Regrets in high school

[Dapuccino]

I'm still young and I already have a lot of regrets, but I want to prevent that in the future so I would like to know what are your regrets? (Specifically in high school.)

I regret not doing drama as a extra curriculum as a kid because I feel like it would have led me a way better life (mentally) and it has a lot skills that are helpful in life. Its never to late of course but its scary joining clubs when your older. Let me know your opinion.

What would you have done differently, what clubs would you have done in/out of school, would you have gone for a leadership position, what friends do you regret having, what subjects would you have tried/done...etc

[Aaron]

1. Get involved with my school a bit more. I would've liked to have taken on some leadership-based role.

2. Not take school for granted. Students currently at a school have not experienced anything else. It's a tough world out there, and once you leave school you suddenly get hit with responsibilities, friendships come and go etc.. it's much harder to maintain those friendships and learn without extra care/responsibilities.

3. Coming from an average public school, I didn't get much choice in terms of VCE subjects so in the end I did a bunch of subjects which I didn't necessarily like. Obviously if I had my time again, I would've explored distance ed or some other option rather than just accept the selections.

That's all I can think of at the moment.

If I had to say one thing, it's don't take school for granted. You might think it's boring, terrible etc now.. but once you leave, everything changes. It's boring because it's the only thing you're used to.

[idontlikeschool]

Try and start meaningful friendships with as many people as you can, and try to repair any tense ones you have with others.

[strawberries]

- do more extracurriculars, but rather than just doing a lot, do something which I am good at/enjoy (if I could've found one)
- talk less
- don't be a social weirdo
- do different VCE subjects (should've done Asian 5)
- work harder in school
- be more appreciative of the work teachers do, now that i'm out of school I realized that something I was not the nicest kid and I probably should've been much more appreciative cos they put in a lot of effort

[heids]

I regret verbally abusing/bullying a guy in my class - true, he harassed me, but I'm pretty shocked in hindsight at the shit I said to him (trust me, I was *nasty*).  Ever since, I've wanted to go back and apologise.

I also regret all the opportunities I missed to support others - I was simply blind to what people were going through.  I could've just... been a bit more social in general, y'know.

[pikachu975]

- Do extracurriculars
- I'm in year 12 right now but even though I'm doing pretty decent I would've liked to work harder instead of cramming for everything
- Being better at managing time in year 11 so it carried on to year 12

Definitely recommend not to study 24/7 in year 12, it's going to be stressful but don't overwork yourself! 1-3 hours a day of study is enough, make sure you take a lot of breaks to do things you like - play sport, games, anime, youtube, etc.

Year 12 is a fun time, everyone in our grade has gotten much closer in year 12 as we help each other and collaborate to ensure we all do well. Enjoy it

EDIT: I would've learnt 3 unit and 4 unit in year 11 for fun if I could redo it, would've made the 4 unit course much easier now

[mitchello]

DO NOT join chess club (personal story, you probably should if you enjoy it. Can make a good laugh in hindsight).
Other regrets include
- completely failing to engage with school until Year 12
- making a parkour club in Year 7-8. My sister and friends haunt me to this day
- not reading more - its become a limited privilege in Year 12 (maayybe uni too, not sure)
- not having any units of science
- failing to take opportunities that you're on the fence about, they're the best for storytelling
- being a complete piece of shit to people I didn't think were cool in Year 7-8 (not my glory years). I've become friends with most of them now, but still a cringey memory
- lastly, neglecting my L's. For a long time i was a year 12 surrounded by screaming kids on a 40 minute bus trip. Abysmal

[brenden]

I regret verbally abusing/bullying a guy in my class - true, he harassed me, but I'm pretty shocked in hindsight at the shit I said to him (trust me, I was *nasty*).  Ever since, I've wanted to go back and apologise.

I also regret all the opportunities I missed to support others - I was simply blind to what people were going through.  I could've just... been a bit more social in general, y'know.

That's funny, my one regret is that I didn't verbally abuse the people harassing me!

