Easy_rider, what you're describing is very normal, although probably still not a good thing for children. Parents often mix up their own identity with their children's, so end up feeling very responsible and very domineering. A great way to see this is to talk about some of the things young people who are considering having children say- things like that they want a purpose to their life (raising the kid) or someone to care about them consistently. IMO this is far too much responsibility for a child, and children end up in far too repressive environments.
You don't have to go to college. You do need a plan though. If it takes effort to get passing grades, you should probably still graduate. If you mean that your parents want straight A's, one thing that someone told me was "You'll never regret that you got good grades." It's certainly true, but I certainly wasn't a straight A student either even though if I had put a lot of time into it I could have been. I partly wish I had dropped out and gotten a GED and gone to the community college, but I could have gotten a highschool diploma without putting much effort into it and I do well on standardized tests scores. This would have been a good route that allowed more freedom.
But back to needing a plan I mentioned earlier. You definitely want the highschool diploma or a GED. Armed with the diploma, there are all kinds of things you can do. Community colleges and various places offer lots of vocational programs, and there's 2 years or shorter programs for all kinds of things, from hair dressing to welding. There are even more creative options that allow for more freedom, but generally it's good to have one of the less creative ones at least as a fallback.
Just have a plan. You may not know what you want yet, but if you can at least be aware of your options, then you'll be in a position to make an informed decision. If you do that, don't let anyone convince you that you need to go the way they laid out for you. Above all, you're your own person, not your parents.
and they talk to other people about me and say stuff like 'oh yeah I think he's happy with it' or 'no it's never worried him' but really they're way off.
I notice this with my parents. However, when I was younger I found that things would go easier for me if I actively masked my feelings and desires from them. This causes them to be forced to interact with me on my own terms a bit more, rather than playing my feelings and desires off of me. It also means they don't really know who I am, which is annoying, but I don't really want them to know who I am. That's not the kind of thing I show to everyone, even to people who think they're entitled.
