It worked for me.
Technically I didn't drop out of high school — I left high school after my junior year to go to college. But for almost two years I delighted in telling everyone within earshot that I'd dropped out of high school, particularly if my mother was within earshot.
After I'd completed my first year of college I applied for my G.E.D. )General Equivalency Diploma). In New Jersey — probably other states, too — if you pass a year of college you can get your high school equivalency diploma without taking any test: just send a check. The diplomas are, apparently, spit out by a big computer, because mine was on cheap paper and perforated on all four sides. Well worth the $35 it cost me, especially considering the red leatherette case which was included at no extra charge.
I still have it, though I've yet to convince my wife that it should be displayed with pride in a place of prominence.
I left high school early for two reasons:
1) I was bored.
2) I could.
I really just wanted to get school over with as soon as possible, so after skipping my senior year of high school I zipped through college in 3 1/2 years, just to get out. (Yes, I did get a degree. It's in economics, which is a story in itself.)
After doing everything I could to get out and away from school I wound up marrying a teacher, proving that the universe had a sense of humor. I did, however, have one great moment in school, though sadly I wasn't there to witness it.
In what would have been my senior year of high school, somewhere hear the end of the year, the school held its awards ceremony, with all 1,800 students in the auditorium. Apparently I won some academic award — I still haven't gotten it — and when my name was announced a friend of mine stood up and yelled, "he dropped out!"
My mother would have been proud.
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