Stone Soup by Jan Eliot for September 17, 2013
Transcript:
Val: Holly, I know you don't like school very much. Val: But...think of it as a magic doorway! Once you're through it, you can have the life you want! Holly: When will THAT be? Val: Just 8 more years, unless you want an advanced degree. It'll FLY by! Holly: I'm going back to bed. I'll watch it fly by from there.
snarkm over 10 years ago
So, Val. Do you have the life you /want/ right now? You did step through the “magic doorway” after all. Maybe you should have been honest and told her there will be times in her life where she will think back to school as the best time of her life. How does the old adage go? Youth is waster on the young.
alondra over 10 years ago
Kids don’t want to go to school just like parents don’t want to go to work, but you do because you have responsibilities. Best to learn that when you are young.
je40 over 10 years ago
If it’s 8 more years to graduation, that means she’s only been in school 4 years. That means she’s 10. It doesn’t match with Alix being 9 and her “tween” interests. She’s more like 12 I’d say.
route66paul over 10 years ago
Look back at school as the best years of your life? only the top jocks and the cheerleaders say that. I am sooo glad that I was able to get a life after I finished school.
andrewjb over 10 years ago
I think she is including college in her estimate. The advanced degree would be a masters or a phd.
coffee_mom11 over 10 years ago
Right — because all you have to do is just sit on your butt for those 8 years and not do a blasted thing (like learn or read). Then the “magic doorway” just opens up and gives you everything you want — not!! Simply put, Holly’s a spoiled brat and needs a job pronto so she can learn some maturity and responsibility.
Dani Rice over 10 years ago
My mother once told me my teens years were “the best years of my life”. I actually tried to commit suicide. Do NOT tell a kid essentially, “it’s never going to get better”.
Comic Minister Premium Member over 10 years ago
I see.
lightenup Premium Member over 10 years ago
And I think it helps to remind her that she’ll have bad days and good days, like everyone, but don’t blame it on school. Make learning fun, not a chore.
bobdingus over 10 years ago
Gawd, what is with all the PREACHING? It’s a COMIC STRIP, folks. If everyone behaved perfectly there would be no humor and no reason for it to exist!
rowena28 Premium Member over 10 years ago
Speaking as someone with 2 master’s degrees and a PhD, I don’t get people who don’t like school.
sierrajefferson over 10 years ago
she is probably including the college 4
Milestheglassguy over 10 years ago
@Dani Rice: When I was finishing middle school my brother (who is six years older) told me “it just gets better”. Those words have stuck with me. There were plenty of hard times, but his encouraging words have turned out to be very true for the 20 years since then.
ORMouseworks over 10 years ago
“Did you succeed at your attempt?”( in reference to Dani Rice’s post). How cold-hearted! Teen suicide is NOT funny!!!
JP Steve Premium Member over 10 years ago
I started school in 1956. Next month I’m going to “graduate” (retire) from University. Fifty-seven years of school. Guess I like it!
krisl73 over 10 years ago
I worked at a fast food place for about a year and a half when I was in college. It did remind me that I wanted to get good grades so that I could graduate and work at a job that paid more and where the customers treated me nicely (a lot of customers at the fast food place were fine, but some people seem to think that people who work at fast food are some sort of lower life form; it got annoying).