<p>First off, I realize this post should really go on high school life. I just posted it there. But I will also post it here, hoping to get hear from a different perspective or two.</p>
<p>I am 17, a high school junior. And I am lost. I do not know where to begin asking questions. So I have posted attitudes towards school which have developed over the past several months. Any advice from parents whose children have been in similar situations would be greatly appreciated. Any advice in general would be greatly appreciated. </p>
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<p>Why do I want to drop out of high school? What purpose does it serve? Or, better yet, how has high school hurt me?</p>
<p>Well, first off, it does not appeal to my interest in learning. The timed essays which dominate the humanities feel so contrived. I cannot fully develop a stance on any broad statement regarding the differences between northern and southern colonies in the pre-revolutionary era, let alone the darkness of mans heart. Thus, I cannot fully appreciate these assignments. Thus, they become nuisances! And forget about math and science. Mathematics cannot just be an awkward dance between notation and graphing calculator key. If it were, computers could do it all-with no chance of error. Science was not written upon two stone tablets and handed down to the scientists of yesteryear. It is by no means obvious that a force brings about all motion. And it is certainly not obvious that the gravitational force can be modeled by F<em>g=G\frac{m</em>1m_2}{r^2}. Newton was thinking when he came up with these ideas-he was modeling. He was not ascending Mount Sinai! To teach otherwise is to ignore his accomplishments and to substitute quality of education for expediency of instruction. This is a crime.</p>
<p>And yet I cannot break from it. It makes me a hypocrite. I say I value learning more than grades-but I end up doing (most of) my homework despite the fact that I dont need it-despite the fact that I dont need to see the same 20 faces viewed from two or three different angles to grasp the over-simplified concepts. Similarly, I end up not devoting class-time to more useful activities (e.g. finding something I am passionate about). This is all because I fear getting punishment.</p>
<p>I could live with the hypocrisy (saying I stand for learning while learning nothing), the cowardice. But I cannot live with what I see as my intellectual stagnation. I have learned little of significance over the past few years of my life. I have few skills-aside from those which can be applied in a testing environment (those I have in abundance). I have no worthwhile hobbies or pastimes-aside from those which are just emerging (too little, too late). The only change which I can perceive in my mind is the stifling of my optimism. And there is, of course, the passage of time. There is always that.</p>
<p>Why not breeze through your hw, and then do your own course of study in the evening? Read “real” physics books on the weekend? I’m pretty sure that’s what most smart kids do, rather than dropping out!</p>
<p>Take an independent study class next year (or this year if you can still switch into it) to lighten the “boring” load? </p>
<p>Unfortunately, even if you go to MIT there will be some classes that are just not challenging. Most people don’t feel like HS is a thriving intellectual environment, but they push through to get into a decent college, and then (depending on the person and the classes they take at that school), push through college to get a good job that challenges them and makes a difference.</p>
<p>Almost everyone feels this way about HS…and they think “College will be different!” Well, it’s not really. In fact at my college I feel even less able to delve into topics in detail, since we meet for less time a week in each class. Life is not really different than that. The most rewarding learning experience is going to be in unstructured environments, i.e. you teaching yourself, chatting with a prof, etc. Taking a test is never a fun, free-thinking excercise ;). Unfortunately in order to have the time to live outside of the system, you have to play the system.</p>
<p>I suspect you will get many differing attitudes and responses here. But here’s mine. Too bad you don’t like high school. It’s just one thing in a long line of life that you will need to do that you will feel is stifling, is beneath you, is a nuisance blah, blah, blah. Finish your undergraduate degree or take a GRE if that’s an option to you. Blathering on about dropping out is ridiculous. Clearly you’ve mastered rhetoric. OK, now that I have that off my chest…most public schools have alternative sources for students - on-line classes, tech-ed classes, co-op classes with universities in the area, great books classes, self-study and other channels. I personally know kids in our very small, semi-rural, competitive high school that are maybe in the actual school building only a couple hours per day. Get thee to your guidance office and find something, anything that amuses and intrigues you - doesn’t even have to be traditional “academic”, sign-up, get permission, whatever it takes and bite the bullet and finish high school. While you are at it talk to the guidance counselor for awhile. And for heavens sake, find something to do like photography, art, construction tech, music, sports …something where you use your brain and your body either inside or outside the school.</p>
<p>I started to write a few things, but then I just couldn’t. All I could say is both of my kids are very smart, but they have always felt challenged in high school and now in college. They enjoyed learning in school, ECs outside of school, debate club, SMART (a special science club to work with a college professor), dance at their high school, friends in school. </p>
<p>What could/would you possibly do if you were to drop out of high school? Play video games and watch TV?</p>
<p>Fawkes –
