How to help kids who are 16 year-old homeschool dropouts?

Question

I wouldn't ask if I didn't know two"home schooled" kids who have dropped out of school after ninth grade in the past year, and it was allowed by their college-educated parents!

I am worried for the kids' futures.

There seem to be two types of homeschooling parents:

1) THOSE WHO TEACH.

2) THOSE WHO DO NOTHING. (these are the ones whose kids I'm concerned about!)

By the time you find out their kids are failing online classes, they have turned 16 and are doomed to a ninth grade education for life! These two kids tend to be anti-social and have a general disdain for education of any kind. They now curse in public at church and at the grocery store.

How can we help them?

Answer 1

Through their parents

If they are college educated, they obviously want their children to do the same and you need to encourage them to force their kids to study, and weekly check their grades and performance

Answer 2

You can't. Are you going to go around trying to help every public and private schooled child who curses in public at church and at the store (we've got plenty of teens here who do that!) There are plenty of 16yo's failing their school classes and who don't care, who have a disdain for education.

Really, it's none of your business and there's nothing you can do. It's not your place to do something. And they aren't doomed to a 9th grade education for life--there are always possibilities for improving one's education since diplomas and GED's can be done any time (my great-grandmother got hers in her 70s!).

It sounds like they are doing the teenage rebellion thing. They may or may not grow out of it. They're the ones who will have to deal with it, not you. This is not a case where you hold any responsibility whatsoever.

Answer 3

First of all, who is "we" and why is it "we's" job to get involved? Is their safety at risk?

Their is a saying in business. "Those with colege degrees are managers while those who dropped out of high school are the owners."

Dropping out of one linear thought path doesn't constitute a condemnation to failure. Seeing a 16 year old dropout with a 9th grade education who is obviously "deconstructing to reconstruct" as a lifelong failure is rather short-sighted view. There is more to life than a college education. And a 16 year old has the rest of their life to figure out their goals. Not going to college at 18 doesn't mean you can't go at 25 or 40. Heck my 90 yr old great-aunt just graduated from college!

These kids are on a timeline in which they have to cram all knowledge into their heads before a timer dings on their 22nd birthday. Butt out and let them find their path in life. You may care for them but perhaps the best way to care for them is to allow them to "live and learn".

As for you I would suggest a book called "Deschooling Society" by Ivan Illich. Maybe anything by Gatto while your at it.