<--- I dropped in my seinor year.

The situation at my school tho was very dangerous and racially charged, and i just couldnt take the stress of that school any longer.

I plan on getting a GED sometime in the future.

that said, theres way too many people complaining in here about the education system. everyone in here is responsible for their own actions, trying to blame it on an "inept"educational system is absurd. you made your own choices, suck it up and move on. dont blame it on the teachers and dont blame it on poor identification, and dont blame it on mental illnesses. anyone who claims poor identification of mental illnesses doesnt know the law well enough to apply it to themselves, and they only have themselves to blame for that.

EDIT: misdiagnoses do happen, parents need to realize that. students CANNOT be put into special ed unless the parent says okay -- so blame goes to the parents as much as to the schools. if my kid was diagnosed, id want a real diagnosis. a lot of parents insist on them. blindly trusting the educational system with your child is as stupid as blindly trusting the government with your money. more so, actually.

Lol....now that'* the jwakamud I'm used to seeing... I too get mad when people blame everyone but themselves...and I agree that each person can, to a degree, change their
...however... There are flaws in every system...flaws that do not account for the specials needs for a minority of the people. And the sad fact is that many never try to fix the systems. THAT...is where the real tradgey is. Some people are not able to suck it up... and others figure, "why even bother"...

I don't blame the flawed system 100%...and I don't blame the individuals 100%... it is a combination of the two.

From a person who was misdiagnosed with ADHD in my earlier years, I must disagree with this statement. I was misdiagnosed with ADHD because my elementary school social worker recommended that I see a psychiatrist. This psychiatrist prescribed the medicine of the decade, ritalin. Say what you want, but I know I wasn't the only one. I was given an IEP when I didn't need one and was put on training wheels the rest of my life until I grew old enough to realize that I wasn't this "different" person everyone said I was. I made my mother stop having me go to special education classes, I sat down with the school board to give me a fresh start, which they did. They admitted their mistakes and my IEP was destroyed. That was Sophomore year. After that, I struggled Junior year, but later on I learned how to work and I learned how to study. I TRULY think that my misdiagnoses ruined my grade school career and that I'd be at a much better place right now. I think if we could go back to a simpler time and get rid of this "gray area" with mental illnesses and start teaching kids the same material instead of putting them on training wheels, we could avoid situations like this. If you need help, sure you give it to them, but this crap with parents forcing you to go into special ed programs just because you don't like to do homework is just sickening IMO. My case is not the only case, but I believe this is getting semi-off-topic so I'll stop right here...

/rant

:edit:
On re-read, I probably took some of jwakumud'* comments out of context and if I did, I apologize...

Well said !!!

With all due respect, I think you're taking a very narrow view of things here. What I interpret from your post is that the education system is some flawless entity, never at fault for any problem and the world is just full of irresponsible people not willing to accept the consequences for their actions. You've taken the exact same attitude as SOME of the others here and shown no willingness to accept any responsibility.

It'* THIS type of attitude that'* the problem with the education system. I can't begin to say how extremely disappointed I am in reading such remarks from a future educator. I sure hope you change your attitude before you hit the classroom.

You will never convince anyone, except perhaps those who share the same narrow view that the education system can possibly cater to every individual that his its doors.
As an educator, you need to realize and accept your limitations as well.

Unfortunately Jeff, while it may not be true in all cases, misdiagnoses certainly do happen, and there are definitely a great many cases where school systems have failed their students.
William, I too dropped out, during my junior year. I had repeated my sixth grade year so I was 18 at the time. My circumstances are rather different, though.
My junior year, I got into a vocational electronics program. Big mistake. The program was ridiculous. The class lagged horribly, and by halfway through the year, we were two months behind the curriculum. I wanted to return to my home school, but the way the district is set up, none of my credits would count, and I was hopelessly behind on math, because the vocational school only offered bone head algebra...
So I dropped out with the intention of re-enrolling the next year. Unfortunately, my parents decided that if I wasn't in school, then I was out...
Two years later, I went back and got my GED.


EDIT, the school district was below average for Ohio when we moved there during my fifth grade year. By the time I dropped out, it had slipped to being one of the worst in central Ohio...

BTW, jwak, Ohio'* educational system is thoroughly ridiculous. They've been threatened for years with federalization because of their horrific school funding. It'* based on property tax on a district by district basis, which is INHERENTLY discriminatory. Not only that, but Ohio'* LD program laws haven't changed in over thirty years.
Ohio is completely backwards when it comes to education. I have my own horror story of complete and utter incompetence, but it'* mine, and I won't bring it up here in Pinky'* thread.

I dropped out of high school because they screwed up my paperwork and said I had to repeat the 10th grade. They didn't let me know until I was almost through the 11th, and making honor roll level grades. I said no thanks, dropped out and went to work. After working for about 2 years, I got the same bug and took the placement test at the Adult Education Center and I scored high enough to go ahead and take the GED test without taking any classes. I took the GED test and passed it the first try. I never regretted my decision to drop out. The high school I attended was dysfunctional.
Some people that need to take refresher courses get discouraged and don't follow through because they think that since they didn't make it out of high school they won't do well in the classroom environment. It is a whole different ball game in Adult Education classes because the students want to be there and are paying to be there. It adds a different dynamic to the school experience when the student body is serious about getting their learn on.
Don't waste your time and energy blaming anyone else, it will only drag you down. The thing to do is realistically assess where you are right now and do whatever it takes to get where you want to be.

More Power To You!

good for you

BTW, Pinky, you may want to try just taking the test first, if the classes cost money.
I went through them like a buzzsaw. Judging by the one I took, if you made it to your junior year, you may be able to pass them without the courses. If not, then you can take the courses during the waiting period to take the re-test.