To: I know it’s hard for others to understand but if I get a B my life will be over and This is the last class I ever have to take. Me: It is a sad place where you find yourself. You have had to work hard to get the A’s which are so important to your parents and unfortunately you have worn yourself out, before you completed the end of your school year. So, you might not get the A’s that your parents want, because they did not make allowances for you and the stress it was putting you under, what with studying and trying to keep ahead of everything. Each term gets harder as more pressure is put on you to remember and achieve. It is not your fault if you don’t get good grades in the last year of school. S*** happens. By the sounds of it, you are 18 plus, so whatever happens, happens for a reason and if your parents are dismissive of you and what you achieved, then you can always move out and live somewhere else away from them and their negativity. You are a female and as such, when you meet a guy, you will probably have kids eventually and you don’t need A’s or anything else to do that. If, for the sake of argument, you flunk out, you could always take a gap year or two, to recover and not be stressed anymore, take stock and maybe redo the last year of schooling through evening classes to get much better grades, but I think you will find that there are other and better choices for you and trying again might be a regressive step. Most parents who drive their kids in sport or education, do so because they failed in school or sport and they try to live their lives through the success of their kids – look at how clever my kid is – as a way of saying they are clever too…Anyway, win, lose or draw, school is over for you and your parents can think what they like, this is your life and it is up to you how you live it and nothing to do with them and if they don’t like what you accomplished, tough t**** to them. My parents used to say I deserved the life I got, because I did not do well in school and when I lived in Salvation Army Hostels with druggies and alcoholics, my parents said I had sunk to my level and I deserved no better and they pretty much washed their hands of me. It did not stop me from being an eventual success. I traveled the world on my own coin and I now live abroad in a very comfortable lifestyle, never to return to my roots. So, it is what you do with your life after school, which is important – not so much schooling which prepares you for work. Choose carefully and choose well and enjoy your life in all ways and in all things and when you become a parent, in turn, remember how you were as a kid and don’t bring your kid(s) up that way – let them choose for themselves the life they want and be caring and supportive of that choice, irrespective of what that might be……
