Help

[Sean____]

My mother
doesn’t understand my situation. I seek advice.

I’ve
never thought of registering on a website where I would obtain some advice
since I thought I knew how to handle my situations. Well, this one, I can’t
really handle.

My mother
doesn’t really understand my problems especially how I described school as
being useless (because all you do is memorise a test and then forget it the
next day) and that I had other goals. I feel that I will be able to use my full
potential on something I liked to do instead of being forced into doing a
curriculum, passing a test and then forgetting it all the next day. I’m not
going to go in depth of why I think school is useless but I’ll start out my
story.

I told my
mother that school was useless and I had a decline of my marks from A to B – C.
I showed her a video of Sir Ken Robinson’s video of Schools killing creativity
and it did show the points clearly but somehow my mother doesn’t understand.
She thinks that my problems will be solved if I ‘work’ harder in school. She
believes that if I took the route I was taking, I will most likely never be
successful but how is she to know, when I haven’t even started.

As a
result, whenever she came to me, she wants me to ‘study’ hard. As I have told
her repeatedly to not worry about me she still does but doesn’t solve anything.
She wants me to study hard.

Anyways,
recently, early last term I said that I didn’t want to go for my science
tuition anymore, as I feel that it isn’t helping me, and I told them not to pay
for the next term. My dad refused and said I had to go for this science tuition
and he couldn’t get a refund. I said no.
He told me that he has already booked a term of Science, regardless of
me telling him that I didn’t want a science term. I declined. Eventually, he
threw his tantrum at me and shouted at me numerous times continuously and I
finally shouted back at him. He called the police. There was no violence.

The next day, they wanted me to go for the science tuition. So I went on the website and
I saw that you could get a 1000$ refund if you are not satisfied with the
lesson. I was not satisfied. I told my mother that you can refund the lesson
and then she said to go for the science tuition or I would need to work for the
$1000. I denied and she got really pissed and shouted to just drop out school,
all my tuitions and all of my sports.

I am not sure what to do next. I need advice. I feel that I am the victim of all of
this.

[White_Rose]

Dear Sean

Hello and welcome to Beyond Blue. Thank you for telling us your story. What year are you in? I ask because I am interested in when you can leave school. If you have to stay there you may as well get good marks, and having fulfilled your obligations to your parents you can make you own way in the world.

Can you tell me who is Sir Ken Robinson. I have not heard that name before and I am interested in his comments. School is a funny old place. Those students like to find out about the world do well there and so do those who like to know what makes things tick. For these students it is a base from which to move on and demonstrate their creativity.

The reality is that you have to stay in school until you become 16. As I said above, why not make it work for you.If you get good marks in a test, accept it and forget it the next day. Most learning is more about how to access information than memorizing huge chunks of it. School, especially in your last two years is more about finding out what you can do and where your interests lie.

Those people who pull themselves up by their boot straps have a hard time of it. I'm not at all certain it makes them better people, though this is often the claim. Why not look at school as a lesson in itself? What can I do, where will it lead me, how much can I create?

You said you had other goals. Can you tell us what they are? I am really interested in your ambitions. Parents are always concerned about the welfare of their children. You say how does your mom know the information on your video will not work for you. How do you know you will be a success? Give your parents a couple of years and make them happy by doing well. Then go and make a success of your life. You will then be old enough to drive and find work and pay your board, as well as make a success of your life.

Please look at life through your parents eyes for a while and don't be too hasty.

Mary

[geoff]

hi Sean, thanks for joining the site, as we all learn something by being able to communicate with other people on this forum.
I have said before on other posts that with school all you do is memorise as much as you can so you can pass and/or get high scores, which I agree is baseless, but it won't change until the education department decides it needs an overhaul.
Whether the belief on cramming so much into your brain and then remembering it on exams times means that you are then capable of getting a high paid job, because your retention is good, could be the reason.
Parents only want their kids to try and do well at school, because they have paid fees, so it's something that they expect and then to get a job later on which would provide for your family and be self sufficient.
It's totally up to you tpo decide which topics you want to do and it shouldn't be done by your parents, because they don't know what you actually want to do.
Are you going to benefit by going to science tuition, well I don't think so because it's not what you want, so before I continue we need to know how old you are, and if you are over 16 then you could get an apprenticeship as a plumber, electrican or builder, and even though I had to go through a private school, and then made to get a degree or diploma in whatever, now in hindsight I would have much preferred to get an a/ship as I ended up being a builder/handyman which at that time I loved doing. Geoff.

[White_Rose]

Hello Sean

How are you going? I would love to know how you are going. Can you write in again and talk about yourself a little more?

Mary