Teen dropout and parents rights

[Aquamarine777]

My teen wants to drop out and go to college, but do I have legal right to force him to go to school?

Why would you want to do that? And how would that actually work? There is no point in going to school unless he actually concentrates and passes his exam: how precisely are you going to force him to do that.

And what is so bad about going to college, if that is what he wants to do? ]

Ime the only way forward with teenagers is to reassure them that you have their best interests at heart and then discuss and negotiate. Why does he want to go to college? What does he think that would achieve? Why do you not want him to go to college? What are your fears about it? How can you set each other's minds at rest? Can you strike a deal with him?

My son isn't in a school sixth form, he's at a college.

My OH's son is on a vocational course at a technical-style college setting - he is 16.

These were the best solutions for them, genuinely.

Asking to go to college instead of school... sounds like he doesn't want to drop out at all. Just wants to change the course he's on.

My ds has just decided to leave his rather academic Sixth Form college after the first year and start again in first year of a more vocational course. We have discussed it, I see where he is coming from, it seems like a good plan.

How old is he?

You have the legal responsibility to ensure that he participates in education until the specified age (it's now reached 18, hasn't it) vpbut that doesn't"5 have to be in school.

Generally it's better to work with the teen and what they want to do - so going to a sixth form college rather than a school (even if you really like the school) isn't such a bad choice.

But if for some reason what they are proposing to do is clearly not in their educational interests, then yes I think you have the responsibility to put them back on track.

Who had the rights over an older teens decisions isn't, to me, the most helpful question. Finding out how to keep your teen on an educationally adequate track isn't about who gets to hold the stick. It's carrots all the way.

No you don't have a legal right to force him to do anything. He legally has to be in some form of education, and college is education. What's your issue?