Posted on 12/19/2004 9:50:31 PM PST by AVNevis
OK, normally I would never post this thread. But things are slow tonight and I am bored so I will.
I would like to see if anyone has suggestions for college. I am a high school freshman with a 3.8 GPA (And that's before you factor in the advanced classes) and who consistantly ranks among the top 10% of California students on standardized tests. I live in Sacramento and would like to stay in California if possible. I would also like to go to a public school unless I could get a scholership. I am looking at a major in political science.
A few that I am thinking about right now are UC Berkely, UCLA, UC Davis, and Sacramento State, but am open to others.
Obviously I still have a few years to think about this, but as I said earlier, I found tonight an opportunity to start exploring.
Comments?
That's tough but not impossible. My state representative (equivalent to your assembaly) was just re-elected at 24. He won his first term at 22.
It is a mix of exurban and rural areas in my district. My rep won his first race against 5 primary opponents (4 of them elected county or township officials). He also defeated the democrat by a 2.5-1 margin. All candidates except possibly two were conservatives, and all ran as conservatives (all claimed to be pro-life and pro-2a) so ideology was not a real issue here either.
My rep won his first race by knocking on 15,000 doors and being a life long resident of a very tight knit agricultural based small town community. Most active residents knew him, or knew his parents, aunts, uncles, etc. It was a classic case of small town politics.
The other state rep in my county won his first state rep race at 28. He had held an elected position since he was 18 when he won a race for township trustee.
That is the exception and not the rule. If you want to be a state rep at 26, you should probably run for a county, city, or township office at 21 or so. A state rep race in my area of Michigan usually cost $30,000 or more. In the Detroit area, it costs more. In California, I'm sure it's even more. My state rep won his race with $10,000.(most spend $25,000 in the PRIMARY).
I hope I'm not overwhelming you here, but campaigns take a lot of hard work, smart work, planning, good people backing you, the right demographics, and a little luck as well.
BTW, I happen to think that a political science major is not necessarily the best route to eventually running for office. In my opinion, most poli sci curricula do not offer the "hands on" practical knowledge needed to run for office as a candidate. I was once majored in the same subject and had much the same ambitions. My gut reaction to poli sci was that I liked the major, but didn't like many of the profs teaching it. Personally, I'd like to see more business people running for government. At least they'd know how to balance a budget (by and large .... :-).
and who
scholership
You should take a couple of years to wander, read and search for meaning. Anyone your age who wants to major in political science is missing something.
I would give you two pieces of advice:
1. Never confuse school with education...never confuse education with vocation...never confuse having a good degree and a good job with being a good person and contributing to society.
2. If you're this interested in political science, I would advise against actually majoring in it. You will learn plenty and plenty about politics along the way. Just make sure you read the new classics - Hayek, Friedman, Coulter (hah!), the Federalist, and the Constitution.
The problem with polisci departments is they're stuffed full of profs who are essentially political exchange students from Washington. This makes them very liberal and bitterly idealistic, and insensitive to the actual processes of politics - or shamelessly committed to the bureaucracy.
I majored in engineering at a small technical college north of Boston (some place called MIT), and I learned so much about 'political science' by learning about large engineering projects, government funding, the nation's collegiate policies and listening to acerbic radio talkers like the great Howie Carr.
At about your age, I wanted to major in polisci and/or econ along with engineering. but politics is like car driving - practice, experience and connections beat a piece of paper any day. Keep the connections up, see what you can get involved in in Sacramento.
There are LOTS of opportunities in politics besides running for office or working as a staffer...I'm 23 and I could get involved in lobbying or policy if I wanted.
And, since it's gettign competitive, keep those grades and test scores up. you'll need every point you can get, but don't confuse it with your self-worth.
And for heaven's sake, don't let those crazy colege libs turn you!
I took a year and 1/2 off(Smartest move I made) of school before going back. The field experience was the best thing for me.
Of the classes I took, 40% was a complete waste of my time outside of credits. Most of this was general requirements and the PC garbage. 30% was theory and or/history and related. 10% was polls and related.
Unfortunatly, there was no class on campaigning fieldwork outside of an independent study one which didn't work well for someone who went through three majors.
Exactly...for me, about 80% of my engineering curriculum was useful stuff, and I could take the meaningful humanities courses without getting herded into 'contemporary lesbian women's issues in the empowerment remodernization movement of contemporary post-Soviet central Asian contemporary affairs."
(You don't know how fun it was to write that)
However, I think can recommend in good faith that you try to finish up high school as quickly as possible. See your counselor and find out what it'll take to finish up in three years -- or even two -- and then try to do it. Remember, high school, particularly in California, is not so much aimed at bright kids as at slow kids. And I won't say anything about the teachers, some of whom no doubt would benefit taking a class from you! So why stay there? Your wasting your time and you're being held back.
It's often been noted that a reasonably bright, motivated freshman can learn more in one or two semesters at a good university than he learned in 12 years of school prior to getting to university. And the subjects you'll study at the college level are SOOOO much more interesting and fun. So go for it, and you might even easily beat Tom McClintock's record! Good luck. :-)
Yes, exactly. I ran into many of those in my time. The ONLY poli sci prof that was interesting and worth listening to, where I studied, had actually run for office and knew what he was talking about ;-).
