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[Jo]

Lol at the notion that your undergraduate degree has anything to do with what job you end up with.

Unless it's engineering.

[Lectorog]

You know a lot of jobs require degrees in the field, right?
And college is important for making connections. If you aren't in the right field, you won't get anywhere near the right connections.

[Jo]

Oh I get what you're asking.

Yes man. Your performance in school matters. Not the way you might think, and not the way the adults in your life think. It matters because right now in your life you are figuring out your capabilities. You are also building your confidence and competence.

So yes. Do your best in whatever you are doing. That sounds cheesy but it's important. You don't want to look back 20 years from now and realize you just screwed around.

When you get to college you'll realize how fun and easy life is, you can screw around then. Just power through high school for now and cruise later.

You don't have to give a shit about your life right now, just don't self destruct.

[Jo]

You know a lot of jobs require degrees in the field, right?
And college is important for making connections. If you aren't in the right field, you won't get anywhere near the right connections.

You should write recruitment pamphlets for college. 

Not saying you are wrong. Just saying there's a lot more to it. I'm looking at it from the point of view of someone with a doctorate, which may be a bit different than someone just starting out trying to separate fact from fiction. Pro tip: You never quite separate the two. Life just ends up happening all on its own. Good to have a plan though, just don't freak when shit goes ninja on you.

[Jo]

You know a lot of jobs require degrees in the field, right?
And college is important for making connections. If you aren't in the right field, you won't get anywhere near the right connections.

As an exercise you might want to find 3 jobs, just 3, that say "bachelor's degree in SPECIFIC DEGREE required." They are not all that common. You can find them in government sometimes, but even those will allow experience to substitute for degree. Which means that someone who's been working there for forever will be getting the job. Sometimes you can find jobs in labs that require a specific science degree. Engineering jobs often require a degree + an engineering license.

But you should try to find some, and link them here. They are incredibly rare. If you can find 3 I'd be surprised and give you mad interweb props. When I started out I was told all about these magical jobs I'd be fit for as soon as I got a bachelors, and I ended up cleaning houses.

EDIT: you should also note that few people end up at the top schools like Harvard or Stanford. Places where all these lucrative connections can actually be made. Also, if you are the type of person that is smart enough or wealthy enough to make it to one of those schools then you are going to be fine anyway.

[Leatra]

All of these classes are worthless, and, while I currently have A's (except Comp), I really don't care what I finish with.
Is this unhealthy? Do I need to find a way to motivate myself?

I was exactly like that and I avoided studying as much as possible. I didn't care shit about maths but I was forced to learn them. I think one of the reasons why I started writing fiction was my hatred towards maths. Literature is a good place to escape to from maths.

Don't worry, most people have that feeling. Education being fucked up is an universal thing. I had absolutely no motivation towards any lessons when I was in school. You'll start to shine after high school. Best you can do is trying to keep your grades high as high as you can and find a good hobby.

BTW, Jo, we have that "Editing posts" thing for a reason. You could have just combined all those three posts together you know

[Lectorog]

Jo did edit one post! It's perplexing.

If I do need to keep my grades up, I don't think I'll be doing anything differently. I don't know how to do any better than I do standardly, not that I think I do my best. I, like many others, struggle to become motivated.

[Vector]

Books that will keep you busy and expand your universe:

The Dream of the Red Chamber
Infinite Jest
The Discovery of Heaven
Mrs. Dalloway

[Lectorog]

The local library has three of those and school library has one. Thank you.

[Vector]

You're welcome!  Be sure to get the Penguin edition of the first one, if you can.  That's the one I'm in the middle of.

[IronTomato]

Just tell those idiots what they want to hear so they shut up. Like this:

Idiot Adult: I know you are only 16 but you should tell me your life's goal right nao!
You: I am determined and committed to being a good kid and going to college, to study my life's passion, COMPUTER SCIENCE!!!!
Idiot: OMG I am so proud of you. Please date my son/daughter and give me bright and motivated grandkids just like you!

Words cannot describe how much I relate to this. My grandfather has done this ever since I told him that I was studying how video games and computers work in my spare time. (Except that last part, that would be disgusting.)

Needless to say, gramps is pretty happy that he has a 14 year old son who's almost more of a geek than he is.

[Leatra]

Weird, nobody in my family (or outside my family, for that matter) has ever asked me my life goal or any long-term plans. I'm usually the who starts talking about that life-goal stuff. They focus more on school stuff.

Me: So I was thinking about writing fiction for fun and money...
Mom: Yeah, sure. Have fun. How's your grades coming along?

[Vector]

My dad always wants to know what my five-year plan is.  What am I, Stalin?