<p>The most brilliant piece of writing I have ever read on this subject – and it is really quite excellent – is Paul Graham’s high school commencement speech, [What</a> You’ll Wish You’d Known](<a href=“http://www.paulgraham.com/hs.html"]What ”>http://www.paulgraham.com/hs.html ).</p>
<p>One of the relevant quotes is this:
If you’d asked me in high school what the difference was between high school kids and adults, I’d have said it was that adults had to earn a living. Wrong. It’s that adults take responsibility for themselves. Making a living is only a small part of it. Far more important is to take intellectual responsibility for oneself.</p>
<p>If I had to go through high school again, I’d treat it like a day job. I don’t mean that I’d slack in school. Working at something as a day job doesn’t mean doing it badly. It means not being defined by it. I mean I wouldn’t think of myself as a high school student, just as a musician with a day job as a waiter doesn’t think of himself as a waiter. And when I wasn’t working at my day job I’d start trying to do real work.</p>
<p>When I ask people what they regret most about high school, they nearly all say the same thing: that they wasted so much time. If you’re wondering what you’re doing now that you’ll regret most later, that’s probably it.
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<p>Maybe it would be good if high school were more stimulating, but when it isn’t, I think this is the right way to be. Treat it like a day job that you should do well and seriously, and ALSO develop your talents in what you love. It’s a good compromise between being a functional person (getting into a good college, etc.) and being a passionate person.</p>