I was too, I hated school since kindergarten, I only have good memories of the elementary school years.
To make things even better, we have 13 years before university (5-3-5). The worst ones were during middle high, i had awful teachers and awful classmates who only cared about money and showing off.
High school was better (better classmates), but I really couldn't stand it any longer.

I didn't attend school whatsoever from around September 2008 to August 2010. Since going back, I've been going quite frequently and have made quite a few friends. I still have stints where I don't go for a while, though.

At my high school you could only miss 21 periods (which amounted to three days) a semester or you'd lose your exam exemptions. I hated going to school a lot, but I hated the thought of having to take math finals more.

Also the school didn't care what took you out of school, it was three days, no exception. People would literally come in with broken limbs that had just been put up in a cast...with terrible stomach flu and sit in class with the garbage can next to them so they could emergency!puke...with just about every disease you could imagine, actually, because no one wanted to take their finals. That high school was infamous for having balls-hard finals that would drag your average down from a high A to a low B even if you studied your ass off. I was no exception...I recall coming in numerous times with the plague...extended the illnesses for like a week, but I got my damn exemptions!

If I got to the end of the semester and I had a day or two left, I'd just refuse to go, as "they gave me the right to miss this day, I'm going to fucking use it!"

Come to think of it, I did the same thing in college...prof would say you could miss 5 classes a semester and I'd skip exactly that...yeah, attendance was bad for me in college. It would be cold as balls or raining, I wouldn't want to walk uphill both ways to some useless class (really, it was uphill both ways...the dorms were on top of one hill, then there was a valley between them and the main campus, which was on another hill) so I'd just be like, fuck it, and not go at least 1-2 days a week when the classes didn't have stupid attendance policies. Buuuuuut like 90% of my classes did, which was so fucking stupid. We're adults, we're paying out the ass for this stupid piece of paper, let us skip if we don't have to go to class to learn the material.

Last semester senior year was probably my worst semester attendance-wise...probably because I was super depressed and having panic attacks almost daily. I had a note from my GP and authorization from the school to miss classes beyond those outlined in the attendance policies. So...of course, I pretty much never went to class. Still graduated with a 3.97, so fuck that whole "hurrr you have to be in class to do the learnin'" theory.

Aaaaaaaaaaand then my first semester of law school I got kicked out of Criminal Law because the prof. was a hardass and I missed three classes (the third through no fault of my own...my useless mother was shitting around with her stupid antiques and didn't get me to school until the class was 2/3 over). And then I dropped down to part time. Aaaaaaaaaaand then I withdrew entirely and now I'm taking a semester off.

I just couldn't fucking take it anymore, having to go to stupid fucking class and be stuck sitting around in the law school from 9-5 because the admins. are bastards and schedule all first year classes to be at 9AM and 3PM and I'm a commuter student. I never even was able to get a good place to sit, since the law school was full of psychopaths who just spent ALL DAY ERRY DAY there because OH GOD LAW SCHOOL IS EVERYTHING. Actually, 95% percent of every class is that obsessive. I just...cannot stand listening to it. I can't. I just want to shake everyone I come across and be like THIS IS THE PRIME OF YOUR YOUTH AND YOU ARE WASTING IT ON STUDYING GODDAMN TORTS 12 HOURS A DAY. When you absolutely do not need to.

Law school is probably the first time I've really had "school refusal" or something similar to that to such a degree that it's been crippling. It's not anxiety over school as much as all-consuming rage and depression about it. I just hate all of it so much. The cutthroat competition, the banality, the lack of actual independant thinking. It probably doesn't help that I don't want to be in law school in the first place. I want to be in graduate school doing a doctoral thesis on Central European history.

But that's not an option to my parents, and since I enrolled in law school because I was too depressed my senior year of college to do anything other than what people told me to do so that I could exist on auto-pilot, they don't think I can back out. I still wish I could find the courage to do so, to back out and follow what I want to do instead of what's more secure and suposedly more profitable. But I'm still too much of a coward to do it, too afraid of never being able to find a job with my shitty political science degree. I don't want to be one of those history doctorates working at McDonalds. (Hell, I've already been the college graduate working at McDonalds. It was so fucking frustrating, being called stupid every day by customers and management because I can't fucking shut up and smile and serve death burgers or get a better job.) Because though society values stupid, stupid shit like MARKETING HURRRRR, stuff like English and History has no place. Or, at least, that's what it feels like. It feels like you have to be good at maths or science or business or you're fucked.

