To the High School and College Drop Outs Here....

[Torque669]

I'd reckon I'm approximately the second most nerdy guy at my high school, yet I've never been bullied. What am I missing out on?

Not much, its pretty terrible. I was bullied for my first two years of high school but I had close group of friends and put up with it until one started to be a bit stupid, I hit him, we started fighting, mine and his friends started in. Some rowdy idiots also joined in, turned into a massive brawl and I got my head stamped on and blacked out for a few seconds. After that I never got bullied again.

OT: Im glad Ive never dropped out so far. One of my cousins is an incredible artist and really good with computers but he dropped out of collage and hes now on the dole and got a kid with a woman I really do not like and neither does any of my family who has sold all his things and wastes all the money he gets. In other words dont drop it. Only causes grief, ignore all the stories you hear off people dropping out of collage and school and becoming incredibly rich. They got lucky.

 

[WolfenD]

Do a free collage course and get your standard grades, int 2 and higher qualification. You maybe beable to complete the courses faster at collage course.

 

[Guitarmasterx7]

I didn't exactly "drop out" but I switched to independent study. Best choice I ever made. I hate people, kids especially. All through school I looked at my "peers" and their stupid irrelevant social problems and cliques and thought "I'm so far above you fucking sad excuses for people that you aren't even worth my time." and even though I was never really bullied or anything, it would just strait up aggravate me how everyone was some dickhead that was completely obsessed with how other dickheads thought of them.

Plus when you break down high school only about 10% of it is actual educational material. I just wanted to get that over with, get my degree, and leave. And that's what I did. I would heartily recommend that over dropping out.

 

[Adaephon]

In Grade 4 (as in elementary school) I was dealing with some huge bullying and suicide issues that the school turned a blind eye to until i jumped off the roof of my house (and as a very stupid child I figured that a two story fall onto my feet would kill me but all it did was rip some tendons and send me to the pschiatric ward of the local hospital) after that I just didn't have it in me to face that school again and since my older brother had just graduated I didn't have him around to help me out anymore. But I was fortunate enough that my mom fought the catholic school board so that I could transfer to a different school that normally I wouldn't be allowed into since I lived too far away (I live on the outskirts of town so there really is only 1 school I could go to). I'm so glad I left that place, there was only one teacher who liked me (and she loved everyone) and all the others hated me, and I only had 2 real friends.

But on the other hand after grade 10, highschool has been awesome for me, my teachers are good and after the painful firts two years I managed to find some good close friends, also I guess I'm lucky that Canadian schools (especially in small towns in north BC) seem to be a lot less rough than in the US since all the bullies dropped out in grade 9 and since then it's been great for me.

OT: I'm glad I haven't dropped out, I have a lot of friends (even if most of them will grad without me...) and the teachers are mostly really good. It makes me literally angry with rage that any teacher would act the way that the OP said they did, seeing as I aspire to be a teacher, my mom was a teacher and I have some teachers that really inspired me, it really makes me mad that anyone in such an important role would act that way, the deserve to be fired and hopefuly (though not really likely, unfortunately) your dropping out caused some flak to hit them.

 

[HotFezz8]

A while ago, I started thinking about what if things had gone a bit differently. What if I had taken the opposite choice in my dilemma almost 3 years ago?

I'm referring to my decision to drop out of high school.

When I was a little over 14, I began high school and while I didn't want it to end up as a cliche story of "Nerd get's bullied" it indeed did turn out that way. Almost everyday from the very start, I was ridiculed, beaten, psychologically tormented and didn't have a single friend.

So, after about 5 months of putting up with that shit, I left. I just said "Fuck it" and got the hell out of there.

I only recently began to question my decision and wonder if it was the right thing to do.

Though, I will always stand by my decision to leave as I couldn't cope with what was going on on a daily basis, but I can't help but wonder if overall I made the wrong decision.

So my question is to you drop outs; Do you think you made the right choice to leave?

This is a question aimed at any and all high school or college drop outs who may be here on the Escapist. Your age doesn't matter, what year you dropped out doesn't matter. Only that you indeed did decide to quit school in either high school or College.

Also, even if you didn't drop out, feel free to comment on the subject itself.

i didn;t drop out, and at the moment (about to start year 2 of uni) life is (touch wood) looking up. but you left out one major point in your thread.

what are you doing now?

if you are stacking shelves at tescos or wallmart or whatever, then yes, i would say you have failed fairly spectacularly, if not, well only you know if you are happy with what happened. ultimately i believe without grades and degrees and what not your life has a definite upper limit, but if you are willin and able to work twice as hard as a graduate you may be able to keep up or overtake...

 

[TyrantGanado]

I finished all six years of high school and will going into my third year of university after the summer. Personally I think it was good for me because I'd be stuck in a dead end job due to my indecisiveness if I'd left. The extra years gave me time to think ^_^

I did get bullied for a few years between the end of primary school and the start of secondary, but it tailed off when I stopped taking shit from them and developed a snark. However, the whole masochism fetish thing fits me >.<

 

[SmartIdiot]

I dropped out and I'm just fine. Plus you can always go and it another try later on like I'm doing with college right now.

 

[TheKnotAlchemist]

Honestly, I say as long as you get your GED (if you can where you are, I know every place is different) then it wasn't a bad move at all. At the very least, you would just have to work harder, MUCH HARDER, to get it. Still, with the right help and skills it would be obtainable.

