One source of stress stems from kids and parents realizing a little too late what it takes to succeed in their high school and earn a spot at good college. We know several families for whom the light bulb turned on in the fall of their child’s junior year, and so they orchestrated a frantic frenzy of activity with the goal of compensating for what the student had not accomplished previously but which they felt was necessary for college apps. The one such student whom we know pretty well just looks exhausted and defeated, and is not doing was well as she was before in her primary EC.
Another is stricter standards within the high school. I’ve watched our school keep upping the ante on honor roll cut-offs, NHS requirements, subject-area honor societies, club participation rules, pay-to-play rules, community service requirements, and quantity of classroom testing and standardized testing. So even parents who are generally aware can fail to remind/guide/push their children accordingly, if certain honors or recognitions are desired. Then the parent is frustrated and can take it out on the student for not staying on top of things. Truly, it is the student’s responsibility, but I can attest to the quantities of e-mails we receive with bureaucratic reminders about this or that housekeeping detail the student must see to, and things can easily fall through the cracks.