1. 
   Should I Drop Out? ChrisTheFeral

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   Hi, there

   I'm in a difficult situation at the moment. My relatives want me to stay in school for my own good. I'm learning more at home on the Internet though, and stuff that's actually important to me as well. I'm finding no motivation to support the system but at the same time, I don't want to let my family members down - I know they want what's best for me, but they can't see the same things I do and I have tried to explain my views many times before.

   I don't know what to do, I mean, I KNOW there's an economic collapse pending and jobs are going to be scarce as automation comes in at an even faster pace. I don't really care if I'm poor as long as I can do what I love doing so I don't find much value in certificates.

   I keep going around in circles of wanting to stay in and wanting to drop out, and I continue staying in. By definition, I think I'm insane. How am I going to break this cycle or expect anything to change by staying in?

   I guess the question is, should I risk my future employment due to this? I do have many people who want me to create websites for them and also have my boss asking me to come back and work for him after I quit. I can see many opportunities that don't require certificates but I don't want to hurt my relatives either.

   Any suggestions?

   -Chris
2. 
   Re: Should I Drop Out? Dark_Prodigy

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   I say Stay. I wanted to drop out when I was younger, but I was convinced not to, and I'm glad that I was. You get so much from school that you don't see until well after it's finished. It's never a disadvantage to complete your high school years, and you learn a lesson in staying the course even if your not really enjoying it at the time, a lesson that will serve you well for many years to come, and be tested again and again.

   The Venus Project is going to need many educated and skilled people to bring such a massive change about, the more members who educate themselves in their chosen field the better in my opinion.

   I completed high school, didn't get the greatest VCE score, but that doesn't matter, as most employers just ask if you have your high school certificate not what your score was. To get into uni if your score is not good enough you just spend some time at TAFE and hey presto they will welcome you with open arms.

   I've never known what I wanted to do, and so have done a bit of everything, hospitality, retail, warehousing, sales, call centre, factory production, recruitment. A real gen Y job tourist, but along the way I have picked up some very diverse skills and made a lot of connections. I studied and received a diploma of IT Website development, and went to uni for a bit.

   Now at 27 and after many years of working and not long ago myself being inspired by TVP I am going to exit the work force and begin chipping away at a degree in bio-technology, so that I might make contributions to hydroponics, aquaculture, and food production technologies.

   Consider this a case study, having my high school certificate has helped me secure jobs and entry into courses, it's always been a great advantage to have. You have plenty of time for work, and after a few years, if I'm anything to go by, you will be dying to get out of the workforce and back into the education system where things seem so much simpler.

   Good luck with your choice.
3. 
   Re: Should I Drop Out? ChrisTheFeral

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   Thanks for the response

   "The Venus Project is going to need many educated and skilled people to bring such a massive change about, the more members who educate themselves in their chosen field the better in my opinion."

   The thing is that we're "learning" outdated stuff, this is the main reason why I don't want to stay in. I have complained but the curriculum is the same across all public schools.
4. 
   Re: Should I Drop Out? Dark_Prodigy

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   Fair enough. Although you might need to be more specific as to which courses you believe are outdated, as I think the fundamental building blocks of maths, science, english, etc will always be the same. It is perhaps the methods of teaching and applying them which are outdated.

   For example, teaching younger students their times tables by having them recite them over and over is a laborious and mind numbing exercise that will work over time, but it's not fun and is more of a chore that does nothing to ensure they have a great first experience with maths. Give them a nintendo ds with the maths training game, and they will pick it up super quick and actually want to do it so they can compete and beat their previous times. Then all through the school system you will find much of the fun that could exist in learning, simply does not.

   Even if you find that you are being taught outdated material to be later regurgitated at test time, you are still learning how to learn, which is something that can never be mastered no matter how old you are or how clever you become. You will always find ways to sharpen your mind and retain information at greater speeds and efficiency.

   On that point, I believe one of the great tragedies of the school and education system is that students are not taught proper memory systems. Memory systems that were for example developed and in common use by the ancient greeks and other civilisations. These are 'The Link System', 'The Number Shape System', 'The Roman Room Sytem', etc etc. They harness the incredible and largely untapped power of the human brain by using it's native language of memorable images to retain information at incredible speeds.

   Again, these are only my opinions.
5. 
   Re: Should I Drop Out? Vilkatas

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   Hi Mate.
   I was in the exact same boat as you and ended up bailing.
   In retrospect, I quickly realised the people who care about you aren't going to be upset or ostracise you. They just want you to be happy and do what is right for you. In this case they think it's school, that's what they have been taught. You have a larger perspective and can see it for what it really is.
   The workload they give you is enormous, and full of mind-numbing facts and details, without anyone teaching you how to think or giving and idea of the CONCEPTS behind the material, just the details. Just to get a relatively high-paid, high-stress job with an even BIGGER workload.

   At the end of the day, you do know what is best for you, and you have trust that part of yourself, it's just wants you to be yourself.

   Although, I think if I had of stayed, and had really been able to challenge what they were telling me and voice my idea and interpretations eloquently, rather than following the herd for fear of ridicule and being branded "strange", it could have been worthwhile.

   And the fact is, you do and are learning more from the internet and learning for yourself then being force-fed and regurgitating the established understand of any idea. That's not going to change.

   If you can find a balance between these two occupations, I believe it is valuable, but not necessary.

   Just my input, but no means empirical
   Thanks for listening.

