A Waste of Life- being held back

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so I just want to vent a little frustration about the arbitrary reasons that people are held back (besides academic). I had to repeat the fourth grade because the school and my mom thought I lacked social development (I didn't hang out with my peers). Of course they didn't tell me this, so I presumed it was because I was stupid and did no discernible work for a long time (until high school). Then in middle school my math teacher told my mom that I should be in the gifted program. Which at the school I attended meant you do extra work and you get beat up. Gifted = Bullseye. So I refused. I did however beg my mom to let me homeschool myself. Which she refused on the grounds that it would once again hurt my social development by allowing me to progress beyond my peers. then I petitioned the board of directors to allow me to graduate a year early. Apparently it is only allowable to graduate a semester early.

So less than a year after I left high school I couldn't even remember who I attended with, by name or picture. So much for social development. And I spent high school sleeping in class and playing Solitaire.

I wish I could have gone to college at 13/14 instead. Or I wish they would have realized that I might have AS and holding me back for social development was silly.

It happens at work too, I was never permanently promoted (job security), only allowed to 'act' at higher positions.

I had a similar experience with that, the school system wanted to advance me forward as fast as possible, but my mom refused to let them do that for the same reasons of social skills. I could have had a college degree before my driver's license, but I have to admit that I'm glad I stayed where I was and forced to develop rudimentary social skills. Though it would have been nice to skip over middle school entirely.

Want to restructure the school system, huh? I suggest you read the works of John Holt and John Taylor Gatto before you try that one. I do not want to discourage you, simply make sure that you are under no illusions.

I missed school to avoid bullying.
Missed too much, grades went down.
If I were just left alone, I wouldn't have stayed back.

Shiggily
"yeah I am expecting that too. which is why I might switch to teaching college so I can alternate research and teaching. "

"Depends on if my super brilliant genius idea to restructure the US grade school system ever works out. I have to work out some logistics (like funding, etc.). If that works out then I am not sure what I would do."

You have caught my interest!

The gifties were saying the same thing, actually.

My problem is that I've always been bad with math unless I'm using it to make a task easier. Because of this, math is extremely hard for me in lessons, and thus held me back. When it comes to physical science, I'm right on top of it, but because my math skills are so low, I never got to take physics. In fact, because of my extremely low math skills and my dysgraphia, I wasn't even allowed to go to a regular highschool, but had to go to a SPED school 4 towns away instead. The SPED school was on the grounds of a regular high school, but all my classes were in one room with 14 other students.

It's not that I was an outcast in school, I got along with the other SPED kids, but when everybody else found out that I was in the "ret*d department", any possibility of a friendship was gone. It's not that I personally wasn't socially acceptable, it's that I never really got the chance to have any real social interaction since the only times I was at that school were spent with the rest of the SPED class. I lived 4 towns away, so it wasn't like I could meet up with anyone after school.

Oddly enough I don't seem to see that many cases like mine, where rather than I having anti-social behavior, instead I was involuntarily put in a situation where I couldn't have social interaction with normal people my age even if I tried.