Comment by declan_roberts
3 hours ago
The best option for a high achiever is to get out of the high school crab bucket as soon as possible. Drop out and take your GED and start community college (often free). Public high school is a terrible place to be a smart kid.
I don't see that much advantage in pushing them out of the crab bucket and into the rat race. As a smart kid in a small rural high school, I had so much free time to read and pursue my other interests, because school wasn't demanding.
I didn't even know what freedom was until I "dropped out" of high school and enrolled in community college (dual enrollment program). Suddenly I went from 7:00 AM to 4:00 PM school day to a 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM school day. Wow that was incredible.
Not to mention I was no longer graded on attendance or "participation". What a relief. Sometimes I'd skip my last class and have lunch at my high school with my friends (I was technically dual-enrolled). They'd go back to class and I'd go goof off.
Needless to say, the following year about 2/3rds of them selected community college.