Free High School

"And because I am happy, & dance & sing. They think they have done me no injury..." William BlakeHigh school is an introduction to the struggle of the public versus the government. But as opposed to the government, the authorities in high school are more visible. And just like in the real, post 9/11 world, freedoms are being taken away in the post-Columbine world of High School.
You too can learn and teach yourself how to fight back and survive like Abbie Hoffman did against his government. Take advantage of every resource you have. Support your brothers and sisters out there, anything could save the life or sanity of someone down on their luck.
High school is the continuation of the school system that generations of westerners have experienced from kindergarten on. The intent of the education system is to create a properly balanced output of citizens. The corporate government needs some dropouts and burnouts to work in the fast-food industry, a population of artists, geniuses, and radicals aren't anywhere near as profitable.
== Homework, Classwork, Exams ==
Don't waste your time on multiple choice homework, find a comprehensive website with textbooks study guides. Most high school textbooks are old, comparatively thin on material and data based somewhere online. Study the concepts behind the questions and you'll find your essays and test scores a lot higher!
Math textbooks often have the answers in the back, but not the work most teachers ask for. Make sure you use the study key to check answers and for help on a question you don't understand. There are also websites like Hotmath that have both the work and answers to many equations. You may even learn a thing or two by accident.
=== Computers and Software ===
The school administrators likely have key loggers and permanent cookies tracking your use of their computers. You can use a proxy site and a key log cleaner to wipe your usage off the computer. You could also format an external hard drive or USB drive to boot a separate operating system, since it is unlikely anything has been installed in to the computer's BIOS firmware. Still, you should only be using the school computer in safe areas and school, and unplug the battery when not in use.
Be wary if your school provides you with a laptop or requires you to use one provided by them. In 2010 a Pennsylvania school district used custom software to take pictures of students at home without any permissions. The FBI is investigating the school and the students have filed a lawsuit.
Some schools require the installation of their own program package on your laptop. Be suspicious, and don't trust a machine with unknown software installed on it. On a windows computer you can view and edit which programs boot with your computer at Run > msconfig > startup.
=== Cheating ===
Write answers on the inside of fingers or on the inside of a dark, partially drained drink container such as coke or coffee. Position noted worksheets or paper under an adjacent student's chair. It's incredibly easy to just write the answers on the desk with a pencil and erase it later, but cover it with your arm when the teachers walk by.
If you are in a math class that requires a graphing calculator, use it to your advantage! Write fake programs that contain only formulas you didn't bother to memorize if you need to show your work. You can put almost any amount of notes into a program line code like this. If you don't need to show your work, get some programs down, ask or do some research and you can find websites that have these programs written for you. If your school requires one of the cheat proof exam calculators with the light and timer you're out of luck, unless you can make a good looking forgery.
Students that want tattoos sometimes draw shit on their arms. Come up with a simple code that uses symbols unrelated to your test and draw them as a tattoo. This can work in math tests when formulas are key. In a foreign language classes, use simple symbols to represent phonetic structures and jog your memory for harder vocab words. Get creative!
Text ChaCha for indirect access to a search engine. Send your query in the form of "What is/how do you/what is the answer to ______" to 242242. Your answer will usually arrive in under a minute. ChaCha gives the question to a live person who searches for the answer so your responses can vary. Make sure your phone is hidden from the teacher and on silent.
If your phone can play MP3 or WAV ringtones, download the high pitched "mosquito." The tone was invented to keep teenagers from loitering, but the inventor's daughter made it into a ring tone for texting in class! The frequency is too high for people with moderate, age-related hearing damage to hear at any distance. Be sure to test it out on your parents, and be careful not to play it too loud and irritate your peers. Many who can hear it assume it is their ears ringing and ignore the sound, as it is just on the edge of their hearing range.
Teachers have been through nearly twenty years of school and know these tricks, so make friends and don't insult their intelligence.
