Why I hate AAP Parents - vent

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What makes a student "gifted"? This study says we're getting it wrong.

http://www.vox.com/2014/9/24/6835643/gifted-education-classrooms-nber-study

Unfortunately, the people who most want to keep AAP are the parents of these students. It's a way for them to feel their bright children are something special academically even if they're not gifted. I had a gifted child (and all the challenges that entailed), but had the GT program he was in disappeared, I wouldn't have fought for it. It was nice to have, but he would still have been off the charts smart and special without it and not had his intelligence diminished without it.

any parent who doesn't feel that AAP should be relabeled special ed, doesn't really have that bright of a kid. I love my AAP off the charts kid, but really it's difficult to be an outlier no matter what tail you are on.

GT used to fill this need. It only took the most exceptional kids (who were also usually the quirkiest, etc.) and gave them the necessary space and tools to learn effectively. Are the kids in today's AAP in need of the same "special" learning program? Perhaps a tiny fraction of the kids are, and that's a generous estimate. The rest are simply normal kids, no different than most of the kids remaining in Gen Ed. It's appalling that FCPS sees fit to divide up school communities in this way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:why did you post this in the AAP forum? Not going to see anyone on your side here.

I think OP posted it in va public schools forum and maybe it got moved here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:why did you post this in the AAP forum? Not going to see anyone on your side here.

I think OP posted it in va public schools forum and maybe it got moved here.

This drives me crazy; often, there is an AAP-related issue that needs to be seen by the wider public and posting it under VA Schools makes sense. But then it's always removed and placed here, ensuring most people won't even see it. Very aggravating.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:why did you post this in the AAP forum? Not going to see anyone on your side here.

I think OP posted it in va public schools forum and maybe it got moved here.

This drives me crazy; often, there is an AAP-related issue that needs to be seen by the wider public and posting it under VA Schools makes sense. But then it's always removed and placed here, ensuring most people won't even see it. Very aggravating.

Perhaps the OP should have titled her thread differently: "Why Parents Who Try to Stick Labels on Kids Drive Me Crazy," instead of "Why I Hate AAP Parents."

Had she done so, maybe it would have stayed in the other forum. As it stands, it's entirely appropriate for it to be in the AAP forum and for AAP parents to have a chance to respond.

[Anonymous]

I hate all people who broadly stereotype and condemn an entire group based on what one person did.

[Anonymous]

I just think the label is stupid. Mom's not gifted, the kid is. Mom could bloody well be of subnormal intelligence. You're not actually a 'gifted parent' -- You're the parent of someone who is gifted. If you have a retarded child, does that make you a retarded parent? Are you an autistic parent?

[Anonymous]

to those complaining about the AAP - not having it creates other issues. In MoCo (where I am; considering move to FFX which i why i am lurking here) there is nothing at all in any formal way that requires schools to seriously help target advanced ES learners beyond reading groups except for a VERY small program for the top 2 - 3% of kids. That program I hear is awesome but also only exists for 4 and 5th grades. So until 3rd grade you have nothing and for the 97% of kids in regular schools you have little formal process in place to help ensure that those needing more enrichment to target where they are at get it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:to those complaining about the AAP - not having it creates other issues. In MoCo (where I am; considering move to FFX which i why i am lurking here) there is nothing at all in any formal way that requires schools to seriously help target advanced ES learners beyond reading groups except for a VERY small program for the top 2 - 3% of kids. That program I hear is awesome but also only exists for 4 and 5th grades. So until 3rd grade you have nothing and for the 97% of kids in regular schools you have little formal process in place to help ensure that those needing more enrichment to target where they are at get it.

Then MoCo sounds like the place for me. The Fairfax Co. AAP program is so imbalanced and out of control; what it needs is to target only the top 2-3% of kids, just as MoCo does. AAP has been so expanded in recent years that the white-hot focus on getting kids in has become incredibly tiresome and divisive. I'd love to live in an area where the schools' focus isn't solely on AAP and only the very few who actually need a differentiated classroom are placed in it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"Some researchers, though, argue that this type of sorting perpetuates academic inequality. The best students, whether they're chosen based on their IQ or their standardized test scores, get the richest curriculum; the others are left behind.

