<p>I know this info should be somewhere, but I've searched the forums and can't find anything. Another parent and I are wondering:
Do bs kids get drivers ed?
Are there dedicated prep classes for the SATs or PSATs outside of the normal class schedule?
If your child has private instrument lessons at home, can they get these at bs?
What about if they are advanced karate or something else obscure? No bs seems to offer this. Do we just blow this off for 4 years?</p>
<p>Some schools offer driver ed. But for me, anything to prolong the possession of a driver’s license for my guys is ok with me. The statistics clearly show that the lower the driving age the higher increase of accidents. The additional insurance payment is enough for me to stall as much as possible. Personally, I’m all for raising the driving age and lowering the drinking age.</p>
<p>The schools that I am familiar with do offer additional SAT assistance.</p>
<p>My understanding is that most BS will offer private music lessons.</p>
<p>Karate sounds like a club that can be started if not already established.</p>
<p>Some schools offer lessons as part of day (and I think, tuition), others arrange it with third party instructors (for a fee).</p>
<p>I think the private lessons in music are always for a fee, but they can be subsidised for students on substantial financial aid. The SAT online training is available at some schools to “level the play ground” for students from different background.</p>
<p>Everything above sounds right to me.</p>
<p>Drivers ed is generally only valid for the state that you take it in–so the drivers ed at Exeter is only good for students who live in NH. My kid took drivers ed this past summer. </p>
<p>I agree with OPS about prolonging the date that said kid gets his license, but he needed drivers ed to get his permit, and we figure a permit for three or four years is a good thing–lots of supervised driving practice and no additional insurance charges (at least in our home state).</p>
<p>DAndrew, Hotchkiss is the only school that I know of that does not charge extra for lessons. Somebody please correct me if this has changed. It’s what the music director told us at an open house last year.</p>
<p>Generally if you take driver’s ed at your boarding school, then you get your license in the state the bs is in (they use the bs as your home address). When you graduate, you switch your license to your home state address. </p>
<p>I also agree with ops, and the age limit law in MA, combined with the fact that driver’s ed is only offered once during the year at my son’s school, helped me put off my son’s license until he was almost 18. Feel much better about that! </p>
<p>At my son’s school, there were always free SAT courses which were offerred as extracurriculars. Last year they began offering a free online course through Peterson’s Student Edge and, this year, they offered a formal class through Summit Educational. Prices were subsidized according to the percentage of FA a student received.</p>
<p>Same with music lessons; they are available and are graded as an extracurricular (no letter grade - just excellent, good, satisfactory, etc. There is a charge, which is also on a sliding scale according to FA.</p>
<p>When our daughter took driving lessons this summer, we discovered that she needed to hand in extra paperwork in order to get her learner’s as she does not go to school in our state. We needed a transcript and a statement from the bs that she is a student in good standing turned into the driver’s ed teacher at the HS she would attend if she lived here. We have to give him another one at the end of the semester. </p>
<p>As states are tightening the regulations on teen drivers, be sure to call a local driving school or your state representative’s office to double-check the rules. They may have to take lessons in their own state in order to get a learner’s permit.</p>
<p>Miss Porter’s stopped offering drivers ed several years ago saying it was too difficult to schedule along with the complexity of residency requirements for getting a permit.
SAT prep classes are offered by a vendor on campus and the parents are charged for the additional costs. The year my daughter did it, the vendor was Kaplan. She did quite well with it, others not so much. Since then I believe a different vendor is used.
There were additional fees for individual music lessons. The equestrian program also had additional fees.</p>
<p>I have to say, from firsthand experience, that the lower drinking age/higher driving age works. The kids in the high school sometimes go out to a pub after school on Friday. On a trip to a model UN type event, they celebrated their accomplishments at a bar on the final night before flying back home – with the teacher/chaperones. In the U.S., that would get the adults arrested and/or fired. Here, they had a post-event debriefing for the parents and the highlight was a video of everyone sitting at a sidewalk cafe having a sing-along, with about half of the students in front of half-empty beer mugs at their places.</p>
<p>The thing is…they don’t get wasted. I think that’s largely because it’s not particularly cool or awesome to do something that any 16 year-old can do. There’s nothing rebellious in having beer. If they drink alcohol at all, they’ll have one beer. (It’s very expensive, so that’s basically the limit.)</p>
<p>For transportation, the downside is that you can’t have Junior run a quick errand for you by car. But they do have to get back home after they go out…so that’s a big incentive to stay sober. You don’t want to be turned away from the bus or tram on account of being drunk. Otherwise you’re walking and your friends are riding.</p>
<p>The driving age is 18. And there’s no anticipation for that kind of freedom because they already have it in the form of a very accessible public transportation system. My S has 0.00 interest in driving right now. He does want to take lessons when he gets back to the U.S. for college (he had a learner’s permit in the U.S. but feels he’d need a refresher before going out on his own anywhere). And even though he drinks, he has told me that he’s inclined (for now) to opt for a chem-free dorm/floor if his college offers it. One thing he dreads about college is having a bunch of people running up and down his hall screaming “Woo-hoo! I had 8 beers!” at 3 a.m. and then having to smell their puke when he goes to take a shower in the morning. Maybe he was wired that way from the git-go…but – if he wasn’t predisposed to that attitude – there’s no escaping it after you’ve hung out with 10th graders who have better sense with their liquor.</p>
<p>I think the big obstacle to making this happen is the dearth of public transportation options once you venture outside the largest of cities. Once you’re in the 'burbs or any minor city, kids “need” cars. And in rural areas, it’s considered an economic necessity.</p>
<p>^^Where is your son in school, D’yer?</p>
<p>Le France.</p>
<p>I should clarify that the last paragraph refers to the U.S. prospects for seeing the switcheroo between drinking/driving ages.</p>
<p>My favorite event is the end of year “Kermesse” which is basically a school fair for the younger kids with games, prizes, performances by the kids dressed up in adorable costumes. At about 6 pm, when the kids’ activities conclude, they have to clean up all the trash, down to the last bon bon wrapper. (Adults move the heavy stuff out of the way.) While the kids are cleaning up, the adults have an aperitif in the playground. Or two. Maybe three. Then there’s a cookout (not quite what you’d have in Texas, but they have a grill and various sausages and chicken parts). And the wine does not stop. There’s daylight until well after 10 pm so everyone keeps drinking and the kids start running wild. By the end of the evening, pretty much every adult is lit up on cheap Bordeaux wine.</p>