We Need More Helicopters After All

College Board, which publishes the SAT and AP exams, also conducted a survey of high school seniors' opinions on their parents' involvement in their college decisions. Guess what?

NEW YORK—Helicopter parents, so named because they hover like a helicopter over their children’s lives, were the focus of the first issue of studentPOLL published jointly in a new collaboration between the College Board and Art & Science Group. The findings of a national online survey of high school seniors conducted by the two organizations show that high school seniors are generally satisfied with the current level of their parents’ involvement in the college planning process. Ninety-five percent of students indicated that their parents were either “very involved” or “involved” in their college plans but, contrary to anecdotal suggestions, the students reported very little unwanted, intrusive behavior on the part of their parents. In fact, nearly 30 percent of students want more, not less, parental involvement.


In other words, at least 25% of the students indicated their parents are involved in the decision, and want them to be even more involved.


Detractors may call it "helicoptering" but in this case, it looks like responsible family life to me.