He is a Frosh, and is not trying at all, pulling in B-range grades in most of his classes and two C+'s
However, he logic for not trying is because he is automatically going to a good cyber security college (our uncle is on board) and then get recruited straight out of college given how needed Cyber Security majors are (especially with how most jobs require US citizenship and a clearance,) and if he does not get a job he could just work on my family’s business for cyber security and get a lot of money
I don’t really think its wrong with it as his grades won’t impact his future after high school. He could try and actually learn in classes that teach useful things regarding cyber security but beyond that its not a big deal.
He should at least try. Who knows what’ll happen in four years when he applies to college? What if he decides he doesn’t want to work in cyber security? He’ll regret his decisions later on if anything changes.
Does he know he wants to do cyber security? I fear it may end up being a veil for why he is doing poorly in school, and he will have more options if he puts in some effort
If he put in some effort he might be rewarded for attending school every day for four years. Who knows what he might learn? Telling himself that he’s going to do cyber security for sure is limiting not only his options, but his entire perspective on the various opportunities he could have post-secondary.
He should establish good habits now so it’ll be easy for him to handle work and stress later on (pulling in Bs as a junior is very different from Bs as a frosh), but he shouldn’t force himself to struggle.
Has he done cybersecurity contests like picoCTF and other CTFs? Is he already able to program somewhat? That would at least indicate whether he had an aptitude for it and whether he really enjoyed it.
My son’s school does quite well on those competitions, and the kids I have known on the team get high grades, high scores, have a lot of interests, and end up at impressive colleges in a variety of STEM majors. Cybersecurity is a meritocracy, and even if his uncle is on the Board of Directors for CMU, he’s not going to do well on the PPP team if he hasn’t developed a strong work ethic. Its true there is a big demand; there is even some recruiting for summer jobs at the HS level.