be honest , are you the most successful person from your year of high school?

[ZephyrHawk]

Dunno. That depends on how you measure success, really. I came from a fairly small school (about 120 in my class), with a 0% dropout rate and about an 80% college attendance rate. Everyone was just expected to succeed. I went to the best college in my state, and so did about 25 other kids from my pretty small class. I was considered among the top prospects in my class, and I was just expected to perform up to a certain level. I think I've achieved that, but I don't know if I've exceeded expectations in any way. But then, I'm not certain anyone else from my class has either. As far as I know nobody's discovered anything important or published anything earth-shaking. A few own companies, but they tended to have inherited those from their parents. None advanced to the pro level of any sport, or became famous for entertainment reasons. Those I keep up with all seem to have jobs and families and happy lives. Two have died (car crash and cancer). I guess I don't know what counts as success.

 

[AnnaFloridaLover]

I know someone who goes on and on about their advanced degrees. This guy is quite impressed with himself. Nobody cares and most of our family and friends are much more successful and we are secure enough that we don't have to convince others of our greatness. Not even on the internet.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Yeah, we just view it differently.

I value what someone did 20 years ago because it means something now.....neither my DH nor I could have the jobs we have had we not gotten advanced degrees. My husband has moved up the ladder to the point where he can only move one more step and he is unwilling to do so because it would require about twice the time and effort he is currently giving and he would rather use that time with his kids before they are grown and have family time. That is fine with me. It was a conscious decision on our part.

I can't tell you the 40 something year olds who complain to me that they can't do X or Y because they don't have "that piece of paper." One of my friend's husband's drives me nuts. He is literally 1 year away from completing his degree, which in his line of work would mean an immediate promotion and salary increase. His former school of 25+ years ago is willing to work with him and credit him for everything he took in the past. They are offering online and night classes. He won't do it. Instead he complains and gripes. Over 10 years of it.

Anyway, don't mean to go on and on about it. I fully understand others have different measures of what success means.

Yeah, it's a matter of whether that degree is in & of itself a measure of success, or if it's merely a step you took en route to achieving success. The end result is the same.

Now, your husband's friend has a point - to an extent. IMO awarding promotions & higher salaries based on a piece of paper is completely ridiculous UNLESS holding said piece of paper actually makes you more effective at the job.

I'll give a perfect example: my mother. She taught PE for 25 years. About 20 years in, she got her masters. That was an automatic $5,000 bump in pay, and she's carried that bump into retirement - 20 years & counting. And she'd be the first to admit that extra degree did ZERO to make her a more effective teacher. But, she bought her way into "the club" and they paid her for it. So, ridiculous as it was, she played their game and your husband's friend should do the same if he's really looking at an automatic betterment because of a piece of paper.

To be certain, advanced degrees are necessary to your performance in many, many cases - doctor & lawyer being obvious examples. In other cases, requiring such is just a form of discrimination. It doesn't matter if you're the best salesman we've ever had, without an MBA we can't make you "VP".

 

[AnnaFloridaLover]

Yeah, it's a matter of whether that degree is in & of itself a measure of success, or if it's merely a step you took en route to achieving success. The end result is the same.

Now, your husband's friend has a point - to an extent. IMO awarding promotions & higher salaries based on a piece of paper is completely ridiculous UNLESS holding said piece of paper actually makes you more effective at the job.

I'll give a perfect example: my mother. She taught PE for 25 years. About 20 years in, she got her masters. That was an automatic $5,000 bump in pay, and she's carried that bump into retirement - 20 years & counting. And she'd be the first to admit that extra degree did ZERO to make her a more effective teacher. But, she bought her way into "the club" and they paid her for it. So, ridiculous as it was, she played their game and your husband's friend should do the same if he's really looking at an automatic betterment because of a piece of paper.

To be certain, advanced degrees are necessary to your performance in many, many cases - doctor & lawyer being obvious examples. In other cases, requiring such is just a form of discrimination. It doesn't matter if you're the best salesman we've ever had, without an MBA we can't make you "VP".

Perfectly stated.

 

[Andtototoo]

I would say the most successful person in my class was a woman who became an electrician, opened her own business, and retired at 55. I am not that woman.

 

[Colleen27]

I have absolutely no idea. Almost 200 kids in my graduating class, I know what 5 or 6 of them are up to today. Even among those few, the answer would depend on how you define success - career, money, education, etc. One has a master's degree and is doing what she's always wanted to do, career-wise, but will never make much money. Another has a very successful career that pays well, but has moved around a lot and isn't where she'd like to be in her personal life. Two of us are SAHMs of middle class means who put career/education on hold to be home with our kids. None of us are wildly successful by any conventional measure but we're all mostly happy with our lot in life.

 

[jiminyC_fan]

400 in my graduating class. I have zero idea who is successful and who isn't. I honestly could care less. I left high school behind when I entered the adult world.

 

[justgrace]

Well, i just graduated last year...

