That’s what the parents of 16-year-old Blake Peebles, from North Carolina, finally decided to do.
Blake — who, yes, looks a lot like Sanjaya — wanted to drop out of high school so he could dedicate all his energy to pursuing a career as a competitive Guitar Hero player.
“We couldn’t take the complaining anymore,” says his mom. “He always told me that he thought school was a waste of time.”
Blake does have in-home tutors, but still.
Blake has done well in local tournaments, including one held at a Chick-fil-A that earned him 52 combo meals. By his account, he has lost only once since “Guitar Hero III” was released late last year. Some of that time was spent playing online, against players from all over the world.
Today, on Xbox 360, players use the system’s online component to compare scores with players all over the world. Blake, who goes by the online name “Dreminem,” figures that he has top-10 scores on 20 or so of songs on “Guitar Hero III.”
He guesses that he’s probably one of the top 15 or 20 players in the country.
Blake so far has won about $1,000 in prizes in the months since he began competing in “Guitar Hero.” His biggest challenge will come in mid-August, when father and son travel to California for the U.S. regionals of the World Cyber Games. Blake qualified to appear there after performing well online.
If Blakes wins the regional, it’s on to the national championship. The best “Guitar Hero III” players there will earn the right to represent the U.S. at the world tournament in Germany.
Blake is happy with his success. Mom and Dad are happy with his grades. Since he’s gone to the tutoring arrangement, she hasn’t once had to tell him to do his homework, because he does it on his own. They got plenty of grief from family and friends about their decision at first, but they’ve also watched Blake, who is shy and disliked school, become a happier person.
What do you guys think?
Good decision? Or not so much?
He’ll be fine. He can get his GED or whatever. School is overrated.
totally good decision
If he has tutors and can spend time doing this too.. why not?
Yeah, sure why not. Then, in a few months he can take my order at the local KFC. Keep on reaching for that rainbow little buddy.
well if he is good at it…
If he wants to go to college, he’ll get right in with an essay about the amazing life experience he had in professional video game competitions. Lame, yes, but not something you see every day.
When you say ‘drop out of school’ I think of him actuaqlly being finished with school. That’s it, that’s all, no more HS education. But if he has tutors it seems to me that he is continuing his education. So I guess if the parents have money for that then I say rock on with your guitar hero self :-)
I assume that a kid who is so difficult in school that his parents let him leave was not getting into college anyway. If it’s a choice between this kid failing out of high school/barely finishing (and not going to college) or taking lessons at home with tutors (and presumably still not going to college) then what difference does it make? He’ll get his GED and do with it whatever he planned to do with a HS diploma, which apparently is make several times less than minimum wage playing a video game in contests.
This kid LOVES what he’s doing, and still getting tutored. He’s probably getting a better education than most kids his age with a tutor.
How many of us can say we LOVE our job? He can.
Everyone’s comments make so much sense.
But I still think it’s bogus. Go to freaking school, kid. You’ll be happier with your day job that you will inevitably have to get in the future.
How is this any different from the home schooled kids? People bitch about them not having social interaction and being socially stunted. Same thing here. Seems like he already had issues of some sort.
ahhh, the last line is the key to the entire article: he is shy and disliked school. you know that he was being harassed. this was probably a good if unconventional decision on his parents part, if his grades have improved and he is happy, so be it.
has anyone read Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult? it is a truly disturbing and though provoking piece of fiction based on columbine.
better guitar hero than an uzi.
Guitar Hero aside, if he was unhappy in school, and is still learning and doing more of his homework, then I think his parents made a good decision. His mom says he is a lot happier now, and at home tutors would probably teach better than any public school teacher, considering the tutor has one student to focus on, one students strengths and weaknesses.
He also is doing awesome things. You live life once, have fun with it
i meant thoroughly not though provoking piece of fiction. i need a tutor!
Ummm…does the kid know that most of those people he is playing against online are in college? That is all we do!
Freakin’ awesome parenting… OK, no really though, someone has called CPS right?
First, I second Amy Grindhouse. Second, a dislike of school at the age of 16 is not so much an “issue” as it is a normal feeling commonly exhibited by 16 year olds in school. Third, can you actually make a livelihood off of competitive Guitar Hero? Even the guys in “King of Kong” had real jobs to support themselves and their families (they also finished high school….I googled it.)
I think not going to school full time will force him to focus on his studies more. I remember when I was in school we did everything BUT school work, so when the time came to do assignments we actually did some work.
Cutting out all that waste of school hours might actually help the kid. And I want him to show me a few pointers because Green Grass & High Tides on Guitar Hero 3 is impossible. I can’t finish it on expert!!
52 Chick-Fil-A combo meals, eeewww.
yeah right.
thats why usa is this great intelectual country.
Because kids in high school are such freaking intellectuals.
I learned next to nothing in high school. What I learned came from reading extensively and doing outside activities. I taught myself everything I needed to know and finished my pathetically easy schoolwork in less than half an hour each day. I’m not saying every public school is crap, but for some people it’s a waste of time.
Of COURSE it’s a good idea.
It helps us determine the idiots from the actual, contributing members of society. We know now that we need never bother with this kid. Or his parents. Ever. Because they’re all obviously morons.
…
Do I now know never to bother with Bre, because he or she is being overly judgmental on the internet?
guitar hero is so pathetic and boring.
My guess would be that his parents are probably uneducated morons which is why they feel it is okay to drop out of school to play games all days. I agree with Megs…”Yeah, sure why not. Then, in a few months he can take my order at the local KFC. Keep on reaching for that rainbow little buddy.”
haha wow!
what 16 year old DOESNT think school is a waste of time!
he better be winning money not fucking combo meals!
then id let him drop school
Blake, in addition to getting a high quality education is also getting an unbelievable business education. He developed a business plan, had to sell it, practices 6-8 hours/day, is developing a website, learning how to market himself, working with budgets (he has to cover his own travel expenses, pay taxes and save for a car) and then competes. He has great friends, so his socialization is fine. Mom and dad both have a college education and run successful business and are teacing their son how to be successful too.
ill smash him at guitar hero any day and i still go to school
I know that it has been a long while since this has been posted on, but I couldn’t stand half the comments that I see on here, so I decided that I had to say something to all of you.
First off, the wording in the title is very bad when you actually read through the article. My first impressions were negative until I came across the sentence stating that he picked up independent studies.
There is nothing wrong with home schooling. Much like several others have stated, with the correct tutors, home schooling is a better learning environment that public or private schools. The one on one attention gives a student with a good tutor unparalleled chance for success. As his parents said, he is actually doing better, wanting to do work, and is overall happier.
To continue along with the home schooling concept, what do you think that all of the teenage actors/actress and singers do for education. They sure as well don’t sit around and perform music or act in front of the camera all day. They have their own independent tutors so that they can learn just like any other kid, yet I hardly ever see anybody complain about how they will never be able to make it in life when their teenage career ends. Secondly, I know what it is like to be a “reject” in high school from experience. Starting in fourth grade and going until my Senior year in High School, I hated almost every class, the exceptions being music classes, both bands and choirs. Being an advanced student, I was never challenged enough to keep interest and often found myself in detention for sleeping in class. I found that when I was around 14 years old, independent studies were the greatest thing that ever happened to me. I was able to work at my own pace and focus on the things that I needed to focus on. These two things cause me to start enjoying the learning process and I quickly began learning so much that I was able to skip 2 years of high school from what I picked up on my own.
Now, I’m not saying that most people are smart enough to do this, but all kids, smart or not, are able to work at a more efficient rate when they are one on one or studying independently. I bet almost anything that he will be very successful in life if things are going how his parents and himself say they are going.