Very upset and confused with the overall course of action

Parents Forum
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<p>I posted before about the dilemma with my S. taking or not taking the AP class offered for 10th grade. Now I am even more confused and so is he so any words of wisdom would certainly be appreciated.</p>

<p>Brief background: S. is 15, in 9th grade, no musical talents, no athletic abilities to write home about but he gets all "A"s in his honor classes (except science - he takes accelerated level) plus he in the gifted program.</p>

<p>He's been enrolled in a few clubs (political science, international news newspaper, ping pong) and is doing community service at the local library.</p>

<p>Here is the problem: he doesn't like math/science, loves political discussions, really good at English, Spanish and social studies and seems to enjoy it a lot. But he is also interested in web design, multimedia aspect of the computer field, he hasn't taken any computer science classes yet but doesn't show much interest in programming or computer engineering. </p>

<p>Here is our dilemma: since his interests are pretty much on the opposite ends of the spectrum so to speak, what to do in terms of AP classes and the overall career choice? The councilor got back to me and said if he is planning to go into a computer field then 4 years of math are required and logically comp sci classes would make sense.
He himself doesn't quite know what he really wants but thinks that he'll be miserable taking super hard math classes only because it would look good for the admission people.. this whole "take the hardest classes" business is really confusing to me. He likes his Social Studies class now (it's part of a gifted program and includes a lot of open discussion and creative projects that he likes) but we know he'll have to take some AP classes and give it up.. why would the gifted level class be weighted the same as honors is beyond me but that's the way it is.</p>

<p>If he decides to go with the language/soc studies track I have real practical concerns as to what kind of job/profession he will ultimately have. Of course, he should follow his interests but.. what do you do with a major in Political Science?</p>

<p>That's all I keep hearing on the news is that computer engineering as well as health care are the best fields to be in and these are long term projections. Health care is out of the question, he is not interested at all and so is business/finance - no interest there either.</p>

<p>But if he goes with the computer track, then he'll be miserable having to take AP Calculus or equally high level classes as well as comp science.. </p>

<p>How are the schools/colleges expect these kids to do well in school, have extra curricular activities and on top of that do the community service? Oh yeah and they need to sleep 9 hours at this age.. how is everybody else doing it?? Why just being a smart student not enough, what playing a trombone have to do with your college education?</p>

<p>Tons of questions and a lot of frustration here.. Need advice. Thank you in advance!</p>

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<p>

It is the most popular major among Law School applicants, FWIW.</p>

<p>Freshman year of HS is not the time to worry about future job prospects. Kids who follow their interests (both is school and ECs) are usually the most successful at what they do.</p>

<p>That said, he should take the most rigorous classes he can handle in order to keep himself challenged, and to keep his future options open to him.</p>

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<p>If he doesn’t like math/science than comp sci is out. Period.</p>

<p>But, chill – he’s only a Soph. Consider a summer program at a local college, where he could take an intro Comp Sci course.</p>

<p>fwiw: IMO, EVERY kid should take four years of every academic core (whether they like it or not). Now that may mean College Algebra/AP Stats over Calc BC, but it’s still a math. Or, anatomy/physiology over AP Bio, but still a science. (Needless to say, a gazillion parents on cc will disagree with me.)</p>

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<p>Computer science is out but what about web design/multimedia - fields that are not that heavy on math/programming? There are just so many opportunities with this field in general and so many different ways you can go with it… </p>

<p>i don’t like math but i am a programmer and doing fine but i totally see what you mean…</p>

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<p>They don’t sleep 9 hours a night. Recent studies continue to show that teenagers are seriously sleep-deprived.
I am opposed to taking AP courses in subjects in which you have no interest. My son’s private school strongly discouraged this, although I realize that in some schools to be challenged, you have to do it.</p>

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<p>I think the best approach to take with your son is to treat HS as its own experience and not worry about his career path yet. The idea is to help him select classes that are engaging and a little challenging but not to try and create some sort of schedule that is either A) trying to look good to elite school adcoms or B) pigeonholes him into a career at either end of the spectrum (arts on one side, math/computers on the other side).</p>

<p>Some kids are not “specialists”. They are good at a wide range of topics. Their careers may end up taking advantage that they are smart, pick up basic math/computers concepts quickly AND use their writing skills AND use their visual/graphic arts skills AND tie it all together with great communication skills. That’s just one fer-instance. :)</p>

<p>Pick a few classes with the idea that your son could benefit from the “college prep” aspect of the accellerated/honors/AP… but don’t load down the whole schedule. </p>

<p>Seriously, spending one’s entire HS with HYP in mind is quite narrow thinking and while it might work for some, I’d argue that the entire concept encourages a lot of disfunctional and short-sighted decision making. </p>

