RE: Ok, now I'm REALLY upset!!
Mobowhuntr, this is so hard to watch your own child make such a bad decision. I'm sorry you're having to go through this. I’ve been through this with friend’s kids and a variant of this with my step-daughter (who just this semester went back to finish college at age 27 even though she's got an IQ of over 140).
Try this: Set him down and let him know you care and that you’re gonna help him walk through his options. First, outline what his budget needs to be to pay rent, food, utilities, etc. Then, walk through some viable job/career options that really aren’t that appealing (shouldn’t be too hard to find a few of THOSE). Do some math, like “Well, let’s see, at $7.50 per hour, you’ll need to work 50 hours a week to make 20,000 per year…if you don’t take a vacation..” He may have some cockymamy ideas about working in sales and making “big bucks”, but ask him to talk to actual sales people without HS diplomas and see how well they actually do if he brings this kind of thing up. But don’t get too negative on him yet. Then start developing some more attractive options (ones that won’t be available to him if he drops out, but don’t make this obvious when you start talking about it)…try to get him excited about them. Then suddenly stop yourself and scratch your head and say, ”oh...never mind…that won’t work…” It’ll be even better if you get HIM to stop you to say “can I do that without a high school diploma?” After a few of these, he may lose his enthusiasm for not going to school.
Good luck, whatever you do!