Picking a fight with a straight-A student over a technicality is a bold administrative strategy, especially when you have no real backup plan.

So when a high school counselor tried to force a top student to take a 7th grade history class or get hit with truancy, she didn’t expect him to drop out entirely and start college early all on his own.

Keep reading for the full story.

“So either do this History course, or you won’t graduate.” So be it.

Back when I was in school, I moved from another state to Washington State during the last month of my 8th grade year.

As such, when I showed up to school in Washington, I was told I was going to be exempted from the State History requirement.

So the student moved on with his life, not thinking about it again.

I was told the requirement was needed for Middle School graduation, but since I showed up so late, they weren’t gonna hold it against me.

So I go through 2 years of high school without any issues.

Soon he was offered a great opportunity to better his education.

During my junior and senior year, Washington offered a program which let me attend a community college full time, instead of taking high school classes.

I would get my college credits, and the high school would award me high school credits as well.

This seemed like a pretty great deal, so he went through with it.

That way, I’d be able to graduate with both my diploma and an Associates by the end of my senior year.

The tuition was all paid for by the state, so I only had to pay a few minor fees.

Junior year goes by without a hitch. I attend the college and rack up 50 credits.

Soon he was met with a new guidance counselor, and immediately it’s clear something is amiss.

Come the end of my junior year, I’m meeting with the new high school counselor to discuss my next term of classes before the school year ends and everyone goes on summer break.

The old one just resigned because she just had a child.

So we’re having a pleasant discussion about what I’m going to do in the future, and out of left field, she says “Oh by the way, you still need to do that Washington State History if you want to graduate. I’m gonna go ahead and enroll you for that.”

Washington State History is a 7th Grade class.

But this guidance counselor doesn’t seem to care about what he was told before.

So we go back and forth on this, as I insisted that I was given an exemption due to my late arrival in 8th Grade.

Basically, she was expecting me to go to the middle school for an hour, right in the middle of the day, to take this 7th Grade History class. And I wasn’t having it.

Taking this class would put a huge damper on everything.

Not only would it make my college classes impossible to get to (since the commute was half an hour each way) but it also right when all the important classes were held (Calculus, Physics, and Chemistry for my Fall, Winter, and Spring terms, respectively).

To say I was upset would be an understatement, as I would’ve had to have taken standard high school courses (no AP since I didn’t do the summer projects) that fit around that time frame.

So he decides to consult someone he trusts a little more.

So I went home and rung my college counselor, who was so unbelievably helpful throughout this whole endeavor.

As it turned out, I didn’t need to graduate from my high school. As long as I was enrolled in high school, I could attend the college tuition free.

And if I achieved all the requirements necessary to receive my Associates Degree, then the college would actually award me a Washington State Diploma (which I guess is different than a GED?) in addition to my Degree.

He then goes back to the terrible counselor, who immediately started gaslighting him and ultimately ended up giving him an ultimatum.

So I return to my high school the next day to speak with her again. I told her what I had learned from the college counselor, and basically, here are the highlights of what was said:

“No, that’s wrong. You have to graduate from [insert high school name]. You don’t get to graduate from [insert college name].” – Counselor

“Why not? The program only says I have to meet the requirements for my Associates. It doesn’t make any mention about meeting the state high school requirements, nor [insert high school]’s requirements, nor even getting the diploma from here.” – Me

“Well we won’t let you graduate. So either take this History course, or you won’t graduate.” – Counselor

“Then I won’t graduate.” – Me

“Well that’s your choice then.” – Counselor

I leave, go on summer break.

The saga continues when he goes back to school.

Fall semester begins, and on the first day the Middle and High School are back, I get a call from the office (college courses started 4 weeks after public schools).

“Hi HappyAffirmative, so I noticed you were absent from class today. Any reason why you didn’t show up?” Oh, it’s my high school counselor.

“What do you mean? I’m not taking any classes at the high school.” – Me

“Well you’re supposed to be at the Middle School taking your history course. We talked about this already.” – Counselor

The student isn’t about to accept this terrible deal.

“Yeah, and I said I wasn’t doing it. I don’t need to.” – Me

“You don’t get to say what you do and don’t have to do. This is a requirement, you know. You don’t get to graduate if you don’t take it, which means you’ll have to be here a 5th year.” – Counselor

Not wanting to deal with their crap, I hung up on her.

Once again, his college counselor affirms what he already knew.

