I was expelled from school in 9th grade, and I’m currently 19 years old with no plans on ‘finishing’ my education (as if education ever ends). I say this with pride, because too often, people dismiss academic-underachievers as “lazy,” and any attempt to explain our side is labelled an excuse. I feel a need to show why it’s rarely that simple for the kids who leave school. I used to be a top student, the kind that got praised by teachers, friends, and family alike. For me to leave that behind, it had to take something special. Through the following moments, I will share how I went from a parent’s dream child, to a delinquent with a reticent family.
My first moment was when I was dragged to kindergarten, or rather, how I was treated when I refused to go. The instant I entered, I knew in my heart that school wasn’t right for me. Unlike many adults who come to realize school’s faults through facts and logic, I felt it when I was five years old. Similar to a wild animal fighting its human captors, I fought my parents and school staff… and not surprisingly, I lost.
It’s not as if I hated school because my home was great and I never wanted to leave. My family is poor and abusive, but that very abuse was why I continued going to school. I was beaten and punished until I yielded. From being choked with a belt, smashed by a chair, kneeling in a corner for an hour, and not being allowed to eat, it was enough to keep me at the top of my class. By the time high school rolled around, I was one of two students from my elementary school to be chosen for the gifted student program. Everyone was proud, but was this worth it? Instead of finding an alternative education for their child, how many parents try to force their kids into school’s mold? Parents turn on their own flesh and blood, verbally/physically, because society says school is more important than individual needs. Maternal love is nothing compared to a good report card. Still, from kindergarten to 8th grade, I gave in to everyone’s needs but my own. After all, education was mandatory.
By 9th grade, I learned the difference between school and education. I saw facts being remembered exclusively for tests, then discarded a week later. I noticed many students making resolutions to do better in school, but by their faces and tone, I only heard false promises made out of shame. Students lied because schools told them their true feelings meant nothing compared to the sin of academic failure. What righteous ‘education’ system shames kids for the low grades they receive on subjects they never asked for? What kind of education is this? From my peers mocking struggling classmates because the latter were in remedial classes, to students labeling themselves as ‘stupid’ and ending up on anti-depressants, I’d had enough. Was I the only one who could differentiate between knowledge and intelligence? Could nobody else separate compliance from morality? The students gauged each other by grades, the teachers evaluated kids on obedience, and I started skipping classes because I felt alone in my beliefs.
Of course, we all know skipping class lands us in trouble, and I eventually ended up in my vice-principal’s office for truancy. The moment I walked in, he looked at me as if I was a criminal. When I told him where I went in my absence (sleeping in the library and sitting in the bathroom), he accused me of lying. I believe he thought that any student who didn’t do well in school was a sexual deviant who sells drugs. I knew this was how he perceived me, because the moment I told him I used to be a top student, his tone changed instantly. He spoke to me as if I was a confused puppy instead of an insolent degenerate. Somehow, this angered me more than if he had judged me ignorantly. I confronted him on his bias for ‘good’ students, I spoke ill of his beloved school system, I said everything. By the end, he claimed I was the “rudest boy” he had ever met, and I was expelled. Not once did I insult him personally, yet I was the rudest. I am both proud and saddened by this fact, because in all the years this vice-principal was employed, no other child has stood up to him. This man was never taught that demanding respect while making baseless assumptions about youth makes him a hypocrite.
After getting expelled, every insult against ‘bad’ students and dropouts rang in my ears louder than before. I was now one of the outcasts shunned by the world, not because I was a liar, a thief, or a killer… but because I didn’t graduate from school. This society hates anyone who doesn’t go along with the school system, to the point of being cult-like. It’s on TV, in our homes, on the streets, in the workforce. No formal schooling means you’re uneducated, and having low grades is the equivalent of being mentally retarded. Alternative methods of education — such as homeschooling, unschooling, and democratic schools — are still regarded as unconventional.
Humanity is the basis behind every action I made, and why I refuse to return to public school. My dissenters can spin emotions into ‘chemicals in the brain’ all they want, but I will never live that way. I’ll only believe a child’s depression is cured by pills when freedom and compassion fails her or him first. I will believe the majority of ADHD cases are real when all those misdiagnosed kids cannot pay attention to their personal passions. Until schools cease their invalidation of feelings, none of these meaningless lines will change me:
“Too cool for school?”
“Have fun flipping burgers.”
“Kids in Africa wish they were you.”
“You can’t learn anything without school.”
“This is what the real world is like.”
“Grow up and deal with it.”
“Go back to school.”
I will go back to school when the apathetic adults that run them go back to their childhoods and pick up the humanity they left behind.
Luke Dang, 19, was expelled from school when he was 14. He now spends his time writing about youth rights, teenage depression, and compulsory schooling. He works at EQI.org.
ACEs Too High LLC 
I quit my s**thole of a high school 40 years ago, and I have nothing but bad memories of that place. For four long years, all I ever heard was angry teachers telling me what I couldn’t do in terms of ability and calling me a loser. I finally dropped out to save my sanity and recover my self-respect. Authorities cannot run a school like a prison, treat students like inmates, shove piss-poor, irrelevant classes down their throats, and then wonder why students don’t want to learn under conditions like that. My dream in life is to see my old high school burned to the ground. Oh, by the way, I graduated from college, graduate school and law school. F**K HIGH SCHOOL!!!
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I feel you.
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This was a well-written piece, and I can relate well. I was traumatized by my Kindergarten teacher on the very first day of school, way back in 1966. I felt creatively stifled in her classroom, and she made me spend a second year in her class. As a result, I dealt with the stigma of having repeated a grade. I did much better in school for the next decade, but my anxiety over my grades became so strong by 1978 (10th grade) that I became clinically depressed. I was also bullied by my peers, beginning in 7th grade, because I wanted to learn rather than act like a moronic jock (like most of the bullies). I had yet-undiagnosed Asperger’s Syndrome, and my grades suffered a slow but inexorable decline. It took me six years to complete college. By the time I had received my degree, I discovered that I was unemployable because school had traumatized me so much. Fortunately, I ended up writing a book about my experiences as a young person, and anxiety over grades was a major theme of the book. To this day, I still feel guilty about not receiving a good grade on my English Regents Exam.
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The idea of self-harm never made sense to me. In classes, all you do is hurt yourself. High School takes 4 years to teach kids things that could’ve been learned within 4 months(at the slowest pace) and calls it “education.” I had the same experience of being a top student. Sure, it was because I wanted to be in school rather than my home more than anything, but High School really showed me the difference between education and schooling. I started never doing my homework, and only taking the tests, scoring a perfect score on them. However, it was not enough. I ended up getting C’s and B’s and skipping school to go to the library. While I am in no position to say this, but if I were ever hiring anyone, I couldn’t care less about a Harvard degree. What matters to me is your personality, and mindset. Skill sets mean nothing if you never use them.
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hi, talk about preaching it to the choir, I finished highschool with low grades then took a year off where I worked entry level jobs full time, I ended up hating the vision of doing this all my life and I started teaching myself programming and general , I really enjoyed it and made a ton of project even contributed to Open source Software. I wanted to monetize this and find a “real” job in the domain and went to get a degree, thinking that I was simply lost in high school. My illusion shattered the first 30minutes I was back sitting still in front of a teacher rambling on material she could have conveyed in less than 5 minutes. The education industry is the greatest market as flawed as it is now and will worsen, people cannot still buy and those who don’t are ridiculed for being retarded or lazy.
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I had the same problem in school. I had very good grades, and teachers praised me. Around 6th grade I noticed that the school staff favored certain students, and picked on others. The targeted students belonged to poor families, and were ridiculed often. One of my friends happened to be one of those students. As soon as my grades started to decline, which was around 8th grade, I was told that without public schooling, I would have a bleak future. In 9th grade, I told my principal I wanted to withdraw from the school. I was immediately threatened with truancy. This went on for 2 years. My principal told me I would be taken from my parents, and they would be arrested. Once I switched to online schooling due to Covid, things got worse. My principal ridiculed my concern about the virus, insisting I was safe. Just recently I received a call from my principal, and she told me I could come in and sign the papers. But she said more than that. She told me that she was disappointed with me, and told me she hoped I could get the help I need, as if I’m mentally unstable. She made some inappropriate remarks about what I do in my spare time, and about a personal family situation. She was rude and unprofessional, as she usually is when no one else is around. I had my phone on speaker, and my mom was shocked with what she heard. I hung up after agreeing to sign the papers with my mother. Never in my life will I enter another public school.
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I’m walking down the same path as u right now. This story was great it expressed the emotions I feel and the thoughts I think but unlike you i let go of everything my emotions and thoughts why bother they dont change a thing why be angry at school why feel disgust it’s all pointless I no longer care what path my life takes or what is in store for me I will just keep living my life how I like until it is over whether I end up homeless and jobless or become somewhat decent that’s all for the future and I’m 100% positive I will not regret even when i die as that choice was my choice I just dont care what is ahead.
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My SCC class tells me to practice “flexible thinking” when the system it’s a part of doesn’t. In such a rigid-thinking system, I’m worse off just for being an autist born with a different mindset. I’m afraid to speak up because I’m afraid everyone I talk to will dismiss me as an excuse machine instead of listening to me. I can’t even have faith in my own mother. That’s how bad it is. Has society forgotten what it means to be human?
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School is bad and makes me depressed. i hope that this home learning is better (its not)
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I’m 46. Like you I went my own way. Become an entrepreneur or learn how to trade. Make a lot of money, do what you want, and give everybody the finger while you sit on your pile of cash.
