Reply to s/o: Force child to go to TJ?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Would you strongly encourage- not force- your child if the students says “I don’t know” to TJ attendance? The student has strong math/science grades (99% IAAT, all As without retakes); the student is very reserved so he won’t decide on anything if he isn’t 100% sure he likes it/can do it; [b]the student lacks confidence[/b] because there are “smarter” (child’s own words) kids in his base school whom he thinks should definitely go to TJ; the students is likely to pursue a STEM career because he is very “practical” in terms of finding jobs or income prospects in the future.[/quote]

The bolded is pretty important to me, as someone who lived through TJ in what most would say was a less-competitive time. I would say TJ is a pretty rough environment for kids who lack academic confidence. Kids like your child who easily get As will suddenly be surrounded by everyone else who has also easily gotten As all their lives, and the competition was fierce even when I was there. It's wasn't competitive in a "I will take you out to get my own advantage" way either, but there was just a lot of academic one-up-manship.

Go to TJ because you want the post-AP classes they offer. Go to TJ for the peer group. Go to TJ because you are passionate about tech labs and mentorship. Go to TJ because you do math for fun. Go to TJ because you think science is amazing.

But I wouldn't say going to TJ is great because your kid will probably go into STEM because you can usually make a living that way. That's not passion, that's settling.[/quote]

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