Academic Programs Provide Kids an Alternative Camp Experience
By
Relationship Advice Expert April MasiniQ: Dear April Masini,
My son, who is in the eighth grade, got accepted to an academic program for the summer. I have never seen anything like this before. He's interested in it, but I'm not sure if it's a scam, or even if it would be a bad idea for him to have more schooling in the summertime. I want to be sure he has time to enjoy his childhood, play outside, the whole bit.
What do you think?
Sincerely,
Einstein's Mom
A:
Dear Einstein's Mom,
Academic summer programs have been around for decades and decades and decades. They've become more popular in recent years because parents have children later in life and against all odds with the help of fertility treatments and adoption agencies, making the parents more aware of their child's life, but having trouble separating it from their own, as is the challenge of all parents over time.
Many parents see their children as extensions of themselves, and want their children to have advantages in life that may or may not be advantages and may or may not be what the child wants. However, business caters to the dollar and these parents have money to spend on their children. That's why there are so many intense academic summer programs and intense sports as a career for your child summer programs. Lazy days of summer are opportunities to get ahead -- even if you're a tween!
The summer academic experience extends from summer programs sponsored by public and private schools "on campus" or local colleges and universities that offer summer programs for tweens and teens. In addition there are brain camps offered by college prep companies and gifted programs that charge parents to have their children tested and then invited or denied entrance to summer and distance programs that implement education.
Parents and students who partake in these programs usually expect to gain an edge in college entrance applications. Colleges that create these programs foster business for their campus as well as provide an educational opportunity for kids who may otherwise be fishing and swimming all summer.
April Masini -- nicknamed "the new millennium's Dear Abby" by the media, is author of the best-selling books Date Out Of Your League and Think & Date Like A Man, the two (just released) step-by-step dating and relationship manuals, Ideas for a Fun Date and Romantic Date Ideas,
and the critically acclaimed dating and relationship online magazine www.AskApril.com.
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