Did You Drop Out of High School?

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I made it just past half way through 10th grade. Home computers were just taking off, my family scraped to invest in one. That was the best thing that ever happened to me, I learned far, far more at home on the computer then I ever would have if I stayed in all of that pressure. I honestly don't believe I would be here to tell the story if I had.

In Switzerland, children are selected at the end of grade school. The system is changing, but in my time they could go on to Oberschule (the "ret*d academy"), Realschule, Sekundarschule or Kantonsschule. I went to Kantonsschule, which was reserved for the 6% or so best students. I loved my school passionately and still consider the time I spent there the happiest years of my life. There was no bullying, but the other students weren't quite as "geeky" as I'd hoped - this was the Punk era, and the fashionable attitude was "I don't give a s**t" ("Null Bock" in German), which was about as far as you could get from my tail-wagging, tongue-lolling enthusiasm for things like chemistry lab or philosophy class. But I got on well with the teachers, was heavily involved in amateur movie making and finished top of the class.

Yup. Somehow managed to make it to 12th grade. I think because dropping out before then would have required my parents permission. As soon as I turned 18 I stopped going. I never failed any classes so I actually was only a few credits shy of graduating. The next year I tried to go back but only lasted 10 days. Eventually I got my GED and went off to college, but also dropped out, after 2 months.

Since then I took a couple classes over the summer once, but stopped in the fall when the only class I had was exceptionally boring. I no longer have much interest in obtaining a degree.

Icheb,

Switzerterland sounds nice here. When I went there in 1989, it seemed to be almost the most idylic. If I knew about that, and they let me, I would have learn swize-deutsch(sp?) just to go. I DID want to learn hoch-deutsch, and eventually did. In the US, when I was young, skipping grades was about all you had. I later went to a school that was, supposedly, better, but I wasn't happy there either.

As for leaving school, I would have as early as 7(years old), if I thought I could, and felt I had another option. In my earlier years in school, I got straight As(The highest official grade in the US), without even doing any of the homework. And I later did ok, with some subjects staying As, with no real hoework. I ended up staying through the whole school, and even took the stupid surprise tests at the end when I was sick, etc... My class was the FIRST in California to have to take any tests at the end of highschool. There were three. Fail ONE test, and you flunk school. Well, I passed everything.

So, after all that garbage and bullies, I ended up getting that piece of paper, AKA diploma. WOW!(sarc)

I finished junior high, but never went to high school.

Skool was hell 4 me because i was bullied but always end up gettin in trouble 4 doin nothin so when i did sumthin like throwin a chair i got excluded so i was never allow 2 attend skool because i was a danger 4 other ppl i felt dat i was discriminated because i had AS n they didn't treat me very well but at da end of da day i have now become a better person since i lefted skool.

I was very badly bullied all the way through school and only stuck it out because I believed there was no other option. At GCSE I got 6 A*s, 3As and a B. Then I went to art college, which everyone said was an awful waste, but I just wanted to be as far away from school as you could possibly be. I thought art college would be full of odd people like me. No such luck. I got bullied at art college too, and I missed academic subjects like english and maths terribly. So I moved to a normal college to take academic subjects. There, I was scared to leave the library in case i got chased after. I ate lunch in a graveyard because I couldn't go into the canteen.

One day I decided that having a job couldn't possibly be any worse, so I left. Cue three years of completely unsuitable jobs that completely tore me apart.

Things are looking better now as I have just started an Open University degree. I would like to add that I do try not to be bitter about any of this. There were good times buried amongst the bad.

I dropped out of Secondary School for personal reasons.

I nearly dropped out, because I didn't have the credits to graduate and I didn't want to be there another year. However, the school psychologist and the school social worker took an interest in me and- God bless those women- put me at the top of the waiting list for alternative school. They got me transferred right before second semester of my senior year, and even worked it out so I could do the alternative school program in one semester, instead of going back for a second semester in fall as is usually required. I graduated on time, with a real diploma (not equivalent) and with honours, which never would have happened in a traditional high school.

I went from a small town K-8 w/ 200 kids- basically the same kids in same class with me from 4th grade(when I moved there)-8th grade. Then I went to a 3000 kid highschool in a neighboring city. YIKES! Imagine my distress. I often got lost on campus, lost my locker, could not handle the crowds, etc. It was so bad I bsically made myself sick with anxiety and ended up with a tutor, being home-schooled 1/2 way through 9th grade. I tried again the next year, had the same problems, moved in with my g-ma and went to a smaller school and did a little better, but missed home. Moved back home, tried the big HS again, then went on independent study for the rest of school. I graduated a semester early since I could do extra credits and finished my work so quickly. I was basically doing the required work fro HS classes, but only went in once a week to talk to a counselor and get assignments. Despite the pass/fail grading system which only transferred to a C average for the 2 years I was on Independent Study, I still got a 3.0 average. I went to Community college after that for one year.