My son dropped out of high school and community college. I supported his choices every step of the way.
My son decided to drop out of high school when he was 17 and start community college.
I supported his decision. Then, after his first semester, he was put on academic probation.
People in our lives judged him, and me for supporting him, but it was what he needed to do.
I remember how often we awoke to a clicking sound in the morning. My oldest son was playing with his Rubik's cube in preparation for a cubing competition. From when he was a little kid, he was curious about everything. He wanted to learn about Egypt, space, and the ocean and told me he would be an explorer and astronaut one day. Once he found something he was interested in, he pursued it with vigor. When he was nowhere to be found on his 5th birthday, we discovered him in his room putting together a Lego set meant for kids twice his age.
I wasn't surprised when my son did well in school and expressed a desire to go to MIT. My husband even took him to visit the campus once. He took a picture of him sitting on the library's front steps. I was sure one day that's where my son would go.
My son dropped out of high school in his junior year
Then, the pandemic hit in 2020. On a Sunday evening, as I sat in my kitchen, I received the call that they'd be shutting down schools for two weeks. I cried, unaware that this was just the beginning. As an educator myself, I knew the impact this would have on not only my kids but kids everywhere. As the mother of two boys, then 14 and 6, and two girls, then 13 and 8, I couldn't have imagined at that time what would come in the years ahead.
The trouble started for my oldest son during his junior year in early 2022. While many of his friends had gone through mental health struggles due to the pandemic, my son was always so strong and level-headed. I assumed he'd be fine. Instead, he hit the middle of junior year and dropped out, which can be done at 17 in the state of Maine without parental consent.
My son missed so many milestones and instead finished high school with his HiSet. When his peers were going through their senior year, he attended a local community college. Pandemic kids in Maine were granted free tuition. By the end of his first semester, he was on academic probation.
I wanted to support him no matter what, but people judged his decision
The hardest thing throughout the process was the judgment we received. It was amplified during his early college struggles. While some people understood he needed to follow his own path, others were less supportive. The questions and advice were often intrusive and placed blame, especially on me.
How could I let my son drop out of school? He was too smart. I was not stern enough. It was a shame. Everyone had an opinion, including his dad, who thought that finishing high school was the only way. Even if they understood, they seemed to feel sorry for me, for him. My aunt and my closest friend fell into this camp and only hoped he would change his mind.
After his academic probation, my son didn't want to go back to college. I told him he should take some time to figure out what he needed to do, hoping this was good advice. Still, when we'd discuss his plans at family gatherings, people wondered why he didn't just go back to school. He could re-enroll in high school, they said. I knew my kid, and I knew he was doing what he had to do. And again, legally, I also had no choice. No matter what, I would stand by him and support his decisions.
So I waited. He got a job. He worked and saved. During that time, he translated philosophy books from Russian and taught himself other skills of interest to him in his spare time. He was searching for meaning. He was diving into so many different things to figure out exactly what he wanted to do.
Eventually, he decided to go back to community college. He switched his major to computer science. In sixth grade, he had taught himself how to program, and he wanted to continue with that. He also thought figuring out AI would be beneficial. He's doing well, and made the Dean's List. He wants to learn how to fly a plane, even though he's afraid of heights. So, my child, the one who dives deep into everything, is learning all he can about aviation.
For Christmas, we bought him his first flight, which will be the first hours he'll earn toward getting his pilot's license if he chooses. He continues to teach himself a million different things, and continues to ask all the hard questions, but he seems to have settled into who he is and who he wants to become. And while people may not have understood his decision or mine to support him, they weren't in our place and don't know my son. I'm proud of who he is, even if the path to getting him to where he needed to be wasn't the easiest. I know he will go on to do amazing things.
Read the original article on Business Insider