Should I Quit School? (6th form)

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I started doing 6th form months ago and at the time it was great, I really enjoyed it. But now it's beginning to get me down, I have piles and piles of coursework due in and being threatened to be kicked off one of my courses if I don't get my act together. And I'm just really lacking motivation right now.

Well my parents want me to finish 6th form and go on to university... but right now I don't think I could cope with all that. I really want to quit school but I'm not sure if I should. If I do, I'll stay on 'til the end of this year so that I at least get something out of it (AS levels).

If I did quit school, I could choose to do a vocational course at a college instead, or get an apprenticeship, or just move straight onto a full-time job. All of these seem more suited to me than 6th form does right now.

Anyone got any advice?

I would do your best to finish it. However, dumping a course may be a good idea. I am not entirely sure what 6 form is, we have Gr. 12 prior to post secondary.

Still, it sounds like you are very close to being done, how much have you already invested? Maybe that is the biggest concideration. How much will you loose if you don't finish it?

I know my sister, did all the course work once for a correspondance course, everything but take the exam. She had 4 months to take the exam, and didn't. What a bummer to let all that work expire and have to redo it! If my father who passed on 10 years ago taught me anything it was this, when I was about to fail a science course I had no business failing "if you think it sucks the first time around, wait until you do it for the second time".

Anyway, you need to make the decisions about your future, if you want to go for a trade, I say go for it. If you have a community college path in your mind and don't need 6 form, then go for it. Just getting a "job" afterwards though, I don't recommend as a long term goal. A year or two to think over what you want to do is a good idea, especially if you are not sure what you want to do is, or if you really don't think you are ready for it. However, is having not completed 6 form going to turn into a barrier later on if or when you are ready to persue a career through further study? Do you ever se having any interest in going to university? If yes, then work towards your six form, just to make sure that not having it, does not become a reason to stay stuck in the future, doing something that you really don't want to be doing!

Maybe I am talking in circles. Honestly, I don't think anyone can make this decision but you, or based off the info you have given.

But, based on what I am hearing, I think you should try to complete as much as possible to keep your options open. Dumping a course may be a good idea though, don't see it as a punishment, see it as liberation from a workload that is too heavy!

My sister, (NT) did not finish highschool. She is a really intellegent person, but has bounced from one crappy job to another for years. She would like to go post secondary now, but the whole Highschool thing hangs on like a heavy weight. She could apply as a mature student, or write a GED, but that is a much harder route to go.

As a person with Asperger's, consider too that if you do take time off, and don't have the skills to go into post secondary school easily, it has the potential to intrench you in what you are doing. Generally speaking, how do you adapt to change or taking on something new? Not having 6 form could be a huge barrier, mostly psycological in the future.

I left school at 16 even though I was doing well academically. I got a job in a sausage factory and regretted leaving school pretty quickly! I went to evening classes to get O and A levels and eventually got to University and have just got my PhD. I am only now starting to earn a descent salary after having to support myself working in crappy jobs while I caught up with my studies. I could have completed all this 15 years ago and had a lucrative career that would give me a lot of interesting opportunities in life but I`m now competing with people 15 years younger.
Having said this I think that it is most important to do what you will enjoy and not be forced to take a path in life that you or someone else thinks is `for the best`. If you are close to finishing AS levels then definately hang on and do that. If you don`t enjoy the courses you are taking then can you change to other subjects or drop the one(s) you hate?
I would talk to careers person about the feasibility of taking a year out so you can decide what you want to do and how easy it would be to get back into education.
My kids were not academically minded and both left college. They went through various jobs and it was a very worrying time but they are now settled in jobs and can support themselves. I always told them that I would support them in whatever they wanted to do and it was important they did what would make them happy so long as they did something! None of us have ever been on the dole and that is no life. Education makes life easier.

i too found it very difficult at college with the amount of work expected of me
is there any chance you could maybe drop one subject? i dropped art and felt so much better
getting passes in as subjects and a levels opens doors for you its sounds pathetic but having a peice if paper with passes on wil get you further than if you didnt
plus later on in life if you decide to change career you can use your grades to your advantage
dont rush into uni
its an awful lot of debt for somthing your not 100% sure about
explain to your parents you want to experience the real working world and employers will see that as a greater advantage than someone who has just done the route that is expected of you
good luck i really feel for you
sometimes parents just have to except the life they had planned for you is not going to be the best thing for you

i did that, i left sixth form after a few months as i was stressed out, took the rest of the year off, then went to a further education college instead. best decision i ever made! although i chose similar subjects to what i was doing at school, there was much lower pressure at the college and they treated us more like adults, my grades went from failing to straight As and i ended up at oxford university

so i was only failing at school because of the crap attitudes of the teachers the hardest part was making that decision to leave school and sticking to it despite parents worrying. but you have to take action sometime, its so easy at school to just get taken along with the conveyor belt, its hard to jump off and take responsibility for yourself especially if its drained your motivation and self esteem too.

If you get what i mean, drop one of your courses so you actually have less coursework and more time to do the rest. This is what i done in my gcses

One thing I will say is that it's a lot easier to stay in the education system than it is to get back in.
I just wish I'd realised how much so when I was 16 so I'm glad you're at least considering finishing this year.

Does your 6th form know about your autism/aspergers, any support you may need and are they providing it?

How many subjects are you taking? You realistically need three taken through to A-Level for most decent jobs and universities.
I'd be wary of dropping anything - there's only a few months left until the summer exam period, so I would continue, and if you get a poor result, you still haven't lost anything.
Unless your perfromance in that particular course is affecting the others, I would continue with that particular module as well.

From the experience of someone who dropped out after AS levels, I'd say that trying your best to stick with it is best, but only if it doesnt place you under too much pressure.

If you feel that you cant learn or acheive anything, and have a good idea what you'd do instead, then go for it. Just don't fall into the common pitfall of dropping out, then spending too long looking for what to do next. It looks really bad from an employers perspective if someone just hasnt done anything for a year, or worse, if you dont already have an alternaive in mind and researched, you may find it to be unsuitable too late.

The ideal situation would be too figure out some goal that you want (I.e. to learn a specific language, or get qualifications in a specific field you think you may have talent for) then figure out what kind of training would be beneficial to achieving that.

The worst case scenario would be dropping out, then wasting your time on things that don't interest you, as it won't acheive anything.

Good luck, though, whatever you choose to do.

I know exactly how you feel. I left sixth form just after christmas, two weeks after attempting suicide. I couldn't cope with the stress, and if you get that low, you know it's time to leave. However, it's March now and I still have no idea what I'm doing. I can't find a job period, let alone one I like or even one I could cope with. I'm no longer suicidal but I'm still very depressed, and leaving sixth form has made me feel like a failure even though I know it's Their fault for not supporting me (yes, the capital is deliberate).

What I'm trying to say is, life is hard. School is hard. Work is hard. Do what you can to ease the burden, but don't give up, and don't make the mistake of thinking every thing will magically fix itself in a new place. It won't.

I don't know what will be right for you. I don't know you. I only know what didn't (and isn't) work(ing) for me. Good luck, and best wishes.

speak to them about your problems, i have been given so much help from my university because of the problems i have and i never mentioned the word aspergers once. they are very understanding, its their job to be.

You should do whatever you need to do to stay in school. Don't quit.