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There is so much I want to say about this article and the passion behind it. Every single sentence was so full of meaning that i feel I could discuss each for a lifetime and still not say all I wanted to. I have similar experience of abuse, being a top student and walking away from it all. Actually more like floating away from it all on a cloud of green but the point is there are many people who feel like the school system is just wrong, but go along anyway. I eventually college and university and ended up disgusted to find out they were just like elementary and highschool. I got a technical degree so I could support myself and GTFO. I’m now in the unfortunate position of having young kids and am faced with having to send them to school when i have to work. It is not education, it is, for the younger set, free daycare. I am at risk of being charged for truancy because I choose to keep them home when I’m home. Also my oldest, 8, hates it, is bullied, and does not want to sit still and do what he’s told from people who do not earn his respect. I feel like I’m in the corner for believing what I believe. I believe they can and must
😄learn😊 the basics so they can follow their passions. Our society thinks they must
😡learn😡 and drains them of all hope that following their dreams, unless those dreams comply with the educational system’s format. Too much has been lost to the school system already, I don’t wish this for them, but still face so much dissent for what I believe. People like you give me hope. Thankyou, and please keep publishing your thoughts.
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Hello, I just spent the last five minutes of AP Compsai Principles class reading this because I got an f on my math quiz and it hit me bad. I’m a kid with thoughts of becoming a nurse without confidence she can actually do it. I’m a kid who thinks she doesn’t have a future the moment my grades dip.
The thing is, these dreams are really easy to dream up, the concepts and the ‘lessons’ we are supposed to learn through our education is also easy to pick up, the tests, the quizzes, the papers are the hard ones.
Its the moments when you do multiplication wrong, the moment you forget the info you studied the last night, the moment you realize class taught you shit and now you have to play catchup that gets to you. The moment you see your effort and the moment you don’t see how it reflects in your grades. The moments like these are the moments that get to people
. It got to me, I felt like the more I studied the worse I got, I felt like maybe its anxiety maybe its blah blah. its funny how I can get all the questions right by myself/ with my tutor yet I gets Fs on tests. I’m only a freshman in high school right now, and I also understand that my future in school isn’t going to be bareable. Funny how even though I’m working day in and day out, I still have to desperately find good things in every day to keep on going. Right now its three days until break and it eels like hell. My grades are tanking, but the system says I cant get help until I actually get a D or a C or a F as a grade. I don’t like school, in fact I hate school, and its just one step I have to take to get the future I want. My dream is to become a writer, I can’t, so I’m wishing to help others instead, I wished to become a surgeon, obviously smart isn’t in my dictionary, and its fine because my life isn’t going to be defined by one word.
I believe everyone’s futures are limited by our society, and its not made for anyone, all these assumptions we make about ourselves and about the world feel so solid but they’re wrong. I wonder how many years its going to take until someone takes charge and changes it. There’s always a give and a take, and bitter and sweet, this system can be improved, the so called protocols abt depression honestly hurts people more than they help, the question is if the day would actually come that someone fixes our schooling system, comes up with a better method, something less judgmental,
we probably have to do it fast because I believe until then, our country’s suicide rates in young adults will only grow;
To show the people that there is more ways to education than one, to show them their dreams are worth pursuing, to show them their true extent of their abilities is what school is probably trying to do, and its literally doing the opposite.
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The school system doesn’t teach you how life works. By that I mean how society runs and why we pay taxes, write a job application for best results, the basics if you will. Instead you have to cram extremely niche BS where 90% won’t be helpful to most of the population. It’s all good we learn math, language and history, but all of those are worth squat if you’re completely lost once you have to go get a job, move out, live a life in general…
I got tired of school during my last year of high school. Thankfully it didn’t hit me before, and I believe my training was keeping me afloat up til then. I still consider myself worst case scenario on what happened after school. Went to college trying 2 different majors for a few years each then dropping one after the other due to lack of interest. Finding a job was near impossible and I didn’t land even a temporary call-in job before several years after high. Right now I’m working to start my own business with my passion for cars. Still in the tough part on this one though.
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Salute to you for turning a life experience into a life passion…keep advocating for a more humanistic approach to schooling teenagers…the masses are right behind you in full support
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I dread going to school everyday, it’s the only time of day that I don’t ever feel like myself like as if I’m trapped. I tried everything to make school “for me” from changing friend groups to extra curricular activities to studying extra hours in hopes of raising my grades to impress certain people. Nothing worked. I absolutely hate the school system, in most schools there isn’t enough opportunities to help you understand your true passions and to realise that there really is more out there in the world than the ol’ depressing school. I agree to every point that you have made in your writing, I’m thankful to people like you who raise awareness to such an unspoken topic of the errors in school systems.
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I feel the same way, I switched to online classes this year and it honestly just showed me how little I care about school. I feel physical pain when I think about sitting on my computer wasting my time memorizing useless facts. My parents think I have ADHD because I can’t focus on school work, but I can do something I enjoy for hours on end with no breaks. I really enjoy learning, but modern education consists of very little.
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Oh! I cry out till this day 🤧I am 17 years old and I have anxiety. People think I just say it just to tell them but, my feeling is real I am scared of failing myself and everyone else. I truly kind of hate school people make me feel dumb because I fail and because I cant focus and I procrastinate in my head I really want to do better but, my anxiety is in the way. I went to homeschool my 11th grade year to see if that would help with my anxiety but no it just got worst so then they kicked me out instead of helping me because I was just “lazy” but I needed help cause basically I was self teaching myself but long story short I’ve been spending half of summer figuring out whether if I’m going to stay back or am I going to 12th grade which I really wish I could. My dad is making me go back to public school and now I’m terrified that I would get judged or have struggle with self Motivation cause no one is going to help me. I’m scared that I have to do another year I need answers. I’m so caught up in this if you don’t have a diploma you won’t make it in life and that scares me cause I want to be successful.
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Our current school system is stupid. Instead of helping us when we need help, people either give us detentions or say that we are stupid. Relax. School only gives you luxury in the future. Although, luxury may sound nice, it doesn’t help us to grow.
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Hello, My name is Nicole and just like you are I probably don’t wanna go to school with a system like that. When I was young, I really wanted to learn that’s why even when there’s no class, I still wanting to go to school because it’s the only place a bit better than my house, somehow it could let me escape from the cruelty happening there however when a teacher started to bully me I was like what’s the point now? Although it never happen again, this school that I am entering is not like any other wasted system, they’re like trying to make their students be more competitive and aim high grades than to learn and gain knowledge and understanding.
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I agree with every word you said. Very powerful piece of writing. I am a former swot who went from getting As and Bs at age 14, to Cs and D’s by age 17 and Fs by age 19, this was even after I had taken a year out from education between 17 and 18 but after getting back into it I still couldn’t concentrate. So glad to hear it wasn’t just me. Thank you.
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i agree with every thing you just said. that was very inspiring.
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I did not appear for the 12th grade exams and I remain in depression cz of that I could not do wat my friends were doing and it gives me complex
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I’m facing an exact situation with each and every detail (apart from the fact that i wasn’t expelled).It’s ongoing for me.I am a senior year student still going through the mental pain.Unconvinced and unmotivated to invest into school…i used to excel in maths and physics…now i’m spending my life pretending to be studying, waiting for the end of this torment…i held hopes for doing a phd in physics and conducting serious researches, until i realized the true criteria of the system.I’m often having surrealistic thoughts about quitting society for good…but still having philosophical controversies about disappointing my BRAINWASHED parents since i still hold affection and compassion for them because i think of how blinded they are, they’re just being simple and normative.Therefore, i’m still carrying that burden.
I know almost exactly how you felt back then, considering my utter beliefs concerning an upcoming failure.
Hence, when i read this…my eyes were slowly filled with tears.And i am going to seek out your writing material immediately.
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Something similar happened to me just this last year, and it’s honestly tearing me apart at this point. I feel like such a failure even though Im still trying to further my education, I’m stuck on classes from last year and I feel like failure. Everything I ever wanted for myself was to graduate high school and get into a good college, I was a good and smart kid, and I started skipping just like you did and got caught like an idiot. I feel like a failure because I know I either won’t finish school in time or won’t finish it all. High school is pushing me so far past my breaking point I don’t even feel like I can handle it anymore
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I’m sitting at my college library right now looking around, currently failing — I have a final exam in about 20 minutes and im just thinking out of 15,000+ kids who go here, im the ONLY one who thinks this way. Like are we that dumb to follow one simple rule of life (school) that we don’t even know is actually RIGHT? we just think its right because everyone told us. amazing isn’t it. People advocate us to think free-willingly but then we go to schools that literally take away just that. just amazing. Anyways, Thank you I needed this, and I love you 😂
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I agree. I am a parent. And, I see daily what homework is doing to my child. She is exhausted and hates school. She is burned out and demoralized from working hard and being graded harshly. Otherwise, is an intelligent, athletic and kind person. Those attributes – seem to mean very little to most of the academic world….
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And I have gone through just everything Luke dang wrote . This is disgrace , education system never developed from the day this system began !
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You’re not alone. I’m glad I found this post. Love what you’re doing. Keep it up bro!
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I’m experiencing a similar situation, Its my 4th year in college and I’m taking BSIHM Culinary arts and Kitchen Operations. On the first 6 semesters, I used to be a consistent dean’s lister that was being looked up by fellow schoolmates and professors. I admit that I am mentally ill and suffering from different mental disorders since I was in middle school back then. I was very young back then but I am very used on lacerating and stabbing my arm due to depression. I was bullied so bad back then, physically and mentally, and my parents were so strict on my grades. I admit that I barely have friends and those who consider me as friends were not really my friends. I’m not family-oriented which is the main trait of filipinos.
