Ask Amy: Young son worries about growing up
We realize that these are high standards, but as a family, we have high standards. That’s the way it is.
Our daughter came home from her first semester at college with B’s and C’s. She has not gotten into trouble, but she has not found any outside worthwhile activities.
My wife and I gave her one more semester to get it together, but she recently told us that she is worried that she isn’t able to bring her grades up enough.
We told her that a deal is a deal, and if she likes college, she’ll have to satisfy these requirements.
She thinks we’re wrong, of course, and we have agreed to seek an outside opinion about this.
What do you think?
– Puzzled Parents
Dear Puzzled: I think you’re wrong. Also dumb.
If you want your kids to skim their education off of the lowest hanging offerings at school, then your rigidity about their grades will incentivize them to choose the easiest course of study. And so at the beginning of the semester when they are signing up for classes, they might hedge their bets and skip over biochemistry in favor of “Intro into soccer appreciation.”
(The internet is crowded with suggestions for “GPA boosters.”)
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