Does anyone wish they could go back to the beginning of schooling and re-live their education/school experience from the start?

Frankly, the further one grows past the school age, the more (I've found) one finds that all that was only practice for the actual schooling. Keep getting smarter, and never stop learning! 🤘🏼

It'd be nice to do the whole childhood over again but with parents who loved me.

Hell no

Honestly, no.

I learned a lot in school and I retained a hell of a lot of it, but from middle school onward I wasn't a good student because I had absolutely no interest in doing homework, reports, reading the books I was assigned, projects, etc. so I scraped by skipping as much of that as I could.

I ended up in a profession where I don't need a degree, and I'm not rolling in it, but the job security and benefits are amazing (county government job,) I'm making an OK living, I enjoy the work I do as much as I'm capable of enjoying any job, and I'm happy to stick this out until I can retire.

The things I wish I learned better in school are things like trig, which would be nice because I've developed a little interest in things like machining, but would only ever want to pursue that as a hobby, not professionally, so no great loss there. Frankly though, my school's math program sucked and I've probably taught myself more math from casually watching a couple YouTube videos than I would have learned in a decade of high school math classes there.

The things people love to complain about not learning in school- finance, politics, etc. I think I have a pretty solid handle on. Maybe I'm better wired to put those pieces together than they are, maybe my parents did a good job of teaching me that themselves, maybe those people are idiots, maybe some combination of all of those things or none at all.

A lot of my best friends today and even my wife I can trace directly back to sitting next to and goofing off with one guy in a history class at community college before I dropped out. If I'd been a better student I may have gone to a 4-year college, or maybe would have taken different classes, or just fucked around less and never hit it off with him, and my life would be drastically different. It's probably even likely I wouldn't have found the current job that I really like, I stumbled onto it by chance while I was living in an apartment with my wife (then girlfriend) and a roommate.

And without a lot of those life experiences I had in the decade or so after school, I don't know that I'd be able to do the job I do now, I don't think I would have been able to cut it fresh out of high school, I definitely needed those shitty jobs, misadventures, etc. to mold me into the person I am, and I'm overall pretty happy with that person.

Not that there aren't things I'd do differently given the chance, but not enough that I'd want a total do-over. Just give me a chance to go back and slap younger me upside the head once in a while to get him to exercise more or brush our teeth a little more diligently and I'll take it, but there's a lot of mistakes I had to make along the way, and I don't want to interfere with any of those cannon events.

Fuck no that sounds awful

Fuuck no! While there sure are thing I miss about my childhood and teenage years school isn't one of those. School fucking sucked.

Youth is wasted on the young, and wisdom is wasted on the old.

What I always think about whenever this sort of question comes up is how it would be super awkward having an adult brain but having to interact with children as peers

On one hand I wish I’d handled a lot of it differently and studied more. On the other hand I’m not sure how much I’d realistically have been able to change considering what I needed was medication and accommodations that just weren’t going to happen, so instead I’d just be putting myself into when my trauma happened and being more vulnerable, which doesn’t sound like a great idea.

With all my knowledge intact? Hell yes! I'd keep all that bitcoin instead of spending tens of thousands of it (about £100) on Silk Road in uni.

School? No. University: Maybe.

It's never too late to learn things. Read some books, visit a library and get the standard literature. It's not as easy as if you were learning as a kid, because adults have other things to do and it's difficult to muster up the time... But I still like to broaden my perspective and learn new things. And I admire people who are like 65 and choose to attend some university course or learn a new music instrument.

Turning back time isn't an option. So think about what you actually want and go for it. There probably is a way if you really want to...

Hell yes. Go back with all my masterful adult experience and knowledge, so I could own that place. It would be glorious.

Or I’d still get bullied into non existence. Kids are still way meaner than me, even as a grizzled grown up….

Uh, my life is better than when I was a kid.

I don't think it would change much, I have a problem focusing and studying, and 20 years ago ADHD was still a "hit him/yell at him until he studies".

Hell no. School was the worst time of my life, I was glad I could decide to skip school days when the education was hugely lacking and study quietly at home. The school system held me back hugely, as the higher level kids were kept back by the kids strugling. Also the constant bullying at school made me hate being amongst people.

