School - Is it worth it?

As citizens of the United States, almost every one is required to and actually does attend at least twelve years of formal education in either public or private school systems all across the nation. These days, you can't get anywhere without a college degree let alone without your high school diploma. Or can you? I speak from experience on such a topic. I turned sixteen last January, and in February of that year, I decided to drop out of my public high school to pursue other goals in life. I had planned to continue home schooling to finish up the semester I was missing (block scheduling at the high school), but I quickly realized that being home all day and with literally no responsibility (and no one to tell me otherwise) truly negated the initial thoughts of home schooling. What I had planned on doing was fulfilling my dreams; to create a home business of my own that would be profitable enough for me to retire before I could graduate high school. My ideas ranged from web hosting, web design, and online advertising. I was an avid computer guru since the age of six; I programmed in Visual Basic at the age of eleven. By sixteen, the school system was starting to get on my last nerve; proving absolutely useless in regards to furthering my skill sets. Anything I was taught could have been easily learned on my own and in much shorter time. I couldn't take it anymore; it was time to drop out. The ideals which make up our society these days seem to revolve around "that piece of paper" that will supposedly get you where you need to be; otherwise, you'll "never get anywhere." Personally, I don't think "sucking up" to teachers who write not nearly as good as I do in order to get some good, cheap grades is not how I want to be rewarded in life. I want to be rewarded for what I'm good at and what I am not what I *need* to be. It turned out that I had partnered up with someone who was eighteen and an avid programmer in another state about three years prior to this event. We were creating a site that would eventually be patented, revolved around the trading of online game items in certain massivelymultiplayer online roleplaying games. Unfortunately, my partner was not as entrepreneurial as I was; he dragged his feet for a good while. By the time school started in September, I wanted to go back, mainly because I wasn't making any money. In nearly one week, I finished all the courses I missed at my public high school and turned in my work for highgrade B's and low A's from my online home school. I came back into my public high with AP History and Honors English courses for this semester. Still, my AP history teacher is convinced I need to stay after class for help with my writing while I am creating and editing college entrance essays for several senior friends of mine from around the state. Those letters will weigh heavily in the decision of whether or not those students get accepted into the college of their choice; yet they trust my skill, as do the teachers that read the papers that have no idea a "high school drop out" created them. So what am I doing now, going back to school like everybody else? Not exactly. Recently, I cut ties with my partner of three years and decided to start my own site. I hired a team of programmers from India and spent thousands of dollars my parents had saved away for "college" something I never imagined needing to go to (for if I did, I made a mistake somewhere down the line). A few months went by and the sites iTopSite.com, TrafficTopSites.com, and MMAuction.net are all into late development stages. I will be simultaneously leasing three of the most advanced web sites on the internet revolving around web advertising, web programming, web design, graphics design, and the trading of massively multiplayer online role playing game items. The potential income from the combined sites will be around $20,000 a month by April as long as everything goes as planned. The moral of my article is simple; if you have a dream, follow it. Just make sure it’s at least slightly practical, as all of my dreams have been doubted by many people; but not everyone. Now, they're coming true, just as I had imagined. Only because, however, I detoured the normal, slavestyle form of life: I took a break from high school, and now I don't take it as seriously as before. I do plan on graduating, only because I am a Junior, but I certainly don't plan on having my diploma make an impact on my life. Dreams that will make your life what you want it to be can only be achieved by extreme dedication and the realization that you do NOT have to be like every one else. Although, if you can't think of anything too groundbreaking, school is, as always, a great backup plan!