Newton’s mother wanted him to be a farmer

Newton was enrolled at a Grantham school when he was 12 years old, and he boarded at the home of the local pharmacist because the daily trek from Woolsthorpe Manor was too far. Newton was not a strong student at first, but after a clash with a school bully, he began to push himself in an effort to outperform the other child, and he eventually changed into a top student.

Isaac Newton's mother forced him to drop out of school when he was 16 years old. She had divorced her second husband and returned to her parents; Isaac was a boarding student at the time due to the distance. She wished for him to return to Woolsthorpe Manor and follow in his father's footsteps as a farmer. The adolescent was disinterested in the job and performed poorly.

She eventually agreed to allow him return to school after much persuasion from his headmaster in Grantham. In 1661, Isaac enrolled at Trinity College, University of Cambridge, and thereby avoided the farming bullet.