Thinking about dropping out.

[The_root_of_all_evil]

I'm only 15 (16 in Feb), so I may have to wait until I'm old enough to secure some kind of job...
So, opinions?

True story: Met a kid of 7 who said almost exactly the same thing down at the local supermarket. Everyone, without exception, said "ARE YOU MAD? I'D BE BACK AT SCHOOL IN A FLASH!"

Seriously, knuckle down a bit, get some alternate things done, experiment a little and kick your goddam shoes off while you have time. Work is like School minus goofing off.

[sub]mostly [/sub]

 

[Baby Tea]

honestly, as long as I can pay for a small apartment, food (ramen, mac, etc. Are fine by me), and the occasional treat, I'm ok

Honestly, you're 15. You have no idea what you're talking about.
You know all that cool shit you want to do? You won't be able to do it because you'll have no degree, education, or experience. You know all that cool shit you want to buy? You won't be able to get it, because even with two jobs, you'll be making just enough to support yourself (Maybe).

What's that? You don't have any cool shit you want to do? Or cool shit you want to buy? Or cool places you want to travel to? Well that's because, at 15 years old, you have the foresight of a goldfish. You barely have any idea of how things work, and how important an education is. The fact that you're thinking about dropping out only cements that fact. Everyone I know who pushed through school and is working now and is actually doing something with their life wishes they could go back and work harder. It makes things easier for you.

I thought I had everything figured out at 15, too! I was going to drop out of school and run off to the west coast! No joke, that was my plan. Get a job, take night classes...yeah, I had it all figured out. Of course, if you can't tell by my tone, I'm really glad I didn't do this, because I'd be a homeless moron on the street right now.

Heck, I've had a full time salary job making a decent wage, and I was still forced to live in someone's basement, take public transit, and live off of peanut butter and pizza pockets. No, that's not 'ok'. It sucked. It was 'cool' for the first 2 weeks, and then I would have kicked a puppy for a decent meal. But I couldn't afford one, because shit is expensive.

Grow up and stay in school.

 

[Snake Plissken]

As someone who plans to be an educator of the youth, I can't condone dropping out. I have friends that dropped out of high school and got better paying jobs than anybody else I know, and I know dropouts that are the biggest fuck-ups on the planet who can't keep a job for more than 2 weeks.

The only way I would ever condone it is if you were the type of person who would spend all of your time that would otherwise be spent at school on something productive. If you literally spent all of above-stated time as well as your free time to work on becoming something you want to be that school will not help you with, by all means, go for it. I highly doubt this is the case though. If you just want to drop out because you're bored, you'll be in for a rude awakening. And you could pretty much kiss any love life goodbye (any love life with an intelligent person who wants the most out of life, anyways).

 

[Cozzzy]

honestly, as long as I can pay for a small apartment, food (ramen, mac, etc. Are fine by me), and the occasional treat, I'm ok

Honestly, you're 15. You have no idea what you're talking about.
You know all that cool shit you want to do? You won't be able to do it because you'll have no degree, education, or experience. You know all that cool shit you want to buy? You won't be able to get it, because even with two jobs, you'll be making just enough to support yourself (Maybe).

What's that? You don't have any cool shit you want to do? Or cool shit you want to buy? Or cool places you want to travel to? Well that's because, at 15 years old, you have the foresight of a goldfish. You barely have any idea of how things work, and how important an education is. The fact that you're thinking about dropping out only cements that fact. Everyone I know who pushed through school and is working now and is actually doing something with their life wishes they could go back and work harder. It makes things easier for you.

I thought I had everything figured out at 15, too! I was going to drop out of school and run off to the west coast! No joke, that was my plan. Get a job, take night classes...yeah, I had it all figured out. Of course, if you can't tell by my tone, I'm really glad I didn't do this, because I'd be a homeless moron on the street right now.

Heck, I've had a full time salary job making a decent wage, and I was still forced to live in someone's basement, take public transit, and live off of peanut butter and pizza pockets. No, that's not 'ok'. It sucked. It was 'cool' for the first 2 weeks, and then I would have kicked a puppy for a decent meal. But I couldn't afford one, because shit is expensive.

Grow up and stay in school.

"Grow up and stay in school." Man. I wish I could be as fucking badass as that post of yours was. No, seriously, you think acting authoritatively and being condescending will help him? It's oppression like this and people telling students their entire lives are forefit if they fuck up school that leads to people giving up on education so quickly when their grades start to drop.