Grouping students together based on ability for one subject, particularly in elementary school, is fairly common. But the idea is that students can move between ability groups as they progress. That's very different from picking students out and assigning them to a separate classroom based on their score on a standardized test."

The above was quoted from the article and articulates well why sorting students into "AAP" and "Gen Ed" classrooms is a huge mistake. There is no fluidity for children to move around as needed.

Ha ha ! Students can move between ability groups is a fantasy told to parents of the lowest achievers. Unless those parents are doing a lot at home, instruction for the lowest students is paced at the slowest rate to give a lot of practice. The lowest group doesn't catch up and students don't get moved out.

THat's reality.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:to those complaining about the AAP - not having it creates other issues. In MoCo (where I am; considering move to FFX which i why i am lurking here) there is nothing at all in any formal way that requires schools to seriously help target advanced ES learners beyond reading groups except for a VERY small program for the top 2 - 3% of kids. That program I hear is awesome but also only exists for 4 and 5th grades. So until 3rd grade you have nothing and for the 97% of kids in regular schools you have little formal process in place to help ensure that those needing more enrichment to target where they are at get it.

Then MoCo sounds like the place for me. The Fairfax Co. AAP program is so imbalanced and out of control; what it needs is to target only the top 2-3% of kids, just as MoCo does. AAP has been so expanded in recent years that the white-hot focus on getting kids in has become incredibly tiresome and divisive. I'd love to live in an area where the schools' focus isn't solely on AAP and only the very few who actually need a differentiated classroom are placed in it.

I'd also like to live in a much calmer area.
I think often about my pretty stress-free childhood and what childhood is these days. What happened to, "I want my child to be happy and healthy?" It seems to have turned into, "I want my child to be better than everyone else." What has gone wrong in American childhood 2010's?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just need to vent. I was at a middle school event at my middle school this week, (which is not an AAP middle school, but does keep all the level IV kids together for their main classes.) While at an Odyssey of the Mind meeting for starting a team at the school (yup - geek warning) this one mother was interrogating this a 7th grade boy as to if his was in the AAP program. The boy looked a little clueless (as I think most 7th grade boys look when adults they don't know talk to them). I have no clue what his AAP status is. I know he is friends with my DS and they are in Hn. Algebra together (in 7th grade) and play on a sports team together (and was at our non-AAP base elementary school together).

Really, you are going to judge kids as to if they are AAP or not, still at the 7th grade level? I realize that OotM is a total geek activity, but your need to talk about what AAP level your kid is is not directly related to the creative problem team activities that happen at Odyssey of the Mind (yeah, I know many AAP kids do OotM, but it's not a requirement!).

But why in meeting a kid for the first time do you need to ask him his AAP status? You just re-affirmed for me that the choice I made 4 years ago not to go to the AAP school was the best choice. I like all my DCs parents we talk about the whole kids. Never have I seen such judgmental behavior at my base school toward kids (Judgmental toward parents, hell yes, but not the kids)

I know it's like when I get asked what do I do, but I at least know you are judging me, and can answer appropriately.

thank you
vent over (or add your own AAP parents behaving badly here) glad they have their own forum so I don't have to deal with them too much!

I am 100% certain that I would NOT want to work with you or your kid on OoM, and it has nothing to do with your kid's AAP status. OoM requires a lot of working together and you have not started out well. But at least we know now....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just need to vent. I was at a middle school event at my middle school this week, (which is not an AAP middle school, but does keep all the level IV kids together for their main classes.) While at an Odyssey of the Mind meeting for starting a team at the school (yup - geek warning) this one mother was interrogating this a 7th grade boy as to if his was in the AAP program. The boy looked a little clueless (as I think most 7th grade boys look when adults they don't know talk to them). I have no clue what his AAP status is. I know he is friends with my DS and they are in Hn. Algebra together (in 7th grade) and play on a sports team together (and was at our non-AAP base elementary school together).