=== Forgery ===
Need to change a bad grade on your report card? This is a useful tactical maneuver to stay out of trouble at home, but should only be used once or twice to pad a difficult semester. Be the first to get the mail, but don't be so obvious that the folks figure out what you are doing. As long as you can get past the tamper protection and get it back in the mailbox you'll be fine.
Your paper should be clean and free of creases, use an iron if there are wrinkles. Report cards that are not watermarked are preferred for this method. Scan both sides of the paper and open the image with photo editing software. Erase your unwanted grade, find the font of the report card and replace it. This is only effective if you have paper that is similar to the thickness and quality of the school's report card.
Another method, though more effective, is also much easier to screw up. This method is recommended for a watermarked report card. Remove your bad grades ink with very, very fine sandpaper or even a carefully used thumbtack. Practice on an old report card to see which method works best. DO NOT use water as it will make the ink bleed.
On a word processor find the font and size of the text on the report card. Print a copy on your old test report card to compare and ensure it’s as identical as possible. Align the word so that it will print on the exact spot that the previous letter was on. It might be worth testing and using an electric typewriter if you can't line up the printer.
Crumple and fold the papers to hide any major flaws. Unless you were very careful the forgery will be apparent, but with luck and unobservant parents, it will pass.
== Friends ==
Almost everybody in high school has a few good friends, and almost everyone in high school finds it tough to make new ones. Be personable, reliable, and a decent person. Find people you are interested in, be honest to them and avoid gossip by being brave and direct.
If you're friendless in high school, don't let loneliness overcome your judgment. Be willing to concede and do favors for something in return eventually, including trust, though you won't see most of your classmates outside of facebook after graduation. If you're quiet, nobody will be able to judge you very well, and people will only know that you are unpopular. This will get the attention of fringe groups looking for another to join their rank, but don't be willing to accept their ideologies too quickly.
Enroll in classes with older and younger students. Diversify beyond your grade meet many different students than most. Talk to immigrants with poor English skills, there is a lot to learn from their culture. Jump at the opportunity to join an extracurricular you are interested in, or start a club and promote it. The more honest you are to people, the better you will meet someone similar.
If you are punished for your actions it builds spirit to have students willing to protest for you. Make shirts and banners, distribute them in large numbers to the student population, and show the administration their lack of student support to lower their morale. The school will make life difficult for you, so encourage your peers to make life difficult for the administration and defend themselves. Beware of fair-weather friends if you are causing mischief, as many will sing like a canary to the principal when promised amnesty. Don't involve anyone who doesn't need to be involved. See also Security Culture and [1]
School is not the only place to have friends. Join organizations like Food Not Bombs or the People's army and make friends in the world outside of high school!
=== Sports ===
Playing sports is a lottery on your future. In some areas, local sports teams are a religion to sell clothes, tickets, and college enrollment. A few exceptional athletes can get a free ride into College, where they can play on TV for academia. Very rarely, a college sports stars can go professional and make CEO type salaries for comparatively few years.
Athletes get preferential treatment in high school even though graduation is the end of the sports career for the majority. Do not get bullied into a sport you dislike or be kept from quitting if you are not having fun. It is your time, regardless of what zealots may think. Also, be aware that some programs in some locations are beginning to drug test participants if such things concern you.
=== Student Government ===
The student body is represented by elected class senators who have no real influence. They are ruled by teachers and principals with unchecked authority and the elections are often mere popularity contests. The student government is only responsible for fund-raisers and student events. If you are elected you could use this position to discretely further your agenda, and as a highlight on your scholarship application. Don't expect to use this to gain favors from the teachers, their jobs are more important than your freedoms.
== Teachers ==
Teachers are human and like you and your peers can be mean and vindictive or encouraging and supportive. However, they have all done twenty years of academic study to have underpaid, high-stress jobs taking care of you and your peers while reading curriculum like automatons. Most teachers want to benefit society, so treat with more respect than an obstacle and you might learn from them.
=== Acting Nice ===
It is useful to practice acting and rhetoric to exploit the unenlightened, such as your parents, teachers, and peers. If you can keep adults around you indecisive about discipline, these skills might turn the tide. Be vigilante, acting may lead you to sympathize with the other side when inappropriate. Also, don’t throw away actions like chores or homework to battle the possible loss of tiny freedoms.
