I need some advice with my 16-year-old son who does not want to go to school anymore, let me say that he has always been an A and B student in a Gifted program then in Cambridge he’s very smart but does not want to finish high school he has set his mind to just going for the GED then he is going to college, how can I get my son to go back to school and graduate would see him walk with his cap and gown. Please help thank you
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He can’t legally drop out unless you sign the papers. He would have to wait until he was 18 to sign himself out
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Let him get his GED. And start college.
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No. No. And no.
My mum let me and I wish she didn’t.
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Homeschool maybe? They have a homeschool graduation
Offer him accelerated homeschooling so it’s a diploma and a lot of programs now have a grad ceremony still
He’s still a minor. He legally has to go or you go to jail. This decision is strictly on you.
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Personally I’d advise him to not do college as it’s an enormous waste of money and in the corporate world a degree isnt worth the paper its printed on. Get the GED and either go into a trade or get started in the field his wants to do. The only reason to do college is if he wants to be a doctor.
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Dont let him drop out. He can do online school.
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My son did this against my wishes and still hasn’t gotten his GED.
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What are his reasons? Is something going on at school? Is he being bullied? Is he bored? Need to be challenged?
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GED and starting college or a trade isn’t a bad thing!
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Get him so mentors at school I’m pretty sure they have them , encourage him to stay in school nothing better then getting education . Best feeling in the world is when you get to walk down with your cap and gown and family and friends cheering for you 
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I would ask him what is making him feel that way and then have him complete school and go to therapy.
He can do summer school and ask for extra work so that he van complete it faster
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I dropped out around 16 and it was the best decision I ever made in my life. Got started right away and have no debt making twice what the average college graduate makes in half the time.
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Maybe he isn’t feeling challenged enough, even in the gifted program. If it is his intention to get his GED and move directly on to college, I would let him and hold him to that plan. Some kids are academically gifted to that point, and it would be a shame to hold back his educational opportunities just to see him graduate highschool. Seeing my kid graduate college 2 years sooner than they ‘should’ have would make me incredibly proud as a mom.
Does your child school offer online classes ?I graduated half a year early that way and was on in school for half a day and then working the rest of the time. Or you could do online classes but he has to go to school
I got my GED at 17 and I’m glad I did.
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My parents gave me the option because I started to truly hate going. I’m super super glad I finished and walked. It’s just something you can’t get back
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I did that too. Same age 16. I just got sick of everything. Had my boyfriends mom sign for me to drop out. Passed my GED went on to college.
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There isn’t anything wrong with a GED. I was court ordered out at 16, I hated school people bullied me. I wanted home school my mom said no. Got out of school started working making money and got my GED after. I dont regret it. That was 11 years ago. He can graduate early though.
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What about finishing it out at home or online instead of his GED?
Your the parent . He’s the child . He shouldn’t be allowed to make those decisions for himself
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Remind him that a GED stands for Good Enough Degree and he couldn’t even join the military with a GED
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Figure out why he wants to drop out and exactly where you stand.
My mental health got really bad around 16 and I needed to drop out.
I got my GED and nothing has been any different. (You still get a cap and gown/graduation)
I spent my time, instead of school, learning coping skills and fixing my mental health.
Pretty soon after I was and am a perfectly functioning adult.
I have 2 college degrees and am working on a third, then a fourth. I am mental, emotionally, and financially happy.
I think it’s important to find out what he wants to do. Tell him if he’s going to drop out, he’s gotta work or do something to better his future. Can’t just sit around all day.
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Some kids arent built for school. They get bored and bullied. I would definitely make sure he gets GED or high diploma
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Agree to let him get his ged but until he does he remains in school. Lots of ways for you both to win there!
Let him get his Ged and apply for college
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Have to be a damn good reason for me to let mine drop out.
You could always send him to JOB CORPS
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He’s bored senseless. Let him advance his education.
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A GED is not failure! High school is not for everyone.
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Could he take online courses? Is there something going on at school?
