Looking after a Teenager

[MOD]

Help
I am the parent of a 17-year-old boy who started his education life being a top student until he turned 17. Now he finds school boring and the idea of skipping school and “find a job” seem to him the rational thing to do.

What can I do?

Is this just a phase which we will need to work with until it passes through?

Please help.

[is he?]

Is he Singaporean?  If he is, then he is maturing early – this type of anomie usually hits thoughtful Singaporeans in their 20s.  There are things about the education system here, including that transition to the labor market that can burn people out and lead them away from thinking about deeper matters.  If he is a thoughtful person (or an idealist, or wants to think about deeper things), and he is in this system, this reaction is actually quite healthy – to a point….. the thing would be to adapt without losing those aspects.

If he is an expat, in non-local (international) schools, then maybe something else.

Well, it is hard to tell without more information about him.

[MOD]

Thanks
He is a British expat. My problem is to get him to accept while it is healthy for him to have a view of the school/education system he still need to work with the "system".