Science Olympiad Question

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Parent participation was a requirement and knocked out a number. In the end, the team was pretty diverse and fairly reflective of school make-up. Wish more parents would volunteer though.

Where? I am curious, as some top parents have been overlooked, and some mediocre kids have been accepted. More often than not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parent participation was a requirement and knocked out a number. In the end, the team was pretty diverse and fairly reflective of school make-up. Wish more parents would volunteer though.

Where? I am curious, as some top parents have been overlooked, and some mediocre kids have been accepted. More often than not.

Because each team/event needs a parent to coach it. There are 24 events in Division B for example, plus extra events at state. Even if you have one parent coach the event for all of the two or three teams that the school brings, that means you need at least 20-24 coaches.

The teams meet at least once a week for months, for an hour to a couple of hours at a time. It is a big commitment. The main coaches do an incredible amount of work, just with organization and scheduling alone.

As someone whose kid has done this for three years, and who has helped with coaching events, I would much rather have a mediocre team member who is 100% invested in the team and whose parents are willing to pull their weight, than an overextended superstar whose parents think they are too busy/important/overscheduled/checked out/whatever to donate their time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parent participation was a requirement and knocked out a number. In the end, the team was pretty diverse and fairly reflective of school make-up. Wish more parents would volunteer though.

Where? I am curious, as some top parents have been overlooked, and some mediocre kids have been accepted. More often than not.

Because each team/event needs a parent to coach it. There are 24 events in Division B for example, plus extra events at state. Even if you have one parent coach the event for all of the two or three teams that the school brings, that means you need at least 20-24 coaches.

The teams meet at least once a week for months, for an hour to a couple of hours at a time. It is a big commitment. The main coaches do an incredible amount of work, just with organization and scheduling alone.

As someone whose kid has done this for three years, and who has helped with coaching events, I would much rather have a mediocre team member who is 100% invested in the team and whose parents are willing to pull their weight, than an overextended superstar whose parents think they are too busy/important/overscheduled/checked out/whatever to donate their time.

Oh wait, you said "where?" not "why?" lol Ignore above post.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our division B elementary school team was chosen by lottery by the school, which was somewhat odd because other than paying the fees, the school provided no support..

What grade kids in your division B? I would imagine most of schools take division B quite seriously, at least the middle schools.

6th. It was an elementary school. Does the school normally do anything other than pay the fees (and chose the participants)?

[Anonymous]

So according to PP, there are no white parents who are not self important? Or no white parents that are smart enough to be on SO, and contribute extensively? Or both?

And you don't think theory of yours is racist? How is that I wonder?

Are you the teacher referred to in this post? Interesting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So according to PP, there are no white parents who are not self important? Or no white parents that are smart enough to be on SO, and contribute extensively? Or both?

And you don't think theory of yours is racist? How is that I wonder?

Are you the teacher referred to in this post? Interesting.

Not sure what's the point of the pp.
We attended division A this year. Overall, looks there are about 25% East Asian kids, about 25% South Asian kids, 40% white (including Latino) kids, about 10% AA kids. That's probably the dynamics of FCPS academics. As for individual school, it can be different, but also reflects the demographics of the area of the schools. Don't quote me on this, but feels like schools from west side county have more South Asian kids, while schools from south side county have more AA kids, and the schools around McLean/Vienna have more white kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So according to PP, there are no white parents who are not self important? Or no white parents that are smart enough to be on SO, and contribute extensively? Or both?

And you don't think theory of yours is racist? How is that I wonder?

Are you the teacher referred to in this post? Interesting.

Not sure what's the point of the pp.
We attended division A this year. Overall, looks there are about 25% East Asian kids, about 25% South Asian kids, 40% white (including Latino) kids, about 10% AA kids. That's probably the dynamics of FCPS academics. As for individual school, it can be different, but also reflects the demographics of the area of the schools. Don't quote me on this, but feels like schools from west side county have more South Asian kids, while schools from south side county have more AA kids, and the schools around McLean/Vienna have more white kids.

Nope. McLean is almost entirely Asian (mostly Chinese and Korean), more and more each year. Since you brought it up. The white children chosen were most definitely not the white children with the smartest/most capable/most helpful parent/s. The Asian children chosen have mostly parents that do not speak English well, if at all (no exaggeration).

It seems as if the PP said actual parental involvement was most important??!! How can this be??!!