Skipping 10th grade and going straight to College

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Hi,
uhm. When I was in meetings with the people who deal with the school and education part of my ASD, they told me, and I 100% agree with them, so do my parents. That i should skip 10th grade and go straight to college, as it would be a waste of time to just hang around there in missery and pain, as I am doing over average in my classes too. So we think it would be best for me to skip it after 9th grade.
But what problems would that maybe come with that? As for my final exams etc that count for most of my grade. Since I got the ASD I can come in to schools with a special acception thing, then they look more at my interests and not so much at my average grades etc.

What do you guys think? As I think it'll be great if that would happend, because then i can focus at my interests in art, industrial design and illustration design at some art schools.

You might be doing well in your studies... that's ONE part of school.

How are you doing socially?

Would another year just be torture or would it help you to improve your social skills?

The thing is, study for aspies is far less important than practicing social skills since one comes reasonably easy and the other is difficult.

Being homeschooled, I skipped the last year and went straight to college (though I had taken a semester's worth of community-college classes simultaneously the year before).

Yeah, well I do alright socially, I manage to talk to people and appear "normal", but it really tires me and it is a pain. I can socialise and all in the periods between classes, it's the group activities in class that's the problem, I have problems with speaking out loud, standing in front of the others and I almost get meltdowns when I gotta speak loud. The meltdown includes tears, I get burned out of strength and I go into a "crying state".
That's the hard part, also co-operating with someone is hard, because I am the type that do excactly what i get told to do, wich most others won't.

So social interaction in class is what kills me, the same with field trips..

gbollard Another year would be torture, as I feel that I am as good as I get at social skills.

Can you skip regular classes in high school and just do AP?

If you were to skip the rest of high school, would you then head to a 4-yr uni and live in the dorms?
If so, that's where I think you'd find most of your troubles.

If you just go to a 2-yr school or even a 4-yr without living in the dorms... living at home instead... then I would think that would be better.

But, I am basing this on generalizations about people who are 14 yrs of age and those who are 18-21 yrs of age.
You are not of legal age that the vast majority of college students are at, so you'd have to be careful about what you do with them socially.

Academically, you should do just fine if you're doing as well as you say you are in high school.

In my area, the local 2-yr college has a high school set up within.
It's called The Academy of the Redwoods.
There's no P.E., no music, it's all academic.
Usually after the first year, the students can access regular college courses mixed in with the state requirements for high school kids.
I have some in my classes from time-to-time and they do as well or perhaps even better (than the 'adult' students who party too much and don't take school very seriously) than the other students.
They are treated the same as any other student in the classroom... as responsible adults in effect... and seem to get along quite well.

We were going to have our daughter go there because historically since the 2nd grade or so, she has not had friends to associate with at school and has also done very well academically. She has never been into the cliques or been interested in pop culture, so she has always spent her time hanging out in the classroom or knitting or reading during her break times.

But... she LOVES band!
Since AR has no music program, she told us she would try her first year at the local high school.
SHE LOVES IT! The classes have turned out to be okay for her so far, and the big thing is THE BAND!
The have a young and really great teacher who works extremely hard to make this a successful program.
Pretty much all the kids in band are known as Geeks and ARE PROUD OF IT!
They seem to be a pretty close-knit group of kids and no matter whether you are a freshman or a Senior... everyone gets along with each other.
It's their pride in their music that makes the biggest difference.

So, I hope some of this helps.
Just remember that in college, depending on the school and your opportunities for social interaction (clubs, sports, music, etc), you may find there isn't much in the way of socializing, but the academics could be really good for you.
I'm sure that having you in classes will not be a problem for the majority of instructors nor the students.

wsmac First of all. Thank you for taking your time to write this!

I will never, ever live in any dorms or at school, as that is my worst nightmare. And I like my privacy and don't like people hanging around all the time.
as i am quite a loner by nature.
I like hanging out with older people, as I am pretty "old" in my head and the older kids I usually have something to talk about with. But I wouldn't have gone to any bars or parties with them, because then I would feel like an outcast and uncomfortable, and on my free-time I like to be home and relax with my drawings and such.

