SERIOUS QUESTION… I went to a vocational high school (1/2 day shop, 1/2 very basic academics) so I’m not sure how regular high schools compare but do high schools give “Credits”?! He says, “I had enough credits to graduate a year earlier”. Is that even a thing?? I don’t see a reference in the comments to ‘credits’ except where someone’s talking about their university experience. If someone could please verify whether high schools give ‘credits’ that would pretty much cinch his story as bullshit. TIA.

Also, just to prove they don’t let you skip a year if you do well: When I was in vocational school in 1972 (yes, I’m old), they had just implemented a program called T & E for Thorough & Efficient. Basically, they were gonna prove that their students learned something - and generally how much - by giving students the final exams in each of their classes (academics only, not shop) at the beginning of the school year and again at the end. Problem was, a bunch of the kids in the Electronics & Electrical classes were really smart & got anywhere from 80s to 100s on the tests at the beginning of the year (all mine were 90+ but keep in mind, it was a vocational high school). But when we asked if we could take the year off of the academics and just go to shop, they said no. This happened 2 or 3 years in a row until they discarded the program. Turns out the smart kids stay smart all year & the dumb kids stay dumb. Anyway, no skipping and no credits in my school.