I just want to point out that if your grades and scores reflect the fact that you’re ready to be out of high school and in college, many universities accept applications from students who have not yet completed high school. There are also programs specifically designed for students who are ready to master college level material before finishing high school such as Simon’s Rock of Bard and the RHP Program at the University of Southern California that also allows students to enter USC’s honors program following their junior year of hs. If your parents are on board in terms of your maturity and readiness to be in college, perhaps you could look into colleges that are still accepting applications. Another possibility might be to find a program that would let you spend your senior year abroad, learning a new language and culture. Finally, is there a college near your home that allows dual enrollment so you could officially be in high school but take challenging college courses?</p>
<p>I can sympathize with you because D also felt strongly by the end of junior year that she had ‘maxed out’ on what high school had to offer socially and academically. And this one of the top public high schools in the country. We talked about graduating early, being a foreign exchange student for a year, taking a gap year…</p>
<p>What she finally decided to do - and she was the one who organized it -was to drop her course load in her senior year to 4 core classes in the morning, so she’s finished by 11. And she interns, every afternoon, for 20+ hours/week. She says her internship is the highlight of her year: She has won awards for her innovative work with them and her boss thinks she walks on water. Overall, a fabulous experience. Her EA school liked it too apparently.</p>
<p>No reason you can’t do the same thing. It doesn’t cost a nickel-just initiative and passion for what you do, and some support from your guidence counselor at school. So, no, don’t just suck it up. There are times in life when you have no choice, but this isn’t one of them.</p>
<p>You’re a high school junior. You’ve already completed 10 and a half of your 12 years of pre-college education, and you’re going to drop out now? While there may be some alternatives for you, I think sucking it up, getting over yourself, and finishing up with the best grades you can get is a sensible option. You can secretly believe that your courses are worthless, that you are smarter than your teachers, that much of what you are being taught will never be of any value, etc.–but you are much more likely to achieve goals that will be pleasing to you if you stay in school, and go to college. You’ll probably like college better.</p>
<p>My personal feeling is that anyone that can write in LaTeX has intelligence, drive and motivation. You aren’t challenged enough in some areas and you don’t care for others.</p>
<p>My son has Western Civ this semester and he makes fun of the course and moans about it and I just tell him that it’s the last humanities course that he will have to take for the rest of his life. I didn’t appreciate the humanities until I was in my late twenties. At any rate, you have to take them for most or all undergraduate programs. In any area of life, you usually don’t get to do anywhere near 100% of the stuff that you enjoy the most.</p>
<p>You might ask your parents if they would support some kind of dual-enrollment program at a local university. Sometimes this is very expensive and sometimes it is inexpensive or near-free. Sometimes this works well in the context of a homeschool program as it gives you the schedule flexibility to attend college courses during the day.</p>
<p>Have you visited a local university to see what is done there? Perhaps you could find a college professor, either in your parents’ network or at a local university that you could chat with for a while to explore what is out there.</p>
<p>I’m probably over sensitive because my S1 intensely disliked high school and basically whined his way through all four years…even wrote his college essay about everything he disliked about high school and why he was looking forward to college. He too is a fine writer a 'la LaTeX…and those verbal sorts are very good at expressing the blah, blah, blah. I sent him off to college with a “No Whining” t-shirt. I think many kids dislike high school. Son has ceased whining. As I said earlier, go see your GC and discuss options.</p>
<p>Before you quit, I encourage you to read Grace Llewellyn’s The Teenage Liberation Handbook: how to quit school and get a real life and education. Here is a good website as well, [Unschooling</a> Resources](<a href=“http://www.freechild.org/unschooling.htm]Unschooling”>http://www.freechild.org/unschooling.htm) Make an appointment to see your GC and discuss options. Try thinking in terms of what you want and what you need to get there. Sometimes high school is simply a box that needs to be checked before you can take the next step, that’s okay too.</p>
<p>My son considered doing high school in three years and we also considered him not going to high school at all. You may already know this but there is a lot of data out there that indicates that for most students high school could be completed in three years. You are feeling that in your bones and it’s difficult. In the end, my son decided to attend high school for four years because he wanted to do theater for four years. He also took responsibility for doing the tasks that are required to be academically successful in that enviroment. So this year he is taking classes at our local community college in the morning and at the high school in the afternoon. </p>
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<p>Never too little, never too late! I’m excited for you that these hobbies and pastimes are emerging. By the traditional time line of high school, perhaps they are considered too little, too late but who cares? You don’t have to quit high school to start substituting your own values for what you’ve been taught.</p>
<p>Try looking at tasks through a different lens. For example, with timed essays try taking on the persona of a person who really does have a strong pov on the issue at hand. How would they write it? Not only will you be doing your assignment, you’ll be practicing persuasive writing that may help you land a loan or a grant someday. Perhaps even PR for your own company. School is telling you that a task means A but you can make it mean B, C, or D. </p>
