An Advanced Education Versus the Regular High School Academic Environment

With the school year coming to its last few months, students and parents around the country are trying to make tough decisions about their academic futures. Most will only have to decide between what courses to take next year. Others may be making the decision to switch from public to private school. Still others, like my daughter and I, will have a harder decision to make. Perhaps my own deliberation can help those people make the right choice for their student.

Recently, my daughter was accepted into a new charter high school. She'll be one of this new school's first 200 students in the first-time ninth grade. The school emphasis is on mathematics, science and technology with the primary focus being on Engineering (Aerospace Design & Application, Mechanical Engineering, and Computer Engineering), Bioscience (Biomedical Design, Biotechnology, and Forensic Science) and Emerging Technologies (Robotics, Nanotechnologies and GPS Applications) as the three main areas of study. The students would also take a foreign language and fine arts course.

Granted, I'm very proud of my daughter being selected into the program, but I wonder about what she might miss by not attending the regular high school. Please note that the regular high school is one of the best in the area and offers Honors as well as Advanced Placement courses so getting a solid education with whichever choice she makes isn't the issue.

However, my worry is this...is attending an advanced, specialized high school worth missing out on all the regular high school offers? If faced with this same decision, which would you choose?

Let's compare the two types of schools. First, let's take a look at a few of the pros and cons of attending the charter school.