I spent 3 years in a failing charter school and finally dropped out for a more traditional high school. I regret this decision.

Final Edit 8/16/2023: Thank everyone so much for supportive comments and for the wonderful award. Not enough people say they appreciate how much that means to people. Yeah, I might not be a student anymore, but I miss a lot of people. Some of you have offered your words of wisdom here and on my private messages. I’ll keep those with me as I try to navigate my life. Just know, I still have my studies and my love for music to keep me company. For now, I think I have what I need. I should get back to the drawing board, work on my own and start to rebuild myself. <br><br>Thank you all so much. <br><br>Final Edit. <br><br>- Alison<br><br>Edit: Thank everyone for the comments. I got a lot of useful advice from some of you. And to those who simply made fun of me, thanks for nothing. <br>I've since moved back to my home and I am still trying to get readjusted. I'm already planning for college and working on my music more. But the problem is that I am still trying to figure out my life and I'm still trying to stay consistent with my work. <br>I know I have a long way to go, but I appreciate the useful words of wisdom. <br>I won't be replying to any more comments since I'm just burnt out from everything. I think it's for the best that I get offline. <br>Thanks for everything. <br><br>- Alison<br><br>-<br>Hi everyone. I'm a junior and I've been having a lot of trouble deciding on what to do with my life. I'm in a failing charter school, which I joined in 9th grade. But now I'm having second thoughts on whether or not to go back.<br><br>I joined the charter school thinking that I would have more freedom to do other things like modeling and acting. I wanted to do these things for fun and experience, but my parents never let me do it in my public middle school because they were afraid of what it'd mean for my studies. My public school was an A school, but it had a bunch of academic programs like STEM and Communications. I was in the STEM program. The teachers were generally okay, but seemed over worked and stressed. Some of them were really nice and funny and others were really strict. I was in honor classes and always felt I was pushed to study and do my best. I enjoyed going, but I never really got along with anyone. I felt like I always had to be watching my back. For the most part, I got along with a lot of people, but I did have a few bullies. I had absolutely no relationship with my guidance counselor. I only saw her for parent teacher conferences where she'd just say the bare minimum. She was a counselor for STEM and I heard a lot of people say she was apathetic or didn't really help anyone. So I stopped going.<br><br>When I went into the charter school, I noticed that it was on a block schedule. And I thought it was really cool. But the school set up was really bad. We were on the second story of a 3 story building. The first floor was a parking garage and the third floor was a college major entrance exam. We were pretty isolated and I never saw anyone except for the one or two times when I saw someone from the parking garage come up to our floor and smoke weed. The classes were really bad. The teachers were completely apathetic and didn't really teach. They just sat at the table and talked. I got high grades despite getting no lessons. There were no honor classes and everyone was pretty lazy. I never saw anyone do anything except for some kids who did extracurriculars that didn't even meet on campus. The teachers were all really nice except for the English teacher who made me cry a few times because she was so mean. Everyone was also really nice. I felt like I was actually a part of a community in this school. People were interested what was going on with me and they'd always ask me questions. I made a lot of friends and everyone was connected. But I really felt like I was never being pushed. I had a guidance counselor, but she never really helped and never really understood me. She often misadvised me or didn't apply for things. I felt like I never really got help from her.<br><br>I loved being in the charter school. I did modeling, acting, and family photo shoots. I also had more time to study on my own and work on my own. I started playing the violin and started to get into songwriting. I even started doing YouTube. I got a lot of opportunities and I even got to travel more. But I felt like I was never being challenged in school. Even though I loved the community, I wasn't doing well academically. I got a 1110 on my SAT and now my parents don't trust me. They say that I should've done better and that they should have never let me join the charter school. They said they're going to make me transfer back to the public school. I really don't want to go back, but I feel like it may be better to get back into a structured academic environment. And my parents don't want me to do anything else, they want me to stop with the modeling and acting.<br><br>What do you think I should do? Do you think I should stay in the charter school? Or go back to the traditional school?