I spoke with my college counselor once again, and she reaffirmed that I was totally in the right, and that as long as I managed to get another 35 college credits before the end of the school year, I would graduate in June with both.

But of course, my high school continued to play their games with me.

Then the high school threw another curve ball.

Thursday morning, about 2 weeks after hanging up on my counselor, I get an automated message from the school for a “truancy infraction,” saying that I needed to come in and have a meeting with the principal about my attendance.

At this point, I was fed up with my high school.

The student decided he was done being there altogether.

So like any reasonable person, I decided I was going to drop out.

Meeting with my college counselor once more, I had a lengthy discussion about what exactly was going on with my high school.

Turns out, this college counselor was prepared to do more to help him than his high school ever would.

Being the amazing woman she was, she helped me figure out how I could drop out and still attend the college.

She even pulled some strings to help me get last minute scholarships, which covered like 95% of the costs. Thank you Ms. Allen, you were a life saver.

So he met with his high school once again.

With my future plans better secured, I arranged for a meeting with the high school the following week. Here’s the gist of what happened.

“Hi HappyAffirmative. So [counselor] tells me that you’ve been skipping class for the last 2 weeks. What’s up with that?” – Principal

“Well see, I-” – Me

The terrible counselor smugly believe everything is going to go her way.

“He’s trying to get out of having to do his history course. The one I’ve been telling you about. He said that he doesn’t actually have to do it if he doesn’t want to.” – Counselor, with a **** eating grin.

“No, I was-” – Me

The principal seems to be on the counselor’s side.

“Well look here HappyAffirmative, you need to take your education seriously. How do you think it reflects on the school if you’re skipping all the time?” – Principal

So the conversation continued like this for a while, the Principal and Counselor exchanging opportunities to cut me off as I’m trying to explain myself, as well as lecturing me on the importance of education and what not.

So he decided to kick things up a notch.

So while they continued blabbering on about nonsense, I slide them a manila folder across the desk.

“… a good colle… What is this?” – Counselor

“Drop out forms. You told me that ‘you can’t graduate unless you do this History class.’ So I won’t graduate.” – Me

Clearly, his high school didn’t expect this.

And we all sat in silence for a good 30 seconds as they went from staring at each other, to me, to the folder, and back.

I guess they weren’t expecting me to call their bluff, at least not like that. This is kind of what they looked like while they were trying to figure out what to say.

Turns out, he was actually a pretty great student at this high school.

Now, as I prefaced, my graduating class was tiny, and we were in a poor area.

Most every student graduated (probably the staff manipulating grades to get everyone to pass) but the average GPA was not very high amongst my friends, and I was on track to being valedictorian easily.

I had a 3.9ish GPA, was on the Varsity Track team for 3 years, even as a Freshman, and went to regional twice (not state, unfortunately).

Not to mention the honor’s society.

Not to toot my own horn any more than I already have, but I was also President of my high school’s honors society (president over all 5 members), I was set to go to UW, and I made the front page of the local paper for winning $1,000 talent show the previous year.

So needless to say, I think I was pretty good for the school’s image.

First the first time, these people were at a total loss for words.

So after sitting in stunned silence for what felt like an eternity, the principal and counselor started fumbling over their own words while simultaneously trying to talk to me, and over one another.

This is what they looked like when they were trying to talk to me.

That went on until they both ran out of breath, to the point where I think the office windows began fogging up.

So finally he spoke up.

Finally, I was able to say my piece.

“You threatened to not let me graduate, unless I took this class. Then you threatened me with this truancy thing. I get that you’re trying to force me to graduate from your school so y’all look better. At least, I think that’s what’s going on. But my decision is final, and that’s your copy of my papers. I’ll be getting my GED this month.”

And yeah, that’s about it.

So that’s exactly what this student did.

I got my GED, and Associates by the end of year without any issues. I didn’t get to attend my graduation, but I didn’t really care.

I’m not gonna attend the ceremony for my Associates either. I did get to go to my senior prom though, as a guest.

All-in-all, I think it worked out alright.

What a story!

Redditors chime in with their thoughts.

This commenter thinks this student will make a very good life for himself.

This commenter actually went through something very similar.

This sort of thing would never happen in this commenter’s state.

Clearly this high school didn’t think things all the way through here.

All things considered, this high school needed this student a lot more than he needed them!

If you liked this story, check out this post about a dad who was so mad his kid skipped school that he deleted his YouTube account with 20K subscribers.