As it stands, I'm probably going to force myself through law school, get that stupid piece of paper and certification, then bolt to somewhere colder and get a doctoral degree in Habsburgs at night while working some terrible soulless legal job during the day. Or I'll slack off and just do the Habsburgs thing. Or I won't make it through law school and will live in this shitty town forever.

I think I started having more problems with school come college and post-college than I did when I was in standard school because standard school never made me feel like I was worthless. At college, I got put down a lot because of what I chose to study. In law school, I'm getting put down even more because I have no interest in making lots of money and being the absolute top of the pack. In standard school, if you did well on something you got a pat on the back regardless of what the subject was. In college and law school, even if you do super awesome at something, if it's not the right thing you get treated like you're an idiot.

I hate being treated like an idiot. All the goddamn time, I'm treated like an idiot. And that's why I've refused to go to school this semester, aside from the depression.

I guess this turned into more of a rant about lots of other things than about school refusal in specific. Sorry if it's too off-topic. I just had to get this out somewhere, I suppose.

Hurrrrr.......that wuz long^^^^^^having to deal with classes placed on unnecessary hills and mountains as you make them sound .....balls hard tests....strict attendance policy's....cutt throat competitive law school stiff asses (no offence meme) must be a bitch.......but i think it'll all be worth it for you in the long run....nowadays you gotta be the smartest cookie in the fuckin' jar to even get any type of Job....and i imagine having a near 4.0 GPA is retarded smart.....so job security should be no problem for you....(once you get that stupid piece of paper, of course)....and then you can do anything you want pursue dreamz if you wanna or smoke marijuana........

i don't kno where i wuz going with this but i had a GOOD POINT belive me.....i got high and lost my train of thought.....to me it sounds like you don't like law school or the dullness that comes with being a law school student.....maybe you need to chill more.....or have fun before you go to boring ass law classes shit sounds like it sucks the life outta people.....

damn i kno i had a really good point to make but i lost it in the depths of my stoner head....hopefully you the smart ass law student can decipher my babble.......

mementomori, I presume you were attending an elite private school? If so, My parents attempted to send me to one of those at the start of year 7, but I absolutely would not budge when it came to going. In hindsight I feel really bad about it, as it cost so much money.

Actually, no. It was a public school, it was just...I don't even. There was something in the water there that made people insane. I had a straight 4-point as a final GPA there (thanks AP classes for boosting my GPA to compensate for terrible math classes) and was still ranked forty-second in my class. Like I said, it was just...crazy. Maybe it's because the county it's in is mega-rich and all the parents there are hardasses, I don't know.

@ Anthony , yeah, I know, I kind of got on a roll there and couldn't stop. I kind of see the point you were trying to make, all haters gonna hate and I should just try to chill out as much as possible about law school and ignore all the other crazies in class with me. I think that's how I'm going to try to get through it...I'm just so worried about being able to get a job I can stand. If I have to work somewhere miserable to get by I know I'll snap and get myself fired. Oh well. Hopefully it'll all work out.

^^^^stress happens when you worry about shit....sooo if you try not to give a fuck.....your mind will be clear......which makes it easier for you to learn and get thru the day...just think about the finish line....chill and make moves.....cool calm and collected.....equalz success......i should follow my own advice......someday..... cool calm and collected are the key words....

i think thats whut i wanted to say before i blacked out with the mouse in my hand.........

That's surprising. The two public school's I've attended were both very laid-back, easy going, quite the contrary to what you just described.

That was quite invigorating reading. I understand and empathize with a lot of what you're saying because I went through the same frustrations coupled with the unrelenting depression.

I was very fortunate to have understanding teachers and profs though. And everyone knew I was intelligent and I was a notable and opinionated speaker so I was lucky not to get the who idiot bullshit you had to go through despite my dropping grades in senior year.

I would have failed all my senior year courses if I didn't have the support of the counsellors, principals and teachers at my school.