I would like to do school again but start it with an ADHD diagnosis.

Not school generally, but definitely university. Turns out giving an 18 year old total agency with very little accountability doesn't really set you up for success. I got through (mostly because a close friend kicked my ass), but was a terrible student and am still filling in gaps in my skills a decade later

No, I imagine I'd be twice as bored the second time around.

No. School was awful.

Of course I would do it, if I could retain my current knowledge and use it to make tons of money. But I guess that is not the point of this question.

College, yes. I should have done social time separately from education and taken a year or two off. High school, absolutely not. No way.

I've been in grad school for ten years, I'd choose less school.

I wish to re-live my school life with better career counselling experience. Career counsellors were non-existent during my school years. I supposed, my career path will be a lot less complicated if someone could direct me to the right career based on my inclination instead of me choosing jobs that has nice titles.

Yes definitely, growing up I had major major fucking ADHD, like to the point where I had a helper follow me around and I would sit after school and cry because I couldn't focus on my homework. If I could go back now, even if I still had to deal with the level of focus issues I had as a kid, I feel like I could use my experience now to power through it and have the success I wanted. Also, I could take up music while I still have a kid brain and shit sticks

Many people would like to go back, but you have to remember how fucking clueless your were as a kid.

You're not going to make better choices somehow

No way I'd sign up for ever being a child again. That shit sucks even more than adulthood.

Nahhh, im good with the childhood trauma ive already got. no need to double down.

No, my life is much better now.

Yes. But I wish I could go back and experience a real education, in a real school. Instead of being homeschooled by a hardcore evangelical.

Really I wish I could experience the social aspect. I've managed to educate myself pretty sufficiently enough to function in society. People even seem impressed with how smart I am, and are shocked to hear I didn't get a real education. But I can't help but feel like being isolated for the first 18 years of my life left me severely, socially stunted.

I mean, yeah, sorta. I’d probably redo high school and take it semiseriously and get straight As and go to MIT instead of fucking around and getting pretty good but not excellent grades. Then I’d study CS and Econ and be a quant douche and be rich as fuck.

But, I wrote sorta for good reason: had I not followed my particular stochastic path, I wouldn’t have met my wife, I wouldn’t be in bed with my kid right now, while my wife is in bed with the other kid.

So, no. I wouldn’t trade my fortune to be a quant douche.

All else equal? Sure, why not.

I'd, like, actually study and stuff. I don't necessarily beat myself up for not studying back then. I just don't think I was ready for it.

For me it comes down to: knowing what I do now about myself, would I go back and change things?

School sucked. Not only was it often boring and almost killed any enthusiasm I had for learning, but I was one of those kids who never really had to study to at least keep a B average, and it ended up hurting me in the long run. I was able to just coast through school and never developed the skills to study and for being able to fail and get better at something until after I had already given up on college because I had developed a fear of failure and if I couldn't get things right on the first try, I would give up.

I guess I'd go back to start learning how to learn and not be afraid of failure earlier in my life, but there are other things I'd much rather go back for. I heard the word "transgender" for the first time when I was a college freshman. It wouldn't be for another 10 years after that until I could start to really do anything with that information. So yes, I would go back, because I would love to have not spent the entirety of my teens and 20s kind of just existing day to day, going from work to home to work again.

Plus there's so much good music I missed growing up that I would've loved to find when I was younger.

It's weird, I hated every minute of it and was so glad to see the back of it, but for some reason I find myself sorta day dream wishing for exactly this more frequently than I'd like.

I think my mind has sort of gamified it now and that first run was a bad run that I want to retry. Ironically despite wanting nothing to do with it ever again, I kind of want to relive it not just once but many times over. I'd like to do a run where I pay attention and learn and do very well using my adult skills and accumulated knowledge but I also most want to do a run where I just do a way better job of making friends and having girlfriends and a very active social life in general. I realise how cliché and shallow that is, not least because I'm pitching both those things as opposites which they aren't necessarily and also that that's what I would do with what amounts to time travel when it's so frivolous and trite. But I just, I saw those people in school, effortless social butterflies that people felt good being around and I'd like to have experienced that. I wasn't a hermit or unloved in school, but it was a huge struggle with a lot of pain and rejection and I was so paralyzed by crippling depression and insecurity, I'd just like a glimpse of what experiencing it on easy mode would have been like.

