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What advice would you give someone half your age?

Asked by Josh Board

September 10, 2008

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Mike Reck

From Pacific Beach (Retired)

I would say live your life right because you’re responsible for your own actions. You can do things the way you want. That’s fine. But you should always keep in mind the responsibility your actions will bring.

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Joey Horne

From Downtown (Musician)

My advice would be for them not to count on Social Security because it’s not going to be there for them. And, do yourself a favor and upgrade to Facebook because MySpace is for little kids.

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Richard Whelchel

From Coronado (Chef)

Stay in school and get an education. You’ll be able to go farther in life. For myself, I wish I would’ve stuck with culinary school instead of hanging out and partying and doing drugs. Everything is so much harder if you don’t get educated. But, you know, hindsight’s always 20/20.

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Leonza Duncan

From National City (Longshoreman)

I would say keep the faith and stay strong. Life is a struggle. I’m constantly telling my son, who is 20, to stay focused. I don’t want him getting distracted by nonsense. That would be my best advice for anyone. And to stay safe.

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Larry Monday

From Boulevard (Dispatch Manager)

I would say the best thing you can do is find a good woman to spend the rest of your life with. Someone who can be your best friend. I’ve been married for 42 years. I’ve been at the same job for 40 years. It makes everything so much more enjoyable.

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Missy Corti

From San Marcos (Student)

It would be to stay in school. My brother messed up, and he’s paying for it now. He’s 25. If he would’ve gone to college right after high school and not taken any time off, he would be done now. He’s back in school. But some people end up never returning to college, and I’m sure he would’ve preferred being done already.

Comments

shizzyfinn Sept. 12, 2008 @ 3:22 p.m.

I gotta raise a caveat to the "go to college right after high school" advice. It's good advice if you know what you want to study - the classes and the connections will help you get going in your career. But college might not be the right call if you don't know what you want to study - because it's easy to end up with a degree that doesn't suit you, thousands of dollars of debt, and maybe even a drinking problem.

And in California (probably most other states, too) the public colleges and universities basically give you one trip through the system. Once you have an undergrad degree, the schools make it real tough to jump back in and get another one, even if it turns out your first degree sucks.

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a2zresource Sept. 14, 2008 @ 6:20 p.m.

Even if you don't know what you want to major in, I would still recommend going to college after finishing high school or a tour in the military... before that, if possible.

Go part-time at a community college if you have to work days.

If college means getting one's major right, then college is probably going to be a big waste of your time. It's better to go to learn how to learn anything and everything, to do academic research and write about it effectively, to communicate more to those who know less, to become a leader among the rest of us.

Take as much math as you can handle, then take some more, and know that once you've finished Calc III and Linear Algebra, you can have any darn major you want. I am proud to have actually recruited more women than men to major in math at City College... including some who went to UCSD later for engineering.

If math bugs the heck out of you, then at least take an accounting class, or just cross yourself out of any meaningful public debate on public policy.

In any case, a famous philosopher/logician once declared that people without mathematics are just primates with table manners.

For the taxpayers' sake, don't major in liberal studies just to become a school teacher! Instead, major in child psych or public administration, at least...

Don't let a degree get in the way of you education. Don't let education get in the way of understanding. Don't let misunderstanding get in the way of life.

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jenjen Sept. 16, 2008 @ 3:38 p.m.

I would say that if you have a real passion for something, whether that's academics or baking or theater or fixing things or whatever, pursue it as long and as hard as you can. You have to be realistic - not everyone can be a rock star and it's good to have some marketable skills to fall back on, but don't let someone talk you out of your dreams with a stack of shoulds and shouldn'ts.

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