To quote the BBC's Sherlock: "I am not the commonwealth!" Set him free.
No, I can't help thinking that what they're doing to him is a lot like a sort of prison ; so your comment does really resonate with me.
Ask HN: Friend's 15 year old wants to drop out, I've been asked to intervene
11–20 of 152 posts
Re: Ask HN: Friend's 15 year old wants to drop out, I've been asked to intervene
#12From my experiences of HS/College in the US, I wish someone had told me I could've gotten a GED, taken the SAT/ACTs and gone to college when I was 15.
I feel as though I missed out on advancing my knowledge at a time in my life when I could focus on it with vast amounts of my time and energy. Although I'm not "behind" the average progression of someone at my stage in life, I feel as though I'm behind where I could be, had I known there was the alternate path.
Re: Ask HN: Friend's 15 year old wants to drop out, I've been asked to intervene
#13How to win friends and influence people. Grab a copy. Read it or the cliffs notes, time permitting. Revise your letter.
op here; it's the 15yo's letter not mine and it's been sent already. but I do agree, it was somewhat off-putting.
I find the Principal saying "If I was a good student I would simply do what is asked of me." equally off-putting.
The frustrated tone of the letter suggests he thinks he can get the principal to agree with his position using reason because what other possible reason could there be for the disagreement other then lack of understanding? He's 15, can't fault him for that.
Re: Ask HN: Friend's 15 year old wants to drop out, I've been asked to intervene
#14He founded a startup with $350K in revenue and his parents will be disappointed? Really?
This guy is not your typical at-risk high school dropout. He's clearly a true entrepreneur and a winner. At this point, he can pretty much write his own ticket in life. He doesn't need the arbitrary rules and stifling structure of high school to be successful.
His parents grew up in a very different world, and they need to understand the world has changed. Education and keeping your head down in a stable corporate job are not the ticket to prosperity anymore.
Re: Ask HN: Friend's 15 year old wants to drop out, I've been asked to intervene
#15Impressive. He is managing a company earning over a quarter of a million dollars in revenue, and he is 15?
There are valid reasons to complete high school, but frankly, this would be a greater accomplishment on his resume than anything school would offer him.
If he can do this at age 15, and sustain it, he doesn't need school. He's already succeeded.
Re: Ask HN: Friend's 15 year old wants to drop out, I've been asked to intervene
#16Hello Mr. [Principal], I've heard through sources that there have been various meetings conducted regarding my recent and overall academic performance at [private school]. I'd like to put some stuff on the table and get your thoughts on a few issues if you would take the time to read this. As background information I'd like you to know that I am the owner, CEO, and CTO of [hosting company], LLC a large Minecraft host…
When talking with a friend of mine about me having dropped out of college because I was too bored, he once said: "If you were that smart you would've just finished it next to all your other stuff."
I was pretty much this kid, or close to it, and to this day that statement is still one of the most valuable, harshest truths to me. So just challenge the kid to make it both work, run the company and finish high-school. If the kid is this smart he can do way better than running some VPS hosting company in the long run.
edit: I'm not from the US, but biscarg's comment sounds like it would be pretty good for the kid.
Re: Ask HN: Friend's 15 year old wants to drop out, I've been asked to intervene
#17I dropped out of high school in grade 11. I wish I had done it sooner. I am 29. Unfortunately, I had no support from anyone and ran away from home to get away. School made me want to kill myself, every day. I stopped doing it, I flunked everything, my computers at home got taken away in response. My entire life had become a prison. Some things that have bothered me: -Not going to college and feeling like I missed out…
very helpful. my biggest fear is that his parents are gonna die on this hill and as soon as he's legally emancipated he'll sever communications.
I didn't talk to my parents for years. I needed my life to myself to recover for a little while, because I felt that I couldn't trust my parents/anyone and needed freedom to figure myself out. Having zero support and struggling as hard as I did didn't help improve the situation, it made me angry I was abandoned and reenforced the distrust.
The best thing they could have done was given me a place to Do My Thing, food, and electricity, and some warnings about bad habits and explicit and detailed examples of why they are bad. Instead I struggled and scraped and fell behind (and picked up some bad habits as a response to the harshness) just trying to get a room where I could sit and use my computer to make money, and I hated the world for it. Because the trust wasn't there and I couldn't express myself, everything they told me was in an angry and authoritative tone and my brain just blocked it out and made me more introverted.
I knew what I wanted to do and I couldn't understand how they didn't know that and support it. (I didn't express myself well and I was too weird and high tech and clever, like I get the impression this kid is.)
Also: At that age a year of school feels like a decade. The people in this thread saying "what's the big deal about another couple years" are possibly (if anything like my situation) sentencing this kid to life in hell in his eyes.
Double addendum: I get along great with my parents now and they support me entirely.
Re: Ask HN: Friend's 15 year old wants to drop out, I've been asked to intervene
#18Hello Mr. [Principal], I've heard through sources that there have been various meetings conducted regarding my recent and overall academic performance at [private school]. I'd like to put some stuff on the table and get your thoughts on a few issues if you would take the time to read this. As background information I'd like you to know that I am the owner, CEO, and CTO of [hosting company], LLC a large Minecraft host…
When talking with a friend of mine about me having dropped out of college because I was too bored, he once said: "If you were that smart you would've just finished it next to all your other stuff." I was pretty much this kid, or close to it, and to this day that statement is still one of the most valuable, harshest truths to me. So just challenge the kid to make it both work, run the company and finish high-school. I…
Maybe there's a point like this to be made about college but I don't understand how 3 more years of high school would benefit him - what's wrong with a GED? It just seems so much more time efficient.
Re: Ask HN: Friend's 15 year old wants to drop out, I've been asked to intervene
#19He stands to learn far more by dropping out and trying to grow his business than by taking chemistry classes in high school.
– If his business succeeds, he has a great career ahead of him.
– If his business fails, he will gain practical and useful skills & experiences that cannot be taught in school.
Assuming he is a good self-learner (it appears he is), his skills will make him marketable to a variety of Silicon Valley companies (Facebook, Google, Mozilla, etc.) Worst case, in a year or two, he'll be able to write a great essay for college applications with a reasonable chance of getting into a top notch university.
[I'm a 21yo college dropout & YC alum. Some of the things I worked on succeeded, and others failed.]
Re: Ask HN: Friend's 15 year old wants to drop out, I've been asked to intervene
#20Earlier quoted context omitted.
When talking with a friend of mine about me having dropped out of college because I was too bored, he once said: "If you were that smart you would've just finished it next to all your other stuff." I was pretty much this kid, or close to it, and to this day that statement is still one of the most valuable, harshest truths to me. So just challenge the kid to make it both work, run the company and finish high-school. I…
Maybe there's a point like this to be made about college but I don't understand how 3 more years of high school would benefit him - what's wrong with a GED? It just seems so much more time efficient.
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