   = Jason R
6. 
   Re: Should I Drop Out? ChrisTheFeral

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   @Dark_Prodigy

   Well, particularly with IT, we're learning old standards and learning how to use applications which don't teach you how to code and aren't even the industry standard when it comes to website development.

   I want to learn what string theory is about in my physics class too, but my teacher doesn't even know what that is.

   @Vilkatas

   Exactly my points of view too. I've come to a compromise so that I have a backup and please my family while also managing my time a little more effectively. I've decided that seeing this is year 11, I'm going to stress less about the homework unless it's absolutely required.

   Thanks a bunch for both of your responses :).

   I'm also considering creating my own video regarding the monetary system in the hopes of the school playing it to the pupils. I have to avoid religion, unfortunately, but educating people about money is certainly an important thing to do and I'd also mention to watch the films. I'll see how I go with time management and use this video as a motivation to stay in school while also helping out. If they do show the video, roughly 1600 people will see it, which is a fair effort - imagine if each of those people told another 1600 people :P.

   I went on a tangent there, but anyway. Thanks again
7. 
   Re: Should I Drop Out? Dark_Prodigy

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   That's the key mate, don't stress about the homework, assignments, and tests. If you have to just do the minimum to get by, and enjoy your time instead! If I could I would do year 11 and 12 again, they were awesome fun.

   Yeah IT is a hard one to keep up with, but the fundamentals are transferable. I learnt asp, and visual basic at TAFE. However I was able to easily pick up C#, ASP.NET, and JAVA. Just don't ask me to do it off by heart, I would need a few massive reference books and the internet to be able to look up the correct syntax for the codes needed to make a function work the way I want it to.

   String theory is awesome, very interesting. Quite advanced and theoretical stuff though so I'm not surprised that it would not be taught at school. However if your teacher want's to get people excited and energised by physics, it is something they should know and talk about.

   Have you seen The Elegant Universe? http://www.amazon.com/Elegant-Universe-Superstrings-Dimensions-Ultimate/dp/0375708111

   I think that is the doco that was on either ABC or SBS. It's a mini series and is very clever at explaining these mind bending theories.
8. 
   Re: Should I Drop Out? ChrisTheFeral

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   Yeah, I picked up JavaScript with ease after PHP, one thing I like about high-level coding is that they're really easy to pick up after you've learnt the fundamentals.

   My physics teacher, although well informed, isn't the most excited. He always wants to rush ahead, really a shame because I'm fascinated by the stuff.

   I have heard of "The Elegant Universe", I should probably grab a copy. I've been watching Sci-fi Science with Michio Kaku lately on the Discovery Channel, although they're really short episodes, I could watch them on repeat all day long xP.
9. 
   Re: Should I Drop Out? elfro

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   I finnished my VCE.. passed but got a very low score. my problem was the teachers in ability to teach me in the way i need to be taught.
   it's been 10 years, lots of Tech school courses and finally i have found a worthwhile job.
   where again i hafta do schooling, but this time something worth while.(no more production work for me).

   My brother droped out from school in year 10 to become a baker. now he teaches how to bake in a tafe.

   Droping out could be worthwhile, as it was for my brother. qualified baker, teacher, has a captians licence and world record holder for the worlds largest lamington.

   Staying in school didnt realy help my carear(or my spelling)but if i had nuckeld down a bit, this Engenearing dagrae would be eaiser to do. especialy if i had paid attention during maths instead of drawing in my work books.

   all depends on what you make of any... every situation.

   P.S. my english teachers could never explain Sharkspear to me... but Klingons did.

   the want's of the few out weigh the need's of the many
10. 
    Re: Should I Drop Out? OffMilkRodeo

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    The challenge with high school for both students and teachers lies in connections. Teachers are driven by a governmental prerogative to teach you certain things in a certain way; that's the curriculum. If a teacher wants to break the mold and connect you with anything outside the standard curriculum they need to find time to do that not only in the classroom but also behind the scenes. All teachers prepare classes, mark course work and write reports at home, in their own time already so anything out of the box requires even less time for the rest of life.
    Students, as we all know, have the challenge of trying to connect to the teacher and the material they're supposed to be learning but with our system delivering content through such a narrow window and making it nearly impossible for teachers to broaden the experience of their students, most students don't perform anywhere near their potential because most of them don't connect with the material.
    My point is that there is a lot of value in what they're trying to teach you but the system in which they're trying to do it restricts how they deliver it. You can help bridge that gap by checking out the context of anything in class you don't immediately connect with and finding things within that context which you do connect with.
    I'll give you an example; I have never had much interest in classical music but when I grew a little older and started broadening my tastes I wanted to give it another shot. My appreciation for it changed completely when I found out that Beethoven wrote his 9th symphony almost totally deaf. When I listened to that piece and imagined what it would have been like to try and compose it without being able to hear, I paid a lot more attention to what was going on musically and now I apply that kind of concentration to any other classical music I might listen to and I actually enjoy it if I'm in the right mood.
    I got half way through the process of signing out of school half way through yr 11 and then decided I would see it through and I'm glad I did. Honestly, I haven't needed that piece of paper since, as the only other study I've done since was at TAFE and I only needed the school certificate for that. The value of that time I measure by the broad scope of what I was learning. I now appreciate that sometimes you have to sift through a ton of stuff you have no interest in or that doesn't apply, in order to find your nugget of gold and that it's only your own effort which will make that process any easier.
    I hope this helps. I really believe in the importance of education, even bad education is better than no education.

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