or get a
convincing letter of recommendation from someone who knows you well
and has seen a side of you not reflected in your formal "record").

I'm mentioning this not to encourage you to drop out or to think that
nothing you do matters, but rather because your posts remind me of
me, 15 years ago.   I believed, as you seem to, the message that my high
school was sending: do things exactly the "right way" or you'll never
get anywhere.  In fact, I've discovered almost exactly the opposite to be
true.  The fact that you're doing unusual stuff like exploring computers
and cryptography and the like suggests that you will have an
easier time than you might think being successful in the much less 
structured life that you will be living after you finish high school.

Don't let anyone tell you that success in high school is the only
route to success in real life.  The best kinds of success in life come
from finding ways to expand and exploit your own interests and intellect.
High schools rarely teach you anything about how to do this.

-matt (who dropped out of HS, and now has all the credentials that he
needs to do what he likes with his life)