CaCO3Girl posted:rynoattack posted:CaCO3Girl posted:Goosegg posted:It is no secret that the tippy top schools require: near perfect grades, the MOST rigorous cirriculum offered at that HS, and top scores. (Not to fret if your HS doesn't offer 30 AP's; the measure is the hardest courses offered at your HS.)
During our tours, a constant question went something like this: "should I take an AP and make a B, or an honors class and make an A?" The constant answer was: "take the AP and make an A."
I have read all of this thread and I have to say it stinks. Let me be the bad guy and say I'd rather my kid play a sport, hang out with his friends and BE A KID than do 4 hours of homework a night so he can take the honors and AP courses and have a "challenging" schedule. You know what is challenging? Being a kid in a society that wants them all to be little grown ups.
Off to tell my kid to load up on Phys ed and Wood Shop....both of which will serve him FAR better in the future than AP Bio, which has no practical use in the real world unless you plan on pursing Biology. I took AP Bio, I can't figure out how to fix the mail box, wood shop would have been handy right around now.
That is a really bad take. Biology has quite a bit of value in the real world. My brother in law received his Bachelor's in Biology, which allowed him entry into Dental School. He is now an Endodontist, and he will far surpass my salary - Business Admin., soon to complete my MBA. He will soon be a millionaire, and I will still be "working for the man".
Telling your kid to take woodshop and PE is not good advice. He needs to be challenged, and he will be thankful later.
I said AP Biology is only helpful if you plan on pursing biology, if you want to be a Dr. then by all means take AP bio, take honors government, take Calc II because you have the type of brain that needs to be challenged.
BUT, what if you don't want to go to Harvard? What if you want to stay close to home and go to the local college that admits people with a 2.0? What if you want to be a gym teacher? What if you want to be a cop? What if you want to pursue a career and path in life where AP Bio will have no relevance.
Why can't parents in this generation accept that not all of our children are "special"? Honors and AP classes were created for the kids who wanted to explore particular subjects more in depth. Created for students that had a passion about a particular subject, they were not created for the masses. Do ALL of our children have to be so special they ALL must take honors and AP courses?
He/she who graduates with the most AP credits and mom's hand me down Mercedes wins.
Our high school parking lot looked like a CarMax lot for Beemers, Mercedes, Audis, Lexuses, Volvos, etc.. I'm a mean dad. I humiliated my kids by buying them 6yo Civics senior year. They did have the AP credits. They eventually bought their own Audis and Lexuses.