<p>Trust your instincts that your son is not a cookie-cutter “one-major, HYP-only, AP-only homework-machine”. Celebrate his interests, celebrate that he is sound and smart, encourage him to take on challenges, but leave room for him to try some different things along the way (and leave time for sleeping!)</p>

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<p>My S. does sleep 9 hours but then of course he has less time for everything else…
I agree with you wholeheartedly about the AP classes but what do you do if everybody else around you is doing it and you know that you won’t get into a good school especially if you are just smart and don’t play an instrument and are not a good athlete? </p>

<p>Plus, in his case, it would be really nice to end up in the computer field and concentrate on his interests that I listed but you have to play the game everybody else is playing in order to achieve this. What do you do in this case you know…</p>

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<p>Emily, it’s all ok for him to have interests all over the map. He doesn’t have to decide a career path at age 15! The best thing he can do now is continue doing well in school and dip his toe into various clubs/activities in which he has an interest. He WILL find something he enjoys and wants to pursue further. It will be fun for you to see what the heck it is he picks up! As an anecdote (and trust me, I know how stressful the idea of planning for college etc. can be–I’m talking about my third child here) I have a third son who seemingly had no interests short of a couple of sports teams (at a low division/small school level) and, sigh, internet gaming. He is a sophomore in HS now, and has recently become interested in electronic music/DJ creation. Low and behold, our local extracurricular education provider has some classes coming up in just those areas, so we’ve just signed him up for a two-class series. Will he love it and decide this will become a lifelong passion? I don’t know, but he’s excited about it.</p>

<p>My oldest son, a junior at a fairly prestigious liberal arts college, is a computer science major. We’re thrilled, thinking he might be employable post-college. Then he added a film & media studies minor…ok, that’s interesting. Now he’s become very interested in culinary school as a complement to his number crunching (not as a profession). You never know where young peoples’ passions will take them. </p>

<p>Your son is a great student and sounds like he has a broad range of interests–that’s wonderful! Keep encouraging him to try things, without worrying about the “resume” and everything really will be ok.</p>

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<p>Web design =/= computer science. There is some programming involved, but most web designers can be described as expert users of the web design tools developed by hard-core programmers. Your son is in 9th grade, and it is too early to tell what his interests will be in the next several years. I would try to stir him towards a curriculum that will expose him to a wide variety of subjects, including chemistry, math and biology in addition to the humanities that he seems to crave. Who knows, may be he will find genetics fascinating when he learns a little bit more about it? Genetics, BTW, is not just about handling little tubes and pipetting liquids, it also involves computer analysis of the sequencing data. Kids change their interests. For example, our human rights lawyer to be graduated with a degree in molecular biology instead and is applying/got admitted to MD/PhD programs, and our foreign language/IR major to be has chosen biology as her major.</p>

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<p>He still needs 4 year of Math but not necessarily AP Calculus or Honors track. Web design courses can be taken at any local college( or even self taught through the Dummy Series). I was going to sign up D2 this summer for Web design and multimedia course online, this course was offered by a local CC. The class was closed because of CA budget cut so she did not get to take it.</p>

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<p>A political science degree or any other liberal arts degree is really not a bad choice if the student accepts that he will need to go to grad school. Post-graduate there are many options. I did Public Administration after a BA in Political Science but I too had no idea what I wanted to do while in high school. I know of another who did Library Science Masters after a History degree and became the head librarian at a major research university. There is also teaching. Your son may change is mind about business because there are so many areas of business (in which the math is not advanced) and many types of business programs. If he likes Spanish he could go into International business and take advantage of foreign language ability (even learn a third language).<br>
I am of the opinion that if a student does not know what he wants to do, he should study whatever interests him in college, whether that be history, languages, etc. If he attends a college with a good curriculum, be will discover new areas and interests and things will fall into place. As I said, If he likes Spanish, he may want to consider pursuing languages as this ability is so rare for Americans, particularly if he is interested in traveling and studying abroad.<br>
I’m not sure what to tell you about the AP classes - only that it affects his appeal to colleges. Let’s face it, in college he will have to learn a lot of material in his classes. AP classes are good practice for that.</p>

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<p>

This is great, but it has little to do with computer science. Web design skills are valuable in all fields, so there is no reason to make him choose math classes that he hates. I would encourage a 15-year-old to explore all areas and not limit himself at this age – there is no reason to choose math/science vs. humanities/social science. While math is essential for computer science theory classes in college, it’s not a requirement for programming, particularly at the high school level. Web design could easily be explored on his own time with some software.</p>

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<p>Web2094, I just sent a PM to you.</p>

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<p>If he hates math and isn’t particularly good at it, I don’t think he should be thinking he’ll major in computer science. That doesn’t mean that web design is out, but most college computer science majors are heavy on math and largely filled with kids who’ve taught themselves more computer programming than most high schools offer. He might end up as a communications major and get into web design work or an artistic kid might end up doing computer graphics. There’s no need to decide now.</p>

