Alternatives to High School

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I do want to go to college.

I just don't want to deal with all of the other high school kids. I've got a job and held it down, so I know that I can tolerate people just not my generation. I've heard that getting a GED would make it harder to get into college. What else could I do? [I just want to get out as soon as possible; if I graduate early I only shave off three months.]

A GED won't disqualify you, but they still have some stigma in American culture, hence the slang "Good Enough Degreee."

What grade are you in now?

I don't know if the GED thing is true or not, maybe if you're looking at actual university...I'm not sure. I know it's pretty easy to get into community college here depending on what you're taking. Some other options are:

-correspondence (the school sends your school work by mail and you complete it at home)
-online correspondence (you complete your high school courses online)
-alternative schools (you usually need a good reason to get into these schools such as pregnancy, being kicked out of your old school, having problems at your old school, missing too many days, etc.)
-adult high school
-homeschooling by your parents or a professional (costs money for a professional)
-GED test
-private school (sometimes you can find a school tailored to your liking and needs but these schools usually cost a lot of money unles you earn a scholarship)

I finished high school at an adult school in a shopping mall. It wasn't a great school, but it made it easier in terms of getting rid of most of the teenage drama. There were some people there my own age, even younger, but since it was an adult school they could expel people very easily and so most of the students were there to learn. It was much less stressful than typical high school! And I easily got into college the next year, so it seemed to be an acceptable school.

Talk to your parents about the issue and get together and write a letter to the school about who and when you are being bullied. Bureaucrats rarely do anything they are verbally told about... but put it in writing and its 'on their lap' and thus liable for it. They will act on it (some states they are required by law to do so).

I've tried that - it doesn't help.

I don't want a slower pace. A slower pace makes it harder for me because I can't focus on anything.

At the adult school we could work at a slower or faster pace. I took 5 courses per semester instead of 3, and I got to assess a new math course that they were going to start teaching the next year. I also got to tutor other students and teach the occasional biology or psychology class for an extra co-op credit. I was also able to obtain a college certificate while I was there as a personal support worker, so I graduated high school and college on the same day at the same ceremony, lol.

Well, I got a GED at 17. You could pass the GED right now. The hardest math on it is usually about prealgebra, and basic geometry (Pythagorean theorem) I didn't do good in math, math I got 69th percentile on the test, then language arts and science I got 99th. It's quite an easy test, I'd say it's about on the level of a middle school standardized test (ie, state ones.) And that's sorta the problem with the GED. You really can just 4 years of school in six hours of testing. High school is all a big scam, only there to teach you how to socialize, rather to weed out the people who cannot. To a point, it's useful for college prep if you're in AP classes, but most people just end up in community college now anyway and have to retake classes there. High school is the biggest scam in the world.

For reading and science, etc, on the GED, very little actual knowledge is needed. It's all reading comprehension. You'll read a paragraph and have to make deductions on the paragraph, and that's about all.

Anyway, most states you need parental permission to drop out, or you must wait until you're 18. I know in my state, you then have to either wait 6 months or a year to take your GED after dropping out. But, sometimes this rule isn't enforced (in my case it wasn't.)

If you're seriously interested in the GED route, besides the obvious variable of convincing your parents it'd be smart to drop out, then all you need to do to study is buy or go to the library and borrow a few practice test books. The practice test books are harder than the actual GED is much of the time, so if you can pass the practice tests consistently, then you'd be ready for the actual GED.

As far as college, well, I don't think having a GED would affect things TOO much, but only if you go to college after. As far as jobs and stuff, yeah, it does look bad, as it mostly shows you're crap at social functioning and doing what everyone else does. Which uh...Aspergers. Yeah... But, if you go to college, then a job will look at the GED as a blip, and then you can turn your Aspergers frown upside down and say the classes in high school weren't challenging you enough and you wanted to go to college early. As far as college goes, you need an SAT/ACT score. So if you're seriously considering college, then you'd probably wanna devote a serious amount of time studying for those tests. You can take those anytime you want as many times as you want, assuming you have the cash and motivation. The only problem regarding college, especially scholarships and going the GED and taking SATs yourself route is, by skipping high school, you're not gonna have extracurricular activities and clubs and whatnot, it doesn't help you look "well rounded."

I can't say "Oh, high school will get better." It probably won't. I wish I could be more optimistic to you, and be like Great Teacher Onizuka and teach how school is great because of friendship and life experience and all that, but...nah. I wish I could give you false hope to make you feel better, but if you cannot leave school early, then more than likely school will be as it is today for the next few years of it.

If you are stuck in school, here's my advice, some of this applies even if you don't get stuck the purgatory of high school. Get strong. You're at a good time in your life to start lifting weights and working out. Start eating well and exercising at the very least. Maybe find a sport. Like in my case, if I'd have found figure skating and lifting during high school, I'd have avoided a lot of heartache. I'm not saying join the football team or anything, but pursue any athletic pursuits now. It'll make you "cooler" in the eyes of your fellow students, but also physically and mentally stronger. Plus now, though school is an obligation, you got less worries than as an adult in some ways, and more energy, so you can devote more time to training. Even if it's a sport like, I dunno, fencing or something. If you can get into exercising and sports of some kind, it'll make life a lot better, it'll at least be a distraction.

High school isn't a very purposeful existence, and we as humans like to have purposeful existences, so sports will provide a bit more purpose, as a hobby or whatever. Even if it's not sports, high school obviously isn't fulfilling any sense of purpose, so find something that makes you feel you have a purpose. It's like being in jail, if you're occupied, the time goes by fast, if you're just sitting there pondering your "sentence" of 4 years of high school, you're gonna go nuts.

So that's my advice, leave if you can, if you cannot get the good fortune to leave, try to make your life as purposeful as possible.

I'm a black belt in taekwondo and no, they think I'm a twig because I weigh 130 instead of 180. Working out and beefing up does NOT work if you're a girl.

I am taking AP classes but I get bullied in those too.

I'm either going to go insane or pick a fight. I don't know at this point. I'm trying to just graduate a year early but my counselor is doing everything he can to prevent it, so now I have to find ways to go over his head. [He lied to me about the availability of a required class, and said that it was a seniors-only class. The teacher I would have if I stuck the class in told me that he had about ten juniors this semester.]

I went to high school for one week. I have a GED, an Associate's, a Bachelor's and a Master's, working on my 2nd and 3rd Bachelor's now.

High school is overrated. Just go to a community college, get good grades, get some nice SAT scores and transfer. Cheaper, too. The test itself is like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJIjoE27 ... r_embedded

Are there any alternative schools in your area? I went to a very small charter school (about eighty people in the entire school), and it made all the difference for me. Because it was a charter school, it was tuition free and the people who went there were there because they wanted to be- it was centered around the arts, so it attracted a lot of people with similar interests. There weren't a lot of cliques or drama (I won't say there was none), but I really felt a lot more "at home" there than at my local public school.

I suggest you look into concurrent enrollment.

My friend was able to take classes at the community college and receive both high school and college credit for the classes. It won't totally get you out of HS, but it will help plus get a head start on college.

Also, my high school had a work permit program. We had to take 8 classes a year but a lot of seniors only needed 4 or so to graduate so you were allowed to leave school to go to work.