=== Blackmail ===
Don't falsely charge abuse to destroy an innocent teacher, no matter how mean or cruel they are. In the coming years when you have matured, lying like this would rule out any maturity, your absolute destruction of another human will haunt you for the rest of your life. Falsely causing a teacher to become homeless, unemployed, indebted to their legal defense, imprisoned, and suicidal is an unspeakable crime.
== Protest Movement ==
Many traditional forms of protest are unavailable to high school students if they expect to attend their place of learning. Before a mass strike or walk out can be engineered for any cause the student body must be radicalized, and direct action in the name of your organization can help build solidarity. Be sure you have a cause that is worth taking direct action for, action for the sake of anarchy only denies serious students their quality learning.
Attention must be paid to what, or who, the enemy is. Specific action is preferred to mass acts of sabotage. You also must consider the sensibilities of the masses, as blacking out the homecoming football game or dance would turn a large part of the student body against your group, although it would provide you with a ridiculous amount of notoriety.
=== Leadership ===
While mostly decentralized, there is a need to define what the aim of your movement is, and who you want concessions from. For a successful organized resistance, there must be both visible leadership that to rally the students, and a covert leadership that is hidden from the public eye. The public leader should be a figurehead, a decoy, someone already well liked.
The cops and administration all want a "ringleader" that can be eliminated to stop the distraction. This is why the public leadership must:
* Be prepared for any and all administrative action against them. They are the decoy and all action will be directed against them.
* Be trusted completely and trust completely.
* Not reveal information to authorities if captured.
* Be able to function on its own. There will be times when the best laid plans go awry and the two leaderships are cut off. The public leadership absolutely needs independent momentum.
The public leadership can take care of propaganda, and free up the covert to focus on strategy for demonstrations, protests, and direct action. While the public leaders commit acts of legal protest, the covert are free to bring attention through illegal action, while not being the identity of the crowd.
Carefully train the covert of any action to be as normal as possible. If there are discrepancies in their behavior, it will be easier for police to identify them. Neither the public nor most of the covert in action should know more than a handful of each other's identities, which reduces the risk of mass arrests.
Be aware of police provocateurs disguised and acting oddly in a public demonstration. They will often pretend to be part of the public movement to incite violence to relate it with the public figures of the protest.
=== Mediums for Public Expression ===
There are several mediums for public expression to make your presence felt by the teachers and students.
* PA System - if you can wire into the punch down board and have a remote activation of the system, your message can be heard when you want. But expect your modifications to be disabled within a few hours of your first use.
* Cable TV - If your school has a closed circuit cable system you can often override the signal with your own, or take over the computer creating the signal.
* Utilities - Many states require operational water, sewer, electricity, and heating systems for classes to be held. With the janitor's keys, you can access utility rooms and shut these down for a day off. Breakers are easy to restore but may cause a long enough distraction to allow you enough time to shut the water main and heating off.
* Keys - Many facilities have master keys which open just about everything in the school, usually provided to janitors or principals. If you snatch one make a copy of it and leave the original in an office or supply closet, so that it can be returned to the staff member without their fear of theft. A clever person with locksmithing experience can craft a master key with the discarded door keys of the same building but doing this with government locks is a felony. A related video resource available via BitTorrent is "Lockpicking for the New Millenium." See LockSmithing.
* School Computer Network - Get involved with some techies or study up on some basic programming to hack the system. It is often quite easy, with decade-old security systems and guides accessible through common search engines. Through the main system, you can alter just about any record or publishing for the cause.
Printers are more of a resource than a technique and the commonest free piece of equipment in a school. Find an abandoned printer and do with it what you will - print hundreds of STW’s flyers for instance. If you want to disable a certain classrooms printer for the day, send hundreds of sheets of solid black to it.
