Anonymous wrote:I have a child who is very weak academically. He has friends that are in classes with him, and he has friends who are taking the most AP classes they can. He’s a great kid, doesn’t get in trouble, works hard, is nice to his peers, just really struggles in school. It really bothers me that people think all kids in regular classes are bad kids.

PP I don't think most people think kids in regular classes are bad kids. I think some people were talking about kids who tend to get in trouble which is different from a kid like yours who is absolutely on the same track as the top honors kids.

In the end if you are heading to college it's the same whether you go to a lower ranked school or a higher ranked school it really doesn't make a difference.

I don’t think class levels are that big of a factor. I used to worry about this. My kids range in age from 10th - college senior and it didn’t end up making a difference if some friends were more or less advanced academically. My youngest is sweet, serious and hardworking but due to stress has opted out of most APs and even some honors. Our school has a reputation for being a pressure cooker but he has 7 classes a day so there is still overlap with most friends in a class or 2 each. Kids he doesn’t see in class continue to walk home with him and have lunch with him. The friends he dropped have tended to be due to changes in interests and behavior. His friend group did shift a lot towards kids who share his sport but that was more about expanding his circle than replacing it.

I have a child who is very weak academically. He has friends that are in classes with him, and he has friends who are taking the most AP classes they can. He’s a great kid, doesn’t get in trouble, works hard, is nice to his peers, just really struggles in school. It really bothers me that people think all kids in regular classes are bad kids.

Anonymous wrote:It was a good thing for my younger son. Some of the kids that were prone to trouble were no longer in his orbit in high school since he was all honors/APs. For boys, especially, who you gang around with directly impacts your own success and well-being. You are also in a group that takes academics seriously. A lot if these honors kids were also on his high school sports team so that also helped.

I do think it can be different for boys v girls unless the boys group has a strong organizer. IME the boys tend to be less good about organizing get togethers so they just hang out with whoever they see at that moment.