Like I said, I was extremely fortunate and lucked out.

You're definitely a bright lady (and cute to boot). I hope you consider actually going for a PhD in Central European history. Law school will just eat at your soul if you continue.

I support your pursuit of knowledge and hope you continue on that path less taken instead of the long painful road of law. It's not worth your youth. Like you said, you're still young! Why are you wasting 12+ hours studying crap that's not worth studying to you??

DO WHAT YOU WANT WOMAN!!! Law obviously isn't your dream.

I WANT you to apply yourself for that PhD in history. It's better that everyone else ignorantly thinks you've made the wrong choice than to have yourself hate your inner soul and hate yourself for choosing a study you don't even like.

You'll feel a lot better studying for what you want rather than what people want you to.

yes i guess i had this problem. didn't affect my grades though
my friend had to be homeschooled and then go to a small school for bullied children because of it.

Yeah, I have that problem... I realize school is important and all that, and until recently I went to school most of the time because I was scared of what happened if I didn't. I've always been 'sick' a lot though. But it gets harder to keep going to school because I just don't really care anymore... Sure, I get 2 hours of detention for every hour I missed with no reason, but I can get away with not going to detention, they can't lock me in the school or something. Last year was a lot worse than this year (socially), but I attended more classes then, although I did skip P.E. pretty much all year. For a pretty stupid reason too, I was too scared to talk to anyone in my class and I had to ask them where to go, because we had P.E. on another school or something. This year I do skip some classes or the whole day. I shouldn't drop out of school or something though, that would be so stupid, because the only thing I have trouble with is actually doing something (homework, essays.. attending school/tests), but I KNOW everything, I don't study but still I get really good grades.. and I already dropped a level and a year just because I didn't do anything. >.<

It's amazing how difficult it can be to go through with something when you just don't care, isn't it?

School is a place to learn and I couldn't stand going to the same place everyday when none of the so-called teachers satisfied my curiosity a damn bit. I didn't refuse to go to school; I refused to subject myself to mindless routine, idiotic peers and torpid teachers.

And why didn't I just stick with it until college? Because college is the same fucking thing, but you pretend it isn't because you're supposed to be taking your oh-so-proactive little steps towards academic excellence and societal responsibility. Yet all you do is spend money to open up doors to PRECIOUS NEW SOCIAL EXPERIENCES and maybe some learning if you're not a fucking idiot and your interests lie in worthwhile fields like science and math.

Then, why didn't I stick with it, get to college and immerse myself in said fields? Because I'm an arrogant egotist with little patience for drudgery and would sooner off myself than spend yet many more years swimming in an ocean of sludge looking for pearls dropped by those who were somehow more resilient than I when faced with much the same situation. Or maybe they weren't. I don't know how many geniuses kill themselves every week but I'm sure the numbers wouldn't surprise me.

Of course that's one wholly arbitrary, material part of why I can't bring myself to transcend the intellectual/political pecking order of American, transcontinental, and, ultimately, human affairs. And if my next sentence offends you, then I'm afraid you'll never understand the other portion: You're all mouth-breathing cunts who lust and love and long for acceptance, futilely searching, forever forming your silly factions, forgetting your fellows in frenzied reappointments of emotional finance. There, I just pinpointed your well-hidden motivations, and if indeed I did so then congratulations, you're really going to hate me from now on.

Yep.



I would too if I could. I just don't know what else to do, that's why I am persevering with education. It feels like it's driving me mad at times.
I don't know how else to live my life...so I spend it forcing myself to go through with things that I don't even care about.
However, it feels as though my mind is rebelling against it. It's gotten to the point where I can't even do the work that I used to be able to churn out so effortlessly.
I hate talking about this and feeling so naive and immature, but it's the truth. I feel that I may have a mental breakdown someday down the line. Either that, or I'll end up a grumpy old grey git with a job she hates, who lives on coffee and shitty TV and who doesn't even know why she feels so empty and angry all of the time. Nothing remarkable about that then

I was the same in 2008-2010, I was literally too scared to go to School. I think it was my own perception of me not being able to adapt that stopped me from going.

