<p>No cash or other rewards here, either, though we do go out and celebrate achievements. But we do not make a big deal of grades, either. We’ve found that our S is willing to aim higher if he does not have to worry about getting top grades (conversely, there are plenty of kids who focus on getting high grades and take easy classes, or kids who take APs for the sake of have the benefit of weighted grades). </p>
<p>Like most high schools, ours also emphasizes athletics. But there are enough high achieving kids to fill a variety of academic teams (though not the math team) and to provide support for one another. My S is not the competitive type. But he hates to let his teams down; that’s what motivates him to show up week in week out and try to do well on competitions. Yet, if the team or he himself does not do as well as he would like, he just moves on.</p>