[djpetrin15]

I'm going to sound like I'm moping at some point, but I'll do this anyway:
Made it on the reserve list at Hurlstone and never once thought to give it a go
Never made much of an impression in my year group, and now am stuck complaining about them instead of with them a lot of the time
Kind of regret being accelerated a year, but in neither scenario would I really benefit more than the other
Spent 3 years being the annoying little kid, 1 1/2 years being the polar opposite, and now spend most of my time regretting both
As a result, spent so much time being a cynic that I ruined my own image
Screwed up any form of potential relationships (at even a friendly level) with two crushes, and also shared these crushes with my friends and sister
Never took much criticism or advice, and so faltered way below my expectations because I never take my teacher's feedback
Overly procrastinate, and my stress levels are so low that I have trouble stopping
Ended so many long distance relationships by failing to contact, and every time I remember I'm too busy to do anything
Barely did any activities outside school, simply because I couldn't be bothered
Was never confident enough to be myself at all
I feel like a walking contradiction

As a result, I am ending my trials feeling unsatisfied, because I don't have anyone I feel open talking to about anything, despite having plenty of friends I talk shit with.
Take my example and be who you want to be, take all of the opportunities you can, and please ask out the girl or guy you're crushing on (as long as you feel comfortable doing so), because you'll get to the point where it's too late to do anything, and tear yourself up over it.

[Joseph41]

As a result, I am ending my trials feeling unsatisfied, because I don't have anyone I feel open talking to about anything, despite having plenty of friends I talk shit with.

Sorry to hear that. Know that ATAR Notes is always here for you!

[K888]

I struggle with this stuff - what can I consider to be a regret, or am I allowed to consider something a regret, if I have ended up in the place I want to be?
I feel like it's so easy to look back and be so critical of yourself, rather than see all the small positives. I can quite confidently say that there are so many things I have no regrets about, and all in all, I think I'm a lot more satisfied with how my high schooling went than I am dissatisfied with how it went.

I'd say some big regrets for me were:
- Not getting involved in leadership stuff to my fullest extent - I did a lot of sport captaincy, and had some leadership positions, but I could have pushed myself a lot further than I did. I was too keen to just sit back and do nothing haha.
- Doing Methods.
- Not applying myself as much as I could have.
- Taking relationships (friendships, etc.) for granted, and lacking the introspective abilities to see when and where I went wrong, plus also not admitting that I had done something wrong in the first place.

Admittedly, sometimes struggle with the last point - can I really be that hard on myself? How much world/life perspective can you expect a teenager to have? Although, that fact doesn't stop me from feeling bad about it.

[Dapuccino]

- be more appreciative of the work teachers do, now that i'm out of school I realized that something I was not the nicest kid and I probably should've been much more appreciative cos they put in a lot of effort

Being a teacher is a lot of work and they get overworked. But I've had so many bad teachers and I know some teachers that don't even do their work (basically lock the kids in a classroom, tell them to go on their laptops to look like their doing work and then this specific teacher I'm talking about, gives out carrots to his students during class...) I wish they could filter out all the bad teachers but now I heard they have to this specific test to become a teacher (answer classroom scenarios- how they would solve the problem.)

[strawberries]

Being a teacher is a lot of work and they get overworked. But I've had so many bad teachers and I know some teachers that don't even do their work (basically lock the kids in a classroom, tell them to go on their laptops to look like their doing work and then this specific teacher I'm talking about, gives out carrots to his students during class...) I wish they could filter out all the bad teachers but now I heard they have to this specific test to become a teacher (answer classroom scenarios- how they would solve the problem.)

fair enough. Yeah, I understand that some teachers might not be that dedicated, but I was very lucky that all of my VCE teachers were actually pretty decent teachers who put in a lot of effort. Some of them maybe weren't so "nice" but you could tell they really wanted us to succeed. I should've shown them more respect. For some of my other friends it was not the same though....

[Dapuccino]

I regret trying to fit in with the popular kids when I should've just been myself. Friends never came easy for me, but the good ones eventually did come around when I was just being me.

I did the same thing as you one year. I acted in a certain way where the popular kids liked it and I was happy until days came when I was myself, then it hit me that it was tough acting as someone your not and that they didn't like the 'real' me. It certainly felt awesome when I was myself and my friends accepted me for who it was. That feeling is like weights coming off your shoulders, you no longer have to put effort into acting like somebody your not.

But I don't regret that experience, its an experience and lesson I will always remember in the future.

[Lavar Big BBB Balls]

I regret going to the school I go to right now, lmao wasn't my choice tho..