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Seems like others in the thread have some decent observations, but I don't really see too many people disregarding the importance if the program to begin with. Grades just don't decide your future, and to get them, you really need to believe in and most likely be prepared for the sacrifice. If you're looking at your prospects for after-grad entry into some related field, it would be hard to convince oneself now that it'd worth pursuing at that level, assuming every other element already being a non-issue (money, inherent motivation in the subject, drive toward academic success, motivation to do a job in the field after, intellect, lack of depression). If you're setting out to pursue a degree program at the "status" schools in 2024, or any for that matter, you're going to be doing it quite optimistically. The apparent reality is that at-best you'll be competing with every other competitive rich person in a wildly over-saturated try-hard market (at present) for what are pretty isolating and potentially miserable, but hypothetically high-paying roles. I would not be shocked if students are starting to question the boomerisms of the last half-century that indicated if you just worked hard and got good grades you'll be successful, because that's all a heap of bs, it's just more visible now. In my city and many others, you'd have to get and keep an unrealistic level of luck over an extended period of time AND work quite hard to the point of burnout in order to... get like a 1 bedroom condo. Imagine if you've grown up in the suburbs and have gone straight to school, have no close friends, no romantic prospects, no options; this is what many 30+ y.o people are going through. If I was looking at that as my outcome at age 19, which I may not have because I wasn't that observant, I might just not care too much what my grade on some trite exam is promising to do for me. Imagine grinding for years, graduating with $200k in debt or something (idk, not American, seems like your private education institutions are a pyramid scheme), and then still spending years in the basement of your parents place because it's impossible to find a job _at_all_, let alone one that would help you actually form the basis of a functional adult life. Maybe you OP graduated during the 2008 recession or the dot-com boom, that's like 1/4 of the way there in terms of existential dread if you're getting started now, but maybe most of it if you're one of the hundreds of thousands of people with years in their professions who can't even get a call back. These thoughts are in addition to the others in this thread, but how relevant they are depends on who your kid is. I personally have never and will never respond to external pressures in the best of times, so I tend to question the source of motivation of the people attempting to apply the pressure, because usually they don't understand how someone wouldn't respond. I literally cannot imagine performing well in school unless I deeply felt it would map to a better future, and I'd presume a smart kid would need a wise parent to help them navigate that in the least-hands-on way possible. |