<p>I went from getting straight A's since I could write, to failing most of my classes this year (I'm a sophomore)... School just became too stressful; too many assignments, I didn't learn fast enough, and my parents were right there bullying me to get better test scores when what I really needed was help with classes they FORCED me to take. I never understood physics yet they forced me into the hardest math class and the highest physics class... I ended up failing both because I could not do a single assignment without being walked through it all. I pretty much gave up on school altogether after that... I tried to stay in school and do better last term, and I only got a d and one f. I was pretty encouraged to keep on improving, but my parents just told me that I was going to amount to nothing. Well, it's not like I can just jump in and start getting straight A's again after months of not paying attention. It's like I'm starting fresh during the last part of the year with no previous knowledge of what I'm supposed to be doing. I don't know what to do anymore. I feel disencouraged but I want to go to school... But I just feel like I can't anymore. My grades are already screwed up and I'm so behind that I just want to cry... What should I do?</p>
<p>First of all, don’t give up. You still have two years of high school(not to mention your whole life) ahead of you. </p>
<p>Your first problem is with your parents. You should have a talk with them and, without blaming, explain that you feel like you’re being pushed too hard and that you’d like to decide your own ability limits. It’s your high school career, you somehow agreed to take the classes, so you can’t put all the blame on them. You should have dropped down from both classes as soon as it was apparent you were in over your head.</p>
<p>Since it’s the last part of the year, I don’t think you can drop to another class now. Talk to your school counselors and see what they recommend you to do for this last part of the year. Maybe you can review some of the earlier concepts to at least get a basic grasp on the class.</p>
<p>Finally, enroll in dual enrollment at your local community college for the summer. Take whatever class you would have taken as a sophomore(but didn’t) so you won’t be behind next year.</p>
<p>YO brah…nothing to worry about, everything will turn out all right. Can you try and start a couple classes in the summer? Or at least start studying ahead for next year?</p>
<p>Everything will be fine. First and foremost do the hard task of talking with your parents. Then when they say they understand which they will go to your conselour and have a talk. Drop down to all regular and maybe studies classes and just catch up a little. Then senoir year go into AP’s and Honors or just stay in regular. You also have summer school. So out of the 64 classes you take in high school. Freshman year you did fine on 16. Junior Year you will do fine on 16 and senior year 16 as well. If Sophomore year you need to go to summer school/community college (might not be neccessary) and only do well on 5/16 or 3/16 then your still good. Dude everything will be ok. Talk to your Parents, then your consoler. btw “fine” is an A,B, and high C.</p>
<p>It’s not you. It’s the classes! Advanced math and physics as a sophomore? A crazy idea by your parents. The good news is that the school will be required to drop you back into regular classes. Take the regular kids classes and get your swagger back. GL</p>
<p>I’m a parent who saw this post. First of all, do not despair- you can learn and things will get better. Please do not give up or get down on yourself. There are classes you can take and succeed at. All this has stressed you out and there are adults who can help you.
Talk to a guidance counselor who you feel comfortable with at your school immediately. Tell him/her what is going on with you and how you are feeling. Feeling stressed can interfere with anyone’s learning. Being pushed into classes you are not ready for can cause stress.
While it would be good to talk to your parents, perhaps all of you are emotional right now, and this is not easy. Your guidance counselor can bring them into the office and all of you can sit down together. This way, it is done with an objective person who can help you all communicate with each other. Your counselor can help you figure out what is getting in the way of your learning and present a plan to your parents. It may involve some learning tests to see where you are academically right now. It may include family counseling to help you and your parents get along better, and possibly some personal counseling to help you deal with some stress.
Your parents and your family love you, even if it looks difficult right now. Your friends, teachers and counselors care about you too. There is nothing wrong with asking your counselor to help you, and I think he or she would be happy to do so. Your school is there for you to learn, and to help you learn.
