It is true that 4 honors classes in my H.S. is a HUGE amount of homework. And I can understand his reluctance.
Uhhhh... yeah, me too, actually. I don't think I'd do it, and I say that as the parent to a HS junior who's managed this kind of course load pretty well...
One thing I'd be wary of here-- with an "honors" section that large... it's quite likely that it ISN'T as accelerated as you're imagining. My guess is that it's a feeder class for AP, and comes with a weighted GPA, yes? Yup. It's about building college resumes, not what is taught in class-- in which case its about more-more-more-more work. (In order to justify the weighted GPA, see.) Not harder. Not faster.
MORE.
Everything you've said points in that direction, honestly-- high achieving student population, helicopter/push parenting, and finally, the legendary/notorious workload...
I wouldn't do it. Not with a kid who isn't self-motivated with that kind of work, and clearly he's not.
I realize that probably isn't what you want to hear, but honestly, the system is what it is. This wasn't a surprise to anyone, right? Have you pointed all of this out to your 14yo? Has he been aware of the policy re: entry into honors?
If so, then this isn't an advocacy failure-- it's HIS failure to hold up his end of things. Sorry, at this age "it's boring" is not a good enough excuse for not turning in class work. I mean, maybe it's a
reason. But that's different than a valid excuse.
I have a good idea what you're up against here-- I have a kid this age.
Why is he in
other honors sections? Is this just a problem in science class? Is he doing that much better in the other courses he's in? Or is it just that there is such high demand for the honors science that the bar has to be that high? (Because honestly, 96% is
way high unless there is some hard-core grade inflation happening in that class...)