Now as a 4th year college student, I really thought that I would really learn and get good on kitchen and business stuffs but these are what I think, what I do, and what’s happening as semesters passes by:
– There are several useless/unrelated courses that we need to take, and there are several topics that are almost useless are taught on a major subject.
– Boring Lectures, I want to learn in a different way. It feels like I am still in highschool.
– I used to do advance reading everyday, and I’m studying almost every vacants/breaks and get a Top Score on a Quiz/Exam, but after the semester ends, Less than 95% of those are just temporary knowledge and forgotten.
– Classmates asking for answers on exam and some asks me to do their projects and homeworks, I can’t blame them because they aren’t interested.
– My classmates, even those that are bad on written exams), are doing very well on Kitchen Lab activities that they are even arguing to do the tasks themselves.
– This is my 4th year (7th semester), but the knowledge/skills that I still remember can be learned in like 1 year and 2 semesters only.
– Everybody thinks that students who are dean’s listers are geniuses and those that are not are viewed as lazy and delinquents. I believe everyone is a genius, in different ways.
The built-up stress and pressure when I’m working for dean’s lister really weakened me. I really lost interest on anything and I am frequently experiencing anxiety attacks and episodes of insanity. Now I am a suicidal delinquent, only want to escape reality. I vowed that I will kill myself in my 30’s but its still 9 long years but I really want to end my suffering earlier. My goal now is to die peacefully while sleeping instead .
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I’m not sure if you have ever heard about the Jewish Holocaust, Harriet Tubman, Martin Luther King, Benito Juarez, Cesar Chavez RIP, they all over came Discrimination, hate, abuse, tortured etc., Thanks to this wonderful individual’s, we would not be here in the present, I’m not saying the world or the people are great, but, at least we didn’t endured, witness what they all did, can you imagine what this wonderful individual’s actually went through and witnessed. What would you have done if you were in any of there shoes, so Please Stop victimizing yourself, find other happy, safe, positive, outgoing etc., individual, city, county etc. who think like you, obviously you would have to convince your biological parents, that’s it’s for your best interest, safety, well-being, education, rights and future as there biological Child., Right 🤷🏼🐝✌️ Good Luck.
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This is freaking accurate…Such a relatable read.
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Yeah! I’m in the exact same boat “ top student” was my title until I surprised everyone by dropping out and getting my GED by saying I’m saving two years of my life!
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Hi,
I am currently in my last year of the IB and want to drop out to do A-levels instead. Not only because the IB just isn’t for me but also because I don’t want to stand by what my school does to its students anymore. But it’s only 6 more months until I have my diploma so I don’t know whether it’s worth it.
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I could relate to all you just said and it’s with no doubt all truth
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I got suspended from college because my tutor doesn’t like who I hangout with do u know how pathetic that is and the worst part of that is I actually feel like somewhow it was my fault
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[…] According to Luke, Humanity is the basis behind every action I made, and why I refuse to return to public school. My dissenters can spin emotions into ‘chemicals in the brain’ all they want, but I will never live that way. I’ll only believe a child’s depression is cured by pills when freedom and compassion fails her or him first. I will believe the majority of ADHD cases are real when all those misdiagnosed kids cannot pay attention to their personal passions. Until schools cease their invalidation of feelings, none of these meaningless lines will change me. They are ashamed to meet their old classmates […]
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Geez, this post enrages the sh*t out of me. Great read but still.
I barely remember anything from 6th grade back and remember bits and pieces 6th grade forth. I do remember that when it was my first day of school, I was confused as hell and had no idea what even this place was till years later. Though there’s certain things i cannot say, but they did affect me.
I wasn’t top student but I was separated into the smart kids during middle school. They had these ‘teams’ where Team White were the smart kids and you had to be in excel classes in elementary to be there, Black Team being average, and Gold Team being the below average. Some people there were some of the most snobbiest egotistical bastards I’ve ever had the displeasure of meeting. Sure I tried to do well academically but everyday I was asking myself, “what’s the damn point?” Then I entered high school and realized how much worse it got. I didn’t feel like I was learning. I did end up graduating but people thought I was ending up like a so called typical dropout or whatever they though.
I want to be an animator, a comic book artist, or something I can do without getting a headache from boredom. (When I told this to my family and friends, they mostly said “You’re wasting your intelligence.” Something along those lines. I’m Still considering the military but that’ll just lead to more personal problems.)
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Thank you.
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I really needed this,because I felt like I’m the only one who feels like school is really not what they make us think it is.i have other passions things that make me happy that I want to do and school is not one of them…but I just don’t want to disappoint my parents
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i am with you my friend , i am still in high school. Feeling like dropping out but then my parents will either scold me or take me as unwanted and abandon me… It’s tough but you have to keep on trying.
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Also, what I kind of have in common with a lot of the other posters on here was I was(mostly emotionally)abused by my Bi-Polar, Paranoid Father.
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What an interesting article. After 45 years, I still feel guilty because I wouldn’t do any of my schoolwork. Between 13 and 15 especially(7th-8th grade), I went to old movies, watched a lot of TV, had a great time at comic book conventions, and whined and complained a lot about how much I hated school-everything except do the work! And it’s still painful to think about. I kept fantasizing about a private school where everything would be perfect, not worrying about who’d pay for it, and indeed I did go to a private therapeutic school. I did my work at this new school because I felt guilty about not having done it at public school, but I really hated this school. It wasn’t Eton, it was the Sweathogs! But I still feel very uncomfortable wondering what I’d have done if I’d had to go to public high school! I really think I’d have flunked out! Your article is telling me that perhaps I shouldn’t be so hard on myself! Funny, I graduated from college, but nothing I ever did afterward required a B.A.! Why? I was a THEATER major! It sounds like you’re doing a lot better than flipping burgers!
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I’m 17 and I’m a grade 11 student i was the topper until grade 11 but know i started getting the worst grades ever and i want to be a doctor but I’m loosing hope know and want to dropp out of school
help plzzzz
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Don’t drop!!! just think this as one day test after few years you will enjoy what you love to do…
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I was a top student unti about 7 th grade when I start3d being ridicul3d by f3llow stud3nts for being a schoolboy,I then found myself not wanting to succeed anymore.i graduated from high school only to be trapped in a liberal indoctrination center that is community college.which I was soon bored with.i lov3d building and operating computers ,usually made of discarded pieces of old computers,this was the 90,s,and became an expert of sorts of a computers inner workings which landed me a job with intuit,although I am now a bitcoin millionaire and it was all luck,i built a small cable network in my friends business which he paid me with 500 bitcoin,I wasn’t going to charge him but took them anyway because I thought they were cool.he showed me how to set up my wallet and and all that and I put the digital wallet away forgetting about it for about 3 years.,then we all know what happened it shot up from 37 cents to 20,000 ,I even heard about it late,anyway I cashed in most of it,my point is luck is the key to success you can be intelligent and work tirelessly,but if nobody notices it you won’t go anywhere.more than education there are two keys to success that are much more important,number one you have to be liked,if people don’t like you you paycheck will reflect that,charisma I guess you can call it,and number two decision making,which can be considered luck because each decision isca crapshoot,if you can’t make decisions you’re finished.,but if you want success you have to work for yourself,dont take crumbs,grab the whole loaf and do the crumb breaking.m9ney always helps too.which I never had,but am now swimming in it.lol
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in 9th grade right now… sadly, I’m learning stuff that I shouldn’t even need to glance at… AK History is exceptionally dull, and its a required class…
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I am topper of my classand believe it I hate it
I am not like other toppers who study whole time do nothing don’t have any fun
I study when I need and enjoy ma school life but the teachers think I must only study and often say bad things that makes me cry
Is study so much important that you must forget other things??
Isn’t it okay until I study in time??
School time is the best time of life so can’t I make some memories??
I can’t forget anything cause iam topper.
Am I not a human??
I am so much depressed
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Where are you now? How are you doing?
I hope your doing well.
My son was a honners student and decided to stop going to school.
I want the best for him and not sure how to help him. What do I do?
Thanks.
Joel
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I was an abused child that hated school. However, I wanted to raise myself up in the world. I did not cop an attitude in school. I graduated high school with the teachers telling me I could never go to college. Well, guess what, I did exactly opposite of what they told me. I have a PhD in psychology and work with kids to help them build self-esteem. Many of them now lead highly successful lives. You can wallow in self-pity or get up and make your life a success. I didn’t let bad teachers dictate my life. Neither should you!!
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It’s never too late to go back to school. I was in a gifted class (math) and dropped out. I was sexually, physically, and emotionally abused by my parents and other adults at the time, so I couldn’t concentrate for very long, even if I had the aptitude. I also wanted to go to school to find relief from my chaotic and traumatic home, so relationships in the “normy” classes were more important to me. I knew at a very young age that all I wanted to do was get by, so I graduated at 17 at the bottom of my class in high school. I didn’t care then, but I did care later on. After years of different careers and some community college experiences that failed many times over, I went on disability. I went on disability due to adulthood traumatic experiences, and after I had given my daughter up for adoption. I felt like my life was nothing because of all the trauma in my life.
But then I got the treatments I needed, and I found hope in second chances. In my late 30s, I returned to a community college where I graduated with highest honors. I then transferred immediately to a four-year university, where I graduated summa cum laude. I knew I had it in me, and I knew I could do it. I earned straight A’s, albeit with one A- and some withdrawals. Nevertheless, I did it. I’m 43 now and have volunteered in research labs for the three years since I’ve been graduated. I also published a peer-reviewed paper and am working with a graduate student for a second publication. I’m still disabled, but I plan on continuing my treatment until I’m ready for grad school – hopefully a PhD program. I’ll be mid-40 at that time, but it’s well worth it to me.