In Internet Communications, we discuss network hacking a printer from across the cube farm or across the world. Most good IT managers lock that printer network port or server like Fort Knox to unauthorized users, but did you notice any ports on the back of the printer? You will likely see at least one of the following: a USB port, a parallel port, and a little black plastic window on the front or side about half an inch thick called an IR port.
Write down the printer make and model number, and have the right drivers installed before you start!! Now waltz in with your laptop or PDA, plug into the USB and print. With an IR it is even easier! From across the room beam a postscript, PDF, or text file to the printer, and grab the results once it finishes
=== Cameras ===
Cameras are too common and, although it would be nice to take a few out, smashing or shining a laser at a camera will leave your face, or at least body type and gait on the tape. To disable a camera properly, you will need a truly high power laser, like the kind inside an HD or BlueRay DVD burner, and a proper collimator to focus the beam without a spread.
Get some laser protective film that blocks the frequency of your laser and get ready to destroy. Use gloves and stick a mirror opposite the hallway from the camera in an unmonitored area during a high traffic time. After the mirror is up, approach wearing laser safety filmed sunglasses or lab goggles and bounce a laser into the camera. Be careful, because this can blind you and any passerby instantly.
Go after a monitored camera in a place you can access so you can do some post-strike recon and see if it worked. Failing the laser, a stickpin through the coax cable or just cutting the wires will take the camera out and make it expensive for the principal to watch your school. Keep the laser well disguised and don't brag to your classmates because there will be a police investigation if you get too effective.
With the popularity and low price of tiny pinhole cameras, it is useful to know how to spot them. Darkness is a big help as even a small light can be used, although this technique also works in lit rooms if you have a bright flashlight. Hold a directional light next to your head and slowly scan the room. Search dark corners, hung ceilings, smoke alarms, and electrical appliances like clocks. A camera will appear as a reflective dot, often colored, that shows even when you move your head. Investigate to eliminate false positives.
Taping a toilet paper tube to a flashlight to use as a sight will help remind you to keep your head near the light. You will be noticed scanning for the bug, but tapes are usually saved only for a few weeks and are rarely reviewed. The cameras destruction will call extra attention to that area for a long time, so block the camera with an object.
=== The Principal's Office ===
Our activities will likely land us in the principal's interrogation chamber, the purpose of a school is order and indoctrination, no matter how liberal the staff they are also trained to maintain that order. Accept the fact that a principal can give arbitrary punishment, often without any appeal other than a lawsuit, accept this and do not expect a fair hearing.
You will want to prepare a good argument in advance and carry a tape or digital recorder with you to record the conversation. You may also want to bring something with you for moral support. When talking to your principal or assistant principal during a call in be sure of a few things:
* Act better than their mood. If they're polite, be polite, if they act like an asshole act somber but not angry, if they give you respect treat them graciously. Don't escalate the situation alone and when it is unneccesary.
* Rehearse what you want to say and remain calm. Use the bathroom to buy time for preparation. Most administrators will try to throw you off balance during the conversation. Keep in mind what you're there for and believe in what you're doing.
* Don't back down; stand up for what you believe in
==== Lying ====
Be vague when lying - it's how you tell a story, not the story you are telling. Remember the details. Principals are amateurs, cops sometimes do better, detectives and feds have real experience.
* Relax. Take several deep breaths before entering the room. Adopt an open posture and own the room.
* Liars shift their eyes differently when lying or remembering. Look at the interrogators' eyebrows to reduce shifting. Avoid excessive blinking, or closing your eyes when answering.
* Distract yourself to reduce unwanted facial expressions and hand motions. Keep your hands open on your lap or armrests, liars like touch their face
* Find a position that is comfortable and keep it. Never change position as you answer a question.
* Act confident, maybe indignant, and in control as though you are expecting to be released on your innocence.
* Never volunteer details, claim ignorance of times and timed events. Let an inexperienced interrogator fill in the details they want.
* Convince yourself you are telling the truth, imagine the picture. If you can lie to yourself you will not display any indicators. Many people can even be fooled into believing a lie about themselves!