Never. There were times when I really didn't want to go because the majority of people there didn't (and still do) like me much and were/are also showing this, but if my parents ever found out about me not going they'd crucified me for sure

Still going to school and I still wonder if I'll be able to get into college. 1 1/2 years left for high school to end

Thanks for the words of encouragement, Althe. I'm actually hoping that it's only the first year of law school that's soulless and terrible. You have to take a set list of classes for the first year. After that, you can diversify...and I think I might be okay if I can take stuff like environmental law, international law, law of human rights, family law...even criminal law was fine, I liked it even though I got booted from the class. I just can't stand the classes that are first year, so many of them are just focused on bleeding people of money, not about protecting those who need it. The reason why I grudgingly accepted law school was partially because I thought it'd be a good conduit towards helping people. I guess it just frustrates me that everyone I've met there is all about the money and competition and I haven't really run into anyone else in my year interested in helping people (aside from as a way to bulk up their resume ).

I started doing this when I was around 12. At first I only refused to go once in a while but it's been gradually getting worse. Last year I got kicked out of school due to my attendance, and this year I'm already on the verge of being put in a hospital. I'm not really sure why I feel unable to go to school, but sometimes I wish I didn't feel this way. Last year I skipped 8th grade but I failed because I didn't go to school enough and if I fail again this year it will actually affect my future and probably lower my chances of getting into an ideal college.
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school makes me want to die. i hardly ever miss school (have 95% attendance rn), and if i do, my mother grounds me (and takes away the mighty computer) for a month. so, i try to go, even though i always end up freaking the fuck out.
i think if i'm forced to go to this current school for this entire year, i mind as well kill myself now idk. i can't deal with this, it's worse than my old school. and i got death threats at my old school. yeah.
i want to do online school cause i wont have to worry about attendance and waking up and people, but my mother insists on making everything difficult and making me so stressed my hair started falling out, and wont let me leave this school.
tl;dr: i would but there's consequences i don't want to deal with.

I was so depressed I stopped going to school at the age of 16 I guess.
Then I couldn't find a job that suits me and I was sitting in my room all day, now I am back at school...
I don't know if I can finish this time, I still have around 1 and and a half year left.
School is like hell for me...

My folks told me that if I did not go to school I would not get fed and would have to sleep in the outhouse.
and they actually did this one time I faked sick to stay home.
I went but mainly read my comics and fantasy books I got from the library because classes were a joke back then.
Half assed it still did exceedingly well.

Which convinces me that some students are very lazy and that they need to develop more dynamic teaching methods based on the way people learn than the current way.

I know too many people who were F students who were otherwise brilliant people. And all that I still run across are doing way better than me socioeconomically and in general.
And a lot of US wealthy people are high school dropouts....

Yeah, I was a school refusal, too. It all startet with some hours here und there. Me and some classmate I hung around with couln`t see any sense in staying longer in school sometimes. We were at his home instead and smoked pot.
Later, it really startet to become excessive. Before school i smoked some pot at a friend of mine, and after that we decided to go to school. But when the bus stopped right at the school, we were staying in the bus instead of going to school. It was a mix of social anxiety, rebellion and some feeling of losing the free time.
In summer we were just having a good time instead of going to school. We were picknicking in the woods, smoked pot all the time and were ourselves. It were great years.
My parents didn`t know about my school refusal. I told them everyday that everything was ok, for over 2 month it went ok.
One time, we were in the Netherlands instead of sitting in school. My father tried to contact me via cellphone. He heard a strange dutch voice instead of mine. Later when I came home he asked me about that, and I explained the whole situation.

Later i didn`t try to hide or something anymore, instead of that i stayed simply in bed. Strange years...

I did school refusal even 2 years ago. It`s like a red string that leads through my life. The situation with many people in one room makes me want to get out as fast as possible.
For now I`m working, it`s better for me. Hopefully I will stand my fears this time...

I don't think any of us wanted to go to school, but it really wasn't our choice. By law we have to go, so if we refuse a truancy officer can be called. When I was old enough to drop out I didn't have to worry about that anymore, so I dropped out as soon as I was legally able to. I hated school.

I refuse to go "back to school". People are always saying you should do it even if you're old but what's the point?
Even my mom was talking about it a while ago.