18 in year 12

Last year I was so ill I got pulled out of school and I had to retake. Should be in year 13 but now I’m back at year 12 in a new college, about to turn 18 and feel rlly weird about it. Like a failure and I’m a year behind all my friends. Anyone else 18 in year 12?

Last year I was so ill I got pulled out of school and I had to retake. Should be in year 13 but now I’m back at year 12 in a new college, about to turn 18 and feel rlly weird about it. Like a failure and I’m a year behind all my friends. Anyone else 18 in year 12?

This society expects us to force our way through life way too quickly. These expectations of finishing school by 18, going straight into uni, and then finding a job or going into a post-grad directly afterwards to avoid being a failure are ridiculous. Life is supposed to be enjoyed. It's ok to take longer to finish school (especially when health issues prevent you from being able to go straight through it), it's ok to take longer to figure things out, it's ok to take gap years to work on yourself, it's ok to not follow society's timeline. Follow your own timeline and take however long you need to finish school. You are not a failure. You are strong and you've got this.

All well and good, and I agree to an extent.

But a society also cannot survive if we have sheds of people who for whatever reasons (some are good reasons, some not) taking ages to actually grow up and start paying for their own living expenses. Until then, someone else often has to pay for that.

Unfortunately, if you're on someone else's payroll (parents or state funding)... you should expect certain terms & conditions to be attached to that. Or you can go live in the woods, or go on a GAP year and earn money abroad. There are valid options.

Late reply but society can't give everyone a job, let alone a job they want either. I definitely understand what you are saying but society can change to accommodate this rather easily.

I'm not sure how it can change rather 'easily'. Most of these things aren't easy to achieve at all at a country-wide scale.

There already are lots of jobs, which many people argue effectively fulfill absolutely no useful purpose. We call these 'bullsh*t jobs'. Even if perfectly respectable jobs, you will every now and then come across a responsibility or task at work... that absolutely futile and pointless. Thus it seems like we already are creating unnecessary work for people... and I'm not entirely sure why ultimately, other than that it keeps fewer people unemployed (even though that's not necessarily the government/economic policy, as it's not like have lots of spare money to waste either).

So, my point is... I don't think it is 'easy'.

Yeah I guess its not easy, idk why I said that. But you can't really change society easily at all (in a democracy that is). If say it were commonplace for most people to go to uni at 22 instead of 18, I seriously doubt society wouldn't cope somehow as im sure you'd agree.

I personally believe there should be a sort of system in place so that young people don't fall through the gaps as they become young adults. America does this better - in college you don't have to declare your major whereas in the UK you have to know what you want to do before you even apply. I'd even say the fact that they put some weight on extracurriculars is good, though its not perfect by any means. Even if people take time to "grow up" they can still contribute by getting a blue collar job for example which is really in demand. The UK has seasonal migrants to pick fruit!

Even at uni, most people dont use what they learn (if its not vocational) but the skills learned, self-development and networking are priceless. I'd rather people delay going to uni for good reason (which I believe it almost always is, otherwise why would they apply?), then go and make a mess of it.

Like you say, there are many BS jobs out there that serve just to keep people employed. Imagine AI got to the point it could just wipe all these jobs out, let alone the ones that aren't BS jobs but could still be replaced. People seek validation / fulfilment from their jobs / career. So I get that society shames those who don't take part. I'm personally a lot more worried about people being jobless and unfulfilled with the advent of AI than lost 18 year olds. It's already hard for graduates to find jobs now whereas in the last many decades it was much easier.