I have had the School Dream many times, but it has one very different twist–every time. Just when things look their darkest, I remember that I already have my degree and a fine job obtained with that degree, so this entire class (invariably something obscure, highly technical, and not at all related to my line of work) was completely superfluous in the first place. I then chuckle as the professor works himself up into greater and greater frenzy over my apathy in the face of his exam.
Then I wake up, sometimes laughing. Drives my wife nuts.
I haven’t had it in years, but yes, I have had that dream. The funny thing to me was, even in the dream I always said “Screw it, I’m good enough to get a job anyway.”
My school dream is different–it’s the last day of school (grade school or highschool) and all students must clean out their lockers, or forfeit their belongings. Well, my locker is always my entire bedroom (and nowadays, it’s my entire apartment) and I just can’t pack everything up in time and I’m completely panicked about losing all my stuff. And I’m usually late showing up (you know, the ‘obstacle’ dream, where everything prevents you from getting where you need to be), which makes it even worse. That’s the only school related bad dream I’ve ever had.
Now, for my job, I often have dreams that I’m terribly, terribly late, or I dream that I’m working from home (I work in a call centre, taking customer service calls, so working from home wouldn’t happen) and I wander off to use the washroom or something and completely forget I’m supposed to be at my computer awaiting phone calls. Then I’m all panicked I’ll lose my job for abandoning calls all night.
I’ve had the school dream plenty of times. Mine’s fairly standard–sign up for a class (usually math of some sort), forget to attend classes, and remember some time late in the semester. Mine doesn’t usually involve being afraid of an impending final, though–just the thought that I’ve completely forgotten about a commitment until it’s too late to do anything about it is enough to get me freaked out.
I also have a strange variation of this dream, which I call “the Gen Con dream.” I go to Gen Con (huge gaming convention) every year, and one of my favorite parts is prowling through the dealer’s room looking for cool stuff. In this dream, I’ve gone to GC but realize on Sunday afternoon (it’s over on Sunday afternoon) that I’ve completely forgotten to go to the dealer’s room and now it’s too late–it’ll be another year before I can go back. I’ve had this dream numerous times since I started attending the con, and it’s every bit as unnerving as the school dream.
I’ve had “the school dream” a few times that I recall. Havn’t been to class, can’t remember where my locker is, etc. I also have one occassionally, not recently though, where I’m back in the military after some absence. One time I was even in the German army for some reason. Bizarro!
I dropped out of high school after my junior year, intending to start college early. Didn’t work; I was screwed by the way public education works in Texas. (No skipping grades, no early graduation, no credit for outside courses, no entrance to college without a high school diploma or GED, regardless of SAT’s – and no GED until you’re 19. Never could figure that one out.) So I took the GED at 19 and actually started college later than if I’d just stuck it out in that stupid hick high school.
Anyway, occasionally I dream this: the Texas School Police come and get me, and make me take the year in high school I missed. I go back to the same school, and the same kids are there, not having aged. Sucks.
I have that dream every year, usually during Spring.
Occasionally, I am naked in the dream.
It usually ends with a savage beating from the variuos school bullies I had the misfortune to “know”.