I just saw this commercial with a teen girl saying that she had a beautiful voice and how she wanted to be on stage. Then, she dropped out of high school.

May I ask all of those who have dropped out: what made you drop out? I'm very curious. I'm doing a paper on this for a social problems class.

And please, be honest. Don't be stupid. This is a serious topic that I am doing for school.

Here's what to do:
First off, this is completely anonymous (names are not necessary). However, I would like to know your age, gender, and ethnicity.

1) What grade did you drop out of high school?
2) Why did you drop out?
3) Are/did you plan(ing) on getting a GED?
4) Do you regret dropping out at all? If so/not, why?
5) How did dropping out of high school change your life?

Thank you.

This response is coming from a bud of mine, not me.

1. 11th
2. there was a problem with a guy who was threatening my family and i moved up to orlando for a bit so when i got back they wouldnt let me back in.
3. eventually
4. it wasnt my choice.
5. well, i cant go to college until i get my ged, otherwise i kind of lost all my friends i had at school.

I dropped out after i completed 9th grade, which is Jr. high school here
I dropped out for 2 reasons, I got bullied a lot in school, no matter what school i went to everything was the same, it got to the point where going to school became too hard for me to focus on, because i just wanted to hide. The second reason was my home life was not very good and i ran away from home and ended up living in homeless shelters for 3 years, and was unable to reattend school even if i wanted to.
I havent really though about the GED thing. I have yet to find anything in life worth an interest in gaining it right now.
I dont regret dropping out. I needed to get away.
Dropping out allowed me to meet people who liked me for who i was and allowed me to gain some self confidence.

I am 23, Female and White.

1) What grade did you drop out of high school?
10th
2) Why did you drop out?
There were a few reasons, I could wake up on time, I was too busy getting stoned, I was falling behind in my classes cause I was skipping so much, mostly cause my mom allowed me to do it
3) Are/did you plan(ing) on getting a GED?
Absolutely NOT, I have always told myself that I wont get one, I am currently in an online program getting my highschool diploma
4) Do you regret dropping out at all? If so/not, why?
Yes I regret it, I really am going to miss not having a highschool reunion and I didnt get to graduate
5) How did dropping out of high school change your life?
Well I wound up getting a job and moving in with my boyfriend, its hard for me to put on resumes now that I dont have a diploma and I really think that employers look over me a lot because of it.

1. I was 15 (10th grade) when my mother pulled me out of school to have me locked up in DT because she "just couldn't handle me". I guess I was a bit of a bad girl, I guess you can say (sex, drugs, sneaking out, smoking, more sex & drugs). Even though I went to school during my time in DT (detention aka juvie), I wasn't earning credits (which is a bunch of hooey pa' tooey if you ask me) and then I was court ordered to a rehabilitation facility straight out of DT where I attended school (again, my work wasn't credited). By the time I got out of the "system", I was almost 17. After my class had graduated & I became pregnant with my son, I decided to go back to school in hopes of graduating but due to health complications I wasn't able to finish schooling at that time.

I registered with an adult education program (adult ed) about a month ago, & I have already earned quite a bit of credit (yay me). I am hoping to be graduated before July (only 8 credits to go before I am done, yay me again!!!) MY goal is to earn my high school diploma. =)

I do regret not working harder to stay in school when I could have done so, but life is unpredictable & I can't say that "dropping out" has been a total loss in my life. If I would have stayed in school, I wouldn't have met my husband and we wouldn't have had such an awesome little boy together. Ya win some, ya lose some I guess. :-)

1) 11th
2) I was hanging out with the wrong crowd skipping class. I skipped so much class that I had lost all my credits for that year.
3) I got my GED
4) I do regret dropping out of high school, because really that was a big part of my life that I had lost due to stupidity
5) It made me want to better myself and do things to make mine and my childrens life better.

