I 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 was a big complex for a long time, feeling like I was falling behind socially and intellectually (which is true but not all bad). I was not prepared for the social skills that people develop there in the process of mentally/emotionally beating each other the head. I have had to deal with peers more socially skilled than I using tricks and experience to throw me off many times, which I see in retrospect having gained enough experience.
-Also not going to college has stunted my intellectual development. I am not as good as I could be and I know it, though I also know that I would likely have had the same social difficulties and not succeeded there anyway. Something like Khan Academy, some guidance, and some support would have helped with this, but perhaps even then I would have been a bit behind my peers earning PhDs, I would have no way to know.
-Peers often hold their degree over me, to this day. Along with this, being judged and stigmatized as "the dropout" and being treated by old peers as inferior no matter what kind of success I achieve, possibly because I am different and they are somewhat uncomfortable with that.
-The road of achievement, especially early on, without the support of a social group or educational institution that I could deal with, was probably a lot more hellish than it should have been. I was naive to a lot of things and didn't have the experience or understanding as to how to apply myself. Especially being a runaway and not being able to take care of myself, but feeling that I had no other options and had no support from anyone made me feel hopeless and desperate and gave me a huge chip on my shoulder, swinging between "I'm fucked and should just crawl in a gutter" and "I have to fight to get revenge" for half a decade+.
My perception by relation to my own experience (probably flawed somewhat)
They are going to nail this kid as a cocky bullshitter. Cocky, sure, but that's because they are attacking him for being himself and it's a defensive response to that.
Supporting his ego phase is going to be difficult, but try to remember that they are trying to cut him down for trying to be what he is and doing what his brain does. Defiantly labeling oneself CEO at that age and standing up for yourself aggressively is all about grasping for power where you have none.
Hastily typed, hope it is useful, obviously not complete.
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.
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 was a big complex for a long time, feeling like I was falling behind socially and intellectually (which is true but not all bad). I was not prepared for the social skills that people develop there in the process of mentally/emotionally beating each other the head. I have had to deal with peers more socially skilled than I using tricks and experience to throw me off many times, which I see in retrospect having gained enough experience.
-Also not going to college has stunted my intellectual development. I am not as good as I could be and I know it, though I also know that I would likely have had the same social difficulties and not succeeded there anyway. Something like Khan Academy, some guidance, and some support would have helped with this, but perhaps even then I would have been a bit behind my peers earning PhDs, I would have no way to know.
-Peers often hold their degree over me, to this day. Along with this, being judged and stigmatized as "the dropout" and being treated by old peers as inferior no matter what kind of success I achieve, possibly because I am different and they are somewhat uncomfortable with that.
-The road of achievement, especially early on, without the support of a social group or educational institution that I could deal with, was probably a lot more hellish than it should have been. I was naive to a lot of things and didn't have the experience or understanding as to how to apply myself. Especially being a runaway and not being able to take care of myself, but feeling that I had no other options and had no support from anyone made me feel hopeless and desperate and gave me a huge chip on my shoulder, swinging between "I'm fucked and should just crawl in a gutter" and "I have to fight to get revenge" for half a decade+.
My perception by relation to my own experience (probably flawed somewhat) They are going to nail this kid as a cocky bullshitter. Cocky, sure, but that's because they are attacking him for being himself and it's a defensive response to that. Supporting his ego phase is going to be difficult, but try to remember that they are trying to cut him down for trying to be what he is and doing what his brain does. Defiantly labeling oneself CEO at that age and standing up for yourself aggressively is all about grasping for power where you have none.
Hastily typed, hope it is useful, obviously not complete.