To be honest, though, I've completely lost faith in certifications and degrees. Nothing can substitute real-life experience, and I'm starting to see smart employers realising this — in particular outside of the USA. There are too many people running around with amazing qualifications that wouldn't know how to flush a toilet in the real world. This is particularly evident to me in the IT industry.
That isn't to say that I advocate dropping out from school; I believe that for some people they couldn't function without a rich education because of how their brain works. Education is a very personal thing, which can work for some people and not for others.
During my education, circumstance had me change schools several times. I began with two years of kindergarten because it was fashionable at the time, and then started school at a public school (or state school if you're a Pom) until the end of Grade 1.
From Grade 2 onwards, I became a private school boy — Initially starting at Trinity in Melbourne for one year, then moving to Hutchins in Hobart for three years.
My family moved back to Melbourne in 1994 so I returned to Trinity for Grade 6. This year was a painful eye-opener to me with regards to what friends at school are really like: They're more like acquaintances that become friends because it's convenient at the time. I feel that much of my cynical attitude towards life developed during this year.
My final move was to Yarra. This wasn't such a bad school, but at the time it was undergoing some difficult changes which seemed disruptive for the staff there.
Since I switched between different private schools in different states, I experienced many differences in curriculum. Notably, every history lesson I had during my schooling involved a major study of World War Ⅱ. Many other subjects were also repeated, ultimately resulting in vast amounts of boredom.
Unfortunately the school counsellor during Grade 11 was an ignorant cow. She accused me, behind my back, of being on drugs, and modified my subject selection without my permission away from subjects I was interested in (advanced mathematics, physics, and so on) to subjects I couldn't care less about (biology, for example). As a result, my grades fell just as quickly as my interest in school did.
Boredom was one thing, but I was also sinking into depression. The arrogant action on the part of the school was simply the crux that pushed me into leaving school.
Continue reading: parts three, four and five.
