What could anyone do if I failed my classes?

[Will]

I just got this idea after reading this, which I found from a Google search. It's not directly discussed in that forum post, but some people posted some things that got me thinking. If I started to neglect my school work totally, except for classes where I could extremely easily get A's, and do useful things instead, what could anyone do about it?

In sixth grade, I got straight A's for the whole year. In seventh and eigth I got straight A's everywhere except classes with teachers who tried to do what they're supposed to do and not give everyone A's (physical education, art). In ninth grade I got almost straight A's except for B+'s in English and a B and a C in math. My final grades were (I think) all A's except for a Bsomething in English and a B in honors math. Also, I have never missed or been late for a day of school since sixth grade, when I missed two days. (I have had to miss some school for doctors appointments, but those aren't recorded on my report card.)

I've recently been reading books about stupid American education, so this year I've been doing worse, but most people at school still think I'm really "smart" and a good student. (Like everyone, I had realized before that school was stupid and that there was no real choice because everything was stupid and I had no real power.) My parents, of course, want me to get good grades and have started talking to me about grades, which they had never really done until last year. It doesn't feel like I have any power, but people physically can't really force people to do things like get good grades.

If I were to attend all of my classes and not be disruptive and instead do something like read in class, what could anyone do? Here's an example of what I'm talking about.

Except for health, (It's interesting, and I only have to take it for one semester.) orchestra and science research (I'm amazed that such a good class exists in a public school), I read "great books," books for learning Chinese or French or books for my science research project in class. I could also do something like learn calculus if having a book in my face is a too bothersome to teachers.

I've already started to do this to some extent, but I still pay attention to the teacher, and I only do this in the two classes where I can do this without the teacher caring.

When I get home from school, I play cello in addition to doing what I do at school. (I've already been studying these things out of school for a while.) I continue waking up early in the morning, which I have done for three years, but I study during this time rather than do school work.

If I did this, I would get A's in math, orchestra, physical education, health science research and maybe chemistry. I would get about a B in French if the teacher didn't take off points for class participation. (The B rather than an A is from really stupid culture tests.) I would get F's-C's in English and history, but what would anyone do about it? Wouldn't people feel bad by making me do schoolwork rather than letting me learn useful things and read interesting books?

[SoulRiser]

well, as long as you're still passing overall, and still being nice to everybody, and at least pretending to care, then you *should* be fine...

... unless your parents get REALLY worried that you're becoming "bad", and they send you to one of these places

but judging by everything you've said, i think you'd be safe though

[Will]

SoulRiser Wrote:well, as long as you're still passing overall, and still being nice to everybody, and at least pretending to care, then you *should* be fine...

... unless your parents get REALLY worried that you're becoming "bad", and they send you to one of these places

but judging by everything you've said, i think you'd be safe though

My point is that I wouldn't care. History and English are the two classes that take most of my time because of the stupid assignments that the teachers give. There are few tests in English, but I have to spend a lot of time on the writing assignments. The tests in history do require a lot of studying, but the worst part is the required homework questions from the textbook. Also, the history class is not about learning but, rather, about proving that we did the homework.

For chemistry I actually have to spend some time on the labs, but it's not significant. For French I have to study a lot for the stupid culture tests if I want to do well, but I don't care about those because they're stupid and because I can get C's on those and still get an A- for the quarter. For math I have to study for a few minutes before tests.

As of the end of this school year, I will actually have all of the necessary credits to graduate except for English and history credits. English and history are required classes each year. If I could drop those classes, I would have more than enough free time during school to do all of my school work. (I currently have no free periods.) I can't do that, so failing them is the next best thing. Of course I could just not do the work, but that would be wasting about two hours every day.

[Aya]

They could put you into a special education program. They're not fun, trust me.

[Will]

Ayliana Wrote:They could put you into a special education program. They're not fun, trust me.

How high would my grades have to be to stay in a normal school program, and how low would they have to be for me to be dropped from the normal class to the remedial class? I am sure there are people in my classes who get C's in history and English.

I just realized something today. I always get 10/10's on "homework quizzes" if I just skim the chapter, and I get about 90/100's on tests if I study the day of the test with Wikipedia, so if I just stopped doing the stupid textbook homework questions I would probably not go below a C and maybe stay in the B range.

[HappyJ]

Ayliana Wrote:They could put you into a special education program. They're not fun, trust me.

I a gre, im in some stupid "english enrichment" class that I cant stand. It doesn't give me credits, and we dont get a grade.. Whats the point? I just read throughout the whole class, the teacher doesn't care. SHe knows I don't belongi n the class.

Also: My Biology teacher TOLD me that I can pass on test grades aloen and not have to do any homework.. so whats the point?