I know the people I'm thinking of that seemed to have an easier time from afar had plenty of problems and probably some insecurities of their own that I just didn't see or appreciate in my little bubble but there was a burden I carried that comes from an extreme lack of confidence that some didn't have to shoulder and I would like to go through that particular period that can be a very special and formative time for a lot of people without so heavy a burden marring it. Second time around I think, that fear and insecurity that plagued everything while I was living through it would be greatly eased.

Then again, if I had to try to deal with cruel teenagers again with my grown up sensibilities I don't know for sure I'd really do much better, teenagers are experts at cruelty and finding your weak points, there's a good chance my confidence would be very quickly shattered leaving me with only the misery of having to go through it all over again. Also, on the point of wanting to have "had girlfriends" as others did, if I'm going back with my adult memories and brain development, well... Yeh that'd be pretty fucked up, I'd probably end up having to forego that except this time by choice.

Fuck no. I've been through too much shit to start over.

Fuck no my life didn't start getting decent until my late 20s, and nothing that came before that was in my control to change.

Oh, the horror! I think I did the best I possibly could, given the circumstances.

I do wish I could, but this time on anxiety meds. I finally started them a year or so ago and it's been completely life-changing. I can't even imagine how much better my school experience and social life would have been...

I'd go back to highschool and take different classes for a better direction and then actually go to them and do my homework.

I would have gotten an engineering degree instead.

No. My life kicks ass and I'm luckier than most.

I do wish I could time travel and give my former teachers some advice, like the one who let me do a third grade science project on the Loch Ness Monster but didn't in any way try to teach me skepticism.

Self reflection is good. Learning from your mistakes is good. Regret is useless. It's just agonizing over something unchangeable. It's important not to confuse them, lest you end up dwelling on the past and missing the lessons.

If I kept all my memories, 100%. I could achieve so much more by building off of what I’ve learnt in this lifetime.

Nope. I've definitely thought about it, but I'd have to put up with living under my parents again, and that would drive me into some very dark places. I'd also feel like a horrible creep if I tried dating again with all my adult experiences. No, reliving high school is not worth it to me.

I wish I could go back and experience myself experiencing it, so I could see what aspects of my current self were there all along, what parts I picked up along the way, and exactly how those ideas were planted and grew.

Nope. I would say I had an average school experience but I don't think it's worth reliving. College, however, maybe. If I could do it differently, I would want to make more connections than the first time.

The experience was torturous overall, but considering it’s basically time travel and I’d know everything about the future up to 2024, I think I’d do a lot better at everything a second time around. I’d be amazingly good at BASIC and Pascal when I was 7, and would definitely buy that Amiga C compiler this time. I’d be pretty bored with all the 8 and 16 but Sega games since I already played them but I’d also get an SNES, since I missed all that last time. School would be easy af, and i’d feel like a pervert dating middle and high school girls so might as well just test out and get a PhD when I was 12 or something.

Oh, the real question. What would I rather I did differently? I should have spent less time reading my own books and playing video games at home, and focused on the studies school wanted me to do so I could test out and just start taking university courses rather than stay in the slog of middle and high school. Socially it was awful and not sure what I could have done at the time. I ended up dropping out and getting a GED after 9th grade, and did great on the ACT, could have gotten scholarships, but decided to do self employment rather than go to college, which wasn’t a great plan overall due to the specifics of what I chose and what happened.

Yes. I was wrongly diagnosed with a learning disability. Any failure meant the program was necessary. Any success meant the program was working. One time of many, I was actually told "you might be depressed if you fail in the regular classes." Well, staying in the remedial classes only made me depressed anyway. At least if I did fail they're, it would actually be my own failure I'm living with.

Now, I'm just trying to get through an online high school so I can bypass community college. I tried CC before, but the "Cs get degrees" attitude I got from the teacher reminded me too much of the remedial classes.

