My kid is going to the BASIS charter school here in Austin this year. It is one of the highest rated in the state which is on its face good. But the more I go to these parent sessions the more the entire program disturbs me.
The BASIS Charter School system is designed from the ground up to game university admissions. They don't say this but it is as clear as day. As Austin is Austin most students there are Indians. Unsurprisingly they flock to this nonsense. They had one of the juniors come talk to us and he is like "I've been in Robotics Club, Mathletes, Science Club, and something else since I was 6 years old!" This is nothing more than performative bullshit to build a paper trail to make your application look better with extracurriculars. I hate this. My kid is just going to resent me for making her do two or three times the work her entire time in K12.
I told my wife that we can try it this year but if she hates it she can go to regular school next year. I am all about letting kids do what actually interests them and forcing them into things they don't care about solely to optimize something a decade down the road is not something I am willing to do.