 

[ottenni]

I waned to drop out. Not because of bullying or anything like that, i just really hated school related stuff. Like maths and English and every class with the exception of PE. I really didn't enjoy it and i couldn't see myself getting anything out of it. In the end i stuck with it because i wanted to get my VCE, not that i did well but i finished.

 

[Pimppeter2]

Julian, get your ass back to school or I'll come over there and kick it.

It's not worth it. I know people that have dropped out, the only ones that really made the right choice are those who simply aren't school oriented and do badly in class. I have the feeling you're not like them, go back.

Hey, I'm coming to Chicago in a few weeks, so you won't come down here


Seriously though, I am going to college, so I'm not just completely quitting school altogether.

Well that's good!

When are you coming to Chicago, I hope I'll be back in the states by then.

You live in Chicago?
I live near Chicago .

ZOMG

We're planing a Chicago Escapism. Probably to a Bulls game sometime next year. You should, like, come. Like.

Why was I not informed of this?

As for me, dropping out is pretty much impossible at my school. We have like a .12% drop out rate and they'd kiss any student's ass who threatened to drop out.

Because its still just a vauge idea. Still, seems like there a lot more Chicago 'Pists than I knew about. We could have a really good turn out.

 

[Paksenarrion]

You had no legal recourse in that situation. I'm more disappointed in your high school, and the fact that none of the teachers did anything to help you. Especially as someone studying to become an elementary school teacher, I absolutely detest bullies. I would've confronted your tormentors and forced them to either back off, or attack me en masse, so I would have the legal recourse to slam their asses into the ground. If I'm not willing to stand up for my own students, I don't deserve the title of teacher. I'd get fired for it, but f*ck if I'm just going to stand there and let that happen.

Don't they teach the Golden Rule in kindergarten? This goddamn f*cking bullying sh!t pisses me the f*ck off.

But good on you for being a college student! F*ck those other motherf*ckers that bullied you, the goddamned pansies. They're lucky you're mature enough not to go Columbine on their @sses.

Edit: I have a bit of an anger management problem, which I probably need to fix before I start teaching in a classroom. I apologize to anyone who was offended by my rant.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

Can I get an example of how a teacher may have bullied you? We had teachers tease kids sometimes but only when everyone knew it was all in good fun, the same way friends mess with each other.

A teacher outright called me an idiot, another shoved me into a locker because I accidentally stepped on her shoe and one told me I was the worst student he had ever had and when I began to tear up, he began laughing he said "You're crying you little shit? Just get the hell out of my class and go cry to your mommy you little pussy!"

A fucking teacher said that to me.

That was the day I left and when I told the principal, he said that I was lying and said I'd be suspended for telling such lies.

At that point you should have sued the school -- especially after the parts I bolded. Slamming you into the locker was illegal, and should have gotten the teacher not only fired but drummed out of the teacher's association. Not only that, but the verbal abuse from the other teachers is almost definitely against some zero tolerance policy or another, and the principal was being derelict in his duties for not seriously looking into your complaints. Further, if you were getting physically bullied, the idiots who were doing it should be sitting in a jail cell right now. I was bullied mercilessly in middle school, and you'd be surprised at how well a threat to call the police can work. As for the overall topic, it's a shame you couldn't stick with it past freshman year; in my experience, the jackasses who make life hell for nerds tend to drop out or get expelled themselves by sophomore year. Beyond that, it's almost impossible to make a living in this country without either a college degree or a vocational certificate; people who drop out of high school completely -- as in, without getting a GED or, better yet, a diploma of some sort -- are shooting themselves in the foot with a poison dart.

As an aside, I am currently going to college to be a teacher. It makes me sick that any person would claim to call him or herself an educator and then put up with this kind of stuff, let alone participate in it.

 

[Megawizard]

I put up with a lot of crap going through high school, then in 12th grade (I think it was, may have been 11th), I broke a shovel over one of their faces. Most people started to leave me alone at that point; heh. I did have a small inner-circle of friends though; mostly people that put up with the same kind of thing.

 

[AvsJoe]

I was no longer able to afford college. I tried several things to get more scratch: I applied for many scholarships but I didn't get any; I applied for grants but I was going to a business program but I could only find grants for women and minorities (white males need not apply); I tried OSAP, a government loan, but my immediate family made too much money for me to qualify and I couldn't get a nickel out of my dad.

So I dropped out with the intention of going back when I saved up enough money. 3 1/2 years later and that still hasn't happened as is getting unlikelier by the day.

 

[Dark2003]

well in this economy, if your go to high school again, you better be ready to go to college as well

 

[Kiju]

I mainly dropped out because I was flunking; wouldn't have graduated anyways.

But I did get my GED, so it's all good.

 

[Vrach]

snip

Wish you were in my high school, you wouldn't have been a loner, we had a nice bunch of "nerds" of all kinds that hanged out along with everyone else - since there was balance between the nerds and the would-be bullies, we were all pretty friendly and there was little bullying at all.

We did of course have some morons, but bullies are essentially cowards (sorry to further the cliche), they don't attack you when they see you in a group and they couldn't really give anyone an ass-kicking without thinking twice before-hand, knowing they'd just get 30-60 people on their ass the next time they showed their face.

 

[superbatranger]

Plus, I have recently been offered the chance to go to college abroad which is something I'm most likely going to do, so yes, it has worked out for the best.

Hey, where are you going to study? I'm actually doing the same thing right now.

 

[AbsoluteVirtue18]

Hell no. But I did it for my baby brother and my parental units. It was either I quit school to watch my brother, or either my mom or stepdad leave their job to watch him. I chose the option less likely to screw over the family.

And honestly, I wasn't a school person.