Oh and i am 25/female/white

1) What grade did you drop out of high school? I dropped out of high school in the 10th grade.
2) Why did you drop out? There were many reason. I was diagnosed with Agoraphobia, and had a lot of trouble just walking into the school building. I felt anxious every second I was there.
3) Are/did you plan(ing) on getting a GED? I've had my GED for 3 years now.
4) Do you regret dropping out at all? If so/not, why? I use to regret it, but I figured my options were pretty limited at that point in time. My friends would always call me up telling me about things that happened, and they took a ridiculous amount of pictures for me on prom nights.
5) How did dropping out of high school change your life? It really changed my life. (I'm not telling ANYONE to drop out, nor am I saying it's okay.) I got some help with my problem, and met someone very incredible. Now I'm in college and have a pretty good GPA. I wouldn't change a thing. If I felt this way back then, I would have made it through high school, I'll just have to try harder in college.

I think its really tough for people to understand Agoraphobia.

I made it through high school, but got worse later on. There was over a year I couldn't work because I could barely stand to even leave my house.

I'm glad it worked out for you though.

People just always assume you're making up excuses. "Oh, is it REALLY that BAD?" Yes. it is that bad. I especially love the "Can't you just suck it up and move on?" Not likely.

I'm better now, but there's always those times where I feel like just being cooped up in the house away from everyone.

I hope everything works out for you also. I don't think it ever completely goes away. But you should have your day where you step outside your comfort zone. God I hated those days. :P

I've gotten a lot better over the years. I've HAD to "suck it up and move on." But I do remember when I first got a job after my worst bout with it, and people thought I was making it up.

I was diagnosed with mild agoraphobia when I was thirteen. There were days when I outright refused to leave my house to go to school, and although those days were rare, they still happened. My friends now just call me anti-social, which is pretty upsetting some days. I've gotten a lot better through therapy and flooding, but sometimes, I just have to force myself to leave my house. I don't really talk about it, because it's not a big part of my life, but it's still there.

1) What grade did you drop out of high school? 11th

2) Why did you drop out? I really hated school, I mean with a deep dark passion, I hated every second my foot was on school campus, High school was not a good experience for me, I could be really QUIET and SHY, and people took that as me being rude, I didn't fit in ANYWHERE, In 9th grade I had this group of girls [some of them I didn't even know] harass me online every single day [I would block their screen names, but they had AIM and we had AOL on one line at the time, and it didn't help that the one girl who pretended to be my friend [I can see why now, she was the heavy girl, they were nice to her to get to me] spread my screen name like wildfire, and my Mom never let me change it, she had parental controls] They would really try to pick me apart calling me fat, ugly stuff like that when I weighed 125.

3) Are/did you plan(ing) on getting a GED? Hopefully, I just dont know what to do about it.

4) Do you regret dropping out at all? If so/not, why? No, I actually do so much better in the work world than I did in school.

5) How did dropping out of high school change your life? I am so much happier, I could actually be me again, I also think that it's helped me become a lot better, because now I am not so awfully shy dealing with customers all day, I am not afraid to stand up for myself, state what I think. I have more friends and BETTER ones who don't back stab me just for kicks. Although I moved away from that city, I would def. love to go back around there, let them see me and say stuff about me, because I have a larger mouth and a higher vocabulary, to the point that I can say what I think about them to thier FACE and not be afraid of it!

I was bullied constantly and going home was when it was worst. I will write more later when I can

I didn't dropped out from school.
But I've experience those days where I'm afraid to go to school or anywhere else. I would sometimes get panic attacks too so I know how it feels like. I had been bullied before too, but those days were long gone.

