: 1) Why did you drop out of school?
: 2) What could have been done to keep you in school?
: 3) What effects has leaving school had on your life?For starters, I can tell by question number two that you have already determined, to a large degree, what the outcome of your "research" will be. Doesn't sound very scientific, but then again, very little of sociological research is.
I dropped out of PUBLIC school in the 11th grade. I would have done it much sooner had I been aware of the home school and correspondence school options which I used to get my diploma. Knowing what I know now, I might have even just taken the GED.
1) Why did you drop out of school?
I dropped out because it was literally making me insane. I could witness myself deteriorating mentally and emotionally every day. It seemed that most of the students around me had long since been damaged beyond repair by the public school system. They could "function" and "go through the motions" of school but they had very little capacity for independent thought, were often aloof and incapable of intimacy, seemed plagued with neurosis that often evolved into a sadistic tyranny, and made life in school just a general living hell for those who's assimilation had not yet been completed.
The teachers were under incredible stress, most to the point that made healthy student / teacher relationships impossible. This removed any hope one might have had for some adult role modeling.
The subjects were nearly identical every year: same books and same monotonous presentation but with more useless details that were just as quickly forgotten as their predeccesor's having little or no baring on the student's self, and at worst, sometimes we were taught outright lies.
The food was horrible. Processed green pizza and soggy, greasy french fries. They didn't even care enough about us to feed us well.
There was a fight in the halls almost everyday. Students would pack themselves in around the contenders and yell for blood. It was sick, but I guess it was the only way they could feel alive after rotting in those desks day after day. Feel dead or become blood-thirsty - not the kind of choices I was fond of having to make.
2) What could have been done to keep you in school?
A straight jacket and some very hard drugs. Other than that, I would have eventually killed myself or somebody else or both, so I was out of there one way or the other.
: 3) What effects has leaving school had on your life?
Leaving PUBLIC school gave me a new lease on life. It gave me hope. And that hope was enough to awaken my mind and my heart from its long dormant sleep, and to discover some essential things about myhself: who I was, what I might like to do with the rest of my life, what my real likes and dislikes were, what kind of a person I wanted to become, etc.
After a few months of recovery, my natural desire to learn reawakened. I finished via home school where I was finally able to concentrate on the material and work at my own natural pace (which turned out to be about 4 or 5 times faster than the pace that was set in public school).
I disvovered computers and REdiscovered mathematics, went to college for computer science and math. I was number one or two in every single one of my classes. I had a great time there. I work in software testing now and make great money. I pretty much make my own hours and I only need to work about 4 months a year. In between, I travel, read (I had to relearn), and surf the net corrupting as many young minds as I possibly can with my anti public school rants.
Good luck with your "research".