Soon you will be doing well again. When you apply to colleges, your counselor can explain that you were going through a tough time for a short while, but things got better. Please talk to your counselor as soon as you can, so that things can start to get better for you.</p>
<p>@OP:</p>
<p>Everyone is right. Take a deep breath. You still have a good 50+ years to go. That’s half a century! The world went from agricultural monarchies to nuclear powers in that amount of time. So calm down.</p>
<p>Switch out. Forget whet the parents say, tell them that you can’t. And when they invariably don’t listen, go to your guidance counselor. After all, it is their job to help you with the difficult parts of your life.</p>
<p>Honestly, I am a sophomore as well and I have felt the same way.
School does get harder, but don’t give up! It’s difficult but from what
I hear, the two years of high school you have left will fly by. Make the
most of it by trying your best, and don’t let yourself get discouraged
too fast.
I honestly hope everything works out:)
Best of luck.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for the kind and helpful replies. You all changed my attitude about this. 
I think I’m going to drop the harder classes and just try to be good in the normal ones for a while. I don’t think I can handle playing catch up in classes that were too difficult to begin with, at the end of the year. I’m determined to keep trying now. :)</p>
<p>I’ll also talk to my parents and my counselor. I feel like I know what I’m going to do now, but they’ll probably have some good advice to help me. Is it a possibility for me to still go to college? I heard that if you go to community college and finish a certain number of hours you can transfer to a state university later on. Is this true or am I wrong? Again, thank you so much for your help… You were all so helpful that it made me really happy :)</p>
<p>Yes, Pandabat, you can still go to college. You will be applying in at least a year from now- so you don’t need to decide what to do at this time. Focus on talking to your guidance counselor- and your parents, and getting into the classes that are right for you. When you are settled into the right class schedule, think about what clubs and other activities at school interest you, join some if you have the time, and enjoy being a high school student. When it is time to apply to college- you will have choices, and you may know a little more about what subjects and activities interest you. Yes, community college is an option, and after attending one you can transfer to a four year college. There may be other college choices available at the time too. Your guidance counselor can advise you about your options then.
Learning isn’t only academic. We can all try to do our best, but nobody is perfect all the time. As a parent, I can assure you that your parents love you and care about you- and we aren’t perfect either- but we really care about our children’s well- being- so remember this when you talk to your parents and you can ask your guidance counselor to help you talk to them too if you need to.
Sometimes nearly everyone faces challenges. Learning how to handle them and ask for help from a trusted adult is a skill that possibly everyone will need to learn.
You’re learning this now- maybe not at the same time as everyone your age, but, after this, you will take a valuable skill to college- learning to deal with some academic difficulty- and this may help you in the long run to achieve your goals.</p>
<p>First of all, rest assure that one year in the life of a person will not make a difference. My son also had a hard time sophomore year. Not because he was not smart, but because he was still growing up. Today as a senior even though he is taking a lot harder classes than his sophomore year,he is a straight A student. You and your parents have to sit down and have a long talk. You have to tell them that you will the best of yourself if they understand that is best for you to get a strong foundation in HS and get good grades in lower rigor classes than go all out and getting an F in classes you do not understand. If you have a low GPA, it does not matter really how rigorous was your curriculum, you will not be competitive enough to go to college. The good news is that you still have junior year ahead of you, and also summer to help bring some of your grades up and get some help. Do not give up and do not find excuses. It is your future. Be patient, be focus and have a clear goal. Colleges love up trends.</p>
<p>If you were about to graduate, you would have a problem. But you still have two years left! Just finish off this school year as best as you can. If your parents wont listen to you, I think it’s really important that you talk this over with your counselor. Make sure you are taking classes that are beneficial for you and ones you can handle and do well in. If a class is too difficult for you and you’re failing it because of that, then you aren’t gaining anything from it. You need to start from where you feel comfortable and work up from there. Over the summer, you could get a tutor to give you a head start on next year’s classes. I don’t think you need to worry so much. You still have plenty of time to fix things before college.</p>
<p>Wow, you are really luck pandabat. There is an army of CC’ers here to help you!</p>
<p>Look up unschooling…maybe that will be a better fit.</p>
<p>^I agree with the post above, but to Pandabat, seriously, you likely won’t end up at a community college. You’ll see that CC can seriously help you elevate your application.</p>