Where to begin?

[Antoine]

I'll start off with some background...

I just turned 17 and last month I dropped out of one of the lowest ranked high schools in the United States.

The students were scanned by a metal detector before they were let in. The only way to avoid bullying was to be in a crew that also bullied others. Fights over the dumbest shit culminated in someone getting stabbed in a park. There were no advanced classes at all, no honors or nothing, and everyone knew the teachers let the kids cheat so that the school wouldn't have to reopen a third time in like, the past five fucking years.

I was able to avoid most of the bullshit some kids had to go through. My oldest brother had me sell drugs at 10 for his gang before I even knew what I was doing. That age is where most of the neighborhood kids started thinking about the arbitrary neighborhood shit, like respect from people you don't respect yourself, hating people because they live on a different street than you, etc. Some other kids my age tried to pick on me, but the gang bangers I sold drugs for would intervene and scare the shit out of them.

At about 13 I stopped peddling. Wasn't really one moment where it stopped, I just wanted to be apart of it less and less, and there were younger and more innocent looking kids to use than me by then. I made it through middle and high school by finding my own clique. A couple of us are gang members, but they never did me wrong. We know who we can and can't fuck with.

I hate this bullshit lifestyle. My older brothers and sister both had to drop out to support the family too. I've been studying software development for at least a couple years now. I figured the IT industry was my best bet for a decent job without formal education. I've found a few help desk jobs I think I'll be working for awhile. Then I can move the family the fuck out of here.

I Googled "i hate school" out of boredom and found this website. I know absolutely nothing about this site other than that its members probably hate school too.

[SoulRiser]

Oh wow... that sounds even more like a prison than most schools. :(

Welcome to the forums, though. I hope you can all get away from that place soon.

[Alistoriv]

Welcome!

I'd consider this and this to be required reading for the anti-school movement. You may also want to read a book by John Taylor Gatto and research some alternatives like unschooling.

[Ky]

Welcome to School Survival! I'm DoA, guy who loathes psychologists but loves psychology.

We're a support site. We do what we can to help people who have been betrayed by bad education by listening to their experiences, sharing alternatives to public schooling, and offering our, well, support.

You might be surprised to find the incompetence of school "officials" is a constant even among the best schools; I went to one of the best-ranked public schools in my state, perhaps even the entire country, but it wasn't what it was cracked up to be. Sure, there were honors courses, but all that really meant was rapid-fire indoctrination from the teachers and snobbery from the students. There was no metal detector, just a small garrison of policemen who jumped at any potential "threat". Fights rarely resulted in serious injuries, but they were plentiful, they were often, and those who faced suspension for their actions were undeterred. School is the same everywhere; it's a joke.

Anyway, what part of the IT industry do you want to get into?

EDIT: No, we don't have required reading; we're not school. The information Al has is worth checking out, though, if you have the time to read it all.

[GamerGurl]

Just when you think you've had it rough, there's stuff like this that makes what you're going through sound like it's paradise.

Welcome to SS.

[James Comey]

(08-19-2014 04:30 PM)Antoine Wrote:  I'll start off with some background...

I just turned 17 and last month I dropped out of one of the lowest ranked high schools in the United States.

The students were scanned by a metal detector before they were let in. The only way to avoid bullying was to be in a crew that also bullied others. Fights over the dumbest shit culminated in someone getting stabbed in a park. There were no advanced classes at all, no honors or nothing, and everyone knew the teachers let the kids cheat so that the school wouldn't have to reopen a third time in like, the past five fucking years.

I was able to avoid most of the bullshit some kids had to go through. My oldest brother had me sell drugs at 10 for his gang before I even knew what I was doing. That age is where most of the neighborhood kids started thinking about the arbitrary neighborhood shit, like respect from people you don't respect yourself, hating people because they live on a different street than you, etc. Some other kids my age tried to pick on me, but the gang bangers I sold drugs for would intervene and scare the shit out of them.

At about 13 I stopped peddling. Wasn't really one moment where it stopped, I just wanted to be apart of it less and less, and there were younger and more innocent looking kids to use than me by then. I made it through middle and high school by finding my own clique. A couple of us are gang members, but they never did me wrong. We know who we can and can't fuck with.

I hate this bullshit lifestyle. My older brothers and sister both had to drop out to support the family too. I've been studying software development for at least a couple years now. I figured the IT industry was my best bet for a decent job without formal education. I've found a few help desk jobs I think I'll be working for awhile. Then I can move the family the fuck out of here.

I Googled "i hate school" out of boredom and found this website. I know absolutely nothing about this site other than that its members probably hate school too.

Damn. Be very glad you got out of that shithole. And welcome.

I assume you plan on getting your GED. Honestly, you always hear about how graduation rates in inner city schools need to be raised, but how is that possible if the conditions within the school are unbearable? I mean, if I were a parent and this was happening, I would have pulled my kid out a long time ago. I'd rather have them take the GED than go through this shit.

And yeah, we all hate school too, for one reason or another. You're more than welcome here. Feel free to share your stories.

[Gwedin]

welcome to the crib brother enjoy your stay.

[MrAnonymous]

Welcome to the forums! I am MrAnonymous, teenage hacker.

Sounds like the environment I'd want to "learn" in *coughs*. Is your whole city like this or is it a ghetto?

Oh, I hope your career in the computer field goes well. Computers are always useful.

[Antoine]

MrAnonymous: It's a ghetto.
Hansgrohe: I will get my GED. Maybe I can tell colleges some sob stories.
SirMarty: The best parts of some third world countries are still complete shit. Someone always has it worse.

I'll post more replies later.

[Missile]

What city do you live in?

[Antoine]

Chicago.

[Missile]

Figures, I was guessing you lived in a city like Detriot, Chicago, Flint, or Houston.

[Antoine]

SoulRiser: I decided to not leave until the family can afford to leave. Hopefully my younger brother and sister don't have to experience that high school. They probably will though.
Alistoriv + DoA: I understand that there's no required reading, I believe that Alistoriv meant that HE WOULD CONSIDER those links as required reading.
Gwedin: Respect.

[brainiac3397]

Chicago sucks.

Then again most Murikan cities are starting to suck,

[1312]

And they say Russian education sucks...

[Username]

(08-28-2014 09:57 AM)LedoS Wrote:  And they say Russian education sucks...

...butbut!

[xcriteria]

Welcome to SS!

One of the biggest controversies in education these days is what to do in places with extremely "bad schools" and "difficult" populations of students. The federal government has been doing all this standardized testing, high stakes accountability stuff, but it certainly doesn't address the underlying problems. Nor does most of what gets taught in school, in most cases.

Any thoughts on what it'd take to change your school around, if the leadership was open to to doing things totally differently? Or... would some of the people in your school prefer a different kind of school? One trend is for people to homeschool / drop out from regular school, but find or build a place where learners can learn what they actually want to learn, and how.

Beyond that, are you doing IT work now, or you're planning to? That's definitely an area you can make money if you have the skills. Do you have any particular focus in mind?