2017LHPscrewball posted:However what is in that questionnaire very much outlines the general philosophy of the school. If the young man is uncomfortable with that why does he not have a right to those feelings? He just doesn't want to go there. He didn't say he wants to go and bash members of that community or spend his life fighting against their causes. Just that this school ain't for him.
Once again I wasn't paying close enough attention - went back and looked at the first article and have a additional thoughts. What if one of the schools the kid really, really really wants to go to, the school where lots of last year's senior "guys" ended up at and several classmates are heading to - what if that school used the Common Application? Does that mean he should strike that school - and every other school that uses the Common Application - because that application now allows you to apparently check something other than Male/Female? That sounds like a wise move.
Setting aside most of the discussion so far, my advice to the OP is to sit his kid down, tell him to grow up a little and go visit the school and see if he really likes it - or not. To advise the OP to let his 16 yo son make a snap decision based on the contents of an information card (asking for 8 pieces of information - including gender which is expanded beyond M/F) and a colorfully dressed, bejeweled man (I believe this is how he was described) is, in my opinion, poor advice.
The OP said as much as wanting his kid to visit the school. Do you really think the OP should sit back and "respect" his 16 yo son's "decision"?
Yes. That is the short answer. The longer answer is you have to be comfortable with your decision. It's funny cause in here we constantly say that high school kids - including freshman - have to start handling their own affairs. Talk to the coaches not that meddling helicopter parent the evil of all evils. Then when a 16 year old decided he doesn't like how a school represented itself and would prefer to look at one of the other thousand schools available to him you say dad should step in. Sit him down, order him to rethink etc. guidance is always good for our kids. And of course parents should help their kids when they are freshmen, seniors, in college and when they are 45! But why is this kid wrong? And what if dad agrees with him? What is the problem with that? Isn't it ok to seek a school that is more in alignment with your own personal philosophies?