Refusing to go to school

[George 1978]

This is almost related to my Walking Out of School thread - did anyone just refused to go to school for various reasons and stay at home?

I think I mentioned this before, but I remember being bullied and refusing to get up and dressed (i.e. put school uniform on) and travel the third of a mile to my school on foot.

I remember being attacked on the way home from school, and ironically enough it was someone from another school who was responsible for the attack, and so my school couldn't do anything about it. I didn't go to school the following day either, probably as a protest as well as the fact that I felt a lot more safe at home. I know that I was two months from leaving school, and that incident was more or less the end of my school career in the mainstream - it put me off further education, or any other sort of education come to that.

The EWO or some staff member on their free period drove me back there in their car. It was horrible.

Other reasons were various subjects, teachers, kids in the class, and other things, quite often combined with each other.

I am talking about the best part of 25 years here, but it might have well have been 25 days ago.

School reports were vague, and I had my medical records that I had obtained a few years ago under the Data Protection Act 1998 revealed some of the problems I had, but not all of them.

They did call it "school refusal" but I am almost certain that it was mostly school phobia. I just wished that I could be anywhere but that place where I was five days a week, 40 weeks a year.

Surely it didn't happen to just me, did it?

[Arran]

Re: Refusing to go to school

After the 1st term I refused to go to secondary school half the time and when I did go I often didn't turn up to lessons.

[marc]

Re: Refusing to go to school

I refused to go towards the end of my school days in the fifth year. This happened mostly in the afternoons. I had a deep hatred for the school I went to. I was pretty useless at exams. It was not that I did not know the subject, I just couldn't do exams. My mind would often go blank at the point I was going to say or write something down. This caused several rows in school. I refused to turn up for one exam, I had little chance of passing anyway.

I generally refused to do one lesson, P.E.. After the second year, I didn't even have a kit. The vast majority of the time, it was football. This was, and still is, something I detest.

Because of my hatred for football, this caused other problems. Most of the boys were football mad. In the end, I had very few friends in school. I had no interest in further education and going back to the sixth form.

One of the happiest days of my life was the September morning of the start of the Autumn term, 1983. That was the day I knew I would never have to go back to that place again.

[80sChav]

Re: Refusing to go to school

Me too George - i often refused to go and like yourself and others who have posted on here - had it bad with other kids there!

My School Days was total-total love/hate - either one day i'd be in awe of going and hate it upon getting there or the role would be reversed - it was the same at Colege, directly after leaving School - I was out by 9am a few mornings

Grange Hill though offered me my "recluse" to escape school and dream/dare to dream of School in the context I wished it was 234/7 or rather 9am to 3pm (or in Dolly parton's word 9 til 5)!!

80sChav

[Pussywillow]

Re: Refusing to go to school

Dammit, wish I'd have had the guts to refuse to go to school. Like you George my hatred of all things school soured my entire career.

[Zincubus]

Re: Refusing to go to school

Dammit, wish I'd have had the guts to refuse to go to school. Like you George my hatred of all things school soured my entire career.

Same ... All my friends went to the local comprehensive but I passed and went to the grammar school .... no friends for 5 years ....


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

[Trickyvee]

Re: Refusing to go to school

I didn't mind school and had no issues, but when I got to sixth form and when I thought I'd finally get to be around people who were a bit more mature, I ended up in one class full of bitchy girls who had all come from a different school and gave me the exclusion treatment. I missed lessons on occasion when I couldn't be bothered to deal with their nastiness.

[Moonraker]

Re: Refusing to go to school

2011 census: Fewer than half (48.5%) of those with no qualifications were in employment compared with 8 in 10 (80.7%) of those with at least one qualification.

Quite drastic. Furthermore, what number of the 48% are likely to be earning good money?

These are figures for the last census. It would be interesting to see tge figures for 1981.
When I left school in 1983 to go to college and later to University, unofficially unemployment was near 4 million.
I recall many students leaving scholl with nothing to do. Some even dropped out before tge exams in Easter.
I would think very few of them would have got employment; and even if they did, the chance is tgey would be low-paid.
Here is my point or view: they missed out on purchasing a property, as prices in the late 80s and 90s were relatively low.
Dropping out of school gives little life chances. Mostly it would be an uphill lifestyle.

[Richard1978]

Re: Refusing to go to school

2011 census: Fewer than half (48.5%) of those with no qualifications were in employment compared with 8 in 10 (80.7%) of those with at least one qualification.

