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<p>This is concern #1. The easy A’s are tough to pass up, but if the parents don’t encourage discipline and structure, only a matter of time before the corner cutting falls short.</p>
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<p>You don’t believe a Catholic school can help in these regards?</p>
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<p>I thought this was about grade inflation… But anyway, I’m confused as to how private school will do this if she doesn’t want want to put the work in. If she goes to a private school, if anything, her GPA will go down, and say down since private schools are harder. </p>
<p>Also, why are YOU taking on this burden? Why are you taking the role of a mother? You may love your niece, but this isn’t your concern unless you are in an extremely secure financial situation (top 1%). If you aren’t, you really aren’t in a position to take on such a burden seeing that you can’t predict your financial situation in a few years. What are you gonna do if it changes and you can’t afford it? Will you stop paying and have her transfer back to that same public school with her friends?</p>
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<p>Isn’t that a big risk you are taking? There are tons of kids out there with deadbeat parents who ar extremely successful in their public school and get into amazing colleges. You can’t blame the parents for her decisions. It’s her life and she will make choices whether you chose to spend $50,000 on her education or not. Also, if the parents have a hands off aproach to her education, they are not going to magically start caring because their child goes to a different school and they won’t just decide out of the blue to join the PTA. If anything, you taking this position will make them have an even more hands off appraoch because you are taking it upon yourself to make parental decisions. I can’t see how this is a good decision in any way for the parents or your niece.</p>
<p>They can if the school takes away her phone, computer, tablet and possibly force her to stay after school to study. She needs the structure to be at home not at school. (This is just my humble opinion since I am a school teacher). There is only so much a school can do. If there isn’t the desire from the child and the help from the adults at home…it’s truly a lost cause. </p>
<p>@AnnieBeats The financials aren’t a concern. This is family and I’d like to help. $10k-30k to help her develop into a strong young woman is a steal, as far as I’m concerned.</p>
<p>Whether or not you can afford it, it isn’t your decision to make. I’m not sure that you are seeing the entire picture here. You can try to be a saint and help everyone else, but you have changed from this being about her GPA, to her friends, to structure. This is a huge commitment to make, and you should heavily scrutinize all angles. It’s not just about the money. That’s not a small part of what I spoke about. </p>
<p>EDIT: I’m not sure how it is a steal if she could very well carry the same habits into private school. $30K later, it doesn’t seem like such a bright idea.</p>
<p>But you can make any decision you want. I couldn’t disagree more with what you are doing, so I’m just gonna bite my tongue now to avoid conflict.</p>
<p>OP has been perfectly consistent. She has stated that the desire for change is about structure, habits and friends but she worries that there could be a short term GPA hit that might impact future opportunities. They are both unknowns so the question is how to weigh the variables?</p>
<p>She has said that money is not a concern and it seems fair to take her at her word.</p>
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<p>Missed this earlier. This is exactly what I want for her. Can you describe the mentoring and conditioning your daughter received? I’d like to know how to discuss these offerings with the Catholic school in her area. Thank you.</p>
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<p>The potential lack of grade inflation is literally the only concern I have with the Catholic school. The public isn’t a mystery, I know it’s easy and she will receive a much higher GPA than she deserves. The grossly inflated GPA at the public certainly helps in college admissions more than a <3.0 at the Catholic. But then you have to consider her performing better on the ACT/SAT with 2-3 years of private school, which will offset a bit of the GPA? Will her private school help her write better admissions essays?</p>
<p>The answer to the question about preparation for the college admissions process depends on which type of Catholic HS it is. The Catholic Prep schools are generally much better at college applications guidance than the regular Catholic Diocesan schools. The Catholic Prep schools in some cases tend to challenge the students a bit more than the Diocesan ones. IMHO</p>
<p>Although this may vary with geographic location and also from school to school.</p>
<p>She has to make her schedule more rigorous through Honors and AP classes. Going to Catholic school and still taking “regular” classes won’t help much. It also depends on what type of college she wants to do to. Has she mentioned where she would like to go?</p>
<p>Are you sure the HS has grade inflation? She has a good GPA taking regular classes. </p>
<p>@twogirls The inflation is apparent when I talked to her about policies teachers allow and her habits through the year. I also see via grading website that she can more or less bomb final exams and the easy, meaningless work through the semester carries the final overall grade, resulting in an underserved high mark. I’ve examined this very thoroughly.</p>
<p>One last thing. If she is bombing exams, wouldn’t putting her in harder classes only hurt her? That means she can’t handle the non rigorous classes that she is already in. Private schools usually teach on an honors level, so if you increase the rigor, tht could hurt her and stunt her growth. Okay. That’s all :)</p>
<p>“I am hoping the ethos and the faculty at the Catholic school promote and assist in her developing the habits, the disposition and the character of a strong and ambitious student.”</p>
<p>Haven’t read the whole thread but we sent our son to Catholic prep school and within a week his attitude and work ethic had changed (he was pretty lazy kid at public school - wouldn’t do homework or do it and not hand it in, forget to bring book home, etc., etc. ) </p>
<p>He did very well and even though his rank was only 23 out of 65 - he got into all colleges he applied to and is at a top 25 LAC. </p>
<p>I am sure he would not be at this college if we had kept him at his public school (which is an excellent school but if you are a lackadaisical student who doesn’t make trouble they just sort of wave you by.) </p>
<p>I agree with @bisouu that taking the AP classes and Honors track offers the most challenges and the best preparation for college.</p>
<p>However, whether in the AP track, the Honors track or the regular track, IMHO I believe a student learns excellent study skills due to the educational philosophy of Catholic schools.</p>
<p>If she does go to the Catholic HS, it would be worth noting that getting in the Honors track for sophomore year is important if she is interested in AP classes. The sophomore Honors classes are often the pre-requisites for the APs. The AP classes are typically offered in junior and senior year. Catholic schools tend to not offer AP classes in freshman year, and maybe one or two in sophomore year.</p>
<p>“There is only so much a school can do. If there isn’t the desire from the child and the help from the adults at home…it’s truly a lost cause.”</p>
<p>I gave my son all the help he needed at home. I did carrot and stick. I talked calmly, I nagged. I even bribed him once! Nothing we did at home worked. But the first time he didn’t turn in his homework at the new school and got immediate detention that afternoon was the last time he didn’t do his homework. By the end of his first week he came home talking about goals he wanted to reach - like NHS (and he did Sr. yr.) </p>
<p>He didn’t have the grades in middle school to get into honors at our public high school (I pulled him out after first 6 weeks when progress report came home and his grades were dreadful) so his first yr. at the private school he was in regular classes. By Soph. year he was in mostly honors classes. Jr. and Sr. all honors. </p>
<p>Not all the kids at private school are angels - but if you do something stupid and get caught they expel. They even expelled a kid for swearing at his mother in the parking lot. One of the Brothers heard and that was it - kid was gone that day. And it really wasn’t an extremely rigid atmosphere and they weren’t overly strict - but they had certain rules about behavior and if you screwed up you were out. </p>
<p>One thing to keep in mind is that Catholic schools can be all over the map in terms of academic quality and rigor. For instance, in the urban NE, there’s a night and day difference between Catholic Prep schools like Regis or BC High versus some other area Catholic high schools…and moreso, some academically dubious ones* I was told to avoid by Catholic friends/neighbors because their academic quality left much to be desired. </p>
<ul>
<li>Most of them have since been closed down.<br></li>
</ul>