If they use a lie detector know that this is only an act of intimidation and desperation. Modern interrogators are better at face reading than the unreliable results of a polygraph. It is there to scare you into confessing lest the 'unstoppable' machine will catch you. Demand to take a lie detector test and use it as your own intimidation device.
=== School Paper ===
High school papers are rags barely worthy of wiping with since the censor oversight prevents discussion of any serious topic. Form an activist club instead! The work of previous revolutionaries make minority and environmentalist clubs very politically correct, and administrators will support your efforts for fear of bad press. There is no benefit to accepting administration oversight or teacher advisory!
You will normally receive media assistance, including printer access, time off from class and school assemblies, and public address access for your message. There is no reason your underground movement can't have a legitimate public front!
=== The Cafeteria ===
School cafeterias are easy to rip off. Many people eat some of their food while waiting to pay, so eat most of your food and pay substantially less. Or wait until nobody is looking and just walk to your seat.
Get a lot of pennies and get to the head of a busy lunch line. When you get to the cashier, pull out a bag of pennies and slowly count them out. If you're lucky and slow enough, your peers behind you will freak out and insist on paying for your lunch. This is also a good way to cause chaos in the lunch room if you can get a group together and do it at every line.
Cafeteria lunch ladies are as enthusiastic and attentive as any cashier, so grab extra food when you buy a lunch and they may not notice it on your tray. For more assurance, place the item at your side and it might go unnoticed. Or simply hide smaller items beneath a packet of crisps. This is low risk as long as you can afford to buy it, because it is not too obvious you are trying to steal.
Some cafeterias have an in and an out line past the counter and to the cashier. Just walk up, calmly take your pick, and walk out the way you came. This works best when it's crowded and busy so you can be easily lost in the crowd if spotted.
If your school has a separate booth for junk food, ask for an item that requires the cashier to turn their back and stuff you pockets. The food line or bar will go unattended for brief periods so grab a few items. If you want a free drink wait until the cashier is busy and grab a milk. Tell them you forgot to grab it with your lunch. Keep in mind, however, that this cannot be done too often.
If you are caught be apologetic and do not attract the attention of nearby teachers. If you are unfortunate enough to have the staff demand your name give them a fake name. If you cannot risk giving lying a fake the normal punishment for food thieves at high school lunches is a slap on the wrist, a short term ban, and an apology. Have fun writing a ridiculous, overly dramatic letter, wait your ban out and go back to stealing when you feel comfortable with it.
== Parental Issues ==
Understand that as an adolescent you are a thinking human. Yet under the US system of law, you have legal rights similar to a slave. You are the property of your parents until you are emancipated by a court or you reach eighteen years of age.
Obviously, some people can live with their parents into their 20s or beyond, while others are itching to be rid of parental shackles at age 15! If you and your parents have no problem being in the same house, you won't need this information. For those whose parents seem against them, for reasons real or imagined, we will discuss some of the common issues.
=== Emancipation ===
It is best to be patient and bide time until the world recognizes you as an adult, but if the need to leave parents is very dire you can get help. Significant obstacles will have to be overcome and you will have better options as you grow older.
* Enlist in the Military. The Empire will allow you to join the army at 17 with a GED.
* Proven self-sufficiency, with the approval of a court. This can be hard to do due to lack of opportunities, we know several people who have taken this route, but it really helps to have parental approval.
* For cases of abuse and younger teens, social services, and the court system will likely place you in foster care. Think carefully and realistically about your current situation before trying this.
It helps to talk with a knowledgeable lawyer who specializes in family law if you are seriously considering emancipation as the law is different in every state.
=== Gulag Schools ===
Parents can send their unruly sons and daughters to prison for enough cash. Justified by runaways, drug use, and criminal behaviour, parents at their wit's end will search out almost any promise of a solution to "repair" their broken or "mentally unadjusted" child. Some of these programs take a minor outside of their country to places where they have no recognized human rights. Many staff members were abused in similar schools and as we know the abused often go on to abuse. See http://teenliberty.org for more information.
