Each year of high school presents its own
challenges to the student and parent as well as its own set of goals that
families should strive to meet as they aim to transition to a life after high
school. Of course the first of these years is freshman year and a big part of
that is getting high school off on the right foot.
I believe that the social
aspect of high school plays its biggest role during the freshman year. These
students find themselves right in the heart of puberty and they are currently
searching to find their niche in the social scene. 9th graders recognize the
fact that they are beginning a new chapter of life and that chapter will lead
them into adulthood. They are often overwhelmingly preoccupied with their
friends and the dynamics of friendships within groups as they struggle to
create and maintain an identity.
Unfortunately, this
preoccupation often comes at the expense of academics and cutting academics short
during the freshman year can create big holes on college applications. I like
to remind my freshman that the GPA they have at the end of their junior year is
far more important to me than the one they have at the end of their senior
year. That is because students will be applying to college in the fall of their
senior year, before any senior grades are in. Thus, the GPA colleges will use to
determine acceptance are based on junior, sophomore, and freshman grades. So,
grades from freshman year comprise a full third of one of the largest
components colleges use to determine who they admit. Freshmen year matters. A
lot.
It goes without saying that doing
badly during freshman year can impact the classes you take in subsequent years
and the rigor of schedule is certainly something colleges examine. It should be
obvious too that a student who does poorly freshman year is probably not
learning all he or she can and that can impact standardized test scores.
I think the key here is to
expect some turbulent air as your child takes off for high school. Parents need
to understand that the start of high school is a tough time in a young person’s
life. There is likely much more they are dealing with besides what is happening
in their classes and that extra social stuff might not be something freshmen
are entirely forthcoming about in conversations with their parents. There is a
thin line that must be walked between keeping grades up in the early goings of
high school and not berating students to the point that they want to thrown
their hands up and walk away from academics because the pressure of the social
aspects and academic ones are all just too much.
Be supportive of your child and understanding of the unseen struggles they are
facing while patiently reinforcing good study habits. Even if freshmen year
doesn’t turn out to be the best in all of high school, surviving it without being
overly detrimental to post-high school goals should be considered a moral victory.