<p>I truly think the happiest kids are those who take the courses they want to with only half an eye on what will look good to colleges. (So my older son took AP US History because he was still going to get plenty of sleep and his grades and scores were in line with HYP type colleges.) My younger son OTOH given a choice (as a sophomore) of AP Physics B, AP World History or both, chose to only take World History. As a junior he did take both an AP science and AP history - but he likes both.</p>

<p>Math is hugely important for all sorts of fields, so I wouldn’t skimp too much on the math. Four years is a really, really good idea, but it doesn’t have to culminate with AP Calc BC. I agree with bluebayou - a good college prep schedule includes four years of math, science, English, foreign language and social science and at least a couple of art electives.</p>

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<p>Specialize in graduate school- not in college- while in college ( most school do require a major- it doesn’t need to be as specific as in graduate school), do not allow school districts to force kids to choose “tracks” without the life experience and self knowledge to do so.</p>

<p>For instance my oldest who attended excellent private schools from K-12, was very talented in the arts and as a writer. ( whenever bill & Melinda go to pick up their kids they can see my d’s painting prominently placed as the first in a showcase of the history of the students work) :)</p>

<p>she planned tocontinue that focus in college.
However she actually earned her biology degree, spent time as a tech writer and web designer, then began working with K12 teachers and students re : sciences and is now applying to graduate schools for her education degree.</p>

<p>Education should be a triangle,with a broad base of support at the foundation. Fields overlap and what our kids are doing in 20 years may not be hinted at yet.</p>

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<p>Let’s recap: The OP’s son is in 9th grade. He is a good student, and sleeps 9 hours a night (which to me suggests that he is still a relatively “young” 9th grader). The OP is “very upset and confused” because he may wind up as a political science major in college five years from now, and then what would he do with his post-graduation career 8-10 years from now?</p>

<p>Has his voice changed yet?</p>

<p>Emily, most college freshmen wind up being wrong about what they think their own interests are. High school freshmen? Their mothers? It’s not even worth thinking about.</p>

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<p>I agree with slowing down and not thinking so much about how such and such class will affect his whole future and career. Try to identify courses that are at his level, and have his councillor help you. </p>

<p>As for what you can do with a humanities degree or a political science degree, again, I would advise slowing down. There are a lot of things you can do with any degree, and just because it is not immediately apparent or always linear, doesn’t mean it’s not there. Political science majors (like myself) work in all kinds of fields. They go on to law school/business school/medical school, they work in government or international aid, they teach overseas or here in the US, they do political/military/business consulting, they run campaigns or run for office, they work in normal offices, there are endless opportunities, really. As web2094 points out, there are especially a lot of opportunities after grad school, but there are plenty of good jobs for people without graduate degrees as well. </p>

<p>The truth is, he will most likely need 4 years of math for selective colleges anyway, and he should take math at a level he’s best able to perform at. It might be challenging, and he might not like it, but he should plan on taking math AT LEAST through Trigonometry/Pre-Calculus, if not Calculus. I did 3 years of math and still got into a very good college, but it was definitely the part of my application I was most worried about (though I had all A/A- in my honors math classes, they were earned through serious struggle and toil). He doesn’t have to do AP math or science classes all four years, but he should plan on doing one and think of it as a challenge rather than as a “super hard math class”. The councillor is right, if he wants to work in computer science, he’ll need math, if nothing else as a pre-req once he gets to college. If he wants web design, he won’t need as much math, but he’ll need some artistic talent or at least an eye for aesthetics.</p>

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<p>Also, he may really like his gifted social studies class now, but that doesn’t mean he won’t also really like his AP history classes. There is no reason why a student classified as gifted cannot excel in AP courses of any kind, so he and you should not be afraid of pursuing them. It might even appear strange to an adcom to look at a transcript saying “Gifted” all over it, but with no AP’s.</p>

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<p>He should do what he loves. If he loves it, he will do well and be successful. He should take AP classes in English and History if that is where his strengths lie, and take honors in math but not push the AP math if it is not to his liking and if he is not going to be successful. He can take four years without having to take calculus. He can take Algebra/Geomety/Precalc then a non AP stats or then take a dual enrollment math class. My D was NOT a math fan, and did the above three and then college algegra and college precalc at the CC. She had “5” credits of of math for HS and two college courses before she started college, all without taking any AP in Math. She took AP’s in the areas she liked.</p>

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<p>I think of web design as being artistic - using existing tools to create artistic works that may or may not be functional. Perhaps something in the area of graphic arts including web design may be of interest. My daughter has some interest in this area but will be exploring a few other things this semester.</p>

<p>Instead of AP courses, would dual-enrollment courses in artistic areas or the humanities work for him?</p>