Public vs. Charter vs. Private
I went to the Wood vs. Elk Grove game tonight, and it was quite an experience. It was the first time in a long time that I went somewhere and only knew 5 people; I'm used to knowing everyone. As I sat in the bleachers, I forgot about everyone around me. All the drunk girls dancing, the joke of a halftime show, the people around me who dropping the f bomb every three words, the gangsters, the preps, everything.
I took a step back for a few minutes and started to think about high school. I've had many discussions with friends about this topic: public vs. charter vs. private. My best friend goes to private, another really good friend goes to public, and James goes to Buckingham with me. Here's how it is:
Public school - It's huge. People coming from so many different backgrounds, ethnicities, religions, upbringings, etc... There's always one group of girls that stick together who think they run the school. If you think/act/talk like you're popular, you're popular. It's so big that no one even cares. The school counselor isn't concerned about getting you into college. Hell, the counselors don't even care about getting you into the right classes. Kids are in their senior years scrambling to meet college requirements because they didn't take the right classes in previous years. I give public schools a huge plus for sports and school pride though. It's nonexistent at Buckingham...
Charter school - It's small. At least at Buckingham, the teachers genuinely care about their students. The problem with being small is 1) the sports suck and 2) your school is underfunded. Oh yeah, school functions such as "rallies" and "dances" really, really blow. And at Buckingham, no one parties. Quite a big difference from public school, almost the opposite.
Private school - It's like charter school, but there's one difference. The kids. Kids at private schools [usually] have parents with money. And usually, parents with money means family lives that are stable. These kids have it easy; they don't have to worry about going home and your parents yelling at eachother. This makes school a lot easier, all you have to focus on is your classes and getting your homework done. Usually, private schools have decent sports because they play in leagues well below public school levels. And on a personal note, I love uniforms. I wish that charter schools would make wearing uniforms mandatory; everybody dresses the same, and when you go out, you stand out and people recognize what school you're from. I love that, but that's just me. I know girls hate uniforms...
If I could do it over, I would go to a huge private school. One like Saint Ignacious in SF. But for the first time in three years, I'm beginning to like Buckingham. I appreciate everything about it; the small atmosphere, the teachers who care, and knowing everybody.
I'm launching the new 1221youth.org website in a week from today, so I'll be working like crazy until that's finished.
Facebook just keeps getting better
Today's updates to the site underscored Facebook's goal of creating the best Social Networking site on the internet. They added a "Mini Feed" on everyone's profile, and it compiles everything each user had done on Facebook for the last few days. It keeps everyone else in the loop as to what you have been up to, and gives you the down low on everyone else. Plus they made viewing certain content optional with a drop down button on all their small headers. Beautiful, simply beautiful.
Getting closer to that targeted $2 billion asking price, Mark. Good luck.
Dating in high school
Retrospectively, I completely agree with my dad's advice to not date in high school. But hind sight is 20/20. And speaking of vision, I need to get some glasses; it's hard to drive when you can't see the road signs until they're 10 feet in front of you :p...
But seriously, I find dating in high school to be one of the stupidest things ever. I am passionately against it. I know of only two couples that dated all through high school and got married. I don't think I'm being pessemistic about these relationships; I think I'm just being realistic. I try being objectional objective and listen to my friends who are dating, but the more and more I see these relationships fall apart, the more and more I know my view of it is right.
Here's a list of my reasons why dating is a waste of time in high school
#1 - It's a waste of time
All the time that you could be learning, gaining an edge on everyone else in life. While they're out wasting their time with their partners, you are free to learn anything! Oh the possibilities... You could become a senior web developer, an award winning designer, an architect, a writer for the newspaper. All this time could be spent towards something that has relevant to your life after high school.
#2 - It's such a waste of money
Unless you're making $100 an hour, then you have no business taking a girl on extravagent dates. Spending your life savings on your girlfriend's birthday present is stupider than spending it on weed. Well maybe not, but they're both just as stupid. The worst is when a girl is waiting to break up with the guy, but "only after my birthday." I have a friend who did that, she got a Tiffany necklace and then broke up with him 3 days later. Smart move buddy, should have spent that $500 on yourself.
#3 - It's a waste of emotions
Emotions that you can't get back. Ok this is getting kind of gay, enough said about that.
#4 - You lose all of your friends
This is true about almost any relationship; the couple ditches everyone else so they can spend that precious time with eachother. Oh, did I mention that all that time was a waste ? If you've got close enough friends, then they'll accept you back when you've broken up with your "lover." Psh. Writing this makes me hate high school dating even more.
#5 - It's suuuuuuuch a waste of money
Money that you could invest. Money that you could pay for college with. Money that you could buy a car with. Money that you could open a company with. Money makes the world go 'round, not your stupid girlfriend.
Ok I'm done. The list is much longer, but I'm too tired to embellish. Those are my 5 main points, and I'll always stick by them. Because in the end, I'll be right every single time.
Making high school more relevant
I think one of the biggest things that high schools fail in is instilling an ethic of hard work in every student. Out of the hundreds of kids I know, only about 20% of them have jobs they work part time. Their other 80 either have parents that say "school is your full time job," or are just too busy smoking pot (or dropping e)... I think that every student should have a job in high school. I'm not talking about pointless jobs, like Taco Bell or Gap; I'm talking about real-world business jobs.
One of the things that I struggle with most is figuring out what I'm going to do after college; by working in different areas, I have eliminated quite a few. I know for a fact that I don't want to write code after college. I'm not into details; I like looking at the big picture and hypothesizing outcomes. I like computers, but I like people a million times more. These are just a few things I have found while working at TFH and now Okapi.
I think it would be extremely beneficial to high school students to work a real job; they can get a headstart on their journey of finding out what they want to do.
College night life just got better…
Collegetonight.com is an amazing social networking site... It's got some crazy potential. Check it out -- College Night Life!!!
My list of the best Flash books ever
It's nearly impossible to find a list of Flash books for developers trying to learn it; but here is a compilation of my favorites over the last four years.
- ActionScript for Flash MX: The Definitive Guide (Colin Moock) – this book was written for MX, but is the ultimate language reference. He is working on an update for Flash 9 and ActionScript 3.0
- Essential ActionScript 2.0 (Colin Moock)
- Object Oriented ActionScript (Peter Elst and Todd Yard)
- Design Patterns – Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software (Erich Gamma, Richard Helm, Ralph Johnson, John Vlissides)
- Flash Remoting: The Definitive Guide (Tom Muck)
- Programming Flash Communication Server (Brian Lesser)
I tried to put it in order. There you go.