Quite drastic. Furthermore, what number of the 48% are likely to be earning good money?

These are figures for the last census. It would be interesting to see tge figures for 1981.
When I left school in 1983 to go to college and later to University, unofficially unemployment was near 4 million.
I recall many students leaving scholl with nothing to do. Some even dropped out before tge exams in Easter.
I would think very few of them would have got employment; and even if they did, the chance is tgey would be low-paid.
Here is my point or view: they missed out on purchasing a property, as prices in the late 80s and 90s were relatively low.
Dropping out of school gives little life chances. Mostly it would be an uphill lifestyle.

I remember when at secondary school the early 1990s recession was happening so some teachers used it to push us to do better with our work.

We used to joke that anyone not going to college should get a card with "do you want fries with that?" printed on it, as a reminder they might have to say that a lot!

[Pussywillow]

Re: Refusing to go to school

Same ... All my friends went to the local comprehensive but I passed and went to the grammar school .... no friends for 5 years ....


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

Exactly the same here Zincubus. I know I've gone on and on about that foul grammar school I went to, but try this : a few 'friends' I had made at Primary school went to the same grammar school as me, and I thought 'great this won't be so bad'.

BUT every boy I knew was put in a DIFFERENT form to me and a DIFFERENT house. So, I was on my own with all the rich kids from the surrounding villages who just ignored me. Like you Zincubus I had 5 damned years of this, until the fifth year when I finally had the guts to say enough is enough and just didn't bother any more.

One of the best days of my life was walking out of that shithole place in June after my last exam (I only had a few exams to take as I was **** at almost every subject) and going home on the bus, knowing that I would never see any of the faces in that school ever again.

[Arran]

Re: Refusing to go to school

Dropping out of school gives little life chances. Mostly it would be an uphill lifestyle.

I dispute this. There are more opportunities to learn stuff nowadays outside of school than at any time in the past. Most of the secondary school curriculum is just to pass GCSEs and isn't needed in everyday life or most employment. You can take GCSEs as an external candidate at any age.

For many kids secondary school is a waste of time that could be better used to learn other stuff instead. It's quite common for teaching quality to be so bad and kids so disruptive that you can learn more outside of school than in.

[Moonraker]

Re: Refusing to go to school

I really meant dropping out of education completely.
GCSEs are important. You may not need some qualifications now, but later it may be a requirement.

[Twocky61]

Re: Refusing to go to school

In fifth year (now year 12) I used to skive most days

[80sChav]

Re: Refusing to go to school

Exactly the same here Zincubus. I know I've gone on and on about that foul grammar school I went to, but try this : a few 'friends' I had made at Primary school went to the same grammar school as me, and I thought 'great this won't be so bad'.

BUT every boy I knew was put in a DIFFERENT form to me and a DIFFERENT house. So, I was on my own with all the rich kids from the surrounding villages who just ignored me. Like you Zincubus I had 5 damned years of this, until the fifth year when I finally had the guts to say enough is enough and just didn't bother any more.

It was'nt quite that this was the case for me, Pussywillow - biut as I have said in other threads - at Primary , me and my friends was "like that", in we all had about a group of 4 to 6 of us and some was better mates with others than others or we had "alternative" best mates each week, but 1 kid I distinctlyt recall as a "half mate/to occasional best mate" in Primary, saying in Secondary 2yer I will be be your friend (for this show we was doing in Year 7/First Year), then in leighmans terms cutting it down to a tea, we fall out the next day and you are'nt my friend, then"!!

At Secondary I had 2 best mates but one we just drifted about and met again fleetingly in 9 and the mid nouties, but like all my life - he was another friend or 99.7% "robbed and stolen off me", like every other friend I have had the pleasure of having had

Thougfh back to refusing to go in I now take much solice from the fact that the guy at the show was past a looser - and though I forgive him for pretending he had a drink I could share if I did'nt mind poison being in it - that he became one mega Anti-Sociasl creep and looser who amounted to nothing but spending a high proprtion of his 20s being sick in Taxi's and probably too having a dead for nothing Job as a McDonalds Deputy Boss! That gives me great satisfaction - not of wishing ill on him and other bullies, but sticking through those times and seeing the horrible, horrible way life and particulary the way so-called friends in (and out of School in how they could be) and knowing life was 2yeah not perfect or a bed of Roses/but nowhere even 25% of out of a 100%) perfect

80sChav