Do you put your kid in the highest rigorous classes and get a B or an easier class just to get a stupid A?

Our son was two years ahead of his grade in one of the most rigorous IB schools in the country in Northern Virginia. As a Sophomore he took the top Math class in the school, IB English and Chinese 2. The English class gave one A in the entire school and the Math class was brutal. No make-ups, no extra credit was allowed. IB is a totally different learning style. He ended up with a couple C+ in Math and English and was the only non-Chinese descent student in the school to get a B+ or higher in Chinese.

Even though his weighted average is over a 3.9, those C+ and B+ grades dropped his unweighted down to 3.6. We could have easily put him in lower classes more on level and he would have had a much higher GPA. Even slowing down and having him take that Math class as a Junior or Senior would have helped.

So...do you challenge your kids and put them in rigorous classes...or do you put them in whatever class they can get an A in and then have them focus their learning on getting a 30+ on the ACT and call it a day?

My next son up is a new Freshman. He got straight A's in 8th grade. He does not want to be a Math major or an Engineer...so we purposefully put him on a slower IB math track then his brother was on. His counselors think we are crazy and want him in the top math class. However, we know where that track leads and it is into the brutal higher level Math classes that you can not get As in.

So here we are...playing games to get a higher GPA in order to get into BYU.