I’m here to tell you that it is never too late. It took me a while to realize that all the pain and hurt I felt from childhood could be worked out well enough to enjoy college life. College is so different from grade school and high school; you meet some incredible professors, mentors, and peers while there. You also get to discover your talents once more, and you get to strengthen any weaknesses you may have. I only wished that I had done this sooner, and I’ve been grieving over all the losses that my childhood traumatic experiences did to me. But I didn’t want my childhood trauma to “win” over my life. I wanted to take my life back, even if it meant failing. I had failed in my 20s and early 30s when I attempted to go back to college before I was ready, but I still knew I had it in me to do well. I just needed to work things out in therapy before I could do that.
That said, I’ve also known some people who were bright enough to become entrepreneurs without college. Some have earned a ton of money patenting ideas (like millions), while others have been content with jobs they love, which don’t require degrees. What matters is your happiness and sanity. It took me being homeless and losing everything to realize I needed professional help to get me back toward my dreams, but your dreams don’t necessarily need a degree. It’s never too late to pursue your dreams, or reinvent the dreams that are no longer possible (e.g., I once graduated from the police reserve academy and thought I could be a detective one day, but I got injured and couldn’t do that. I reinvented my dream toward research, since I loved to solve problems and find answers. That’s one example of how a dream can be reinvented).
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I hate school so much i gave up because of this wack society. I’m not wanted anywhere i just wanna drop out but yet i don’t wanna end up on the street i’m to scared to try in anything I’m stuck in one place i cannot push myself anymore it’s so UGH.
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You listed all the problems. Now please list the solutions.
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Just because there are problems does not mean it is wrong or needs a solution. You need to understand that the problems are within a system made by people that want other people to follow. EG. SCHOOL.
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I wouldn’t recommend dropping out of school. Get good grades so you can get a good job in the future, but don’t agree with any of the junk they’re teaching you.
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Well written article. Thanks for sharing. I am a parent and I agree with you. I am sorry the adults in our culture are lost on how to educate, inspire and empathize with the youths.
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This is the most true thing I’ve seen in my life. Here I am, a freshman in high school, who is doing great but seeing a corrupt biased school system for what it is. For all my life, literally, I’ve always said that I would rather be homeschooled or teach myself instead of going back to a public school just one more day. These people can’t tell me what I do and don’t believe, and these people can’t stop me from learning the way I want to learn. Yet here I am, a freshman in high school sitting here and hating my lunch.
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Thanks for the good read, excact same outcome with our boy. They were bullying him and taking away his own self esteem ! He was Eroding right before out eyes! We wasn’t gonna let that happen, so we pulled him from school that as you wrote above that’s how it goes . I told him all the time” if I ran my business like the school dose their place Id be out of business! An that’s the truth”! Needless to say he is happier but they did already damage his self esteem. Sad that it happens everywhere and nobody is going to be punished or have ANY Repercussion of their wrong judgment! Now just a kid that’s trying to see the good inside him slowly by himself now.
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Thank You for finally being the one person that understands, it felt like reading an article I Wrote because it is way too relatable. The thought of me never being able to say what I see in the world had been destroyed because you have are point of view and your doing something
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k
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I live in 2017
and high school is even more hyped than ever before!
Is it bad that I am teaching myself, but failing high school?
I mean I could just get into community college and
get good grades there right?!!
I hope so and I admire your spirit. I feel just like you!
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Go to college. Take liberal arts classes, philosophy, and literature. You will have an open dialogue with your professors and classmates. You will both teach and learn from each other. You won’t lose your soul, and in the end, you will have a degree that opens doors to many different opportunities. Doors will open for you to instigate change in your community.
High School is oppression, it forces conformity. College can be the place where you have the freedom to express your thoughts and ideas without judgement. It’s your chance to expand knowledge on your terms. You are paying for the education and you have the ability to make it whatever you want it to be. The professors “work” for you.
Go to college!
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This is so inspirational, I really needed this right now. I’m 22 debating back and forth if I should go back to college after not attending for a year after I bombed the year before that. I relate to this article so much. I don’t want to go to college because of the fear that was instilled in me by these apathetic people forcing me to become apathetic myself. I don’t care if I end up flipping burgers because at least I have my soul.
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My parents believe in giving children scars and black eyes and trusting them not to get them arrested, they’ve never done so to me or my sister but said that if the situation was super bad IE stealing a car, they would. Because for this reason they try to make you afraid of cops and dialing 911 and they use foster care as a scare tactic to make you fear getting them arrested. Despite the fact that they do so many illegal things that even if you did do something “So bad it warranted abuse” and you beat you, and got arrested for it, they would have way more than a child abuse charge. My stepdad once told me that if he gave me a visible mark or a black eye I should use my imagination to save him by telling the teachers or anyone who asked I ran into a door or something else I pulled out of my ass. I told him I’d just make it simple and go straight to the counselor and use this “Wild imagination” to make it so that he gets taken and not my mom. Of course these are only things they SAY they would do but because of stories from their childhood I think they’re telling the truth.
In fact they are so bad that I’m more likely to tell THEM a story about how I got a black eye if another kid gave me one than I am to tell the school if they gave me one. My parents are 100 A OK with getting me expelled if it means I beat anyone who puts their hands on me. They think they have a magic wand that if they yell at the school it’ll get me put back in. If you couldn’t tell from the fact I wouldn’t tell my parents if I was being bullied, they’re toxic parents just waiting to have a situation where they can ruin my school record by driving me there to fight, assaulting the bullies parents and assaulting the teacher in who’s classroom it occurred in. And the sad thing is they’d think it was fun and that it taught me a valuable life lesson so it was all worth it.
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I’d love to get in contact with you..
I’m struggling with the same problems you went through and I’d love to pay for any advice that could help?
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As Rick Sanchez once said
“School isn’t a place for smart people”
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I’ve become a fan of you.and i salute your courage to speak at your principles face.i am a 9th grader and failed in my class test last year.though i made it through without failing again,the maths teacher started looking at me with a combination of anger,empathy,and you are a looser.despite of my topping grades in languages,science and art everyone including my parents started judging me based on my math grade.the teacher would embarrass me in front of the whole class instead of reassuring me.there are just too many things and emotions which i cant express here.whenever i look at her i start playing in my head about how much i wanna tell and explain her how she makes me and my fellow classmates feel.anyway,i plan on writting her a letter on my graduation so i would make her understand without risking to get expelled.again,i salute you buddy!
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“I will go back to school when the apathetic adults that run them go back to their childhoods and pick up the humanity they left behind.”
I have struggled with serious ill-treatment from teachers since I was 6 in the private school system and this quote truly encapsulates everything that I’ve ever thought. Thank you, you inspire me.
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I don’t know when this was written, but I too have been expelled from my high school in my senior year (unfortunately for being a sexual deviant and a drug dealer haw-haw, but that was a VERY long time ago). It wasnt until then that my eyes opened up to the systematic nature of public schooling.
I am in what is considered to be one of the best areas in the US for public schooling, yet the students and (most notably) the teachers are very overworked due to meddling by the state. The schools are overcrowded, school scheduling is way too overbearing for restless children, and academic expectation is sky high. This makes for irate students and teachers, which leads to poor developmental experiences that can sometimes lead to severe consequences. The students are stressed from all the homework and the teachers are equally stressed having to grade it all and on top of that everyone isn’t getting enough sleep! Honestly, how is this supposed to sustain a learning environment?
After reading your article I have to back you up on supporting the students’ rights in compulsory education because the system isn’t built for everyone and I fear for the children who are struggling to squeeze through their school’s demanding holes in order to fit into their perceived society like obedient pegs. It’s a revolving door of failure for some that guides the student away from their own kind of success.
Please continue to do this for the minority of students who are not receiving the quality education they deserve and natural respect from authority that all humans are entitled to. A reformation of state school policies is needed and since that obviously isn’t going to happen more rights activists, such as yourself, need to be their voices.
So thank you so much! Good luck in all of your endeavors 🙂
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Does that mean Fulton County Public School?
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It’s not the worst thing in the world to drop out. I dropped out in the 8th grade as well. I am 53 years old. I did get my GED which I stronly suggest you do as well. You are very bright and intelligent for #dropout. Lol. How ever I worked in many different jobs worked for the health and hospital for 3 years. Then i went to various union jobs which was where i went wrong. I should have atayed in that job becaise ibwould of had a decent pension now. I wasnt satified with anynof the union jobs bevause you werr out of work for months at a time. I was a roofer for many years after that. and decided to become a roofing contractor at the age of 22 had a partner that didn’t work out after I opened my own company at 26 and did pretty well over the years. How ever I am currently a roofing contractor who is not doing well at all. Times have changed and competition is tremendous. With all the I’m imagination swarming into my area. People like to deal with there own kind cause my business to decline dramatically. I am I’m living with my father at 53 years old was totally embarrassed so I don’t know what to do with myself if I don’t think of what to do I I will be out of business. Read Full Story https://www.gofundme.com/need-a-truck-after-alot-of-bad-luck. I would like to advise you to either go back to school of take a city state or government job and get yourself a Pention. Wish you all the best.
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I just think you weren’t happy, I’m currently a freshman in high school, and I enjoy it. I have never had problems completing school work though, and I float through classes without ever having to study, but I have plenty of friends who I would have never met unless I went to high school. While your points are pretty accurate, I would say that there is really not much of a better alternative to high school. However, this is probably because of the bias against people who did not graduate, as they are less likely to get a job, rather than just learning what they have to do before they get a job. Overall though, I would say most children aren’t as intellectually curious as you, and if we left them free to take classes online or other self-teaching methods, they would fail. Homeschooling is also a bad alternative if a household, such as your own, can’t support a stable income while having a parent/guardian teach. Either way, vocational education is really the only method that would work, if everyone got taught how to do the job they want to do when they grow up, then we wouldn’t have to learn all this crappy stuff. However, that method is inefficient and hard to do, especially if it’s government paid. Personally, I would say that the American education system has many flaws, but it is currently the best we can do, but what do I know? I’m just a 14 year-old.
