Can you tell me a little bit 'bout educational system in America?What I need to do to become a good student?
Not all US high schools are as bad as that other poster made them out to be. I should know, I went to one. The problem most of the bad schools have isthat they are filled with stupid poor people. Avoid inner city schools. In general what you want to do to be a good student is just make the teachers think you are trying hard. If you do that they will grade you easier and give you the benfit of the doubt in most circumstances. Yes, you shoucl participate in extracurricular activities. They look good on applications and they keep you busy so you dont fall in with a crowd of drug addict losers.
If your seventeen year old son says he wants to leave school and marry his girlfriend, how would you react?
Of course, I’d be extremely tempted to an extreme reaction and want to try to convince him not to. But, especially with teens, the more adults take a stance, the more teens will entrench in the opposite stance. I would first approach the conversation by asking lots of questions. Why does he want this? What does he imagine life will be like after? What will be the good outcomes of this, and what does he imagine some negative outcomes will be? How will he handle the negatives? What happens if xyz occurs? By coming alongside him and exploring the positives and negatives to this decision, without expressing your own opinion, you can help him to see himself that there will likely be more negatives. Legally, I’m not sure he can marry without a parental waiver at age 17? So, in the end, perhaps you empathize with all his reasons, but suggest that while he has some valid points, it is not something you can support at this time. And you’ll have to be prepared to not support him (financially) if he proceeds anyway once he’s 18.