<p>When I made the comment that I was surprised that no one from the school contacted the parents in regards to the failing mid-term/final grades, I was in no way implying that it is the schools responsibility to be the teller of all truth. I for one am a watcher of grades and I know when every single report card (we have kids in 3 different schools) is to be home. BUT there are some parents out there that either don’t care, are to trusting that Jr. can’t do harm, or just believe what their kids are saying. I do believe that the school system has some type of obligation to the student to bring the parents into the fold if something is going wrong. It is a sad when a GC can’t pick up the phone and say “houston, we have a problem.” Our D17 goes to a public high school with enrollment pushing 3000 (had been over 4500 prior to school split) and I know that GC would call parents if something was not trending in the right direction. There has to be checks and balances so this exact situation does not occur.</p>
<p>I’d say stripping him of his freedom from home should get him to shape up. I know very few guys who actually WANT to live with their parents at this age, and those who want to it’s usually out of a sense of obligation to the family, to help out with finances and chores and the likes.</p>
<p>What does probation mean? Is he not allowed to stay? If so, what does he have to do next in order to return? I always thought probation meant a “warning” status and a semester to pull it together. Did the school make him leave or did his parents make him come home? </p>
<p>I do feel for the parents. Difficult situation. This young man doesn’t seem quite ready.</p>
<p>collegeshopping…I do agree with that. The parents should be inquiring and keeping on top of their child’s school record/grades. But yes, one would think if a student flunked out (did he earn his diploma?) or had so many low grades, someone at school may have also contacted them. Still, it is a parents’ job to know what is going on at school.</p>
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<p>If his acceptance was conditional, it is another reason the parents may have wanted to check on what his final grades were for high school, knowing that the college said this would matter to them.</p>
<p>Also, at our high school, every marking period has progress reports at the mid point. Not sure if that was the case at this boy’s school, but that is one way parents would know how their child was doing and it sounds like his grades were running Ds at that point.</p>
<p>If the nephew got two C’s at the university in the summer, that is considered an acceptable performance by virtually all universities. In general, a student needs a 2.0 average to graduate. It might not be “acceptable” to the nephew or parents, but that’s a different issue. I think in this circumstance, my university would have someone on probation but permitted to attend for the fall; here, the student would just need to keep the 2.0 to be ok as far as the university goes. It seems to me that the question is whether the nephew is ready to turn his performance around from senior-year spring. If so, they should all just go for it. If not, maybe a gap year or community college first would be a better choice.</p>
<p>Last summer, something very similar happened to my brother when he took my nephew for his state school orientation. The nephew had graduated high school two years prior and had been living at home attending community college part time. He was admitted in the spring, for fall 2009. His parents were so happy and excited for him. At the orientation, he and his parents were summoned to a meeting and told the admission had been rescinded. It turned out the nephew had flunked a spring class but hadn’t told his parents. Back home and to community college for another year or so. He will be applying to schools again this fall, for 2011.</p>
<p>This is a very strange story.</p>
<p>Reading between the lines (and possibly adding 2+ 2 and getting 5) is making me wonder if previous grades perhaps were not very good so that is why he was accepted with the proviso of attending summer school in addition to maintaining good spring semester grades.</p>
<p>QuantMech…doesn’t sound like the issue is the two C’s in summer classes at the college. You are right that Cs would not put a kid on probation. The issue are his spring senior year grades in high school. If acceptance was contingent upon those as well (and most schools do this anyway), those grades included an F and two Ds.</p>
<p>I think no question about that Swimcatsmom. He was in an AP class which tells me he is probably capable of doing the level of work the college requires. They gave him senior spring and summer to “prove himself” and he did not perform. Bringing him home regardless if he is on probation or not is probably a good thing. We don’t know what college this is or if he was stretching based criteria other than senior grades or if this student even wants be in an academic setting right now…both things that they now probably have the time to discuss and analyze.</p>
<p>As you know most students are accepted to college based on 7th semester grades. Yes, it is possible for students to fail courses in june and still graduate, especially if they have completed the number of credits required to graduate. </p>
<p>Yes, students walk across the stage at graduation knowing full well that they have not actually graduated, often leaving parents in the dark. Did the student ever receive his diploma (this would be the tell tale sign whether or not he graduated).</p>
<p>This is the main reason why NYC public schools now have a “no-walk” policy. This means unless you are receiving a diploma on the last day of school, you cannot attend graduation. Our school does not give out caps/gowns or invitation to graduation until the day before graduation after all students have been certified as graduates. Yes, we have called families the night before graduation to let them know a student is not graduating.</p>
<p>If the student was failing classes at the end of the second marking period, the parents should have received a graduation in doubt letter.</p>
<p>Student is better served going to community college at home rather than enrolling at a school where he is starting out on academic probation. Academic probation never leaves you and most of the time it is indicated on the college transcript. If he has a bad first term, he would be academically dismissed.</p>
<p>If he ever applied to grad/professional school he would always have to say yes to the question “have you ever been on academic probation.” A deans certification from that school would indicate that he was on academic probation.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, this is a hard lesson learned for OP’s nephew. Community college will help place some distance between him and high school and he will have an opportunity to do things differently. The lies of omission that the kid told his parents is a different issue.</p>
<p>Good point, soozievt, in post #50. I was reacting partly to pugmadkate’s remark that “he had the summer classes to prove his commitment and he did not.” I am not sure whether pugmadkate was referring to the option to re-take spring high-school courses in the summer, or to the college classes that the OP’s son actually took. Of course, it would have been great if he had managed a 3.0 rather than a 2.0–but I think he did well enough that the college is probably offering the option to attend, but on probation (due to performance in the spring of senior year). The family should probably think about the college fit one more time, but if it is reasonably good, I think the OP’s son should throw himself into the work seriously, and see if he can’t bring his GPA up, from the summer. Good advising about course selection would help. </p>
<p>College grading is often quite (even shockingly) different from high school. A 2.0 average could be “ok” or even “an accomplishment” depending on the courses in which it was earned.</p>
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Boy that’s the truth. I once took a course in which the average on the first exam was 31 (out of 100). I had a 39, so I was happy I had beat the average. I asked the (young asian) professor if he could recommend a better text, and he asked if I was ■■■■■■■■ (language barrier). I ended up with a B+, but didn’t feel like I got jack out of the course. Unfortunately, not an isolated incident. I could write a book on the sorry state of higher education in America. If only I had ever learnt meself how to write.</p>
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<p>And these sorts of lies don’t stop at high school. I think it was a CC poster who told the story of a roommate who didn’t tell her parents she wouldn’t be graduating from college until they had arrived on campus and had gotten most of the way through Grad Week festivities. Sheesh!</p>
<p>Sylvan, it is unfortunate, but it’s the truth, the person teaching the course has a HUGE impact on course performance in college. I’ve had some professors who just could not teach at all, sometimes from lack of experience, sometimes simply from language barriers. In Calc, I had a Russian prof, and I couldn’t understand half of the test questions sometimes due to the poor grammar. =/</p>
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It is sad, but bear in mind that it’s federal law. Once the student turns 18, if he hasn’t filed a FERPA waiver allowing release of his academic records to his parents, the school (whether high school or college) cannot notify the parents.</p>