I think they would feel weird about me coming to a class being a couple of years younger, but if we got properly introduced by the teacher and maybe my dad could hold a little lecture about me having AS and all, I think they would respect me, as there is little with bullies and stuff at the art/design schools I want to go to. As it is there most "geeks" probably go, and I AM a geek myself. (and proud of it)

The part with the social part of that sort of school would be, that most or even all would share abit of my interest, so then we would have something to talk about and discuss, if they would accept me that is. I ain't there to make friends though so that wouldn't be a thing I would miss that much.

I don't make much of myself in class neither, I try to be humble and quite and not disturb anybody unecasery.

As intimidating as it may seem, being pretty young and walking into a classroom full of 'adults', I really don't think you would have much to worry about.

Just from my experiences, I believe you would be seen as another student and generally assessed based upon your abilities and academic work.
I think you'd find that people who are 18+ can still behave as if they were in junior high, even in the classroom.
I have seen this many times over since I started taking college-level classes as far back as 1977.

I know that sometimes there are people who look at very young students differently than they do the adult students.... but I see it in four different ways.

1 - There might be those instructors and students who see you as a 'kid' and not take you seriously.

2 - There might be those who feel they need to treat you special because you're so young and couldn't possibly be able to manage everything on your own.

3- There will be those who respect you for your drive and intelligence that has lead you to attain the level you have achieved at a younger age than most.

and finally...

4- There will be those who don't really care how old you are. They are there for their education and as long as you don't act up in class upsetting the flow of the instruction, or make a mess of group efforts, then you could be 7y.o. or 99y.o. and it wouldn't matter. (this is me, along with #3).

If you go this route and you stay serious about school (by all means... enjoy it too! ), I really believe you will find it less intimidating than you might suspect.
From your description of yourself, I think you will find the experience much to your liking!
I still think my daughter would have enjoyed going to the high school at the college except for the missing band program.

Without the band program... she would probably HATE high school since she doesn't really fit into any other group of people there.
This is a small school district - 5 elementary schools (from different towns.. all small), a couple of junior high, and two high schools in the immediate area.
Every kid she has grown up with is going to either the high school or to the college high school and still, her best friend lives in a town over 25 miles away, with no real friends locally.

Anyway, sounds like you've narrowed down your selection of schools?
Specifically art schools?
Sounds great!

The other thing about university/college vs high school... you and ONLY YOU are responsible for keeping up on assignments, turning in work, meeting with other students outside of class for group projects, etc.

In high school, there is still this, sort of, safety net for the kids. The teachers, the parents, the admin staff.
In college, the professor gives you the lecture, the lab, the assignments, and you are on your own from that point on.
This may not be coming across right... but it is different.
The emphasis on passing high school is different than that on passing college.
In the former, you are basically made to go to school and expected to graduate.
In the latter, you pick your classes, you pay for your classes, you show up and do the work or you don't.
The instructor is not going to phone home to find out why Airbrush didn't come to class today.. or to explain that Airbrush's grades are not too good, etc.

It's actually quite liberating for some people when they finally make it in to college.
Of course, some students take the freedoms too far and wind up wasting their time and money.

What is it you are looking to do at college/school?

I'm glad you take your time writing all this, and I gotta agree.

I think if I stay serriouse and don't get in anybodys way and do as good as I can do in the school, I think that they will take me seriously enough..

The thing about that in college you are more responsible, I think that that part would go alright. I usually always tell my parents how things go in school and ask for help.
And with this that I am an Aspie + underage and all. I think my parents would've wanted to have regulare meetings and such with the teachers.

Yeah, I've kinda picked out what schools I want to get into. I just don't have much information about a school that I've been recomended to go to.

The biggest problem is, that it's in the middle of town, I live over 30-40 minuttes away by car, and in the morning rush it could take ages to just get into the city, then I am bound to use trains and busses, wich would be expensive and take alot of time also + I am abit scared of going around in Oslo alone waiting at buss stop's etc. Many scary people there, drug addicts, hookers, drug dealers, alot of sketchy foreign people who could do something to me, as I ain't the biggest guy on the block.. So that is something we gotta find a solution for..

Well, in college I really want to learn more about Conceptual art (check my site in signature) and character design, maybe even industrial design stuff. As I want tto become a digital artist who work for game companies and film industry as a freelancer. Making illustrations and storyboards for new games, movies and such, maybe make sketches for characters, veichles, buildings, weapons etc.

