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Seriously considering dropping out of high school

Dmac77

Dmac77

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Jan 2, 2008
2,165
3
Michigan
As the title says, I am really thinking about dropping out.

It's not that I'm a lazy/bad student, in fact I'm the exact opposite (3.4 GPA, taking multiple AP classes, honor role, top 20% of a class of 500, etc.); it's the fact that I am bored with school, and I've just realized that I will never use 95% of the crap I learn in school.

I just feel like I would be better off dropping out, getting my GED, and then enrolling at my local community college. I just don't know what my chances of ever being able to move up to a better college or university would be. My end goal is to eventually go to law school, and become a prosecutor in a place like New York or Chicago. But common sense tells me that dropping out would destroy any chance of my dreams coming true. Am I right?

I'm smart, and I do well in school; but I'm just bored with school, and learning pointless crap that I know I'll never use. Can anyone chime in here and give me some advice?

Thanks,

-Don
 
School teaches pointless crap because it has to relate to everyone. Don't drop out, you will really struggle to get anywhere if you do.
 
Funny thing is, if you drop out of high school, you will have to take all those classes you missed by dropping out in college.

High School English, Chem, Physics, etc. all mean getting out of the introductory courses in college.

I did well, didn't take Chem in high school, and was forced to take the idiots level chem course.

---

All depends on what you want to do.
 
I know for a lot of jobs or even colleges it's not a matter of what you have learned or know, but more so a fact that you can follow through or do as your are told/suppose to.

Stick with school, do it the proper way. The process will be easier and more rewarding.
 
Often it's not what you learn that matters but the fact that you learnt them and you learnt them better than others.

You might have a gap year before university but for your own future's sake, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE do not leave school!

If you're bored, just do some extra-curricular activity! Think about business ideas, if you want that but I have to tell you that high school is not the area where good inspiration for becoming a millionaire comes from. Try to get into a good university or study something meaningful later on and you'll see the real wealth of knowledge and inspiration.
 
kernkraft said:
If you're bored, just do some extra-curricular activity! Think about business ideas, if you want that but I have to tell you that high school is not the area where good inspiration for becoming a millionaire comes from. Try to get into a good university or study something meaningful later on and you'll see the real wealth of knowledge and inspiration.
Click to expand...

Actually, this is likely the best advice, since depending on what you do, it is meat for the resume.

Some colleges want you to do extra-curricular activities to set yourself apart from the crowd. And on the first internships and job interviews, it also works.

Especially if it is stuff that shows how you lead, do group projects, and interact with people.

Building a robot for competition is an example, as is running a charity campaign.

---

I dropped out of high school because I was bored usually nets you a, thank you ... next person please.
 
You think High School is a bunch of pedantry, you will certainly hate a lot of College then. I did a ton of useless BS in college. Best part: I PAID thousands upon thousands of dollars to do so! Man, did I ever feel like a chump.

Then I went to graduate school...boy was there a lot of useless BS there, too! I also had to pay thousands and thousands of dollars for it. Man, did I ever feel like a chump, again!

Then, I went to Medical School. There was too damn much information everyone thought we just HAD to memorize. I spent all day and sometimes all night many times a week memorizing it. I busted my ass all the time only to find out (when I got to clinic) that many, MANY doctors don't remember even a small percentage of some of the things I had to arduously learn, they just look it up! Even better, I am spending HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of dollars to do this! Man, do I ever feel like a giant, throbbing chump.

Moral of the story: if you are the kind of person whose attitude is broadly opposed to school or education, no matter what you do it will seem riddled with BS and useless frill. Unfortunately, the easiest way out of this is to change your attitude. I've struggled, and some days I do better than others. But you can't escape the enormity of the system we've built up through education. You drop out, you're entering into a statistically unfavorable position for making something out of your life. You may disagree with this statement, and even be furious about it, but it's life and it probably won't change.

Generally, it is more constructive to just do what is expected of you, do it very well, distinguish yourself as a hard worker, and don't waste too much time maligning the system unless you've got good alternatives that work for everyone and not just yourself. A long time ago I realized no one cares about my personal educational philosophy and grand vision to improve school so it isn't a complete asshat waste of time and money. Unfortunately, I am one snowflake in a blizzard of opinions. Instead, now I do what must be done and keep my opinions to myself...that is until they come with the leverage to do anything about them.

Don't quit High School. You will live to regret it. Suck it up, stiffen your lip, learn all you can in life however you can, and make the world a better place by example instead of complaining about it.
 
School is all about jumping through the hoops. It's a pain in the arse, but it's something you have to do to maximise your chances of succeeding in the future.

You'll seriously regret it if you drop out.
 
Worst Idea Ever.

I have so many good friends that simply don't have the life skills to get by in any acceptable way simply because they were bored of school.

Don't ever take the easy way out with your schooling, I'm currently dealing with the consequences of taking it easy. Don't do it.

High school isn't about learning random facts. Its the learning process that gets cemented into you in these years. It sounds weird, but I know far too many people that just don't have critical thinking skills and I really can't pin it on anything other than their incomplete schooling.
 
it's obvious you will get highly redundant answers, but it bears repeating.
do not drop out.
it will easily be one of the biggest mistakes in your life and will definitively impact you future existence, especially since your plans involve education.

besides though it seems so now, a lot of the 'pointless crap' you are supposed to learn is not that pointless and is not necessarily crap.
i realize continuously, even a couple of decades removed, that "maybe i should have paid more attention in Mr. Stevenson's class", or i wonder why on earth i didn't like "this stuff" when i had the time to really learn and appreciate it. Now i buy books about it and i struggle to find the free moments to read or re-learn the same 'pointless crap', -on my dime-
 
Dmac77 said:
As the title says, I am really thinking about dropping out.

