Drop out of school. Do it, right now. That is the best piece of advice I can give you, because dropping out can get you a lot farther in life then staying in school. I dropped out about 10 months ago, and I have no regrets.

I had been going to the prestigious Boston Latin School for two and a half years, which fucked me over a whole lot. I call it brain rape. The school was set up for teachers to teach, and not, definitely not, for students to learn. I grew a fierce hatred for books, and any sort of learning. I became depressed, and secluded myself from anything. School was my entire life.

The way schools are set up now, are to get you jobs. They constantly refer to 9 to 5 jobs, as if those are the only jobs we will get, we are taught to survive only in those sort of jobs. Instead of pursuing your dreams, and your goals. Going to traditional schools will not help you get the job you want at all. They strip away your imagination, and your ability to learn. Although it might strengthen the ability to memorize, and the willingness to do as you're told, you won't learn shit.

They leave you with no life as well. As if you didn't think that 6 hours a day is enough, most schools expect you to do at least 3 hours of homework, which you get if you're lucky.

Anyway, after about 2 and a half years of attending the Boston Latin School, I dropped out. That was best decision I have ever made, and perhaps it was the best decision I will have ever made in my lifetime. Once I dropped out, I was left with a full day ahead of me. I used my time wisely and productively, instead of sitting in front of a teacher (which I now see as an equivalent to sitting in front of a TV, it rots your brain). I read so much. I read so many books, a whole lot of how to books, and a whole lot of history, scientific, and fiction books. I drew, I created things, I designed things, I figured out the ins and outs of a lot of Microsoft computer programs, such as databasing and word-processing. I figured out how to, and put up a web page. And, most importantly, I learned more about myself then I ever knew.

I became happier then I ever was before in my life. I didn't need anti-depressants anymore. I was free.

My dad took me to work one day, after I had dropped out, to get some of the students there (he works in a computer lab in the Harvard School of Public Health) to convince me school was good. That plan didn't work. The vast majority of students there were drop outs! They told me that it would be one of the best decisions I have ever made in my life.

Unfortunately, I was under 16, so I couldn't stay out of school legally. So I found this wonderful school, which would let me do whatever I wanted. It was the Sudbury Valley School, who's philosophy coincides with mine. At that school, there are no classes or grades, no kind of testing or evaluation, and the school is run by both the students, and the staff members. And everything revolves around the idea that people (including children) learn best when they learn what they want to learn, when they want to learn it. The school has been around for 30 years, which shows it's success. I plan on staying at this school for quite a while. (Check out the school's website at http://www.sudval.org).

How does one get into college with no diploma, or from a free school, if you haven't taken certain courses? The colleges are so delighted when they see bright, young, innovative, creative kids, who are not the same old other kids who come in and apply, who are tired, and not particularly intelligent, that you have a hell of a lot better chance getting in than your average kid. At my school now, two thirds of the students go on to college, usually the college of their choice, and the other third choose themselves not to go at all.