My mum threatening to Pull college funding If I Switch to Politics what should I do?

About five months ago I started getting into politics. Before that I didn’t really care, but now I do, especially because I’m from Africa and I feel responsible for understanding the issues there, like corruption. I live with my aunty because my mum works in America as an orthopaedic surgeon, so I update her regularly about school and what I’m doing. I told her I want to change one of my IB subjects to politics. Right now I’m doing English HL, Spanish SL, Philosophy HL, Chemistry HL, Maths SL, and Visual Arts SL. The IB Diploma Programme is a challenging pre-university course where you study six subjects plus do extra work like an extended essay, theory of knowledge, and community service. I’ve been trying to learn more by attending protests, documenting news stories to form my own viewpoints, going to debate clubs, and trying to sign up for the UK Youth Parliament.

When I told my mum, she reacted in a way I’ve never seen before. She gave me an ultimatum not to pursue politics and said she would sign me up for therapy because she thinks I’m taking in too much “bad stuff” from politics. My aunty agrees with her. She said pursuing this path could be dangerous and mentioned people who have been killed for their political views, including Charlie Kirk recently. I feel very confused — am I not allowed to choose what I want?

I don’t want to go back to public school because I went there until Year 8 and realized people didn’t value education. I didn’t either at the time, but private school changed that. In private school, misbehavior is punished mainly with fines instead of traditional discipline. For example, if you had a fight, your parents would have to pay £50, and you would spend a week in isolation. Since moving to private school, my grades improved dramatically from 3 to 9, which allowed me to get into the IB Diploma Programme.

I really want to study politics, but I’m worried my mum might cut funding. I’m not sure what to do.

Submitted October 01, 2025 at 11:11AM by Speculated_King https://ift.tt/12pXNob