I get a substantial amount of money "refunded" to me each semester from my school because the amount of scholarships I received goes over the cost of attendance. While all of my friends are getting into deep debt by going to schools in other states (and they chose not to apply for scholarships because they expected mom and dad to cover all their costs), I'm getting a great education and getting paid to do so in my own home state. I'd say that I'm the most successful person from my year of high school!

I also get to spend time with the ones I love most whenever I choose to because I attend a school near to home. I feel that that makes me the richest and most successful person from my high school by far!

 

[DawnM]

Yeah, it's a matter of whether that degree is in & of itself a measure of success, or if it's merely a step you took en route to achieving success. The end result is the same.

Now, your husband's friend has a point - to an extent. IMO awarding promotions & higher salaries based on a piece of paper is completely ridiculous UNLESS holding said piece of paper actually makes you more effective at the job.

I'll give a perfect example: my mother. She taught PE for 25 years. About 20 years in, she got her masters. That was an automatic $5,000 bump in pay, and she's carried that bump into retirement - 20 years & counting. And she'd be the first to admit that extra degree did ZERO to make her a more effective teacher. But, she bought her way into "the club" and they paid her for it. So, ridiculous as it was, she played their game and your husband's friend should do the same if he's really looking at an automatic betterment because of a piece of paper.

To be certain, advanced degrees are necessary to your performance in many, many cases - doctor & lawyer being obvious examples. In other cases, requiring such is just a form of discrimination. It doesn't matter if you're the best salesman we've ever had, without an MBA we can't make you "VP".

So, she did no actual work to "buy" her way into the "club"? She just paid the money and got the piece of paper? I apparently went to the wrong school then.

There is a lot to be said for those who do the WORK necessary, with no returns until the hard part is done, to get where they want/need to be.

However, your point about whether the degree is for a purpose is valid.

My father told me early on that he didn't care if I became a SAHM, he just wanted me to have "something to fall back on." So many women have no degree or no training, and when things happen (death, illness, divorce) have no means to support themselves. In that case, yes, a degree or training in specific marketable skills is an asset.

But that isn't what this thread is about, and I digress.

 

[DawnM]

Well, i just graduated last year...

I get a substantial amount of money "refunded" to me each semester from my school because the amount of scholarships I received goes over the cost of attendance. While all of my friends are getting into deep debt by going to schools in other states (and they chose not to apply for scholarships because they expected mom and dad to cover all their costs), I'm getting a great education and getting paid to do so in my own home state. I'd say that I'm the most successful person from my year of high school!

I also get to spend time with the ones I love most whenever I choose to because I attend a school near to home. I feel that that makes me the richest and most successful person from my high school by far!

I think that is very smart.

 

[DawnM]

Dunno. That depends on how you measure success, really. I came from a fairly small school (about 120 in my class), with a 0% dropout rate and about an 80% college attendance rate. Everyone was just expected to succeed. I went to the best college in my state, and so did about 25 other kids from my pretty small class. I was considered among the top prospects in my class, and I was just expected to perform up to a certain level. I think I've achieved that, but I don't know if I've exceeded expectations in any way. But then, I'm not certain anyone else from my class has either. As far as I know nobody's discovered anything important or published anything earth-shaking. A few own companies, but they tended to have inherited those from their parents. None advanced to the pro level of any sport, or became famous for entertainment reasons. Those I keep up with all seem to have jobs and families and happy lives. Two have died (car crash and cancer). I guess I don't know what counts as success.

We had a class of about half that size and have had 2 die as well, in fact, they both died by the time they were 30. One had some heart disease that he was born with but none of us knew about, and the other was shot by Somali Rebels.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

With a graduating class of 401, I have no idea who the most successful person on my class is. The most popular one is the actress, I imagine. Whether that make her the most success, I can't say.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

out of your year group of high school , would you say you have been the most successful since?

Without a doubt....if it were up for a vote...

No.

 

[blana]

Nope. I'm a lowly engineer. A friend from high school is a pediatric oncologist and a girl a grade behind is a Grammy winning singer. Another from my grade has a hit documentary out right now.

 

[aprilgail]

nope- not by a long shot--- but I can say that I was among the first to be able to retire at age 50 and not have to work again! I know a lot of Stay at homes that are now starting to try to get back into the work field since their kids are grown now and I am VERY glad I am not in that situation!

 

[aprilchem]

My high school was fairly rough - I'd say only half of us (if that) went to college. 12 out of a class of maybe 150 or so are dead (and we're only 40 years old now). Education-wise, two of us (me and another person) got Ph.D. degrees and are professors. No physicians or attorneys that I know of, and I don't think any others have a master's degree.

And I don't keep in touch with anyone from high school personally. I am friends with a few on Facebook and there's a group page for our class. But I didn't choose to go to last year's reunion or any others after the 5-year. I really didn't feel like I fit in - most of them had 2-3 kids by 5 years out that point, and I was only in my 2nd year of graduate school. It was also a huge drinking fest and many were totally wasted by the time we got there.

Now at 40, many of my high school classmates' children are graduating from high school themselves and a few are grandparents. My oldest is 10 and my youngest is 6. So the differences in our lives are even greater.

 

[Daisy62]

No idea. Haven't seen any of them since my 15 reunion. That was 15 years ago.