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My stepfather encouraged me to do that when I was 16. I always was a straight A student, but the coursework started being too boring since I would know everything already and it felt like the teachers were treating the kids like kindergardeners instead of grown high schoolers. I ended up staying until graduation (although didn’t attend graduation) but I took college coursework at colleges nearby that were partnered with my high school. Maybe you could see if he can sign up to take college coursework? Here in NY it’s called College Now, but it might be different elsewhere. It gives you the opportunity to attend college classes on an actual college campus, while still attending normal high school. The credits also go towards his transcript when he enrolls in a college
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My mom let me do this. I was bullied and couldnt take going to school anymore. If you choose to let him do this. Hold him to his goal. He might be able to just test for his GED and pass without needing to take classes.
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I would encourage him to continue going and graduate with his class.
He will regret it later, if he don’t.
Teenagers are not mature enough to make that Decision for themselves and shouldn’t be allowed to.
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I did the same thing at 16 and was also an honor student. And now I’m about to graduate from a bachelor in nursing program with honors. High school was just NOT for me. I’ll be giving my kids the option if the question arises. Sounds like he has a plan he’s not just trying to quit.
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Do not give him a choice. You are the parent.
I wanted to drop out at 16 and I was always a really smart kid and my parents told me no. They told me what I did after I graduated was my choice but until then I was to finish school.
I am now about to be 19 and work for a multi billion dollar Aerospace company that would not have even considered me without a diploma.
Employers often look for diplomas rather than a GED in real adult jobs because the thought is…if you couldnt stay in school to get a high school diploma then how can they trust you with an adult responsibility that involves commitment .
MAYBE NOT ALL ADULT JOBS ARE LIKE THAT BUT MANY ARE.
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If he drops out he has to get a full time job
And pay rent to live at home
Eddie Jenkins. Because i was going to do the same. I was going to have to get a job. I went back to school
So god bless
Amen
GED or school diploma you still wear a cap and gown i did and i was able to walk down the isle with my 6 month old son at the time to receive my ged i was only one pregnant who successfully did my ged !
My son thought about it a couple years ago. I explained to him GEDs aren’t good. Missing school would also mean missing some of the best years of his life. He would lose all his friends (he just made friends in 10th grade). He promised me he will finish school because he wants to walk the stage with his friends and give me his diploma. I never got to finish high school. I had him when I was 15. I got a GED, I went to trade school. It was all useless.
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Finishing school shows a greater accomplishment than getting that GED.
Tell him to finish high school but wait for college.
If he gets a ged it will be harder to get into a 4 year.
However community colleges are just as good
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Show him how homeless people live…what happens when you dont get a proper education…
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Honestly a GED is not the end of the world. My momma and I talked about the same thing 3 years ago. I graduated my GED a few months early. I ended up pregnant so went back for my high school diploma and CNA the next year. Let him do it as he wishes and the rewards will be so much greater as he will thrive wonderfully as I have. Plus you go from grade school to college courses studying for the GED. It’s much harder than highschool but it’s a much faster way to graduate.
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Well he’s a child…make him go
Why doesn’t he just switch to an alternative branch you can graduate way faster I did three years of work in one year so I could graduate early and go to college everyone looks at alt schools with a stigma but they are a great resource for someone who just wants to get the work done an graduate I was all alone working two jobs and didn’t have a choice I needed to get out of high school to make it and my school schedule did not work with my work schedule I am now a registered nurse
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Let him. Then get him signed up for college. It’s not that big of a deal. Hes smart and not being challenged at school anymore.
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He’s probably not being challenged enough. Does his high school offer college classes? That might be something to look into or an alternative school that lets him do everything online to finish hs.
I was on the verge of dropping out. And my grandpa took me in and i ended up going to an alt school and finishing early.
There must be a reason why he wants to drop out, maybe someone is bothering him.
I think it’s a waste of time for him to stay in high school. It’s wasted years just to receive a cap and gown. He could have two years of college done.
