Parents Let Kid Drop Out of High School to Focus on Guitar Hero

<snip>
Blake is 16, resides in North Raleigh and lives to play video games. On this night, he's at the Fox and Hound in Raleigh's North Hills shopping district. It's the restaurant's regular Sunday "Guitar Hero" night, and Blake and his family have come to watch and play. His brother and sister are here, as are his mom and dad, an aunt and an uncle, some cousins and some friends.

But in the end, it's not the people related to Blake who confirm his plastic-guitar prowess. It's the group of 20-somethings sitting at a nearby table, who applaud when Blake finishes playing along to "Through the Fire and Flames," viewed as the game's toughest song.
<snip>
That is not to say that it was an easy decision for them to let Blake leave school last September. They would have preferred that he stay in high school with his brother. But he bugged them until they let him quit.

"We couldn't take the complaining anymore," says Hunter. "He always told me that he thought school was a waste of time."
<snip>
http://www.newsobserver.com/2766/story/1155589-p2.html

Complaining didn't work for me too well.:yoiks:

Letting your child quit school because you got tired of listening to him whine??

waste of time, but it's one of those boxes that has to be checked on the way to functioning adulthood. Skip that step and you'll regret it. It would be one thing if he had an actual legitimate career opportunity, but guitar hero? I agree that this kid's parents abdicated their responsibility. They've done their son no favors.

I see that he's being tutored. Still a waste of time, but he's not a dropout.

anything BUT stupid. At this age, he ought to be able to start figuring things out normally. But I'd bet that parents who would allow this have allowed all sorts of stupid through the years.

:crazy:

I didn't know this so you probably didn't either, but there's a professional video gamers' league. They get endorsements and everything. That's what this guy is doing. He's getting homeschooled, so it's not like he's going to turn out to be a total bum.

One of my installers at work is a Baseball Dad From Hell...he homeschools his nine-year-old son so school won't get in the way of baseball tournaments. I worked with someone once who quit her job so she could homeschool her horse-jumping daughter. If people can homeschool so their kids can play baseball or jump horses, why NOT so they can be professional guitar heroists?

:rofl:

:rofl:

BTW: play the Heroin Hero game
I figure it's only a matter of time before we get an online version of Rehab Hero...

when he can't get a job for lack of a high school education?

If high school is a waste of time, then what the heck is Guitar Hero? It was DESIGNED to be an entertaining time waster... :crazy:

In my opinion, these parents had abrogated their responsibilities as parents.

all like playing the real thing...

So yeah, not even picking up a useful skill here.

:P

It's really sad too, since this shitty game came out, all the cheap musical instruments out on the market everywhere have vanished. It really fucking pisses me off, just think about all the kids out there with talent who aren't using it, but are wasting it on this stupid game.

short of a drawer somewhere with old gameboys in them, lol.

But when the kids get interested in playing an instrument, I'm a sucker every time. We have a piano, a violin, several different guitars, a mandolin, a ukelele, a keyboard... and maybe some I'm missing. One is now interested in sax - I'm all for it!

clarinet, three violins (they are mine,but he said he wanted to learn to play), bongo drum, (some small primitive insturments like a thumb piano), a lap harp, a very nice Native American B-flat flute, tamborine, castanets, and probably more, but I can't think of them right now.

And he doesn't practice any of them..... Some of them are wall decorations these days... At least I get that use out of them.

He's constantly making music - gotta love that! The younger practices faithfully, listens carefully... but we'll have to see how much is inborn in him, and how much is brother worship!

my sister-in-law wondered aloud if it wouldn't actually help kids learn to play a real guitar.

for the sake of family unity, i closed my eyes to roll them, and kept my groan to myself.

So they get punished for their stupidity in the long run.

Apologies to whatever that band's name is...

song was Juke Box Hero .... or Jukebox Hero.

this has been a certainty since he was a small child, and allowed to run wild and purchase anything he wanted, and eat anything he wanted... because they couldn't take the complaining anymore...

Guess what folks? You signed on to taking the complaining when you gave birth to that child and chose to raise him. Get used to the complaining, it goes with the job. Although, given your performance, I'd say you ought to be fired from that job.

The kid got his way by doing it. Only to reinforce another round of whining.

Don't think this was a good career move for the kid.

is their child.

Seriously?

My next song will be, "stupid piece of...video game, your ass is so fucking lame."

At least pick up a real instrument. This is simply ridiculous and it's not going to seem so cute when at 35 this jackass has no job, no life and is still leeching.

(btw- if you search google images for "dishwasher" you get pages and pages of pictures of machines...you have to put in "mexican dishwasher" to get a person)

Surely letting you kid drop out of school to focus on his video game prowess must be some kind of child neglect. That kid could have bitched and moaned until he lost his voice and there would still be no way he'd be giving up school for Guitar Hero. Besides, Rock Band is better. :hide:

And do some community college later, but by the sounds of it this kid dropping out probably increased his school districts testing average so it's a good thing.

but it claims that the grades they give him are OK:



So it sounds as if they have money to indulge him this way. Maybe they know what they're doing.

it seems pretty ridiculous to me, but it's their money and their business, as long as it doesn't completely trash his future, which apparently it isn't.

End of debate.

those parents are idiots.

would be an acceptable substitute, I'd agree that, if it's public school he was in, it actually probably WAS waste of time.

were all very good schools save 1. The private school in the area was the largest breeding ground for cocaine use. I think your opinion is way off in most cases.

Mom buy me beer...no Mom buy me beer no...Mom buy me beer...ok only if you stop complaining honey.

if the kid put as much time into learning to play an actual guitar as he does this ridiculous game, he could make a decent living as a musician.

I don't know what's more pathetic, the game itself, or the crowd that comes to watch the competitors. There are so many clubs with live bands that have a hard time drawing a crowd, yet people will go watch this crap. Says a lot about the intelligence of the average US American.

(no offense meant to homosexuals, just quoting South Park)

:P

What is this - The Worst Parents Olympics? Give these idiots the gold medal.

I was watching ConAir on tv and the signs for gas were $1.03. :rofl:

:)

idea was instilled in him. :eyes:

I am still struggling with why the parents think letting him drop out of school to be a gamer. This GH is a fad.

In 5 years, GH will be in the used video game market, to be superceded by some other fad game!