Should I drop out of high school?

• Ok. Im 17 years old. My dad passed away 4 days before my 16th bday. And he was the only one who pushed me in school. Ever since he died, i've been so lost, depressed, and i just don't really give a **** about anything anymore. Besides my friends and my music. I play guitar and want nothing more than to make a career out of it. Thats what I really want to do. When im in class, i know most of you won't understand this, but I CAN NOT bring myself to do the work. No matter what I do. Therefore, i think i need to drop out and pursue my music. School is doing nothing but holding me back. My mom said i better "get the hell out of her life" if i leave school. But the problem is, if i don't drop out, i'll eventually get kicked out for not doing anything. All my close friends are telling me i just need to drop out and do what I want to do in life and go for the things that i want to go for. School just is NOT for me. Im making like .1 in all my classes and i haven't done anything all year and its april. Its only a matter of time before i leave school one way or the other. And when that happens, i'll have to leave my house cuz my mom will just kick me out anyway. And im not getting my GED either. My problem is i CAN NOT do the work. What should I do?

• Answer:

  So drop out, big deal. This is the 21st century, people with college degrees are being laid off and people who spent those 4 years building a business instead of sitting in a college class are some of the few surviving. Bill Gates is a college dropout and I bet he never has to tell employers about his HS Diploma either. Point is, millions of people own businesses. Degrees are for working for others. Self Employed people like me don't need degrees. But I struggled for 10 years before I was self employed, so that's what you'll probably have to deal with. You obviously aren't going to college so what does it matter if you get a HS Diploma or not? A GED is the same thing to employers (despite what many ignorant people think, they think it's like this big bad thing that employers frown on). I've had 16 jobs with my GED. I'm self employed now, but I worked the same jobs people with High School Diplomas worked including the U.S.P.S (I sorted mail on the machines, $14.80/hr. was good pay at 18 in my area). I've worked for Google in their mail room and a few law firms here in California. I've never had an employer ask to see my GED and I just put High School Diploma on the application or resume. I assume USPS called the school where I got it. Obviously didn't matter because I worked for them for 3 years. My friend makes 80 grand a year from his donut shop and never graduated. But he spent that time building his business, what are you going to spend it doing? I have friends that never got their GED and still work locksmith jobs and construction type jobs. If you want office type jobs like mail room jobs that I worked, you need a HS Diploma or GED. But those other types of jobs you can still get. If you think you can work those types of jobs, then go do it. I mean no matter what your dream is with music, I doubt you'll accomplish it before you're 20's, so you'll most likely need a job to live and use that money towards your music goals. Ironically, the only certification I have is Pro Tools. The only college courses I ever took were in music production and music business. Making it in music was my goal too. I lost sight of my dreams after a parent died and it killed my ambition. Things like that happen in life. It was my passion for 15 years and one day just died at the age of 25.