Nature vs. nurture! Can you make a monkey do ….?

[Anonymous]

So many ppl here claim that a bunch of average kids are getting places only because of prepping, despite being average!!

The question is: do you really think that any average Joe can learn anything and everything!

[Anonymous]

No, but there's a difference between gifted kids and bright kids. The bright kids can definitely learn enough to get into these programs. The gifted kids get in on their own without all the prep.

The gifted kids aren't guaranteed to be successful, of course. They need to be focused and engaged and do the work, and sometimes they don't (aka one of my two "gifted" kids)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, but there's a difference between gifted kids and bright kids. The bright kids can definitely learn enough to get into these programs. The gifted kids get in on their own without all the prep.

The gifted kids aren't guaranteed to be successful, of course. They need to be focused and engaged and do the work, and sometimes they don't (aka one of my two "gifted" kids)

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, but there's a difference between gifted kids and bright kids. The bright kids can definitely learn enough to get into these programs. The gifted kids get in on their own without all the prep.

The gifted kids aren't guaranteed to be successful, of course. They need to be focused and engaged and do the work, and sometimes they don't (aka one of my two "gifted" kids)

So you’re already creating the ‘bright’ and ‘gifted’ categories.

Any kids that can be grouped outside of these two?

[Anonymous]

Fcps wants to displace middle class kids with strong parental support with esol and farms

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So many ppl here claim that a bunch of average kids are getting places only because of prepping, despite being average!!

The question is: do you really think that any average Joe can learn anything and everything!

Sure, most people are brighter than you give them credit...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fcps wants to displace middle class kids with strong parental support with esol and farms

How do you know this exactly? Is it on their website, or did you pull it out of your air?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So many ppl here claim that a bunch of average kids are getting places only because of prepping, despite being average!!

The question is: do you really think that any average Joe can learn anything and everything!

Sure, most people are brighter than you give them credit...

By definition most are average or below. Can anyone learn to be a good software developer ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So many ppl here claim that a bunch of average kids are getting places only because of prepping, despite being average!!

The question is: do you really think that any average Joe can learn anything and everything!

Sure, most people are brighter than you give them credit...

By definition most are average or below. Can anyone learn to be a good software developer ?

Average is a lot better than what you think it is then.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, but there's a difference between gifted kids and bright kids. The bright kids can definitely learn enough to get into these programs. The gifted kids get in on their own without all the prep.

The gifted kids aren't guaranteed to be successful, of course. They need to be focused and engaged and do the work, and sometimes they don't (aka one of my two "gifted" kids)

So you’re already creating the ‘bright’ and ‘gifted’ categories.

Any kids that can be grouped outside of these two?

I work in an elementary school. There are many kids who will never be smart enough to pick on concepts quickly enough to be capable of getting into an advanced program. So no, not every "monkey" as the op calls them, can be trained to do high level work. Obviously I made broad categories, but I think you and other people know what I was taking about.

[Anonymous]

DD's test scores went from slightly above average to very high in the year and a half we kept her home during Covid when we picked our own curriculum and spent a lot of time helping her, so part of me believes that yes, you can train most kids to qualify for the gifted program with prep.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD's test scores went from slightly above average to very high in the year and a half we kept her home during Covid when we picked our own curriculum and spent a lot of time helping her, so part of me believes that yes, you can train most kids to qualify for the gifted program with prep.

But that is not a reflection on training. That’s a reflection of the quality of the gifted program. The bar is low enough to serve way more kids than there are truly gifted kids. Actually, the truly gifted kids get the short end of the stick here, because the program s that are used to fulfill their needs actually don’t.

If the school offered additional differentiation and had a gifted program instead of AAP as in Fx co, then you’d see that the ‘bright’ kids would have an actual hard time keeping up with the gifted curriculum.

[Anonymous]

… differentiation and had a gifted program IN ADDITION TO AAP as in Fx co …

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD's test scores went from slightly above average to very high in the year and a half we kept her home during Covid when we picked our own curriculum and spent a lot of time helping her, so part of me believes that yes, you can train most kids to qualify for the gifted program with prep.

But that is not a reflection on training. That’s a reflection of the quality of the gifted program. The bar is low enough to serve way more kids than there are truly gifted kids. Actually, the truly gifted kids get the short end of the stick here, because the program s that are used to fulfill their needs actually don’t.

If the school offered additional differentiation and had a gifted program instead of AAP as in Fx co, then you’d see that the ‘bright’ kids would have an actual hard time keeping up with the gifted curriculum.

How would you change the differentiation? I'm PP. I should have clarified that her CoGAT test scores went up a lot and she ended up in the 99%. During the 1.5 years of homeschooling, she got a lot of individual attention and we used more rigorous curriculum than what the school was using.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD's test scores went from slightly above average to very high in the year and a half we kept her home during Covid when we picked our own curriculum and spent a lot of time helping her, so part of me believes that yes, you can train most kids to qualify for the gifted program with prep.

But that is not a reflection on training. That’s a reflection of the quality of the gifted program. The bar is low enough to serve way more kids than there are truly gifted kids. Actually, the truly gifted kids get the short end of the stick here, because the program s that are used to fulfill their needs actually don’t.

If the school offered additional differentiation and had a gifted program instead of AAP as in Fx co, then you’d see that the ‘bright’ kids would have an actual hard time keeping up with the gifted curriculum.

How would you change the differentiation? I'm PP. I should have clarified that her CoGAT test scores went up a lot and she ended up in the 99%. During the 1.5 years of homeschooling, she got a lot of individual attention and we used more rigorous curriculum than what the school was using.

Were you using CogAT prep workbooks?