@Cimil

I know the way school works is incredibly bad, but seriously, it's the bare minimum in this ridiculous system. It'll be really hard going anywhere from nothing - just stick it out until you finish, and find things (ideally, take up something) to do out of school to take your mind off it and relieve stress. After that's finished, you should be old enough to know if you want to do something specific that you're interested in. If not, don't go into higher education, regardless of what anyone says; you will absolutely hate it and have even less drive than before. From experience.

 

[TheLaofKazi]

Good heavens, you just broke the awesomeness meter. Can I quote that for a book someday in the far future? I've been through much the same thing, although compared to you I was pretty lucky; it wasn't until middle school that crushing my spirit seemed to become a top priority. That really needs to be solved; even if society didn't make things really hard for people without degrees, the fact is that I wouldn't make it without an education (and a little more discipline, but I think that's more of a personal thing). School should be engaging, because learning is inherently fun and interesting. It's amazing, considering that, what our schools are currently like.

And since I'm breaking the post size record, I have my own advice for cimil. Hey cimil! Make it through high school. The sensation of growing insanity is only temporary (probably). Once you've gotten through that, take a gap year! This will give you time to recover, think, and pursue interests while you decide whether or not to go to college. Best of luck!

Yeah, sure. I've probably posted enough thoughts on different forums over the years to write like 5 books anyways .

And I'm feeling some good quotes right now.

"Universal education through schooling is not feasible. It would be no more feasible if it were attempted by means of alternative institutions built on the style of present schools. Neither new attitudes of teachers toward their pupils nor the proliferation of educational hardware or software (in classroom or bedroom), nor finally the attempt to expand the pedagogue's responsibility until it engulfs his pupils' lifetimes will deliver universal education. The current search for new educational funnels must be reversed into the search for their institutional inverse: educational webs which heighten the opportunity for each one to transform each moment of his living into one of learning, sharing, and caring. We hope to contribute concepts needed by those who conduct such counterfoil research on education--and also to those who seek alternatives to other established service industries." ?Ivan Illich


"schooling confuses teaching with learning, grades with education, diplomas with competence, attendance with attainment, and, especially, process with substance. Schools do not reward real achievement, only processes. They inhibit a person's will and ability to self-learn, ultimately resulting in psychological impotence. Forced schooling perverts the victims' natural inclination to grow and learn and replaces it with the demand for instruction. Further, the current model of schooling, replete with credentials, betrays the value of autodidactic education. Moreover, institutionalized schooling seeks to quantify the unquantifiable ? human growth. Creative, exploratory learning requires an individual's own initiative to truly impact the learner positively." ?Ivan Illich

"Mankind is naturally differentiated into many types, and to press all these types into the same mold must inevitably lead to distortions and repressions. Schools should be of many kinds, following different methods and catering for different dispositions. It might be argued that even a totalitarian state must recognize this principle but the truth is that differentiation is an organic process, the spontaneous and roving associations of individuals for particular purposes. To divide and segregate is not the same as to join and aggregate. It is just the opposite process. The whole structure of education as the natural process we have envisaged, falls to pieces if we attempt to make that structure ? artificial." - Herbert Read

 

[Exterminas]

Unless you have some kind of brilliant invention in your basement, that's ready to innovate the world, or a world-shaking buisness play, or any plan for your future at all, I recommend staying at school.

 

[Angryman101]

Then what, kill yourself because life is already shit?

Whatever you do, finish high-school. After that, well it's okay, the world needs toilet cleaners too.

I find posts like this infuriatingly condescending. Tell me, what do I gain by spending $20k per year on a university for a degree that is essentially worthless when I can be spending my time and resources pursuing a career of my choosing, learning far more in many more fields from books and experience than I ever would in college?

Well, good luck with that. Meet me in a few years and tell me how it all went. If you still have internet by then.

Worthless degree? Dude, that degree gets you jobs. Maybe you live in a country where you don't need a degree to get a job, or maybe you're so rich that you can afford to pay your way into a job - but you know what, i bet you're not. Doesn't matter how many books you read - without something to show that you're smart, you're not seen as smart.

But yeah, good luck getting all that experience from all those books that you're definitely gonna read.

Ohhhh hahaha you're right, that's why the many college graduates today have high paying jo-oh wait, they're so desperate for work, they're taking up all the retail jobs so that younger people can't get any work.
The job market is over saturated with degrees. They are a useless waste of money.