Going back, I would push harder for better classes and if they still refused, just go anyway or transfer. Nothing is worst then living up to their expectations.

No I had a phase of that but these days I think my curriculum fucking sucked.

I'd buy a sports almanac and happily repeat any prior years of my life

I don't think the sentiment is weird at all. One of the best things I got out of school was the ability to search out credible resources on my own and continue my own education (albeit a bit stunted without structured guidance.) We have an awesome lens into each and every domain of human knowledge – the internet – and we ought to use it while we have it. If I could go back, feeling that way about it, I absolutely would.

Honestly if I could go back and just not do college at all I would. I regret going, we are heading into a world that unless you have experience in the field the title is worthless anyway, and more and more companies are dropping education requirements. All I see is the wasted money which is approximately now at 30-40k now. It's essentially a piece of paper that is worthless it seems

I would really focus on math and study habits.

I was never really a child. It was hardwired into me. Life is far better now.

Depends on how you frame the question, also depends on how you define the schooling period.

Would one keep the knowledge? Would it be going back in time and having the same classmates, living the same experiences? I'd go back just to improve or strengthen my friendships, also I'd use the spare time to learn new things as opposed to those I used to be interested in.

I'd really really would backtrack my tertiary studies and get into my current field a lot earlier. So much wasted time...

I'd like to get isekai, with all my current knowledge. I might be OP at school and at work

Absolutely, I would save my lunch money to buy Apple and Nvidia stock.

If I get to keep my memories and personality from now... Maybe.

It would trivialize most of the coursework and I'd be a lot more confident in general... But

It would be difficult to be an adult trapped in a child's body. People would notice how much of a complete weirdo you are. I think at most I'd go back to my freshman year of college.

No thanks. Came out well enough, don't need a revival.

Yes, to the point of choosing a university programme. I chose for stupid reasons and wound up not finding a job I really enjoy until twenty years in the industry in which I landed

Also I now know how to avoid getting fat

I think about this a fair amount. My degree isn't really marketable, but on the other hand, what if my experience has given me perspective that is hard to measure?

I would at least not take the classes that I later deemed to be a waste of time. I spent multiple terms dabbling, trying to find what I enjoyed. If I just went straight for CS, I'd probably be making double what I make now.

Maybe back to small childhood (despite my other answer) to be able to help my mother be healthier so she would have a better chance of survival when she got an uncommon cancer. I'd do primary school again for that, or even to see her again

No, but as a hypothetical button I could just press sure. It'd allow me to take preemptive measures about my health.

I'd care even less about school and leave as young as possible. Then go for some vocational training and/or one of the alternate pathways if I want to go to university. Not once has how I did in high school ever been relevant to my life. My higher education has mattered, but dropping out doesn't stop you from going into it - though it can be more (or less) difficult depending on what you want to study.

The combination of puberty and not being able to date would suck though. At least I know what meds absolutely kill my libido and they'd be extremely easy to get prescribed. Problem is, even after I'm an adult it'd be a headfuck - I've always been into people older than me as is. I wonder if instead of chasing milfs and dilfs that I'd be adding a g infront with how long my lived experience would be at that point.

If it's time travel too all the usual bullshit to becoming filthy rich applies.

Haven't finished my first save file yet.

Yes. Absolutely. Starting again at any young age with the knowledge I have now would be amazing. Getting in on the Bitcoin bandwagon early, when you could mine multiple Bitcoin a day on little more than a core 2 duo CPU, and invest into stocks that I know will explode long before they do when they're at an all time low.

Financially, I'd be far better off.

Also, avoiding mistakes of taking courses and getting diplomas that don't matter and mostly just wasted time on my journey, or skipping the multiple years between highschool and college where I worked menial jobs.

I also met my SO through a video game so as long as I take an active role in that community in the same way, around the same timeframe I'll find them again.... And I can skip all the pointless and ultimately degrading and emotionally damaging relationships along the way.

I could experience the carefree fun of not having to worry about bills or payments and just live... Later, when Bitcoin explodes in value, cash in and buy a nice house....

Who wouldn't want that?

Yes. And no.

I went through some degree of what today is called bullying and never took to defend myself because of a castrating father and severe insecurity. This also impacted my overall school success.

