Can a parent or stepparent impose a specific highschool on their child/stepchild against the wishes of the child/stepchild?

First off, welcome to Fluther. Secondly, the short answer is yes. Unless they live in a state in which the age of majority is 16, the parents can do this. Parents have responsibilities to their children. Legally they have to support their children which is food, clothing, housing, etc. But they are also given the right to make important decisions about their childrens’ lives. What doctor to go to and when, what school to send them too, where they will live, etc are all decisions that parents can make.
There are a few things that play into those decisions, however, that the parents cannot control. For instance, with the high school you mentioned…they can pay to send the child to the H.S. but might have a hard time getting them to participate, study, pass classes, etc. Other things that might happen is that the child might become a disciplinary case, acting out in class, brewing a bad attitude at home, etc. Being a good parent is a tricky business. You have a very important job to do…raise a child. You are given no training, no experience. You have the authority to make decisions that could be great or horrible for your child. Oh, and no two children are alike, so if you have more than one, what might work for one, won’t necessarily work for the next.
In the situation you describe, there might be valid reasons for wanting to move a child to another school. It might be that the school they are currently in is the problem. Violence on the upswing, the child has fallen in with a bad crowd, the education they are getting is miserable…a lot of things could play in there. It might be that the parent believes the new school will bring something to the child that they might otherwise be lacking. In your example it might be a dose of religion. I’m not going to go into the religious aspect much other than to suggest that it doesn’t hurt to open up to new ideas. Sometimes, growing up as a child, it can be beneficial to open up to new ideas so you can make informed decisions about those ideas.
But if there is a good relationship between parent and child, there will be open lines of communication. We sometimes hear things we don’t want to hear, but the open communications at least allow all opinions to get out onto the table to be heard.
The only other legal option open to a child that is being sent to a school they do not wish to attend would be to petition the courts for emancipation. Emancipation is a legal term which means the child would legally be allowed to make their own decisions about their life. The courts would take the responsibility of support away from the parents, meaning the parents would no longer be obliged to provide food, shelter, etc. but would also take away their authority over the child. Effectively the child would be viewed as an adult. The downside to this course is that (a) it takes money to go to court and (b) it takes time to go to court. Until the courts rule on the case, the child is still considered under their parents decisions and so would have to go to the new H.S. for instance. And I have no idea how long an emancipation case could take, but at 16, the child might be an adult anyway before it is decided.

Yes. However, according to anecdotal evidence I’ve gleaned over the years, Christian schools are exceptionally easy to get kicked out of. You might consider taking up Wicca, or starting a Dungeons and Dragons party during lunch period. Have fun.

Usually, the school district will determine which school the student attends. Unless the parent wants a religious, private, etc. school. If I was the student, I would contact the schools, principals, religious leaders, etc. In other words, I would raise holy hell! (Especially if I was the Atheist I am now!)

@kritiper so i think i am in the situation you describe, the parents wanting a religious private school. I’m not sure i understood what you are suggesting to do in this situation? Contact other schools? Or the leaders of the school they are making me go to?

@Muad_Dib I wish! For that kind of stuff (and smaller things too) rather than being kicked out we end up with demerits and once those accumulate it gets you in weekend detention which is the most horrible thing meaning you spend two hours doing really crappy gym exercises and then another 2 hours where you are made to stay still in a pretty uncomfortable position listening to recordings that then you have to answer multiple choice questions on and depending how you do on those you may or may not get out of detention and may have to redo the whole thing again the next day…

@seawulf575 so asking for emancipation means you would have to be able to support yourself ? Like work and have the money to pay for stuff?

Basically, yes. Unless the child gets a legal advocate and goes to court to be declared an emancipated minor in which case the child would then be responsible for all their own expenses.

@marinelife isn’t there anything in between? Like not being completely independent and them still being responsible for expenses but just being able to overule them on the choice of school? Because being responsible for your own expenses when you’re in school and not making money doesn’t make much sense to me…

I think your best bet would be to get an adult ally that your parents trust to make a case for you. Is there someone you can get on your side?

What parents often don’t seem to consider is that their children remember what was inflicted upon them, and all their behavior towards their children affects their relationship with their child, and how their child reacts to much of the rest of their own life.

Sending a 16-year-old to a different school against their will is going to have consequences, and if it’s a religious school they don’t want to go to, I would not expect it to tend to have a very positive effect on their openness to that religion. One of my friends was sent to a religious school, and he learned a lot about religion and developed that as a subject of interest, and spread the conversation to his friends, but those conversations pretty much never cast that religion in a favorable light, at all – quite the opposite.

Yeah, I’m afraid they can. You only have a year or two left then you’ll be free to make all of your own decisions.

You can always refuse confirmation and first communion and get banned from the school. So you do have a say .I had to get baptized at 12 at 6’ 5” in the baby font to go to Catholic school in grade 7

@kate_ro The schools involved, the schools you’re supposed to attend. Anybody and everybody associated with those schools. The priests. The churches. Your mother’s priest, your father’s priest. Leave no stone unturned!
I had a heck of a time with my mother when I wanted to quit the Catholic church. She tried to force me to go but I couldn’t bring myself to walk in the church door with Mom being right there with me!!! I turned and walked away!!!

@kate_ro for emancipation…yes. Effectively you are asking the court to grant that you are an adult. Your parents lose their parental rights, but they also lose their parental responsibility. If they want you out of the house, if they don’t want to provide for you, they are no longer required to.

Hm. My dad got kicked out of Catholic school by stealing communion wine out of the chapel and drinking with his friends on the handball court.

Just saying it’s an option.