I see the same kind of thing. In my school, though, most of the jocks are real smart, and most of the smart kids always go away to college, it's just the fuckups that you know are going to go nowhere in life. The people who skip class to smoke weed, go to the trashy parties with 30 year olds that are still making minimum wage, do E, get pregant/impregnate someone. Those people go NOWHERE. It's only been about a year and a half since I graduated, and most of my friends I graduated with, actually, I think all of my friends have either finished a year of college, are into their second year of college, or have finished the school part of their apprenticeship and are working apprentices now.
It all depends on the decisions you make. I have a friend who is taking engineering at UBC in Vancouver, he's in his second year and he's very smart. I know he'll make a great living for himself. I have another friend who just graduated last year and she got a $16,000 to the University of Victoria where she's studying to be a physiotherapist. On the other side, I've got a friend who took Heavy Duty Mechanics at the local college and is in a 4 year apprenticeship program, he's now making shite loads of money working as an apprentice and when he's done his 4 years he'll have a job making somewhere around 6 figures.
The only friend I have who didn't go to college decided not to because he exceeded what colleges offered in their first year mechanics programs, and did a work experience practicum during grade 12 instead. He's now working at a local ford dealership as an entry level mechanic making pretty good money. When the time comes, the company pays to send him away to an institution where he can become the next level, where he goes back to his job and makes more money, and it goes on like that.
Basically, make good decisions and life will turn out well for you. I can't see any of my friends failing in their lives. Some of my friends are in the top 10% in school academically, while some of them, like me, just strum along getting some good grades, and some bad grades. Like, I had an A+ in InfoTech and an A in Carpentry, while I had a C- in Math, and had B-range grades in Physics, Biology, English, etc. and I'm doing well for myself so far. I'm in my 2nd year of college, I've got a certificate which I plan to turn into a diploma sooner rather than later, and then I plan on doing an internship or apprenticeship after I'm done school before finally stepping into the industry.
To the guy who started this thread. Props on getting your GED. Don't care what anyone says, you need this, and you are furthering your potential in life by doing this. If you decide to go onto college, which I really recommend doing, you are again increasing your employability and increasing your chances of living a prosperous, happy life.
