How can posters ask questions about their academically advanced kids without being criticized?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The real issue remains that most people who are very smart and have very smart kids really do not know what it's like for a child (or adult) to be in the top 3% of the population in this regard. They have never met or interacted with children in this range

Right -- because, odds are, you'd have to meet something like, wow, 34 people in your life to stumble across even one of these folks!

[Anonymous]

People are being really obtuse here on the intelligence thing...smart kids in DC are a dime a dozen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The real issue remains that most people who are very smart and have very smart kids really do not know what it's like for a child (or adult) to be in the top 3% of the population in this regard. They have never met or interacted with children in this range

Right -- because, odds are, you'd have to meet something like, wow, 34 people in your life to stumble across even one of these folks!

As with the 1 in 8 people in this country who are illiterate, they're not evenly distributed through the population.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The real issue remains that most people who are very smart and have very smart kids really do not know what it's like for a child (or adult) to be in the top 3% of the population in this regard. They have never met or interacted with children in this range

Right -- because, odds are, you'd have to meet something like, wow, 34 people in your life to stumble across even one of these folks!

As with the 1 in 8 people in this country who are illiterate, they're not evenly distributed through the population.

Right, not evenly distributed, but more likely to be clustered here than some other spots around the country.

[Anonymous]

"Hey, you know what? I am a former PG kid. That's right -- perfect score on the SAT verbal. IQ way up there. etc etc

I live in the real world and I have a normal job. I am not a NASA scientist or a medical researcher or whatever.

And people tell me I talk funny and use big words all the time. Other than that, I interact with everyone else in the same way that you do.

PG doesn't mean highly ambitious. A PG person can have other reasons for not rising to the top of academia or what have you. Those human interaction issues are still there. "

I doubt your story.

[Anonymous]

I don't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't.

I don't either. I have a PG cousin (180 iq is what was estimated when he was a child). He's about 35, works retail, and lives in his wife's parent's basement.

[Anonymous]

My brother has a 186 IQ but he's short on life skills. Is a lawyer, but not a high paid one.

[Anonymous]

I was a PG kid (public school in a place without magnets) and have two kids in private elementary whose early WPPSI scores suggest they may be G or PG as well. I am going to clip out the post where someone said being the smartest person in the room isn't the ONLY thing that matters and put it on my refrigerator. I know plenty of people who were convinced it was the only thing that mattered - me included for a long time. Whenever it is that "the smartest kid in the room" gets taken down a peg - by life in the real world, by the mean girls in middle school, by his own lack of social skills that results in blown interviews for his Ivy apps - it becomes painfully apparent that being crowned the smartest in school has actually zero worth in life. It is a very weird dynamic that GT programs set up in my opinion. I am glad my kids will never be in one because I have no intention of ever sending them to public school.

The answer to the OP of this thread's question is that people have strong feelings on the question being asked - and in particular whether it is the right question. "How can I support my PG kid and make appropriate school choices" might be a better one.

[Anonymous]

Whenever it is that "the smartest kid in the room" gets taken down a peg - by life in the real world, by the mean girls in middle school, by his own lack of social skills that results in blown interviews for his Ivy apps - it becomes painfully apparent that being crowned the smartest in school has actually zero worth in life. It is a very weird dynamic that GT programs set up in my opinion.

But for many, the appeal of the GT program is so that their child is NOT the smartest one in the room. That they see other kids with abilities like their own and get used to having to work harder in a community of peers.

[Anonymous]

I think people just love saying their kids are GT or PG when they go to public schools to differentiate them from the pack. I've never heard a private school parent say this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

But for many, the appeal of the GT program is so that their child is NOT the smartest one in the room. That they see other kids with abilities like their own and get used to having to work harder in a community of peers.

Amen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Whenever it is that "the smartest kid in the room" gets taken down a peg - by life in the real world, by the mean girls in middle school, by his own lack of social skills that results in blown interviews for his Ivy apps - it becomes painfully apparent that being crowned the smartest in school has actually zero worth in life. It is a very weird dynamic that GT programs set up in my opinion.

But for many, the appeal of the GT program is so that their child is NOT the smartest one in the room. That they see other kids with abilities like their own and get used to having to work harder in a community of peers.

But do you really think they don't know that they have been crowned smarter than everyone else? Even if Sue is slightly more of a math wiz than John, and Doug has slightly stronger language skills than Fred? They are all more gifted than all the poor schmucks in the rest of the school. If you think they don't know this, then I would suggest you haven't spent your whole life (or close to it) tracked as a GT student.

[Anonymous]

But do you really think they don't know that they have been crowned smarter than everyone else? Even if Sue is slightly more of a math wiz than John, and Doug has slightly stronger language skills than Fred? They are all more gifted than all the poor schmucks in the rest of the school. If you think they don't know this, then I would suggest you haven't spent your whole life (or close to it) tracked as a GT student.

I do think they know that they are smarter* than most kids in their traditional classes whether they are in a GT program or not. I think they know this whether or not they are told they qualify for a program or not. How that translates into how they feel about others is up to me as a parent. I do think the schools do a poor job with this at times with the language used by some teachers and admin regarding the program. I think that is unfortunate. But is it better for the child to remain in a classroom that does not provide them the opportunity to learn at a more appropriate pace for them? Or, depending on the school, where they may not have any intellectual peers? Obviously this is not describing the elite privates, but it does describe the situation for many gifted children in many schools. And if a parent can't afford an elite private, then they have choices to make ranking their public choices with the privates that they can afford.

* smarter meaning they learn things faster and with less repetition than their classmates

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The question is, is it worth it to pay $30K for private, so your kid can read instead of learning to sit still for 15 minutes? ?

That's not the trade-off. What my DC gets for $30K a year is an educational environment that isn't about getting as many answers right as quickly as possible but about thinking in a complex, nuanced, and original way about meaningful questions and learning to communicate with and learn from others whose POVs and talents may be quite different from your own.

Indeed

Because public schools never teach thinking skills, and the POVs are so homogeneous. Poor public school kids, who will never be allowed to think in complex and original ways.

Are you serious?!