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I can’t help but feel as if you’ve missed the overall point of the article. You also need to understand that just because you’re comfortable, doesn’t mean that many others are too. There are many much more effective and less damaging school systems in different countries that the American system can definitely take an idea or two from, there definitely needs to be change.
You mentioned being a freshman during the time you made this comment, though. All I can say is the first year is clearly easier and less overwhelming than the rest, especially junior and senior year. Will your views change more by then?
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So true! I’m convinced that my Vice Principal hates me to my core after I got ISS. Most school systems are biased against students that don’t necessarily succeed. I mean, I’m a top student and in ISS everyone treated me as if I was on Death Row. The only thing I learned in that hellhole was that schools thrive by reaping the souls of miscreants. They put them in jars and threaten to destroy them if you put a toe out of line again.
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Plus, when it was over, the kid who tattled on me didn’t accept my apology over what I did. I told him I was just trying to be friendly. He told me I was being a “bully” for apologizing! Dick.
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Your story is all too familiar to me. You and I had near identical lives. Elementary, I was one of 5 top students, this made me proud, but I always hated school. Just stayed to keep away from family violence and abuse at home. As soon as I hit Junior High, everything skyrocketed downward. I could no longer go to school without breaking down in sobs, I got sick every time a test came up, I had no energy to get out of bed most days.
It was the hardest thing in my life, I finished grade 9 and attempted grade 10, 3 times. Each time I lost my motivation after finishing one book and then could no longer concentrate. If I didn’t understand how something worked inside and out (in any subject) I couldn’t answer questions about it and I always had questions about why something worked the way it did or how you figured out the answer.
The hardest decision in my life was to say I was DONE with school. To this day, I still have nightmares about going to school or not and it turning out very negatively.
Sorry for the rant, I just felt I could really relate to you in some ways.
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Keep writing! More so now, about your future. Keep writing and researching alternative education. Tell the world about your experiences and how you continue to find your way up in this world. People are interested and will find inspiration in your path to success.
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This is a great article. My son is currently struggling with his school. He has depression and is bullied and badgered my many teachers and administrators. I would love more information on the group
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Luv it d00d
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I can tell that your thoughts and opinions regarding school and education are heavily tainted by the abuse you experienced as a child. Such things will sour everything in your life. Being as young as you are, you hardly have the life experience and perspective to make a lot of the generalizations you make about education. Granted, many schools and educational institutions are bad and have bad people operating and teaching at them, but that hardly makes them all bad. That’s something you learn as you mature; just because something is done one way in one place by one particular group doesn’t mean that’s how it’s done everywhere by everyone. Such thinking is what is called cynicism and it’s sad to see it one so young.
Anyway, I hope your life has improved and I would encourage you to continue your education by any means available to you. Learning should be a life-long endeavor and even though you may think some things taught in schools are pointless and irrelevant, you’d be surprised how useful many of them truly are later in life.
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I received none of that abuse yet I still think pretty much the same, maybe even more harshly. Knowing the truth about school has soured everything in my life. Being as young as i am (16) I should know how the world works because thats what school should teach you, but i dont and i dont know what im going to do once i leave and i dont know at all how the crap im learning (and also have forgotten year after year) is going to be relevant to my future job or even life. I learn way more important stuff browsing through posts than in school.
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Late comment, but I’m curious if/how your thoughts have changed on school and dropping out over time. Also… do you simply delete any comments that even remotely disagrees with you? I have never seen such an ego boosting comment section that hasn’t been doctored or rigged. Hope all is well.
-K
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I can’t answer the question to the author, but I can answer your question about comments. We allow any comment, critical or otherwise, as long as it’s not abusive. I think it’s difficult for some people to disagree with someone without putting them down at the same time. Since we strive to create a safe place and a trusted source, we take a solution-oriented approach in our comments. It’s perfectly fine to disagree, as long as you show respect and kindness to the person with whom you’re disagreeing.
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Feel the same way. They categorize the students based in their grades and treat them differently. Its true school is like a jail. I used to love school too, I tried to never miss a day, it was just fun and exciting. The work wasnt a bother. Now its depressing and since Ive entered my new class and form I have been getting strong anxiety problems. I kept telling my mom that I wanna drop out that I can’t handle it but she sees that I’ve been getting good grades but can I continue to?. School is so hard now hmmm. They want me to stop staying at home from school even my friends have been so helpful but I don’t think I want anything to do with that school or homework and my subjects either. Its true also that dropouts are labelled as delinquent and told stupid things like you shouldn’t have done that and now you won’t have an education. That school is blablabla this and that. I believe everyone one of us is intelligent. We all have a talent. I have always been a top student but now I think its affecting me how other students are treated due to them not being. I can see how hard they are trying. There is really an inequality in schools. The fact that kids label thems selves too.
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I can relate but sadly i am still i school just being homeschooled and my story is also a bit saddening i feel like now i can breathe because i am not the only one who thinks this way and i am only 14 i had figured out everything once i got to 7th grade i am in 8th now soon going to 9th.before middle school i was fine homework was only 2 pages a night and school was actually fun and i would cry if i had to miss it but now i would rather shoot myself than go to school i used to be on honor roll i still should be but my homework is way to mixed and before 7th grade i was happy bubbly but i also saw everyone thought school was the most important thing in the world but i just saw it as fun but now i see everything homework ruined my life i now have anxiety and i only got it right before i turned 13 and my parents don’t do anything to stop school because anxiety is not curable i got even more traumatized when i tried out school in 7th grade and i wanted out on the first day but it took three months to go back to home school because my mom would not listen and now i am sad depressed and angry i can’t really think anymore i feel like i am going insane no one there to help me tell me everything is ok but after i read this it confirmed that school is the least important thing and i am scared to drop out i want to stop school and live my life i am trapped in the house all day doing homework and only going out when i can usually at night so my skin looks pale like a vampire which i think looks cool but in reality it just shows how much my health is decreased also look up the symptoms of anxiety there are thousands of symptoms sone even need medical attention it lowers your immune system school/homework broke me and my parents don’t have the brain to think what caused my disorder and to stop it from happening to others now school had given me a non curable disorder treatable but never curable i feel as if i have the weight of the world on my shoulders and if i probably explain this to my teacher she will probably push it off as whatever situation but school is supposed to be fun not like jail and it is supposed to help you to your future job and i want to be a veterinarian but i don’t know if i can drop out and when to drop out i feel as if bombing up a house or shooting myself i would do but not literally to not go anywhere near the name school anxiety also comes with depression and i want my life back but only the depression is curable anxiety never will be so i can get my life back but it wouldn’t be the same and because of school/homework it killed me i am not really exaggerating i really feel this way i possibly will need a physiatrist but i will never go on pills one it shortens your life span and two it only treats it but it doesn’t cure anxiety i want the world to just end already i wish we victims could go on TV and speak about this huge issue because i feel lost and just deciding how can i be a veterinarian if i can’t do school people will never get it until they start reading and opening their eyes and look how unhappy people are in school sorry for any bad grammar but now I don’t feel as insane so i know that there are others like me.it’s saddening really when you think about it people are so indulged in themselves that they never think of others or open their eyes to what is going on hopefully this can change or something can change thanks to whoever reads this…
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I urge you to talk with someone — a trusted family friend, someone in the faith-based community, a teacher who you recall as helping you — to get some advice and assistance. You can learn to manage anxiety and depression, and become a veterinarian.
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(Warning this might be kinda long)Ok sorry it sounds a bit like i am abused or something I don’t know how to delete comments but i am enjoying time in the house now and summer breaks help a lot i still dread going to school though i am enjoying homeschool but not really i still don’t do well with homework and anxiety but i push myself and the only way to become a veterinarian is to do the work so since my anxiety was caused by homework i use music to help and it really helps i still don’t know if i want to see someone i am a bit scared and thinking about college what to do with it many are saying not to go but a lot people around me want me to go but others online lots of articles saying most students end up with tons of debt and jobless so any ideas to help me think college through and my mom says my old friend is taking courses I’m not too sure what those are but i have an idea but i miss my old friends but then again I don’t because of the bad experience of returning to middle school but still i am a bit lost at sea about school so any help or idea would be great i am starting 9th grade today and i need a lot of information of what to do i still don’t really Like school and my anxiety is there so how do i get through besides music and somehow relaxing i can’t listen to music when i am there only when i am at home still if anyone could help me out with ideas it would be a great thanks also i am not telling my parents anything a bit i want to keep between us is because they tell people whether on purpose or on accident so i can’t trust them haha sorry it’s just idk and how will i ever return to regular school after that bad experience in 7th grade even though i still do dread going to school and doing work or home and getting out homework i need someone who has gotten through college and high school alrready and i know that high school is stupid and most of the time the kids can be stupid as in for example worrying about prom instead of a job and after high school you will literally probably never talk to anybody that was in high school with you again i just need some advice also again sorry for this rant i needed to get it off my chest and some advice really needed.
