| sakky, I believe that the students that MIT accepts, on a a whole are capable of graduating in their chosen fields of interest. Students may change fields if the field is not exciting them as that is very common in college. But if it is the field that they truly want, most students of the caliber that MIT accepts, can rise to the occasion and pass and graduate. If they feel MIT is too difficult, they can transfer. I know my kids would not change majors as an easier path toward graduating. They just would not. They are too interested in their fields.
By the way, as far as post #36, we definitely encouraged skills with our kids that were not "useful" or were not "academic" in nature. We were and continue to be very very very into their extracurricular pursuits which I have to say have been lifelong passions of theirs. They continued these in college as well. We encourage that and those areas may not have any bearing on an eventual career. One of my kids actually turned her EC pursuits which began as a preschooler through high school graduation into her college major and career path in fact. Of course we also encouraged her academic achievements in the classroom but these other interests have become her lifelong passion and now her career pursuit. |