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Maybe something is going on at school he hasn’t told you, Its hard to get things out of teen boys sometimes, I have a teen boy and he demanded to be home schooled all because a teacher was picking on him , or so he felt, he refused to go to school, he ended up having to go to Saturday School to make up for lost days, and I talked to the principal about the teacher, everything worked out and got resolved. High School is Tough, I have two teens a boy and girl so I understand , I truly get it. They both been through so much more than I ever experienced when I went to High School, …
Not sure what county you are in but New Directions in prince William can excel him a hs degree
My son is now 17 and is completing high school along with college courses. It has helped tremendously to keep him from getting bored. He takes an early morning college class and an evening college class. By the time he graduates from HS he will have an associate’s degree as well.
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I would stick with school as much as possible even if it’s middle college
Did this, best thing I could have done for myself.
Just make sure he goes straight into the ged program
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Also Where I live they have programs where you can go to college half the day it’s called running start so you get your diploma and associates when you graduate high school.
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Where I live so many places won’t accept a GED for employment and require a high school diploma.
I think a lot of high schools have online programs these days.
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Well find a school that caters to this. In the US, there are certain schools that are done by credit only, so he completes his credits, he gets an HS diploma like everyone else. I could have graduated 6 months early but took advantage of the “early” and blew it off instead. Definitely look into alternative options, sounds like he has the smarts and is getting bored with high school.
He can request to test out and still receive his high school diploma.
Tbh You should be more supportive of the fact he still wants to further his education. Talk to him about his reasons on not wanting to go to school anymore. Engage with your child instead of seeking validation and opinions from strangers about your own child he’s old enough to explain his reason
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Find programs that offer college classes and credits while working towards graduation. My friends daughter is graduating in May with her high school diploma AND an Associates Degree with funding help to work towards a bachelor degree.
Homeschool him til he finishes? Some schools allow them to test out if they already have all of their credits (I graduated early by doing this).
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Put him in online school. You still get to walk and it’s still a highschool diploma
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A lot of companies are no longer going t accept the GED for education unfortunately. It seems like so many young ones these days have that plan , unfortunately it’s the way it is . I wish the schools were more strict with the rules like they used to be . I hope that he can see that graduating from a high school has way more benefits than getting a GED . The social aspect of it all alone helps you learn to associate with people better in life .
Maybe there’s something going on at school he don’t want to face. Find out first
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? I’d just let him do it.
he’s still young enough that he changes his mind he’ll have time to go back and graduate high school before he turns 21.
I mean he’s not necessarily wrong I just don’t think he understands the statistical likeliness of that working out
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He wants to continue to college. He doesn’t want to just drop out and do nothing with his life. Discuss the pros and cons with him about this decision.
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Ummm… he doesn’t want to drop out. Be wants his GED. Great! He can get that and still walk at the end of the year. Not sure what this issue is other than being judgmental.
Maybe find an alternative school. That’s what I did. Graduated at 16. Finished my 11th grade and 12th grade year in a semester. Got a cap and gown and walked. Then the following august I started college.
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Sit down, talk and find out why. Could he be bullied, maybe hes depressed. Maybe needs counseling. Or Maybe hes bored and just dont like it. But u need to find out why to work on a solution.
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Look at an alternative school
To fast track him. Or homeschool him and fast track him yourself.
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I think you should let him do the he wants he’s 16 not like he’s 12 or whatever he should be making someone decisions on his own by now if he doesn’t follow through with getting his GED and going to college then he goes back to high school you can attend high school to your 21 and he’s over 16 have you thought about Job Corps
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My 16 year old was tired of the social aspects of HS. She took the exit exam and has been in college since last year and she’s doing awesome like I knew she would! Straight A’s the first semester with 16 units and she just started her second semester. You know your child, do what your heart tells you because not all kids are the same. 
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Ty Tsukino We are all here to listen and help one another. If you can’t be kind and polite then stay quiet. Only positive words are appreciated here. She wasn’t seeking our validation. She just wants to hear others ideas.
Tell him to do ATS or take as many classes for college credit as possible while in high school. It will save thousands.
