Quit school, bleak future, few options

Page 1 of 1 [ 9 posts ] 

Kuldi
Emu Egg
Emu Egg

User avatar

Joined: 30 Oct 2013
Gender: Male
Posts: 3

31 Oct 2013, 6:07 am

Today I quit school. I was in high school/college, and I saw that I wasn't going to graduate (Laws require finishing certain courses which I am unable to learn, before one can graduate). I've been looking over job options available to someone without any formal degree, and the list is limited. The list is practically empty for those who have no social skills, and is completely empty for those of us who piss off everyone around them without trying.

To dig my grave a tad deeper, my parents have made it clear that I am welcome in their house as long as I stay in school. If I quit, I will need to pay rent.

I could try begging them, but that is, at best, a temporary solution. I could also, since it's winter, just walk outside, and keep walking until I fall down. That's not an attractive option, but it's there.

Now, since I've no-one to talk to, I guess I'll just whine on these forums until I'm asked about why I'm no longer going to school. Drama will ensue, a proverbial shitstorm, and unless I've a solution before then.. I don't know.

Reckon I could lie my way through this. But, again, that's temporary. I would try to drown myself in alcohol, but that'd also be temporary (and I can't afford it).

I'm not expecting some magical guru to come to my aid with a simple solution that'd fix everything. I'm not even sure why I registered. I just googled "asperger's support forum" and found this page.

I googled that because the personality traits which have prevented me from graduating are listed as symptoms of Asperger's (and which my therapist identified in her diagnosis of me).

The traits are, if anyone is curious: a lack of social skills, unintentionally being obnoxious, extreme difficulty in grasping certain concepts (what I'd call "complete and utter nonsense", such as those relating to literary analysis- various subjective judgements regarding trivial & vague nuances of.. stuff.), and poor 'working memory' (From the diagnosis, I scored just over 130 in 'work speed', IE how fast I think, and just over 70 in 'working memory', with 100 being average. I'm not sure what those concepts translate to in English, but a close fit, I think, would be RAM and processing speed), and a few other unrelated things.

I became 20 years old a few months ago, don't have a driver's licence, don't have friends or a place to stay other than my parents' house, no actual work experience, and, should the worst come, only have enough money to buy food for a few months.

..not even sure where I'm going with this post. Perhaps it's a vague cry for help, for suggestions or guidelines. Perhaps it's my way of getting my thoughts together. Perhaps I subconsciously desire attention. Regardless, I'm posting this.



Toy_Soldier
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 17 Jul 2012
Gender: Male
Posts: 3,370

31 Oct 2013, 6:47 am

Yes, I would have to agree. With your current plan it does look bleak. I think you need a better plan.



Kuldi
Emu Egg
Emu Egg

User avatar

Joined: 30 Oct 2013
Gender: Male
Posts: 3

31 Oct 2013, 7:09 am

And I suppose you do not have a reasonable plan to suggest. If had one, posting it would've been helpful.



sacrip
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 17 Oct 2008
Age: 52
Gender: Male
Posts: 844

31 Oct 2013, 10:24 am

Since I'm in the United States, I don't know what to tell you as far as practical advice. What country are you in? Are you formally diagnosed? Is there a school or government office that deals with disabilities? Your school must have SOMETHING that could help you graduate.


_________________
Everything would be better if you were in charge.


Metalwolf
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 24 Jan 2008
Age: 46
Gender: Female
Posts: 948
Location: Pennsylvania 78787878 787878 7878787878787878

31 Oct 2013, 11:24 am

If you have quit high school, I'd recommend rejoining school as soon as possible (if there is still a chance) or working on your GED. If it's college I would simply say pick something else, and for both high school and college, see if you can get a tutor on the subjects that are the most difficult.

Finishing high school/GED should be your first priority out of everything.

The reason is say this, is that many employers (unless they are fast food/low level service jobs) will be hesitant about taking someone who hasn't finished their high school. Not because of anything about them being Aspie, but because they want to know that person isn't going to quit when the going gets hard or get bored and stop showing up to work.