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I’ve been a high school drop out for two & a half, almost a whole three years once the new school year starts. I really want to go back to an actual High School again. But once this new school semester starts, next school year. I’ll be turning eighteen early, once the school year starts. And the way I see it is that, a public high school probably wouldn’t take me back in, especially for being a high school drop out for almost three years (Even if I try to convince them, that all I truly want is to get my education). I Honestly, wish that I had never dropped out in the first place. I started out in the ninth grade & dropped out from there. It took a good while, untill it finally hit me (pretty hard too). I then realized at the age of sixteen, just before my seventeenth birthday. I needed to get back into school!!! I really wanted to finish at an actual High School!!! Would a public school, take me back in…? Or am I just doomed to stay in a charter school…? Because I may have messed up along the road, but if I could get a second chance back into an actual High School again. I would definitely make that second chance count! I’m tired of being a Fuck-Up…! (Pardon my language, please). Not to mention that in this generation, Blue Collar job’s are slowly disappearing. Everything’s run on computers now’a’days. So you would be best off getting a, White Collar job, but it’s no use if you don’t have the proper education. I just want to go back to school & fix my mistakes!!! And get back on track again! So do you think at my age (Seventeen turning Eighteen in September, once the new school year starts) that I would have any possible luck, trying to get back into an official public High School…?
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I am currently in high school, and though I am neither a delinquent or a dropout, this speaks straight to my core. Most of my life I have been an A student but until recently, my value of an actual grade is decreasing. It all revolves around grades, grades, grades. Tests, quizzes, busywork, grades. Until now I have never opened my eyes to the flaws of public education. I’ve found there is so much more I wish to learn, though I end up with government-filtered curriculum shoved down my throat. I hate being told what I can and can’t learn and when and where and with whom.in almost all of my classes I spend at least twenty minutes just sitting, listening to everyone talk, without any work to do. I am uninterested about most of the topics. The teachers are uninterested too, we all can tell. Most of them don’t know what they’re talking about and wish they were home as well. I just hate how school takes on the role of “babysitting” and posing an authority greater than parents that they shouldn’t have. We are required to go there for seven hours a day like its a prison. Learning is everywhere. Not just in a classroom. Not with all the same people and the same schedules. It’s come to the point where it is more of a day care instead of a learning-prioritized building- if it was, we would not get so off track after “finishing” our lessons and school hours would be less. I hate the system. It really makes me want to drop out so I can make better use of my time and educate myself, though I guess I fall for everyone saying I would never get a job. So, with utter disgust, I am forcing myself to finish high school and college,though I will certainly homeschool my kids. I don’t want to be a factory made worker for this country but I guess grades=college=jobs=money=happiness- at least that’s what adults preach. My disdain of schools isn’t just a feeling or even an emotion. It is a physical pain. Through my personality I am spontaneous and not schedule oriented. I am not orderly and I need variety in my life. I dread being locked up in the same building for hours everyday. I am denied the right to visit places around the world and learn about other cultures. We can only miss so many days without a legit medical excuse. Seriously? And just because we’re not in school doesn’t mean we’re not learning or causing trouble. If schools weren’t so structured and limiting, we would be more creative, curious, and open minded adolescents, therefore spending more of our free time craving knowledge. The human is naturally curious- but is stripped of that curiousity in public schools. I have much more to say but I need to take a shower and finish my piles of homework and study for an irrelevant test. Lol. Thanks for posting this article!
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Jobs and money don’t buy happiness, and I don’t know many adults who would tell you that. However, if your parents have ever experienced being poor or being a member of the working poor, then they know just how hard life is without money.
We all want to chase the dreams we have. I wanted to be an actress, but we can’t always have what we most want. That is life. Even if you try and try and try – sometimes, things do not work out. Then, if you have no formal education – which is how people prove to each other that they are educated (people lie which is why we need documentation of learning) – you will find it hard to find a decent paying job. And if you do not have a decent paying job, you end up working more than one job that you don’t like just to make ends meet.
Adults have lived through this, usually. When your life is simply dragging yourself out of bed, work work work and then come home and work in your home (cleaning, cooking, etc) and then apply for other jobs and go to bed. It is an awful existence.
We don’t want any of you to suffer as we have. That is why we push you to go as far as possible with your education. So that if your highest dreams maybe don’t work out, you have a degree and value in the world of employment.
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I was expelled from school in grade ten for drug charges even though I never ended up doing any and the only reason I almost did was because my sister had just been hit by a car and my mother had just had a miscarriage. That meant that no one was watching out for me or checking to see how I was doing. Just like this person who wrote this I am very smart my average in grade ten for both math science history you name it was past 95% they were so high that I was forced to take my tests while being personally supervised by either a principal or teacher. At this time was when a certain teacher began making up rumours that I was selling drugs and having sex with multiple girls while I was supposed to be in class which I tried to protest but naturally they said yes we believe you but you could tell they wouldn’t since my parents were too preoccupied with their own problems they never knew so I fell into a deep depression and contemplated suicide many times and finally I met an old friend who told me if I took this drug it would make me feel better about everything and I know it was stupid but I believed him and took some . What you have to realize is I was so distraught and depressed that I was willing to do anything just to escape my awful reality so I took some of the drugs. I went to a park away from school sat down and thought about it and decided that I had to face this man head on and that drugs are not the solution so I went back to school only to find that I was officially expelled for drug use. They later accused me of supplying both drugs and alcohol to minors. Either way I am at home right now my glowing reputation is gone I am looked down upon by all even my own parents. I don’t even think that they love me anymore and all I wish I could do was just turn back the clock and not agree to taking those drugs and going to that park then maybe I would still have a future and not end up as “that kid who got kicked out of school for drugs”
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No… No stop what your saying, I respect you 100 hundred percent so please pardon me when I say everything you are thinking (or since this is like a year later) or thought about this specific topic is complete BS. My opinion: F the system, F the people who look down on you, and I know this is gonna be hard to do but F your own parents if they don’t love you anymore (think about this is a bias-cleared mind please). You and ONLY you control your life. When life is truly stripped away from all these societal expectations and standards what do you get? A man or female, living. Life. Happily. What you need to start doing is take life for what it is and always look to the future. Always. What’s done is done is ALWAYS done and is absolutely never gonna change, you need to think that over deeeeeeply to fully withdraw all stupid and occurring thoughts about the past because doing so is completely useless. Do something big with the world and with youself, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise, you can do anything you put your mind too. Anything. You know in your heart that you didn’t do the things these people think you did, and quite honestly, that’s all that MATTERS.
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I know this is really late. I am 17 and am a senior. it was really hard getting here. iv always had trouble in the grades and friends area. but never in the teacher area. It has been a struggle and fight to make it this far. but I have had no choice. I had my first breakdown at 10 years old. and now they happen often. they happen because of stress and pressure. for the past 2 or 3 years iv had a problem with attendance. and have been accused of truancy. the school gave me or my parents no warning just a court order and as soon as I walked into the court room I knew the judge didn’t care about the why and already had her mind made up. I was threatened with juvie and my parents jail. and a fine that we could never afford. all at once. In the end I had to do community service. this year iv been threatened with the same and have been told stories about how some kids get murdered or raped or even do suicide in the juvie they want to send me. my parents always yell and scream at me to go to school every day and say horrible and nasty things about me to me. for the past year it has started to get physical. with slaps hits kicks and pinching and hair yanking. all the while them screaming at me to go to school and that they are not going to jail and so on. we have talked to the school people. they wont do anything. it would be nice if my parents had and would find alternative schooling. iv been struggling with school for as long as I can remember. and the past 2 years iv been struggling with attendance. we have talked to the school but they wont help. the most they say is you have to fail your classes before you can take the same classes online at your own pace and your own way. and yet 3 other students were aloud to take the online classes and graduate early. so why cant I when I am struggling so bad. its the same online course they use in summer school so I know I can pass and actually learn if they would let me. and since I am a senior I cant afford to fail first then take it. my school calls it ace. they use Plato learning. I have a lot of medical problems I can barely see I supposedly have ADD and ADHD. and if it wasn’t for this computer I couldn’t spell or do grammar to save my life. I love to read and learn knew things but not this. and yes I have tried to drop out even my mom has reached a point were she went to the school and tried to drop me out. we were threatened with jail and fines and cps. I am tired. I am depressed. I have wished I was never born and that I was dead. I have repeated and called myself horrible things to myself. I have thought up multiple ways to kill myself but never even try to. as I said I am tired. I just want to have some peace. I think that schools should just teach the basics like reading and writing and how to add and subtract. and maybe a little about history and science and then health class. and then if the student wants to do more let them. or if they want to be something tell them what classes they need and let them decide if they want to. there are only so many jobs that you will even need any of these classes that we are forced to take. and if school is supposedly free why are we forced to go. and if its free why do we pay taxes. school gets money from the government from the taxes we pay. how much they get depends on the number of student and some other stuff or something like that. I don’t want to go to juvie. I don’t want to go to jail. I don’t want cps. and I don’t want my parents to go to jail. I am tired of the screaming the yelling the crying the slapping the hitting the kicking the pinching the hair yanking. I am just tired of it all. I know this is years late but I just had to let it out. I need help will I get it no and why because all adults and people in power are blind. they may not relies it but they have lost something during the years and its ……………………..I don’t even know what to say or how to describe how I am feeling I just wish I wasn’t so frustrated. I am actually crying as I type. this is the end of what I am typing if I get the chance and if I remember I will say weather I graduate or get sent to juvie.
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Its same as my college story..:”(
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Everything about your story sounds like mine except I left before 10th grade. Msg me on fb I want to know more – Melissa O’Toole or – Melissa Briana O’Toole
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Im 17 bout to be 18 in September
Drop out of high school in 9th
Do you think i can still finish high school
They even gave me a call for summer school in July
Please gmail me an tell me what i shoud do
FeelingReallyLost😯😥😢
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You need that piece of paper, High school is a minimum for every job. Think of it as a certificate that tells every employer that you’re ever going to meet, yes, you can do the absolute minimum.
