My son is only mediocre in math and science.  Actually it might be more accurate to say he really dislikes those subjects.  However...a few years ago he participated in a Lego Robotics club and loved it so much he wants to "build space ships" as a career.  He's due to graduate from high school in April and we're getting ready to enroll him in the local community college.  He's been homeschooled so we are very familiar with his academic abilities.  This kid is NOT analytical and has low tolerance for hard work.  The leader of the Robotics club misled the kids into thinking building Lego robots was the same as a "STEM" career.  I've tried everything to convince my son that engineering is very hard for even the smartest students.  He keeps telling me that he doesn't want to do math equations....he just wants to design the spaceships.  He believes he can design spacecraft based on ideas he already has.  ????   

Do I go ahead and enroll him in the engineering program when I know he will wash out?  Let him learn through experience that it's not the right path even though he will incur massive student loan debt?  How do you get through to a teenage boy that he's just wrong?  

If you DO sign him up, just sign him up for a couple classes, don't go into deep debt or anything. WHEN he washes out, you don't want to be out thousands of dollars or worse.

Start small. What is a single class, $100 or $150? You want to keep his wake-up call as cheap as possible.

Now that I've thought about it longer than 60 seconds, the solution is simple: He needs to pay for that wake-up call. Have him pay 100% of the first few classes AT LEAST. There is no law or guideline that says parents must pay for the college of their kids. It's not even advisable.

The smart kids who belong in college will get scholarships due to their awesome grades and SAT scores. Kids who can't do that aren't meant for careers requiring a Bachelor of Arts. My point? There is also Trade School and other certifications that aren't nearly as expensive or useless as a "well rounded but expensive college degree".

Unless there is no other way, college should be avoided at all costs. (Hint: computer programming, graphics design, and many other careers DO NOT require a degree). In many fields, other proofs of competence do BETTER to get you a job. Portfolio, enthusiasm, raw skills that can be demonstrated.

My son is only mediocre in math and science.  Actually it might be more accurate to say he really dislikes those subjects.  However...a few years ago he participated in a Lego Robotics club and loved it so much he wants to "build space ships" as a career.  He's due to graduate from high school in April and we're getting ready to enroll him in the local community college.  He's been homeschooled so we are very familiar with his academic abilities.  This kid is NOT analytical and has low tolerance for hard work.  The leader of the Robotics club misled the kids into thinking building Lego robots was the same as a "STEM" career.  I've tried everything to convince my son that engineering is very hard for even the smartest students.  He keeps telling me that he doesn't want to do math equations....he just wants to design the spaceships.  He believes he can design spacecraft based on ideas he already has.  ????  

Do I go ahead and enroll him in the engineering program when I know he will wash out?  Let him learn through experience that it's not the right path even though he will incur massive student loan debt?  How do you get through to a teenage boy that he's just wrong?  

Father of a homeschooled son here, who is mediocre (and that is putting it charitably) in math, just OK in science, and beyond hyper-literate in reading and composition.

I have to wonder if your son's aspirations might be the catalyst to improve his math skills and science aptitude.  He wants to do this, and if he sees that the only way to succeed, is by being good in math and science, he might get better in math and science.  Who can say?

Sometimes the most challenging subjects are the ones you end up developing the most proficiency in, because you have to work so hard at it.

Enroll him in a tough "weed out" class, just the one, and see if he can hack it.  If he can't, then the question will be answered for him.  In a lot of competitive fields, the schools have weed out classes to eliminate those who will likely not succeed.

Of course, if your son has any claim to being a minority, there are many, many jobs for mediocre "rocket scientists" at NASA.  I knew many of them.  Don't get me started.

Enroll him in a tough "weed out" class, just the one, and see if he can hack it.  If he can't, then the question will be answered for him.  In a lot of competitive fields, the schools have weed out classes to eliminate those who will likely not succeed.

Of course, if your son has any claim to being a minority, there are many, many jobs for mediocre "rocket scientists" at NASA.  I knew many of them.  Don't get me started.

I know it is not always well-received on these forums to put in a good word for the black race --- and with all the politically correct social engineering and mass brainwashing that takes place these days, to the effect of the African race being the best thing that ever happened to this planet, paragons of virtue and strength both physical and spiritual, it's entirely understandable, I get just as sick of it as anyone else because it's so overblown and dissent is forbidden --- but here goes...

I found repeatedly in my working life, that for some inexplicable reason, many black women (women, not men) were almost supernaturally good at math and accounting.  I've never seen anything quite like it.  It's every bit as profound as the usual Asian stereotypes.  I even heard one of them comment on it --- "did you ever notice how many light-skinned black women are good at math?", and no, I don't think she was playing the "let's all boost each other" card that so many of them do.  I haven't seen the film Hidden Figures but I'd be interested to see it.  Math proficiency isn't the kind of thing you can fake.

I've wondered if it could be something in the way the different racial genes combine, and many "light-skinned" blacks are far more white, genetically, than they are black.

I thought I checked the box. Last one was me.

..a few years ago he participated in a Lego Robotics club and loved it so much he wants to "build space ships" as a career.

It's good he's passionate about something.  Often that can change a person into working hard for a goal.  Even if he ends up not being an engineer/scientist/designer, maybe he can go work for NASA (it's a huge place) and be around space ships.  He could be in finance, or a chef in the kitchen, or whatever...
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Lots of really good college athletes don't make the professional level, but they go work for pro teams in the office or work go into broadcasting as commentators.  They just like being around the industry/players.

… another said it was a “C” because simply drawing what you see is “unimaginative”, preferring Pico-soesque drawings.

… fellow students who’s parents were funding their dream …

Hope this helps.

"Pico-soesque" s/b "Picasso-esque"

"who's" s/b "whose"

So after you won the National Spelling Bee, what did you go on to do? [wink]