WHAT'S A GED, YO? I'M GUESSING THIS IS JUST FOR THE AMERICANS? I DON'T THINK IT CAN APPLY TO BRITS. LIKE, LEGALLY, WE HAVE TO BE IN SCHOOL UNTIL 16. THEN WE ARE ALLOWED TO LEAVE AND GET A JOB IF WE WISH, OR GO TO COLLEGE OR SIXTH FORM. SO THERE IS NO REAL 'DROPPING OUT' HERE - UNLESS OF COURSE A KID TRUANTS, OR IS EXCLUDED FROM SCHOOL. I'VE WORKED WITH NAUGHTY BOYS WHO WERE EXCLUDED FROM SCHOOL - AGE AROUND 14. THEY GENERALLY CAME FROM ABUSIVE FAMILIES AND HAD GOT INTO PETTY CRIME. THEIR BEHAVIOUR AT SCHOOL CAUSED LOTS OF PROBS SO THEY GOT KICKED OUT. AND THEN THEY WENT TO THE YOUTH CENTRE TO DO ART, YO - LIKE IT WAS ONE GCSE THAT THEY COULD DO, SO WE LET THEM MAKE GRAFFITI ART AND STUFF (ON PAPER, NOT ON BUILDINGS!).

HAHA - THAT WAS LADY PUCK, YO! IN DISGUISE! ;D

A GED is something a person who dropped out of high school for whatever reason can get that is pretty much the same as a high school diploma.

SO IF IT IS PRETTY MUCH THE SAME, WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE? SIMPLY THE FACT THAT THE PERSON DIDN'T ATTEND SCHOOL?

It's really not the same. It's more of a "second chance" high school diploma, and generally viewed as inferior.

INFERIOR IN EDUCATIONAL QUALITY, LEVEL, ETC., OR INFERIOR BECAUSE THE PERSON DID NOT TAKE IT AT SCHOOL?

It's considered generally inferior, as in lower quality, and associated with a poorer student. (Considering the difficulty [or lack thereof] of the curriculum in public schools in America, anyone unable to finish is considered a poor student.)

SO THE STANDARD OF THIS QUALIFICATION IS LOWER? LIKE, THE QUESTIONS/TASKS ARE LESS ACADEMICALLY DEMANDING? OR IS IT EQUIVALENT IN ACADEMIC LEVEL, AND THE INFERIORITY COMES MORE FROM THE FACT THAT IT'S CONSIDERED A 'RETAKE', INDICATING THAT THE PERSON DIDN'T PASS THE FIRST TIME?

WHAT ABOUT PEOPLE WHO DROP OUT FOR MEDICAL REASONS? ARE THEY ALSO CONSIDERED TO BE POOR STUDENTS, OR DO UNIVERSITIES MAKE EXCEPTIONS FOR SUCH CASES?

Well, the standard is lower, yes, and there's no grading involved, it's merely a pass/fail system. Generally a student with a high school diploma will have a transcript which can be evaluated based on the courses taken, grades achieved, and levels of difficulty. However, the GED is more limited in scope, and is on the pass/fail system, which means that there is no telling if a person achieved a GED with the minimum score possible to pass, or if they scored 100%.

As for medical reasons, generally those students don't "drop out," but rather have certain allowances and such made for them. My mother is a teacher, and she had a student with cancer, and rather than drop out, arrangements were made for a sort of home-schooling that was coordinated with the public school. I think students rarely drop out for medical reasons.

AH, YES, GOSH, A 'PASS/FAIL' SYSTEM ISN'T VERY USEFUL.

I'M STILL CONFUSED AS TO THE SYSTEM THOUGH. IF A STUDENT DROPS OUT (FOR ANY REASON - REAL LIFE DEMANDS, BEHAVIOURAL PROBLEMS, ETC) AND THEN WISHES LATER TO RETURN AND DO PROPER EXAMS WHERE THEY CAN GET ACTUAL GRADES, CAN THEY NOT DO THIS? AND IF THEY ARE ADULTS BY THAT POINT, IS THERE NOT A DIFFERENT ROUTE FROM HIGH SCHOOL? FOR INSTANCE, IN THE UK, ADULTS CAN DO AN 'ACCESS COURSE', WHICH COVERS THE SAME SORT OF STUFF AS A LEVELS, AND IS CONSIDERED EQUIVALENT BY UNIVERSITIES.