Some parents turn to psychoactive drugs like Ritalin or antidepressants, but others resort to "tough love" also known as "boot camp," or "reform school," or a gulag. They have caused a lifetime of damage and depression to their victims, almost never resulting in "normal" behavior as the advertisers suggest.
==== How to escape if abducted by a "boot camp" ====
* Scream and get the attention of the public, the police, and hope someone intervenes. Straighten the facts out later.
* Use violence! You will get hurt and you will probably lose a fair fight, but you may give yourself a chance to escape. Definitely attack if you haven't been restrained yet.
* File for emancipation. Contact a public lawyer that can help you get out of your parents' custody. They are quite easy to find, especially if there is a local legal advocacy group.
* Don't call the cops about this "kidnapping." They'll gladly drag you off to a gulag school or psychiatric hospital on behalf of your legal owners.
* Stay vigilant once the threat is made. Plan to seek sanctuary but be aware that most adults, especially parents of your friends, will turn you in once a police alert goes out. File a statement with the county and state child welfare offices, memorize the case number.
* Have an escape route ready. Most snatch operations happen between midnight and six AM because that is when most people are easiest to capture. Know every exit, including windows, crawl spaces, and attics, and avoid your captors and their handcuffs.
* Consider stocking up on urban, wilderness, and road survival supplies so you can run at any time. Have a trusted friend keep a backup, or stash one near your home, see Caching. Sleep in durable and dark colored pajamas, pack your next day’s clothes, and keep light, durable shoes near your bed.
* In a vehicle, your parents might have been advised to use the child safe locks. Try to get out from the front seat or hop out the window if they are taking you away. Wait for a stop sign or light before attempting escape or you risk severe injury.
==== Surviving Gulag Highschool ====
Expect most of these prison camps to be in wilderness areas. Evasion and survival are both very possible if you can stash water and warm clothing. Print a copy of the S.E.R.E. and Get the Hell Out of Dodge pages for reference, as your internet access will be limited. Consult a lawyer and claim asylum if you are outside your country using the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
Prison schools will pressure parents to do the "right thing" and return their escaped child to maintain their profits. Your parents must know that they have a right to see and remove you from the school at ANY time. They can go to local law enforcement and demand your release if the school will not let you go. Your birth certificate is a parent’s proof of legal guardian.
Have a trusted friend keep copies of a list of code words to give to your parents, so you can get codes in letters past the school censors. Try not to make your codes ridiculously outlandish words or even jumbled, because they will still be edited. For example, replace "beaten" with "enlightened" to read "I was enlightened by my teachers today during English class."
The institutions will employ cameras and microphones almost everywhere and restrict privacy with guards in every room. In these paranoid environments, students are often required, at risk of punishment, to report dissidents or planned escapes. Use of discreet hand signals or tap code will allow you to communicate in an environment against normal interaction with other students.
== Alternative Graduation ==
It may be worth staying in High School if you are one of the few who have a realistic opportunity for sports, band, or valedictorian level scholarships that can leave you set for life in certain prestigious universities. For the rest of us it maybe time to be happier and move past the prom, pep rallies, and all of the worthless pageantry.
Get a group of revolutionaries, raise some money, and invest in homeschool materials. Withdraw from highschool with your young comrades and enroll in your accredited home school program. Delete all the grades from your transcripts, give them straight A's and send them to the local college.
In one example, a 17-year-old student dropped out with less credits than an 11th grade student and a 1.0 GPA to attend a local church with an accredited home school program. Eight months later he had a high school diploma with a 3.3 GPA, good enough for a full scholarship from the state and two thousand dollars a semester from federal Pell grants!
=== GED ===
This is the best deal going. Either take classes or simply walk up and challenge the GED if you think you can pass it. A high school diploma is only superior when applying to certain, very selective, colleges like Harvard or Yale. The cost as well as the process of getting a GED vary too widely between states to give detailed instruction here, so do your research. You may have a choice of several institutes!
=== Post-Secondary Enrollment Option ===
This is the best move you can make in High School. By enrolling in PSEO you are breaking free in a way that satisfies both you and CorpGov, allowing you more educational freedom than you have ever had. A PSEO is taking university classes instead of AP or honors classes in high school. You can take as many classes as you like and your high school pays for your classes free of charge! You can learn what you want to, pick what classes you want, and only set foot in your high school once or twice a month!
