Get a W, switch to art if you enjoy it more.
Talk to a counselor about how to handle talking to your parents.
A threat is not a promise. No matter how you handle the potential grade in that math class you should have a good long talk with your mom/parents regarding your college plans during your Thanksgiving break. You can gently break the news that discrete math and your current major are not a good fit for you (btw- most STEM majors won’t take this class, it is very math/CS major oriented). I doubt your parents even understand what that subject is (I would have to check with son the math/CS person- I was chemistry undergrad). You can explain how your talents apparently lie elsewhere and coupled with your interest you are planning on art. Not everyone can do an art major- I certainly would fail at it.
It is impressive that you took the class- most wouldn’t even attempt it. College is full of bumps and redirecting one’s path as you are discovering. Having a solid plan for yourself is important and shows maturity. Figuring out a new path is something to be proud of. You are not merely dropping a class/major but know the direction to take in lieu of it.
Your mother may be shocked by your fears of her past threat. At the time it was her way of telling you to take college seriously. Remember, it was a threat from what you report, not a cast in stone consequence (and even that could be changed). Giving her a viable plan where you can be successful is an important part of showing her you are not goofing off in college. Getting good grades in other classes will show that it was this one course that was not a good fit for you. I assume you did well in previous math courses but most of us hit the wall at some point in math even if we can use a lot of it in other STEM fields.
Agree that talking to an advisor before presenting things at home is a good idea. Those people (math/CS/art) can help give you concrete information to present to your parents about your choices and decisions. If you have to wait until semester break do so.
btw, I write/talk and think at the same time, unlike introverts who will ponder first. Will not take the time to erase/edit but let my thoughts stand. Not an English paper here (how I hated to write those)!
Oh, and they only find out if you let them have access. Change your access NOW if they have it. It is always a good idea for you, an adult, to be able to control information they receive- now and forever. You have knowledge they don’t and there is always more than shows up in print.
I was thinking about this thread for a while, and have two almost opposite thoughts.
The first thought is that I was a math major, and I didn’t know what Discrete Math is. This sort of bothered me so I googled “discrete math” and found a wikipedia entry on it. It includes combinatorics. Okay, I took a course in combinatorics. It includes discrete probability. Okay I took several courses in probability and related stuff. I think that the first one focused in discrete probability. It includes graph theory. Okay, I took a few courses that were about graph theory. So on for several other topics. However, I didn’t take any of these courses as a freshman in university. I suspect that discrete math is not supposed to be a freshman class. As such the problem of OP failing discrete math reminds me a bit of the thread about a high school freshman who was failing AP calculus. The answer is: Don’t take classes that are at too high a level. Take the earlier classes first, and you really will be more ready to take upper level classes in a couple of years.
This leads to the immediate solution: Drop the class if you still can and take a W, and do well in your remaining classes. Not being able to handle an upper year class as a freshman does not seem to me to be a reason that you need to change majors. Also, it is only one class. You have lots of time to make up for one class.
The second thought that comes to mind: As a major art is very different from computer science. This is a huge change in major. In my life I think that I have known one person who could have been very good at either of these two majors – she choose a different major altogether. This makes me wonder: Did OP ever actually want to major in computer science or are they doing it under pressure from others?
Regardless, to me this all seems to suggest that OP should take the W, and take thanksgiving break to think about what to do next and talk it over with his parents.
Great post DadTwoGirls.
I come back to that original question. Will your parents find out? The college won’t send them your grades unless you agree to it, but do they really never ask how your courses are going? Do you really want to lie to them?
I liked both math and art - ended up in architecture. My brothers liked both math and CS and ended up in CS. My younger brother did a lot of computer graphics work before he got more into the management end of the business.