My 15 year old DS wants to be a fashion designer. He is currently doing GCSE art but hates it. He loves designing fashions but dislikes painting, charcoal drawing etc. He wants to do A levels at King's Ely, but to get a place on the fashion and textiles course, he needs at least a 6 or above in GCSE art. They will consider a portfolio but only in exceptional circumstances. He has now decided he wants to drop GCSE art, despite the fact that King's Ely has pretty much said that the chances of him getting in without the required GCSEs are virtually non-existent. The fact that he has dropped art at this level will count against him, and entrance into the course is very competitive.
He has spent all Easter holidays working on one design, sometimes up to 10 hours per day. This is instead of doing his art portfolio. His other GCSE subjects are well on track - he is in the top sets for most of his subjects. AIBU to discourage him from dropping the one subject he needs to go to King's Ely or most other F&T courses? Or is this a case of letting him make his own decision, and his life will work out accordingly? When does a parent have to let go of the reins and let their child make their own decisions and possibly make mistakes? Please be gentle as I am just trying to be a good parent and support him. Should I back off and let him decide his own choices from now or do I intervene? What if it all goes wrong and he blames us for not guiding him?
Thank you for reading.