But knowing what I know today, doing what needed to be done to defend myself, I would quickly be labelled as a menace.

I would not go to grad school. Especially not in the city the program was in. Unless you're an MBA or in engineering or something ultimately pretty lucrative, I wouldn't recommend Academia Extended Stay to any sane person who values their own time, money, and dignity.

If I had to do it again, I would have gone for a more specific skill. Not the skilled trades. I know everyone's all about that now, but we weren't all born to be electricians. Just something more specific like a counselor, Auto CAD, etc etc

I think I always paid attention in school and got good grades, so repeating that all over again sounds painful. I probably would've chosen a better career path for myself.

Nothing wrong with what I studied, and I'm even grateful that I did go through it, but it's not aligned with what I chose to do in the end so I took a huge financial hit.

As great as that sounds, I wouldn't wanna do it unless I know as a fact I won't remember a thing from my future. I have read plenty of age regression stories and last thing I want is to be trapped in a kid's body with an adult mind. If I tell people about it, they'd either think I'm crazy if it's classmates at school or I'd have my whole world shaken and torn apart by adults who find I'm smarter than my age would suggest and do test after test and not being able to fully enjoy a second childhood because of this. Either way, I wouldn't want to do either of those, nor would I want to go through major events like open heart surgery or the death of loved ones again.

The education is a no. Most of it would be boring as hell. Seriously, I've got little cousins and nieces and nephews and a kid of my own. The kind of shit they're doing is so damn dull. It's remedial once you've already done it once, and I can't think of a worse way to spend a "do-over"

And the experience? Only if I'm allowed access to some serious weaponry. I'm not even joking. I'd fucking kill somebody if I had to deal with the sheer stupidity of most of the adults, and the pure sociopathy of the other kids. Kids are fucking animals with less manners, and more ways to indulge their proclivities. Being forced to deal with the bullshit of elementary school would be bad enough. But being forced to spend half or more of your waking hours with hormone ridden jackasses? Hell no. I wouldn't subject myself to that now, unless the pay was waaaay better than it is.

If I want to revisit education, I'm not wasting time with the dross and bullshit. I'm going to do it on my own terms. I fucking well earned the time I have now that I'm disabled. Doesn't matter what degree I could get, I couldn't do a useful job. And there's nothing in education below college level worth redoing. Certainly not at the price of having to do it in those schools.

🤮

Yup! The absolute best days of adventure and awe.

No.

If I have my memories and knowledge it may help me make better decisions, but it would also be frustrating having to wait for societal changes. It was still a time where being called gay was an insult and racism was rife, and while that still happens, it's much more likely to be called out.

Additionally, watching the world do nothing to stop climate change would be even harder to take knowing what is coming. Maybe I'd try to change that, but it would be like shouting into the void (as climate scientists can attest to).

Maybe jump through some sweet memories. And relive the excitement I had for watching cartoons and 90s Anime.

Again? No! Back in time? Yes! I wouldn't waste my time there anymore, tried to make something out of my life with my degrees, all BS. Made something from my / our (wife and me) creativity, works like a charm for many years. So much wasted time and energy, only to justify the worthless existence of ignorant, fascist so-called teachers. There was one, Mr Lehrke, who was a good person. One! Rest in peace, my friend. The rest: human trash. At least in my experience. School's a highly subjective time, I guess.

For all the topics you likely could apply yourself more in, there's probably ten that would (especially as a repeat) just be so fucking boring you would not want to relive.

I'd rather return to school as an adult than relive learning my colors, or writing book reports, or whatever else was too boring or too easy the first time around.

As the saying goes "Youth is wasted on the young."

No thnks. Could I instead keep all my credentials as start work at age 13?

There were subjects which I hated, either because I found them boring, the teachers were not inviting, or I just needed sleep. For instance, chemistry and national history are examples of them.

Many years later, I found myself in situations where I started to develop curiosity around those subjects, where I would wish to have properly learnt or attended those topics again.

Sort of, but I remember how boring all those thousands of hours of classroom time were overall, and I don't want to go through all that again.

Do I still have money? In a heartbeat.