Ugh, I would definitely disagree with this. School is not about cramming as much into your head as quickly as possible. It's largely about maturing as well, and I have never in my life known a 16-year-old that was ready for full-time college.
What's the big hurry? If one has such a burning desire to get involved in college-level courses, and high-school level courses are just so much tripe, one shouldn't have any trouble enrolling in a college class while in high school and keeping up. But ultimately, I guess I just don't get what the big hurry is. College will still be there, trudging through an uninteresting year or so of high school will be good training for trudging through boring work, etc.
Go to any community college and get the A.A. degree in computer programming (data processing) -- which gives you the basic education anybody needs to do whatever it is you want to do.
If your goal is specifically to be in elected office, volunteer at the party headquarters and do whatever they'll let you do.
It's a pretty simple, proven path.
Besides...in politics you'll have to work with a TON of morons and kiss a LOT of butt...might as well practice in high school. And while the advice against hanging with loafers is very good, don't forget to make some friends for life who can support you if everything goes to hell (as happens every now and then.)
Does anyone know which president initiated the Gadsden Purchase? Anyone? Anyone? The Gadsden Purchase? Anyone? Anyone? Anyone? Anyone...
It's a waste of time, imo, that's all, okay? A complete waste of time. Particularly for someone who has already demonstrated quite a bit of intellectual maturity, curiosity and drive.
To me this kid seems very bright, highly motivated, and he has some rather lofty and admirable goals, which he wants to achieve by the time he's 26. Attack while the fire is hot, I say! But you're right, I wouldn't push every kid to do this.
lol
I know you want to stay on the west coast, but I would really recommend you take a look at Hillsdale College in Michigan. The school is not for everyone, but if you want to major in political science, it is a great conservative school (and heck, Ann Coulter and Clarence Thomas visit!) As a student there, I am somewhat biased, but the mix of Christianity as well as conservative values and beliefs is amazing. Freepmail me and we can chat =) Young Conservatives! w00t!
I would suggest that someone who cannot find something to pique his interests (beyond Dick and Jane, of course) in most high schools is, himself, retarded.
It's a waste of time, imo, that's all, okay? A complete waste of time. Particularly for someone who has already demonstrated quite a bit of intellectual maturity, curiosity and drive.
Huh? You got all of that from a couple of sentences in the original post? I'll leave open the possibility that you know the kid personally, in which case you have a distinct advantage over the rest of us in speaking about him. Maybe I'm too harsh, but a couple of posts on a forum do not "intellectual maturity, curiosity and drive" make. And while I certainly don't think he's remedial or retarded or whatever, I don't think rushing through high school is the answer to a student that *might* be gifted. I don't think it's hardly ever the answer to anything other than, "How can I get into something too soon and raise my chances of failure?" Answer: "Rush through high school."
Jeez . . . AV, you got my metaphor, didn't you? Don't hang with the lowest common denominator any longer than necessary. You're doing yourself no favors if you do, and the inertia of those people will hold you back. Now of course, there are many smart people in high school, but they're not the people riding the brakes.
You might also consider signing up for as many "gifted program courses" or "advanced placement courses," etc., as your high school offers. If you breeze through all those, you're ready for college!
Claremont, where Peter Drucker still holds favor.
[Apologies in advance - it's late and this is far too long and ranting.]
I noticed that you really didn't address anything I brought up beyond "Jeez". I'm always happy to understand points of view that differ from my own, but there's not much I can do with "Jeez". FWIW, I hope you'll notice that I never said to "hang with the lowest common denominator", and your interjection of such (along with the rest of your post) suggests you might not have understood what I was saying.
I don't think anyone should be held back from things for which they are intellectually, emotionally, and/or physically ready. I think we agree on that point. I guess I just disagree what "emotionally...ready" would mean in that case; there are simply few, if any, 16-year-olds who would be ready for college full-time.
I also think you treat it as something of a binary argument: EITHER high school OR college. Would you not agree that there are plenty of other stimuli outside of school in which one might engage if one isn't being overly challenged in high school?
Finally, as I mentioned in a previous post, AP courses are truly hit-and-miss. If you're concerned about the quality of teaching in high schools, as it certainly sounds, I would think you would also be concerned for the quality of teaching in high school AP classes. I took a couple before I graduated about 12 years ago, and can say that they did basically nothing to *really* prepare me for college. The big example of that was AP calculus, which basically existed to teach little tricks of integration. Before college calc and college physics, the /qua/ and purpose of calculus remained a mystery, but darned if I couldn't integrate with the best of 'em! To say that figuring out integration tricks (or, indeed, gaining the incremental bits of knowledge that exist only in AP classes) means "you're ready for college!" is to ignore a whole class of issues that go along with growing up and going to college.
But I could be wrong. Admittedly, my sample size is rather small: one. I'd love to hear how AP classes helped prepare people for college beyond just allowing them to test out of college courses and save them 3 hours one semester. Heck, I *know* the counter-example - someone who successfully entered college at 16 - exists out there, though I suspect there are twenty stories of failure and burnout for every one story of success. But ultimately, who knows - maybe AV is that "one".
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.