<p>These are just small ideas and I apologize that my post is somewhat chaotic but I have an appointment to get too. I just wanted to stop by and share some ideas. Best of luck to you.</p>
<p>Well. You claim an “interest in learning” yet your behavior does not reflect that. It seems that you did not independently come up with any of the wonderful ideas posted in the replies - someone with a true interest in learning would already have explored some of these options. In fact, despite your waving around formulas, your apparent ability to spell well and, as someone else said, your mastery of rhetoric, I get no sense that you truly are so gifted that completing high school would be a waste for you, or that there is any actual reason for you to be so “intellectually stagnated,” other than your own sense that you are smarter than those around you. You clearly are not going above and beyond the high school classes to teach yourself things of interest to you (PSAT score of 234 nothwithstanding). You don’t like timed essays because they don’t give you time to fully develop a “stance” on the issues? Then go home and think about what your “stance” might be if you had been given the time; or write an essay further expanding on whatever your stance is - submit it to the teacher for additional comments or discussion; or not - just do it for your own benefit. What you are learning in high school is not a “ceiling” (at least in your case maybe); look at what you are learning as more of a “floor” - there for you to take advantage of and explore what you might actually like to learn more about in the future. When you do apply to colleges, I would advise against using any of the thoughts you posted here in your essay.</p>
<p>I have mixed feelings about this post. It reads like a contrived essay of sorts, looking for a reaction. </p>
<p>I’ll be harsh, but no harsher than if you were my kid: Deal with it already and get over yourself. You have a bit more than a year to go, you can easily fill your time with extra-curriculars you are missing so far…and why on earth haven’t you been expanding your intellectual horizons in all kinds of ways if school isn’t cutting it for you-- what books are you reading? what are you teaching yourself on the side? what have you been writing? what research have you sought out with faculty at the local college- and on and on. Is it someone else’s responsibility? I’m sure you can find a way to fill a year in many intellectual ways, and move onto college. Regardless of where you go in life- school, work, stating your own business- there will be much you will have to do that is below you and feels like empty hoops to jump through. And with your supposed raw talent, doing HS shouldnt’ be taking up much of your time. So even if you are too advanced for your HS, or your HS is weak…suck it up and use it as an opportunity to learn to deal. It will come in handy when you get to college, get a job or start your own business. </p>
<p>I feel silly even responding. I doubt someone with this apparent intelligence would actual consider dropping out instead of seeing if college gives one what they are looking for. Unless he or she were depressed or lacking mature coping skills. In which case your problem isn’t the nature of education but something else you should focus on dealing with.</p>
<p>Sorry if this sounds harsh but I’m hedging my bets its just another ■■■■■.</p>
<p>Haha - I acutally had drafted my post with a comment about this probably being a “■■■■■” but in a weak moment, removed it! I wholeheartedly agree with your sentiments!</p>
<p>Look at it this way: the place to argue your grand theories about Newtonian principles or to write essays without the constraints of timing, is a really good college. Something like St. John’s College where they specialize in small classes and deep thinking. If you drop out of high school, you won’t be able to attend one of these colleges however, because you need a high school degree to apply. Even if you do get a GED and go to college one day after dropping out, small selective colleges like these will not be within your reach. </p>
<p>So if you want to be intellectually stimulated, stay in high school and focus on getting into a college you think will stimulate you. Unless you think getting a minimum wage job will be intellectually challenging enough. </p>
<p>And I agree with momofthreeboys and others who have posted here. Get over yourself. Life is not always endlessly stimulating. Sometimes you have to do things that make you feel stifled and that you don’t like in pursuit of a greate goal. It’s tough. Deal with it.</p>
<p>If it was a couple of months ago, I would have just told you to apply early to college. Some colleges accept juniors. I would just stay in and graduate.</p>
<p>Or perhaps you can work something out so you can take some university courses in place of high school classes.</p>
<p>And yes as collegealum says, if you were not already a junior I’d offer different advice. </p>
<p>I should also add that your post here doesn’t quite add up. Elsewhere you are posting about taking 5 APs, playing a varsity sport at HS, getting into math competitions. So it’s not clear what your real issue is other than looking for a reaction to your essay.</p>
<p>Well, the OP reminds me of my son. Maybe the letter is a hoax. Or maybe it’s the true feelings of a young person struggling inside a system that they feel is, at the core, more about busy work than learning.</p>
<p>My son did not need to get over himself. He need time, support and ideas. He needed to mature a bit, to feel empowered to take responsibility for his own education. Sure, we could have cut him off when he talked, rolled our eyes and “laid down the law.” Instead, we took a risk and now my son is set to graduate in May with a bright future ahead of him. More importantly to us, he’s learned how to make himself happy and fulfilled, how to get to where he wants to go. </p>
<p>I think it’s very easy to defend the status quo in formal education and mock those who feel hurt by it. On the off chance that this is a real teen troubled by their current situation, I’m going to offer both compassion and a real life example of a familiy who put up with a lot of second guessing by adults who thought we were “spoiling him” but trusted their kid.</p>