=== Sample Plan For Leaving Home ===
Leaving home can be a very serious decision that will alter the rest of your life. Review The Street article to see the dangers of jumping out unprepared. Figure out your motivation, your parents won't give you leverage when you come back, although they may initially have missed you more. If you are leaving to take control as an independent earlier, and you are willing to support and defend yourself, this guide may be for you.
It is best to wait till you are at least 17 to start a plan like this as otherwise, you may encounter significant obstacles. Begin planning while still living with your guardians, as this is much more difficult without a home.
* Get a source of income such as a part-time job, a gig, a service, and save your pay.
* Go to the GED office of your community college and sign up for the test. Some states will let you complete this as early as 16. Pass the GED and you will be free of High School!
* Take an entrance exam (ACT, SAT or Accuplacer) to enter community college, even if you can not take the GED. If you score high enough, the college may pay your tuition and even dorm! If you do not score well, do not worry. There are many scholarships and grants, and you will still be able to attend a college. If youre through most of high school, their remedial courses may already be on your transcript
* Enroll for a term. Many Community Colleges have dorms for you to move into that take care of housing and provide meal tickets for food. Work study programs are also readily available for spending cash.
* Move out and move into your dorm!
* Keep your grades up and avoid getting kicked out.
* Begin preparing your application essays and documents for the serious universities.
* Get admitted to a real college with a few credits taken care of already.
* Graduate and run away from America for a decade to default on the student loans!!
If you fail to plan your departure well, you can expect a rough entry into a world of dangerous, menial, and temporary work and daily struggles over necessities. Do as much pre-planning as time permits, but do not let yourself remain in a dangerous or abusive situation. Difficulty in finding housing alone has lead many teen runaways to move in with predators who open their doors only to trap victims or return to the to abusive guardians.
There are many organizations that will help a teen escape abuse, but as always be ready to bail. Never accept help that involves locking you into a "secure" school or overnight dorm. Your freedom is as important as your safety and sometimes these "safe" dorms are places of rape and abuse.
== Parties, Booze, Drugs ==
Old enough to pilot a 3-ton car, yet too young to drink? While the Vietnam War brought many drinking ages down from 21 to 18 or 19, the neo-fascists in bed with Motherfuckers Against Drunk Driving raised it in the mid 80's, citing an increase in anti-social behavior and DUI's. As a result, it is currently illegal in all 50 Amerikan states to purchase or possess alcohol intended for oral consumption if you are under 21.
=== Fake ID ===
Now, of course, any young man or woman can steal their dad's bottle of peppermint schnapps, but it takes real thought to have an unlimited source of booze. While the fake ID is becoming more difficult due to the Government's cracking down on immigration and terrorism, all is not lost. High-quality fake ID can still be found, even on internet message boards. A good ID with a real state hologram will usually cost between $100-$200.
Act the correct age with this PROP, and memorize your part - the ID's birthday, zodiac address, and other physical identifiers. Many fake ID dealers will customize them with your name, birthday and details, but if this is confiscated you may be in serious trouble. Instead of a fake ID, you could also use the real ID of an older brother or friend who looks similar to you, but don't get pinned with fraud!
Avoid upper class and chain retailers as they train their employees to catch underage purchasers. It's much better to try the local corner store and pay an extra $1.50 for a six-pack than to lose a fake ID at Wal-Fart.
Do not attempt to buy liquor underage in Vermont, Pennsylvania, Mississippi, Virginia, North Carolina, Alabama, Utah, Washington State, or Oregon. All hard alcohol in these states are sold in government liquor stores, who raise prices to discourage someone to pick up a bottle for the young'uns. These stores are equipped with ID scanners, black lights, and well trained, long term staff.
Don't drink and drive, boat, or bicycle - unless you want to be president some day.
Identification Papers in the Underground section has more detailed information on IDs.