So an school who deal with Photoshop, drawing and stuff like that would be ideal.

Don't most colleges require a high school diploma or atleast a GED?

Also a lot of them require you take a SAT or ACT as well look at your overall GPA?

I just don't see how you could skip 2 grades in high school without being einstein or something

First of all, it is 1 grade. I'm in 8th grade now, start in 9th after the summer. After I've finished 9th I might get to skip 10th, wich is the last year of Highschool.

And about the diploma is a problem, but I think it could go, as Colleges here have 3-4 spots for people with "problems" like me, so they accept you into the school because of a diagnosis, even though if you have bad grades and some things like that.
We still need to figiure it out with the schools on how we could do it.

Are you mature enough to handle college on your own? That's my concern here. While you may be *intellectually* ready for college my concern is that you may not be ready for the social pressures and challenges. Frankly, if I were you, I'd stay in high school and finish the 12th grade before going to college. Or I'd at least stay for 11th grade and then apply directly. I'm just not sure that you can handle living in a dorm with men and women two to three years older than you at this point. Back then I know I wouldn't have been able to handle college yet.

If you read my others posts. Highschool here goes to only 10th grade, three years of Highschool. Secondly, I said I would never, ever stay in a dorm.
I think the Highschool social pressure is harder than college. In HighSchool you need to always stay "cool" and populare and stuff, wich you need to worry less about in College, people are more grown up then.

one thing to consider... is there's only more work after school. i like to work a lot but i like that i had my aimless days to wet my appetite. only gets harder to take breaks.

it's possible to succeed either way... but if you don't do well in college... could you go back to highschool? would be hard to get a job or have anyting substantial to fall back on.

If it we're something I'd like to work with, I'd gladly work with it after school at home. Because now in Highschool there's only boring mathematics and nothing I really like at all, but if we got some homework wich involved drawing a character for the next lesson for a game or something, or draw sketches of a new SUV for Ford or something like that, I'd actully look forward to make an effort on it.

I guess I could go back, but nothing is settles in anyway yet, maybe before the summer or after. I gotta talk more with my parents about this and arrange a meeting with the school and lay a ground "plan" for what we could do and whatnot.

G'day - The system is likely different here in Aus, but I failed English at High School and couldn't get into university (English is required) even though I had A's in 2 maths, physics and a B in Chem.

At age 28 I went back to evening school to complete English and get into Uni.

Ordinarily I would think its better for kids to stay at school and socialise, but if school is not giving you any positive social development, then why not go on to college.

Can you explain the school year levels there?

What years are junior high and senior high?

We have a prep year at primary (elementary) school plus 6 years and then 6 years high school. Kids finish about age 17 or 18 and then if you go to uni, expect to do 3 years in a humanities degree or 4+ in a science degree, plus honours year etc.

It seems to me the first 2 years of your college could replace our years 11 & 12

Is that right?

Can someone educate me?

We have quite abit of a different school system. First, we go to kinder garden from age of 4 'til we're 6. Then we start at elementary, wich is 7 years (bah)

Then we go to HighSchool, wich is only three years (8-10th grade),

then we can go to college (most do, as you don't really get any good jobs without it) wich can go from 3-6 years, all on what you decide to do in college (doctor and lawyers and stuff is 5-6 years, carpentry, mechanics and stuff is 3-4), then you actully is pretty set up for life if you did good in College.

You can also go to Uni, wich is if you want to be a professor or at very high level of education here, wich I don't know very much about.. So that is not my field.

For my part, it would involve either, finish Highschool then go to College, or get very good grades and do well throughout 9th grade, then skip to college. After college, I might have to move to England, Japan/China, France or Germany to go to some higher education to get what I want in life.

So, recap; Kindergarden (up til your 6), then Primary school (til you are 12/13), then Highschool(til you are 15/16), then College (Variose,from 3-5/6 years of school). Then, if you want more, University or some other higher education.

Hope that educated you in our complex and very, very bad school system (from the world statsic, we are at place 35 out of 45 countries when it comes to education, Nigerya almost beats us for crying out loud! We are supposed to be the richest country in the world!)