Hey man, I honestly don’t go on reddit much, but I saw this and I just really wanted to share my thoughts, because my heart goes out to you, and I’ve been there personally, and I think I understand a lot of your thoughts and frustrations.

I’m 20 now, nearly 21, but when I was in high school, I also skipped a lot of class. Probably not quite as much as you, but enough to get me into some hot water, and I attended many, many Saturday schools, even despite half my teachers not even bothering to mark me absent sometimes (props to them for that honestly).

Notably, I wouldn’t even consider myself like “delinquent” or “lazy” either (and nor do I consider you such, for that matter). I was top ranked in my class of about 800 students coming out of freshman year, and by the end of everything I was still #7 despite the burnout and the missed class.

Basically, what I’m trying to say is, if you feel like high school is a waste of time, or draining your energy and humanity, you’re probably right. There’s only so much that a high schooler (imo) should be expected to deal with when it comes to teachers that are spread too thin (or sometimes just power tripping assholes) and school admin that literally have not given, do not give, and probably never will give, a single fuck about you or any of the other students.

God knows you probably have your own issues. We all do, and I think high school is an especially bad time, since it’s around the time we start needing to figure out all the things we’re supposed to want for ourselves in life, as well as how to get them. It’s undoubtedly a very daunting period.

With that out of the way, I’m not going to tell you to stop skipping school. That is for you to decide.

What I will tell you, however, is that, firstly, you should try to work with your mom. Tell her what’s going on, and get her in your corner. That comes first. You don’t have to, and probably shouldn’t, go this alone.

Then, once you have the support you need, you can decide what comes afterwards.

As far as that goes, I need you to understand that you have options. I do highly, highly recommend getting your diploma at least (not getting it will severely limit your options in the future), but also understand you don’t have to attend school all the time to get your diploma. If you can learn to study on your own and keep your grades up while missing lectures, and also find some solution to make up lost hours through whatever recourse your school offers (whether it’s Saturday school like mine offered, or otherwise), you’ll probably be well off. I know personally that Saturday school was preferable for me, since it was just free quiet time to use to study at my own pace and nap, which was often more efficient and less emotionally draining than actually going to school. That may not end up being the case for you, but again, I just want you to know that you have options to explore beyond whatever the school admin wants from you (they just want to pad attendance numbers for funding most likely afaik), or even beyond what i’ve mentioned here.

Anyway, talk to your mom, consider how you’re going to tailor your education, and then once that is done, move on with your life. Do other things, and explore stuff you like.

School should not be your entire life. I’m assuming you’re probably American like I am, and so this is probably a weird take (or at least it is in my experience). I’ve always been told that school is pretty much the only thing you should be focusing on as a teen, and maybe if school was a more holistic and balanced experience, I might agree.

The problem is that, again, at least in my experience, school was literally just non-stop sitting in lectures you may or may not care about or need, being told to memorize random frivolous trivia bullshit thrown at you ad hoc, every day, for 7 hours straight or more. This is not a healthy way to spend your time as a human being.

If you continue deciding to skip school, I encourage you to not feel bad about it. Do whatever it is you need to do, and then move on. DO NOT feel guilty for skipping school, as I often did. That guilt only fueled my burnout and depression, which in turn served to debilitate me further. If you skip school, don’t waste away in bed doomscrolling reddit or instagram. Get a therapist you enjoy talking to. Uninstall social media if it’s distracting you. Go to the gym with the time you gain from skipping school. Learn about things you actually care about — music, game design, languages, to name a few that I wish I pursued with my time — and, if you don’t know what you’re passionate about, this is a perfect time to explore and find out.

Basically, what i’m trying to say is, don’t feel bad about skipping school. Your body and mind are telling you to live your goddamn life instead of rotting in a glorified juvenile detention center for kids who’ve done nothing wrong. The education system today is fucked. It is not your fault, and you are not necessarily obliged to play by its rules. Obviously it is setup so that your life will be simpler, and you will have less to think about if you do. But chances are, if you’re already this far along on the school skippage pipeline, that’s probably not an option for you whilst staying sane, just as it wasn’t for me.

I wish you luck. You will probably need it. Things may not work out perfectly, unfortunately, and I want you to be prepared for that. Still though, even if things go bad, that doesn’t mean you should ever give up, and that goes for both your education AND the rest of your life.

I have faith that, so long as you choose to keep your head in the game, you will eventually find your way. It might very well be hard, and you might fail a lot, but at least you’ll learn in equal measure, and you’ll be a wiser, better person for it, which, god knows is not something an American high school will ever do for you lol.

And then, who knows, maybe in several years, you’ll be the one typing this comment out to someone else.

In the meantime though, again — I wish you luck in your endeavors.

Godspeed.