Why Should You Go To School? Is It Really Worth It?

School is very important to me. I feel that it will help me get on
in life. And, LADY_SILVERFIRE, not all of us ahve the oppurtunity
to go to muesuems, some of us live in little towns that only have
a freakin grocery store. SO dont bore us with your "I go to
mueseums in NEw York all day" we dont need to hear ow you are are
just gonna end up working at mcdonalds. SPAARE ME and everyone who
actually wants a school career. School is important on job
applications. No one wants to hire a high school drop-out.
-PinkJade2-

Here's my story:

I'm 18 and trying to get my 30 credits I need to graduate grade
12. I'm in my 5th year of high school because I had a lot of
mental health problems last year that kept me from going to
school, which caused me to fail 5 of 7 courses.

In my mind, I've attended enough school and have "graduated." No,
I didn't write my English exam, nor did I write the last essay,
but I studied the books and understood the course. Yes, I failed
OAC Law, but I did get an A on the Independent Study, which, to me
was a huge goal that I achieved. No, I'm not ready for University
level law because I didn't really understand the course, but I did
complete the biggest school-related project of my life and I did
it really, really well. I failed Information Processing, but I
study programming on my own at home and could probably have taught
that, and every other computer course offered at that school.

I'm still in school because I have nothing else to do. I just
moved to the middle of no where with my parents and don't have a
job.. I also don't have my diploma.

Here's my dream:

I want to travel the world... I'll work in McDonald's if I have
to... my dream is not to have money and cars and a mansion, my
dream is to see the world and learn for myself, while living off
of only what I need.. I realize working at McDonald's isn't
everyone's ideal job, but I would do that if it meant that I could
see the world.

I don't plan on this as a life-long umm.. "career," but I do want
to spend a number of years on my own, seeing the world for myself.
I'm sure I'll settle down one day... probably much sooner than
I'd like, and then I'll go to college and get a "real" job... but
right now I have no idea what I want to do other than what I just
described.. I don't have a specific career in mind, and I don't
want to waste my money or my parents money on schooling. My dad
is 46 and my mom is 39. Just this year they've reached their
life-long dream... they've moved to a farm and can make most of
their living just working on the farm itself. I don't want to be
that.. I don't want to spend half my life waiting to get to where
I want to be... because I really doubt that once I have 3 kids, a
full-time job, and a mortgage that I'll have the chance to drop
everything and travel the world... nor would I have the energy to
work shitty jobs just to be out there on my own.

So, for me, school is not necessary. I don't want to drop out and
be labeled "stupid" by society, I just want to do what I want.

Technically, I could leave right now and get my job at McDonald's
in a crappy part of Toronto, pay my rent every month, and try to
put a little money away until I have enough to leave again.. then
on to McDonald's in London, or Dublin, or where ever else I wanna
be... but I guess it is easier to just live with my parents and go
to school... but I still cannot justify this... I don't think
anyone can say that everyone needs to finish school right down to
the diploma... if you have other goals... go for it.. you can
always go back for your diploma later.

I don't go to school. I quit after my sophomore year and it was
the best decision I've ever made. The thing that most influenced
my decison was a book called Teenage Liberation Handbook by Grace
Llewellyn. I honestly don't think that quitting school has hurt my
chances of having a reasonably good adult life. I think that the
thing that most influences your later life is not whether you stay
in school or not but rather what you do with yourself afterwards.
*I* don't watch soap operas all day or lounge around the house. I
go to museums, spend time at the library, write, or do other
things *outside* the house. I *do* sleep in in the mornings but I
certainly do NOT consider myself lazy. In the past three months I
have learned more than I did in my whole two years in public
highschool. True, I have not learned much advanced math or physics
but I honestly don't plan on going into any sort of career that
requires that sort of specialized knowledge. And if later on I do
happen to change my mind there's always community college.

...

There is definitely some stuff you learn that you will not need.
However, 1. school teaches you how to THINK, and 2. You are 13.
You do not know what you might need to know in the future. If you
had left school at 12 and gone into an internship in the area you
THOUGHT you wanted to be in when you were 12, you might very well
spend the rest of your life trapped in a job you didn't want to be
in, with no way of doing anything else because you have no
education in anything else. Plenty of people don't know what they
want to do at 18, 22, 25, and end up in jobs they're miserable
in...what makes you think you KNOW what you want for the rest of
your life at the age of 13?

I believe that school is a waste of time. It is just babysitting.
I know that to get on in life you have to know basic math skills
and how to read and write. But is knowing Brazil's economy really
going to affect me in the future? NO. I believe that we should be
allowed to stay in school until we're 12, learning the basic ways
to get on in life, then go into internship to learn what jobs we
want to do when we're grown. If we make the wrong decision, then
it's your own fault. My parents have never used algebra in their
lives. They also have not used calculus or knowing every state in
the United States.
Yes it is true. School is just babysitting, they might say
otherwise, but it just is.

Okay and the thing is everyone goes to skewl for all the wrong
reaons seeing friends i could undertsand but there are deeper
reasons then that our mind needs to grow i mean do you really want
to sit in one place in the same town for the rest of your life not
knowing how much knowledge you could have absrobed? And what's out
there for you to learn? As you get older you'll realize how much
you don't know. And how much there is to learn. That's why i go to
school!!!!
~=^_^=~GuLLy*

it is so worth it. it kinda sucks to be bored in a class all day,
but i like seeing all my friends everyday. and then there's that
cute guy that keeps me from being too bored in one of my classes.