=== Parties and the Pigs ===
When planning a party host it at a safe location, removed from neighbors. The police will not likely be called, but make a no driving plan and have a place to stay the night. With enough beds or sleeping bags, there will be much less danger of drunk driving.
In some states and Canadian provinces, it is legal to drink at home under adult consent. Check your laws, and if your "parent" is cool, use them to assist you in your acquisition of alcohol... legally! Most states have NO laws regarding being drunk in private! You and your 5-year-old brother can be sloppy drunk in an a private establishment, state laws permitting, and the pigs can't do a thing unless they see you hold a container of alcohol!
Most police don't care about underage drinking like they do marijuana and meth. Unless you are drinking in a car, outside, or attending a loud party, your stand almost no chance of being busted. If a beer run goes bad with a fake ID, they will not call the pigs, and if the clerk is an undercover pig they would have to come across a desk to nab you.
When the pigs bust up a party make sure all cups are away from you, hide your wallet under the couch, and when the thug gets to you, empty your pockets and say "I didn't bring my ID with me". They might ask you a couple of questions, but you can't be charged in most states unless you were holding alcohol. It's not in their interest to send a 17-year-old drinker downtown if they don't have any proof of age, so don't give them a fake ID instead. Someone will get a ticket if you're ALL under age.
Be aware that the pigs will often legally lie to you and say they saw you drinking. Deny that you had ever held an alcoholic drink and, if you actually weren't, call them liars and say you've lost respect for them because of it. They can't do anything about that, now can they?
* For some help with DIY brewing, see Strange Brewing.
* For more detailed information on cops and the pig game, see Legal Advice.
=== Illicit Drugs ===
See Free Dope for a more realistic look at drugs than what they teach in school assemblies and health classes. If you are depressed, in danger, or homeless using drugs can make your situation much worse.
If you are experimenting for the first time:
* Use them with someone who has some drug experience
* Be in a safe, comfortable, location
* Be in a good mood without any worries hanging over you.
In high school, your mind is still developing. Don't do any drug until you know it's permanent effects and risk of addiction because some can leave you screwed up. Pot, shrooms, acid, and ecstasy are relatively safe when unadulterated. They should still be taken in the smallest doses until you're comfortable. You should avoid the use of habit causing drugs like cocaine, Ritalin, and Adderall.
== Depression ==
High school is full of the social climbing and crushing competition games that follow many people for the rest of their lives. Most students reading this are probably in a clique known for being a little too intellectual or withdrawn. Stay with your real friends and walk down the halls of your school with pride. The world will move under you while those who seem powerful could live a life of a clerk or tire salesmen. Meditate, learn to breathe, exercise, and find a talent. Never let some 12-step counselor make you believe you are crazy, an addict, or worthless. You control your own life and that is the way it always will be.
=== Suicide ===
The hardest and most rewarding task of your life is working through and surviving its problems. You will learn from your challenges, and become stronger by coping with struggles out of your control. Although nothing may make sense during times of turmoil or injustice, you must understand that you only have one life to survive, and that suicide is not an answer but an end. Your life is valuable to yourself, your friends, your society, your people, and to us. All the experiences in this wiki came from people who have gone through enough hardship and learned to beat the system.
Violence toward teachers or peers is no solution. They may seem ignorant and cruel, but they live by their credit card, elite programming, the media, and may not understand the reality of the world they actually live in. They are worthy of pity, not rage.
You, like everyone, will be made to feel worthless, ugly, or unworthy. The world is full of insults, insecurities, and peer pressure. Rise above them with self-confidence and determination and achieve your dreams. Don't forget to teach your peers.
Understand that belief can change from culture to culture and society to society. Do you respect the society you live in? Do you respect it more than yourself and your ideals? Personal attacks are intended to belittle you in the public eye and establish a pecking order. They are the fundamental of politics and business. If you are offended, join the faceless anti-corporate resistance and help other people realize how much they are worth. And if you need someone to talk to reach out to someone you care about. Or get on the phone, call the operator and ask for a suicide prevention service.