finishing high school....?

[dragonox]

so i'm going into yr12 next year, and i really cant stand school
my initial plan was to finish highschool and do an IT degree at uni, but now i find that going to school every day is exceeding aggravating in every way
the teachers are dicks, the work isnt interesting, the people irritate me (public school)

i've been thinking of dropping out and doing a couple of IT certificates and getting a job at a local pc repair branch/network manager of a business and starting up a grow house (yeah, you heard it right)

i've got a friend who has grown successfully a few times and is planning to rent a house on the outskirts of town (acreage) and grow in a large barn out there (he thinks he can manage 100+ plants at once) and he needs investors

he's a good friend who i've known since primary school, always been dependable and there when i've needed a hand

would lending him some money be a bad idea? cause if i lent him a few thousand, i'd get 20% of all future harvests, and thats a load of cash that i could use for a load of things
and as far as i know, a certificate IV in technology is enough to get into a batchelors degree at a decent university around here.

strongly leaning towards lending him a few grand, ideas?
work includes helping in setting up+harvesting and doing shifts watching the barn (couple of days a week)

[MannyBoy]

Hey Dragonox. Please hear me out, I want to help you not just in the short term, but for the rest of your life.

The best advice I can give you is to suck it up and finish school. If you are in an extremely bad situation, and I mean extremely bad, I recommend you try taking the GED exam (if you are not sure what a GED is - it shows the world you have all of the required knowledge to graduate). In reality, if you pass you are a high school graduate. You can go to Technical school, community college, or college/university. I know a few people who have done this and they tell me the test is not that hard. I don't know about your state or provence, but in Ohio you only need to show you have mastered all of the information required to pass your sophomore High School year (the OGT stuff - in Ohio). Ask your HS Guidance Counselor about the particulars of the GED.

A better option, is to fill your senior HS year with college classes taken at a local college. The HS has to accept these courses. A great program if you live in the US. You get HS credit (no need to even be on the HS grounds at all) so you graduate. You also get College credit. With this scenario, when you finish your senior year of HS you also finish your freshman year of college. Best of all - it's free. Yes, one year of college + finish HS -> FREE. Talk to your school guidance counselor for the info. They are very nice, and most will be very supportive of you.

It has been proven by study after study, (I forget the literal numbers hear, but I am close) a college graduate on average makes about 4 times the income over their lifetime than the same person with no college degree. College is nothing like HS. Talk to college students you know. It is much more fun and interesting.

Since this is a long post anyway, (I hope you are still with me) please don't think of education as only a thing you have to get to get a job. Education makes you a better person. I am not saying people with less education are not good people or that every educated person is great. Only that education will benefit you and your life in countless ways.

Please hear me on this last point. I know making income from weed sounds like a great thing. Think about it. Since it's not legal (I wish that it were) you stand to lose far more than you will gain. Instead, get a college degree in management, genetics, or horticulture or something else in the general field - and keep pot growing as a personal hobby. On the bright side, if they ever legalize pot you will then be in position to start a legit grow and even secure financing because of your degree and experience.

As I hope you can see, I really identify with you - even though I am almost 50 years of age. I hated HS. In the end I earned a college degree and went to Graduate School. All because I found college and education FUN and interesting after HS.

Good luck man. Message me if you want.

Peace.

[Mikey]

I agree with Manny ^ 110%. You gotta finish highschool, I hated it too man, even if it really fucking blows, it's your last year of school just suck it up.

And hey if you can do the GED test and go on with your life, all the better, that'd be your best option.

As for your friend, I wouldn't lend him the money unless I was involved 100% hands-on with the whole operation (have full access to the house/barn, know where everything is, what the plan is) and have full input on all decisions that are going to be made.

Remember it's not "just a couple grand", it's a lot of money and it's an investment, there will be lots more money needed after that, and it's a risky business.
And if your putting up all the cash why do you only get 20%??
It should be 50-50, if he knows more about growing and stuff and your the money man it should be 50-50.

[myxomatosis]

I'm gonna be honest, I'm not reading all of that. It's not much but I really just wanted to give advice from what may be a similar perspective.

I more or less got pushed out of school in the 12th grade. It was ultimately my decision to leave, but the decision was also pretty much made for my by the school staff. Either way I subsequently got my GED not terribly long after and placed in some sort of scholars club for people that got their GED (both a compliment and something to make you laugh when you think about it). Either way, it hasn't negatively impacted me yet at all to my knowledge, but you never really know. Moved on anyway, went to college and soon enough I'll have a degree and a good job.

In a nutshell, if you only have a year left, and really senior year isn't even a whole one, just stick it out. It's not worth all the effort to go pay to take the piss easy GED test and wait forever for the results. Just tough it out and make the best of it. You'll be happy you did later.

[francis]

Man this sounds like me in high school. I dropped out around half way through my senior year. Not because of the work, hell I was only 3 credits short of graduating. I had a scholarship I lost with my first two years of college paid for. I was just starting to get into smoking weed and experimenting with other stuff, and like you, I was sick of school. I had dreams of growing bud and selling drugs and living a easy life.

I was skipping about every other day, that turned into multiple days a week, and when I finally went back and started seeing all the F's and teachers wanted to talk with me, that was it. I enrolled in some home schooling stuff and finished up my diploma outside of school. Its one of my biggest regrets in life not walking up on the stage to get my diploma with the rest of my class.

I'm just now starting college, 4 years later. Going to class is now something I look forward to every week and I welcome homework and challenging material. I am extremely behind though on classes and testing so Im basically starting as a freshman. I just found out last week that in my junior year I took placement testing that would have put me in honors programs but since it was 4 years ago, I have to retake the tests. I've got a ton of studying to do now to relearn everything I've forgotten since school.

If you honestly think your going to go and get those certifications and you really cant finish up I guess you might as well. But please don't get caught up in these crazy schemes of growing bud and living a easy life. It never works that way and Its so much easier to accomplish once you've been out on your own. I've lost a lot since then (family, friends, Jobs, sports car) and I attribute most of it to dropping out. I'm determined to get it all back though and it will be a slow process, starting with getting all A's and financial aid from the government. All in all its working out for me in the end.

Good luck.

[dragonox]

hmm, thanks for the advice
ill talk to the guidance officer the week after next (on holidays, yee) about doing a certification or two in school (im finishing french a year early, so i have a spare)
ill probably end up dropping modern history anyway, its a boring subject with long winded assignments

i may still however invest in his hydro business, since he has a great chance of succeeding (i'm only putting up 50% of the cash he needs for the downpayment + equipment, he has to give the other dudes a 7.5% cut)
if im still in school, no reason to suspect me right?

[Mikey]

best of luck dude, but if you've ever been involved or around growing bud, you'll see that a thousand things can go wrong and nothing is ever a sure thing.

[herbinator45]

school sucks, but life sucks worse if you don't finish. there are the few exceptions, but for the most part in 2009, you need some sort of education to do anything.

[Geeno]

You simply can't plan illegal income into your future. It's a terrible variable.

[Mydriasis]

Geeno is spot on. Illicit money at best is not to be relied on.

Also don't float some dude thousands of dollars, I don't care if it's your best friend. Your still in High-school... Your best friends are getting ready to leave and move on with their lives next year anyways.

Stick through school dude. Everyone hates it. But how do you expect some buissiness to take you seriously if you don't have a complete high-school education, and possibly a felony or three(if your planning on supporting and selling for drug cultivators).

Your to young to be rolling the dice on your future like this man, trust me.

[MannyBoy]

Any developments Drag?