The point of this article (as I interpret it) is best described by the author here; “By 9th grade, I learned the difference between school and education”.
I share that same experience. Now this doesn’t mean you quit and give up on learning does it? Never! This simply means don’t get too caught up in the details of the process/game. Forget about you friends, throw away your phone, delete FaceBox and focus on your future right now. You will not have as easy a time getting these papers as you get older and responsibility creeps up on you. Just keep in mind as you get these papers and eventually your first job, that time is very short so focus. Learn whatever you can from older people, many of them will tell you the truth. By truth I mean they will tell you how reality works because they lived it, not the bull on tv or what your teacher is paid to push on you. You want a great example of what I’m talking about, look up a video entitled “rodney first economics class”. Great movie. The point of that video is give the answer the teacher wants to hear to pass, and in private, learn for yourself.
Remember, this is all set up to teach you the basics to become a useful worker, not an enlightened philosopher with critical thinking skills. To become a consumer, not a thinker. Remember that. You and many others are experiencing difficulty/depression/isolation because something feels wrong. Its because you are in a small percentage that the program doesn’t make sense to. Think of it like this, you went to a hypnotist show and suddenly everyone in the crowd is clucking like a chicken but you’re not. Now you’re trying to convince everyone how smart you are by telling everyone you’re not affected. Cool, you win, now sit down, start clucking and get that paper. Once you have it, find some work, learn everything you can, save your money, gain more experience, always take opportunity, and then go into business for yourself.
Some people may go on to university and that’s great for them. Don’t let them make you feel bad that you’re not wired that way. Different people; some attend school, some work at school, some drive by the school on their way to work. Get the piece of paper…
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Those people aren’t yelling about how much attention they want, they’re trying to stop the system from being wrong. They aren’t saying they’re better than anyone else, they’re tired of people telling them that there is a correct way to live, and that they aren’t living it.
If you want to live your live lying to yourself about whether or not the lies you’re told are true, that fine. You live your life how you want, but some people don’t want to live life that way, and would rather have the world against them then tell another lie and tell themselves that it’s for the best to act like it’s true.
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I was always a great student but realized in grade 8 that some of the things I was being taught were actually wrong. I will never forget the argument, I was told that ALL fish lay eggs. I protested and was told by the teacher I was wrong. I could name several species, and I did, that birth live young as my father was a tropical fish salesman. From that day on everything I was told/taught became suspect. Eventually I dropped out of college because it was a waste of my time. Now in my late 30’s, I have done some impressive things in the corporate world but that too is a HUGE scam. Find a way to make money, then open your own business, watch dragons den and shark tank. you’ll get more education from that show than anything in school.
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Hey luke. I know it’s been a while, but can share your experience after being expelled. I want to drop out as well and pursue education my own way but the legal age in my state is 16 and I’m 14. I’ve been truant and landed in the principals office and am on a 5 month contract to attend school or face suspension for a year. I’m fine with breaking that, however the only problem I have is legal problems. I’ve been threatened with the fact that my parents will be arrested and thrown in jail if I don’t comply to go to school.(which is some total BS). And even if I am suspended it still counts as unexcused absences and my parents can still face jail time. I understand your situation with your parents is a bit different than mine but I don’t want to ruin their lives and make them lose their jobs. Any help is appreciated. Thank you
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I have the same ideas as you and I’m also failing my last year in high school, I was also a straight-A student . Today I just did a math test( the whole year curriculum) that I actually didn’t know about until two days before because I was skipping. I was also beaten and punished by my parents( I used to have blue marks on my body and once my eye). But I do not have the courage to drop out because how am I going to make a living ? How am I going to survive living among people who despise me ? and I’m sure my parents won’t be very happy…
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Same situation now 😦
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[…] story has been syndicated with permission of the author and was originally published at at https://acestoohigh.com/2013/07/23/why-i-went-from-being-a-top-student-to-an-expelled-dropout. For more visit […]
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Luke-
Thanks so much for writing this. I was always a Straight A, GATE, and Honors student, until dropping out of a Continuation School during my third year of high school and taking the CA High School Proficiency Exam instead of wasting another second of my life trying to do what was expected by finishing high school. Now that I am an adult, I realize I’ve always been a completionist. I do it now in video games and I did it when I was in school. Learn the objective, obtain 100% of the objective, get the reward. I always felt internal pressure to get 100% on everything in school because that was the point of school! This led to me being labelled as the teachers pet, the perfectionist, and the “good student.” In 9th grade, I was sexually assaulted by a school employee and things rapidly went down hill from there. All the usual suspects… Missing school, missing assignments, grades dropping, changing schools, getting in with the “wrong crowd” (or, in this case, the “non-conformists”)… When I ended up in continuation school in an attempt to finish High School a year early by working at my own pace, I was constantly called into the principal’s office and lectured on my choices and how I was ruining my future and was only in that school because I had fallen behind. When I pointed out to him that I was actually ahead of my class and just wanted to be out of there, I got lots of great lectures on “not taking the easy way out” and life not having shortcuts. Not once did anyone ask me what had happened. No one wondered why I had this sudden change. No one cared that I was smart or funny or hurting so terribly inside. And never mind that I was finishing a quarter of school a week working at my own pace. All they cared about was getting their money from the state by having me enrolled and not truant. To this day, I am outraged that “the system” failed me so badly, but even more outraged that I was put into the system to begin with. When I got to the part of your post that described what people would say to you after you dropped out, I could hear them in my own mind. The voices of the former teachers, the 4-H leaders, the people at my mom’s church, and the parents of my friends and friends of my parents… All of the disappointment at what I had done to my future. All of the blame. None of the questions about whether what happened was right. None of the responsibility for what the system does to those of us who can’t or won’t conform. I wholeheartedly know where you are coming from and wanted to thank you for putting into words what I’ve been thinking for the past 10 years.
-Katelyn
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This was indeed a very heart felt piece; one that many need to hear – so thank you for that. My immediate reaction is that I am so very sorry, Luke, that there was never a connection with a caring adult in your years in the public education system. Becase I can’t believe there was not a single adult in any of those schools who was compassionate and caring. My story is also, in many ways similar, and although I did connect with a very caring and supportive administrator, I dropped out in the first few weeks of the 10th grade. It only took 4 months working in a coat factory (an environment, I might add, that was much harsher than any school classroom I was ever in!) at age 15 to realize this was not the life I had imagined for myself. My path then led me to a Community Action Center and a social worker who had a dream of an alternative high school.
We all must choose our own path when we come to a crossroad, whatever our age, and then be willing to deal with whatever consequences come as a result. It is unfortunate that others can be so harshly critical when ours is ‘the road less taken’.
I am in complete agreement that our education system is in so many ways, broken. At the same time, I think it is even more damaging to make broad generalizations and fling our own harsh criticisms without suggesting solutions based on our experiences. Not only because it is harmful and disparaging of those who are working to make it better – I know some of them, and I suspect you all do, too. There are many teachers, counselors and yes, even some administrators, who care very deeply about kids, and who can’t thrive or bring about change in an environment where they are being beaten down, either.
When it came time for my partner and I to make decisions about our children’s formal education, we looked at schools, researched and talked a great deal, and in the end decided that we fundementally believed in the concept of public education. We paid close attention and stayed involved thru the years of our childrens in school, despite the many extra meetings and time committments, believing that we could better make change from inside the system. Were our kids happy and fulfilled all of the time at school? Absolutely not – if we are happy and fulfilled all of the time, we would never have the opportunity to learn from our own or others mistakes. But they did get that formal education and as a bonus made some lifelong friends, learned about respecting both peers and adults where it was earned, and most importantly grew into critical thinkers who can problem solve and often come up with solutions. I certainly do not give any one school or teacher all of the credit for this – they were merely one component of the complex environment helping my kids figure out who they were going to become as adults.
I don’t suggest that any one path is better or worse – just the one we chose. And, I do fundamentally believe that (forgive the cliche) if we are not part of the solution, we are likely part of the problem. It really will take all of us to talk, research and figure out what we need to do next, together. (Disclaimer -I am not nor have I ever been part of the public education system. 🙂
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I know your comment is made generally and you aren’t targeting me, but I would like to leave this message in case anyone doubted my stance. I have another article on this site praising a principal by the name of Jim Sporleder, and I’m inspired by two teachers, John Taylor Gatto and Brett Veinotte. I recommend their work to anyone who’s interested in this topic. I just didn’t mention how some teachers weren’t bad in my article because I figured I would be Captain Obvious.
Anyway, I won’t pretend I’m not biased against sending kids to compulsory schools, so that’s all I’ll say before I end up offending anyone. I tend to start flame wars and I don’t think the kind Jane Stevens who approves my articles would not appreciate my naughty side here.
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^Last line should be *would appreciate…*
Grr typos.
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Hi Pam w-E. It sounds like you found a better educational environment for your children than many others have experienced.
I will make criticisms of the entire public school system in America based on a variety of experiences ranging from being a very active parent in a system which, based on test scores, figuratively flushed 75,000 children’s education down the toilet over a ten year period. Oh yeah, there were plenty of us trying to create postive change from within. I guess you get a certain perspective while dealing with the IN charge people deliberately destroying the best academic school by attacking its teachers. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find someone qualiifed to teach Calculus to high school students–and willing to do so in a blighted inner city environment? A Russian immigrant with poor English language skills does not last long in such a place where the children have had better and are demanding it be returned.