It's not that I'm a lazy/bad student, in fact I'm the exact opposite (3.4 GPA, taking multiple AP classes, honor role, top 20% of a class of 500, etc.); it's the fact that I am bored with school, and I've just realized that I will never use 95% of the crap I learn in school.

I just feel like I would be better off dropping out, getting my GED, and then enrolling at my local community college. I just don't know what my chances of ever being able to move up to a better college or university would be. My end goal is to eventually go to law school, and become a prosecutor in a place like New York or Chicago. But common sense tells me that dropping out would destroy any chance of my dreams coming true. Am I right?

I'm smart, and I do well in school; but I'm just bored with school, and learning pointless crap that I know I'll never use. Can anyone chime in here and give me some advice?

Thanks,

-Don
Click to expand...

I'm going against the tide here. IF you go ahead with your plan, you can solve lots of time and money here. Drop but get your GED ASAP. Hit a community college for the first two years of all the liberal arts bs. Ace everything, move up to a better school for pre-law and then get into a great law school. Lots of ifs though! If you just hang around and don't move, you'll waste time and accomplish nothing.
 
stevensteven123 said:
I'm going against the tide here. IF you go ahead with your plan, you can solve lots of time and money here. Drop but get your GED ASAP. Hit a community college for the first two years of all the liberal arts bs. Ace everything, move up to a better school for pre-law and then get into a great law school. Lots of ifs though! If you just hang around and don't move, you'll waste time and accomplish nothing.
Click to expand...
He's like 15 or 16 man.
 
Dmac77 said:
.....But common sense tells me that dropping out would destroy any chance of my dreams coming true. Am I right?....
Click to expand...

yep.......it would do significant damage

As others have suggested, find some additional activities to get involved in and you wont be so bored
 
If you drop out, I'll come visit you at work so you can ask me...

"May I take your order?" and "Would you like fries with that?"
 
Don't drop out, why stifle yourself by getting your GED out of school? Just suck it up and do your work.

Dropping out is a really silly idea.

You'd have less chance of going to a decent university, which would kill your chances of becoming a real life Will Truman ;)

If your dream is a corner office in a New York law firm and arguing cases in court, dropping out isn't the way there, you might be able to become a paralegal maybe though. But seriously, do you really want to make it harder on yourself?
 
No

Terrible idea! DO NOT.

I was bored in highschool so I

-Joined Mock Trial

-Took AP classes even in areas that were of little interest to me

-Participated in DECA (Please, join DECA. Some of the most fun I had in highschool)

-Took multiple 2-period career development classes, that is how I piqued my interest in graphic design and digital video production.

-Play sports

-Etc.


Do anything, just don't drop out of highschool.
 
Don't drop out. As others have mentioned, if you are seeking to eventually enroll in college, you will just spend time having to take the classes at some point anyway.

Get involved with other aspects of school life. Sports, service groups, clubs, etc. While grades are important for admission into college, extra-curricular activities are becoming VERY important as a means to separate good students from well-rounded good students. If you are applying for grants or scolarships, good grades are normally not enough to make you stand out.
 
Let me add another thing so YOU can make an educated decision. Everybody who is telling you "you'll just have to take all the courses you skip" are wrong. Do not base your decision on inaccurate information or on posts from 18 year olds whose only response to another point of view is to childishly make a snide comment instead of talk about the facts. If you get your GED and go on to college; MOST colleges will make you take placement tests. If you do well on them, you will be placed in higher level courses. If not, then you will need to take those courses you didn't take by dropping out of High School. Don't stay in school just because EVERYBODY else does and that's the right way. Choose your own path and you won't go wrong.
 
I will repeat again. DO NOT DROP OUT!

If you are bored, talk to your school counsellor and see if you can go to an advanced class. Even if you drop out and go to community college, you still have to take the classes you missed. Community college is not that much different from high school.

Finishing school shows employers you stick to something and not giving up no matter what the reason is.
 
stevensteven123 said:
Let me add another thing so YOU can make an educated decision. Everybody who is telling you "you'll just have to take all the courses you skip" are wrong. Do not base your decision on inaccurate information or on posts from 18 year olds whose only response to another point of view is to childishly make a snide comment instead of talk about the facts. If you get your GED and go on to college; MOST colleges will make you take placement tests. If you do well on them, you will be placed in higher level courses. If not, then you will need to take those courses you didn't take by dropping out of High School. Don't stay in school just because EVERYBODY else does and that's the right way. Choose your own path and you won't go wrong.
Click to expand...

All depends on the classes and the specific degree track in school.

The university might allow it, but in my case the engineer school inside the university had different requirements for classes.

As did the chemistry dept. at the time, you didn't take it is high school, you couldn't test out of it since that was only allowed for AP.

Even made a returning student audit 45 credit hours of classes he already took as a refresher for being out of school 10 years.
 
Sun Baked said:
All depends on the classes and the specific degree track in school.

The university might allow it, but in my case the engineer school inside the university had different requirements for classes.

As did the chemistry dept. at the time, you didn't take it is high school, you couldn't test out of it since that was only allowed for AP.

Even made a returning student audit 45 credit hours of classes he already took as a refresher for being out of school 10 years.
Click to expand...

Absolutely. The OP should do research at any schools he is thinking about going to and talk to a counselor both in his HS and at local Colleges.
 
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