Now what I'm going to say might be harsh, but it's something I learned over the years:

Being an Aspie might be a reason for a difficulty, but it should never be an excuse to just give up. Yes, certain subjects were hard in school, but thinking "I'm an Aspie, I'll quit because my Aspie traits make it hard to understand them, so I shouldn't bother." While your Aspie traits did made it difficult, quitting made a situation worse because you allowed them to become your major personal barriers, instead of treating them as a temporary roadblock in life to be overcome.

Sometimes there are things in life that are hard, even terribly so. But we have to do them if we want a life in the future, because they mean the difference between having a life you are proud of, or having one where you aren't. Do you want to be having a life you love, or do you want to be sitting in your parents house at age 40, growing fat and depressed in front of the TV, and wondering where the hell your life went?


_________________
Crispy Pickles!!


Kuldi
Emu Egg
Emu Egg

User avatar

Joined: 30 Oct 2013
Gender: Male
Posts: 3

01 Nov 2013, 2:02 am

Formally diagnosed, in Iceland.

And I don't know what a GED is.

And the subjects I'm failing at (grades <2 out of 10) are things like languages, and things with abstract, vague terms, and, recently, mathematics. Though I could, eventually, get the math done, that'd be the only thing.

Example, in Icelandic classes, I have two courses left; 403 and 503. Or 503 and 603. Or maybe I have three courses left. Regardless, they all involve literary analysis. Like reading a poem and asking what "kind" of poem it is, why it is so, and from what era it is. The teacher, before he gave up on me, told us that there's no way to understand it other than to get a "feeling" for it, and intuition. That we just had to read a lot of poems from a given era, and get a feeling for them.

Then there's the whole "remember the author's name", "remember when the author lived", "remember the hair colour of a side character in a book", and how the poem was structured.

I do physics. And accounting. And economics. I deal with real things that can be understood, that are systematic and true. I can't deal with B.S. (and not swearing makes communicating more difficult).

Oh, and I'm not allowed to live in my parents' house without paying them rent, if I'm not in school. So, becoming a mindless television-blob isn't an option.



arielhawksquill
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 28 Jun 2008
Age: 50
Gender: Female
Posts: 1,830
Location: Midwest

01 Nov 2013, 8:22 am

Is there financial support for the disabled in Iceland? You could apply for government assistance and use the money to pay rent to your parents.



doofy
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 13 Dec 2012
Gender: Female
Posts: 505
Location: Here

01 Nov 2013, 9:58 am

Kuldi wrote:
Or maybe I have three courses left. Regardless, they all involve literary analysis. Like reading a poem and asking what "kind" of poem it is, why it is so, and from what era it is. The teacher, before he gave up on me, told us that there's no way to understand it other than to get a "feeling" for it, and intuition. That we just had to read a lot of poems from a given era, and get a feeling for them.

Cheat.

Most or all will have been done before and will be online. Find half a dozen examples and cobble them together so they look like your own work.

That's how I got my daughter through a tennyson essay.

If you manage to progress up the education ladder, this becomes known as "research".

I'll echo those who say to try getting back to school, especially - mainly - since you have no plan B. As you get higher up the education ladder you can dump the boring stuff. In the meantime you need to learn coping strategies for the boring stuff.



thewhitrbbit
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 30 May 2012
Age: 40
Gender: Male
Posts: 3,124

01 Nov 2013, 10:10 am

Kuldi wrote:
And I suppose you do not have a reasonable plan to suggest. If had one, posting it would've been helpful.


That was a little harsh.

Some advice I'd give

1.) Remember the old saying "A gentle answer turns away wrath." That can be a useful way to avoid pissing off people by following that rule. You'll need to work on that, and the whole not cursing thing to.

Now, it sounds like you have some marketable skills. Accounting is a GREAT skill to have. People are always looking for good accountants. That might be a skill you can work with getting a job.

GED is an American test you can take for those who drop out of highschool, it's called a graduation equivalency degree. You are still considered a high school graduate if you pass it.

I would try to see if you can get some accommodation on the English classes.