I have also taught the “end-products” of the public education system in several parts of the country. Every year I encountered a greater number of recent high school graduates with an appalling lack of critical thinking skills–and a FEAR of speaking their minds in a classroom because that was NOT allowed in their prior educational experiences. I also discovered a serious lack of compassion among administrators and teachers alike for students with any form of learning disability. Gifted students were often designated as trouble makers no matter what their personality type–they’re not all high achieving go getters.
My ‘experiences’ extend to the private sector where I’ve taught children in levels ranging from gifted pre-schoolers to middle-schoolers.
As for what would improve the public education system I’ve not only done my research but I’ve learned what works effectively again and again in a classroom –IF your goal is to engage the minds and imaginations of young people to encourage them to become lifelong learners with independent thinking skills.
None of this is unknown. It is not waiting to be discovered.
Some fundamentals:
—Reduce all classroom size to no more than 14 students.
—No teacher should have to teach more than 4 classes a day.
—Increase one to one student-teacher engagements via meetings and conferences. Children respond to people who CARE about them. Caring does not mean forcing them to be like yourself or your notions of who you think they should be. It means gviing them the freedom to discover their own potential and the tools to manifest it. And then respect it even if it’s not quite your cup of tea.
—Eliminate all standardized testing. It’s a worthless waste of time and energy that serves only the industry that produces its products.
— Encourage active two way communication within a classroom setting based on mutual respect, tolerance and appreciation of diverse personalities. An important component this is making the distinction between saying things like “You’re stupid for saying that” and “That was a stupid thing to say. Why did you say it?” The point being to get peolple to address their thoughts without making persoanl attackts that create hostiility. Everyone does not have to ‘like’ each other but they do need to ‘respect’ each other.
–People need to think for themselves, know why they think what they do and be able to communicate such in a reasonable manner to others who may disagree and think diferently. .
–Eliminate all mandatory curriculums which do not take into account the reality of the students.
–Discard the textbook industry which exists only for profit and indoctrination of certain social-political agendas.
–Engage the imagination in a manner that encourages thinking skills that keep lookiing for the best solution to any problem. In other words, when one solution doesn’t work then move on to the next and the next until you create one that does solve the problem.
–Eliminate all grades. Yes, all of them. Either some one learns the material in order to apply, understand and share it or they do not. Learning is its own reward. It cannot be measured by A, C or F. If a child is not learning, then the why must be deteremined and addressed. A society should not throw away the children who are not learning.
–Provide quality phsyical education every day of the school year. A healthy body helps make a healthy brain/mind.
-INCREASE rather than eliminate and destroy ARTS courses. Children who learn to play musical instruments also learn MATH skills much more effectively and successfully. Music, visual arts, performing ARTS are NOT fluff. They are disciplines themselves and are examples of opportunites for application of a wide range of intellectual skiils.
-Promote and provide literacy programs for every member of a community.
The world is becoming more complex and people need thinking skills in order to adapt and thrive–not just survive and endure.
Yes, I know these things work based on direct experience with a diverse range of ages, cultural groups and economic classes. You know you’re doing things right when a former student comes up to you in a crowded public place and says, “You probably don’t remember me because I was so quiet, but because of that one course with you I now teach History and English to high school students. I learned how to work hard and have fun doing it. I’m lucky enough to have found a private school where I can do that with my students. It’s not easy. They’ve been shortchangd for a long time. But I’m getting results.”
There’s my “grade.”
Namaste
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PS. Sorry for the typos–I’m tired.
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Hey Luke, WELL DONE! You saw right through the toxic BS from the beginning :))). I also hated it from the very first time I was forced to go. I remember clearly the first time my mum took me into my first class and other kids looking round. I hated and loathed school all the way through. It was the bane of my childhood and adolescent years.
These places destroy kids (some say they are best days of their lives. Well good for them. It’s not same sorry for others), yet you do not get any compensation for the damage done. In fact when you leave you find out WHY those places are like that. It is because the goddamn system is like that. There are people living homeless on the streets and treated like dirt. People in horrible concrete hells with SWAT teams busting into their homes, and youths being imprisoned for having quantities of drugs (search The New Jim Crow at Youtube). Of course once convicted they lose all their citizen rights for life, AND the system profits from the prison industry. So to see through their so-called ‘education’ system which is intended to pump out zombies who do not question this evil crap, including warmongering, killing innocents, etc etc etc, is VERY INTELLIGENT!
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Thanks for your comment, Juliano. Because you and so many others before you recognized the shortcomings of traditional schools, many schools exist that take a very different approach, that ask each child how she or he learns best and what gets in the way of that learning so that the child can succeed. And so it goes for organizations that deal with people across their lifespans, no matter what their circumstances. There are trauma-informed homeless shelters, trauma-informed emergency rooms, trauma-informed hospitals, trauma-informed courts, etc. Just not enough of them, yet, to make it the norm. But with your experience, insight and help, it will be.
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You are one awesome person! You had the courage to buck the system. Your story belongs in a new edition of The Teenage Liberation Handbook, which is about teenagers taking control of their own education (and ditching the schools). Kudos to you.
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Oops. The rest of my name got erased. “Toni” not “T”.
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You are definitely a better writer than most “educated” people I know. Please keep writing, you are an instrument for change.
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Hat off to you Luke – you are correct school does not validate who we are. I was a high school drop and I have always believed that kids that get a diploma are not necessary smarter, however they do what the system expects them to do – follow your heart. You have much more knowledge than so many and it’s not because of our failed school system. After attending college for two years my youngest threw the towel in because what she wanted to do had nothing to do with having a degree.
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This is a sad but brilliant piece. Many thanks to the writer, I am parent to a gifted 10 year old, and will remember this for a long time.
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Have reblogged this. I know exactly what this is all about. Change is long overdue for a system that does not work for most of the children in any way, shape or form. Thanks for posting this.
Hey Luke, you sound All Together and brilliant to me.
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Great post Luke. You touch on issues that take me back 50 years to my early school experiences in working class Detroit. It’s sad to head so little has changed. Keep trusting your heart and your values Luke. They are your truest guide to a meaningful life.
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This is very moving…the American educational system is terribly broken in the way it approaches teaching and learning…your experience is a true testament to that…..young people in this nation are now viewed as one of the disposable populations relegated to that stupid “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” attitude that leaves humanity and compassion totally out of the equation…I felt it everyday I spent in school and also in college even though my experience was not as extreme as yours…..I hope that you are one day able to return to a school system that is less apathetic and more caring and humane. … may I suggest critical pedagogy as a topic of interest…it’s a philosophy of education dedicated to helping student’s develop consciousness of freedom, recognize authoritarian tendencies, and connect knowledge to power..all clearly well under way in your mind..paulo freire’s pedagogy of the oppressed is considered its pioneering work…
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Amazing post………you completely summed up the reasons why I home schooled my three children. Keep following your heart…you know what you’re doing.
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I have to say that I too felt school was dehumanizing and cold. The teachers, with rare exception, were not interested in me as an individual apart from my grades. Where was the love? How can children be taught without it when love is the natural emotional currency through which they learn good positive things?
Coming from an abusive background must also have sensitized you even further to student and teachers’ inhumanity to each other. School feels toxic. In the book, The Sociopath Next Door, it states that since sociopaths are devoid of love and feelings of bonding, they seek gratification through power, and controlling people and events like pieces on a chess board. If that doesn’t describe the school environment, I don’t know what does.
We had to pull one of my sons, who is super intelligent, out of 7th grade because he had a teacher who was a “screamer.” Imagine being a straight A student and having to listen to her berate your friends who are struggling with school. It was so painful for him, like a dog in an experiment who cannot escape the electric shocks (screaming) he eventually became depressed before he told us what was going on. We sent a formal notice to school saying he was going to be homeschooled for the rest of the year, and the school “sicced” (like telling a dog “sic ’em) CPS on us. When the social workers arrived, they had no knowledge of the notification or the situation. It was pure retaliation from the school.
Bless you for your efforts. I hope you continue to learn, heal and contribute as you seem to be doing. PS. The youngest of my 7 children have loved learning from the online lectures at Khan Academy. I will even sit and watch because they are so well done, and they even have coaching. This is the future of humane education.
https://www.khanacademy.org/
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You’re making history, kiddo. I’m as proud of you as I am my own 19 year old son.
Please do yourself the favor of checking out Seth Godin and his work entitled, “What is School For? ”
You’ll be glad that you did. I’ve been working on reforming this broken thing for 25 years. Be very proud.
Respect,
Big T.
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Reblogged this on legion9chronicles and commented:
This kid is as rad as my own. And that’s saying a lot!
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Luke, keep the faith. You have ABSOLUTELY done the right thing for you. You asked and answered The Two Perilous Questions. Keep it up. Your story and mine are VERY similar, only I’m 48 years further down the road, and it’s all worked out just fine … Best, Mark
http://floweringbrain.wordpress.com/2009/06/21/the-two-perilous-questions/
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Reblogged this on Beyond Meds and commented:
This is a kid following his heart and head believe it or not. I suspect he will be successful in life. Learning to trust ourselves is more than half the battle and our school system sure as heck does not teach us that.
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i want to quit college but i’m not brave enough to admit it to my parents. i have been skipping school and wandering around for three weeks now. then i go home everyday pretending i attended classes. i don’t know what to do. plus, today my professor texted me that he needs to talk to me. i might get kicked out. i don’t want to put my family to another hard time. i had been different since i had a psychotic attack from bipolar disorder. i have always been a top student so it’s personally painful to admit to myself that i can’t do it anymore and i dont have a goddamn clue what to do with my life. i’d love to runaway somewhere far but i don’t have finances to start with.
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Bravo to young Luke for a very well written and thoughtful piece. I’d certainly be proud to call you my son any day!
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