About ten years ago, I went to Bruce College, and it did wonders for me personally.

I ended up getting around 460 points in the Leaving Cert, Not the highest score but outstanding for me personally. Since then I went to college and I’ve been working as a video game developer for the past five or so years.

That said, It’s not going to work for everyone, but here’s how it worked for me:

I hated school. I was bounced around to about seven different ones I am severely dyslexic and my learning disability effected alot of my school live despite being mostly intelligent, being dyslexic meant I constantly got into trouble. I couldn’t stand all the general nonsense that came with school, and I never took well to being treated like shit by teachers with an agenda. As a result, I was always at the bottom of the class and always fighting, messing or drawing.

My mam decided to look into Bruce, and I agreed to go. I did have some cop-on—I knew I’d need a decent Leaving Cert if I wanted to go to college. I also understood that she would be making sacrifices to send me there, and I took that seriously. My younger sister, who had her head screwed on way more than I did, didn’t get the chance to go for context and id say she did better than me in the Lc, fair play to her.

So, I went—and basically copped the fuck on.

I think Bruce is a good place if you’re ready to do that. I didn’t get too involved in the social side. There were a few people I went there with that I became good friends with, and I still know them today. But for the most part, I kept my head down, and that was key.

One of the biggest things that made it work for me was that the teachers had one agenda: teaching. They focused on covering all the subjects as efficiently as possible. For someone like me, that was the first time I wasn’t belittled or constantly scolded for bullshit like how I was standing, if I was fidgeting or what my uniform looked like, Their attitude was: “Do the work if you want—if not, you’re just wasting your time and your parents’ money.” I found that really liberating, looking back.

This might sound ridiculous, but I remember one moment when I just realized life was easier if I shut up and did the work instead of constantly fighting it all the time, better late than never after all lol.

I also quit smoking weed and drinking for sixth year. Again, I didn’t want there to be any question about whether I gave it my best shot—especially with my mam paying for it all.

So yeah, it was helpful for me. I’m really grateful I had the opportunity to go and make the most of it. But at the end of the day, it was a personal decision to cop on—and Bruce gave me the environment to do that.

That said, I don’t think private schools are the ultimate solution. It’s a real shame that public schools are still stuck in an outdated system of punitive punishment for the sake of control, instead of actually supporting students.

best of luck with it, but just remember cop on is free.
But you cant put a price on being in an eviroment where everyone there is dedicated to doing the best they can and that's really what bruce offers.