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Most Jr college offer high schooler free/ reduced college. If he motivated put him on independent studies (high school) & let him do college as well. It’s a win win, he walks for graduation & he gets out of high school maybe even early.
Its called hard parenting and make him go get a JOB and help pay for his room and board and cast insurance if he has one and don’t give him any money for any thing but gas money to go to school l
As long as he does go to college then I see nothing wrong with that. A GED is equivalent to a high school diploma.
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Does your school system have an online option? Can he home school? Going to class isn’t for everyone. He sounds like a good kid, and able to make that decision for himself.
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He does not want drop out. You make it sound like a big loser. He wants to get his GED. Then go to college. I see nothing wrong with that
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I dropped out and got my GED. Went to college. It was the best thing that ever happened to me.
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I was that student, but I got my GED within 3 weeks of leaving high school. There is programs where after he gets his GED he can transfer to a university
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Could he enroll into an online program to finish highschool at his pace? Or could he possibly start taking some beginner classes at the local college? It would challenge him mentally and allow him to gain credits for college before he’s out of high school
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Look into adult educational programs in your area. Some still give a highschool diploma and let you work online at your own rate. They also have a graduation.
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Dropping out will never be an option. If u drop out u get emancipated. I wont take care of u or let u live in my house. First off ur a child u go by my rules. Second if u can take GED why not stay in school!?
Find out why I dropped out and I have regretted it since I even tried putting myself in alt school multiple times and to this day I am still struggling to get a full high school diploma with online schooling life without is hard when it comes to employment first step.is find out why when they are doing so well with grades there has to be something to it as the learning doesn’t seem to be the struggle maybe discuss alt schooling or online schooling to.finish but as someone who went down that road I really wish my mother would have never signed off on it
I wish I had just got my GED. I would have gotten more scholarships. I would really look into what he is wanting. He could start college now.
Check into scholarships first, when my oldest talked about we found out a lot of scholarships want a diploma and not a GED.
See if he can test out. He won’t need to drop out if he can qualify for his diploma early.
Our school has a program called Excel and they can earn their credits from home at self pace (as long as they’re keeping up) and generally they graduate early. My 17yr old foster daughter wanted to do this. I only didnt allow her because she has problems with rules and authority so school is good for her.
I got my GED when I was 16 and in college at 17.
He’s obviously very intelligent and is probably very bored. Talk to him. Have a meaningful discussion with him about how you feel about it. Talk to him about other possible options. My brother got very bored in school so instead of applying himself he screwed off enough that they told him if he didn’t make some changes, he wasn’t going to graduate. The school had an online program. They would go to the school everyday and use the computers there and it’s monitored by a teacher but they work at their own pace. He worked through his classes a lot faster on his own and passed them all with flying colors. Seems like something similar would be a good compromise. Or talk to the school and see if they have an option to test out. Usually they do. And he could still walk at graduation.
Educate him on where he will be in 20 years with no diploma or degree
One you leave high school and go into a GED program you cannot go back to highschool. My son dropped out and wanted to get his GED and then go to college, hes been in GED classes for 2 years due to being lazy and not wanting to do the work because GED teachers will not push kids like they do in highscool to succeed. Although i dropped out when i was 16 and got my GED within a month of the program. It all depends on how motivated you are, and if your actually going to do the work, also you can still walk with cap and gown it’ll just be with college graduates.
Firstly check your state laws here they will not allow a minor to drop out even with parents permission. I dropped out at 16 and it was because 1, I was pregnant 2 after having my son we had no one to care for him while I went to school , and the school did not care they were going to charge my mom with truancy because of me missing over a 2 months for the birth of my child. So I did the only thing I could do and emancipated myself. Even then the state fought me on dropping out at 16, but legally I won that case because I was no longer a minor by law. Got my GED the same month as dropping out. Started college the next year.
I mean starting college early isn’t a bad thing really
It is not his job to fulfill your wants. High school was miserable for me, I wish I had done something like this. My mom dropped out at 15, got her ged and went to school to be a phlebotomist. Some people just aren’t meant to go through high school for 4 years.