Really, you are going to judge kids as to if they are AAP or not, still at the 7th grade level? I realize that OotM is a total geek activity, but your need to talk about what AAP level your kid is is not directly related to the creative problem team activities that happen at Odyssey of the Mind (yeah, I know many AAP kids do OotM, but it's not a requirement!).

But why in meeting a kid for the first time do you need to ask him his AAP status? You just re-affirmed for me that the choice I made 4 years ago not to go to the AAP school was the best choice. I like all my DCs parents we talk about the whole kids. Never have I seen such judgmental behavior at my base school toward kids (Judgmental toward parents, hell yes, but not the kids)

I know it's like when I get asked what do I do, but I at least know you are judging me, and can answer appropriately.

thank you
vent over (or add your own AAP parents behaving badly here) glad they have their own forum so I don't have to deal with them too much!

I am 100% certain that I would NOT want to work with you or your kid on OoM, and it has nothing to do with your kid's AAP status. OoM requires a lot of working together and you have not started out well. But at least we know now....

I totally disagree. The OP is absolutely correct that this woman was completely out of line, interrogating a kid about whether or not he's in AAP. Who the hell cares and why would it make one iota of difference in who participates in OoM? Ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just need to vent. I was at a middle school event at my middle school this week, (which is not an AAP middle school, but does keep all the level IV kids together for their main classes.) While at an Odyssey of the Mind meeting for starting a team at the school (yup - geek warning) this one mother was interrogating this a 7th grade boy as to if his was in the AAP program. The boy looked a little clueless (as I think most 7th grade boys look when adults they don't know talk to them). I have no clue what his AAP status is. I know he is friends with my DS and they are in Hn. Algebra together (in 7th grade) and play on a sports team together (and was at our non-AAP base elementary school together).

Really, you are going to judge kids as to if they are AAP or not, still at the 7th grade level? I realize that OotM is a total geek activity, but your need to talk about what AAP level your kid is is not directly related to the creative problem team activities that happen at Odyssey of the Mind (yeah, I know many AAP kids do OotM, but it's not a requirement!).

But why in meeting a kid for the first time do you need to ask him his AAP status? You just re-affirmed for me that the choice I made 4 years ago not to go to the AAP school was the best choice. I like all my DCs parents we talk about the whole kids. Never have I seen such judgmental behavior at my base school toward kids (Judgmental toward parents, hell yes, but not the kids)

I know it's like when I get asked what do I do, but I at least know you are judging me, and can answer appropriately.

thank you
vent over (or add your own AAP parents behaving badly here) glad they have their own forum so I don't have to deal with them too much!

I am 100% certain that I would NOT want to work with you or your kid on OoM, and it has nothing to do with your kid's AAP status. OoM requires a lot of working together and you have not started out well. But at least we know now....

I totally disagree. The OP is absolutely correct that this woman was completely out of line, interrogating a kid about whether or not he's in AAP. Who the hell cares and why would it make one iota of difference in who participates in OoM? Ridiculous.

I agree the woman was out of line, but I assume the PP was responding to the OP's tag lines encouraging posters to "add your own AAP parents behaving badly here" and expressing gratutude that she doesn't "have to deal with them too much!" No one wants to deal with people who extrapolate from anecdotes to bad-mouth large groups of kids, teachers or parents. It's really tiresome.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's rude. Just as it's rude to ask little kids other personal things like what their parents do or things like that.

What is rude about asking a kid what his/her parent(s) does (do)? Is a 7th grader "little"? I ask my kid's friends what their parents do - nothing rude asking what mom/dad does.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Many 2E children need AAP. Odyssey of the mind is for all children not just AAP children. "AAP does not make a smart child" AAP accommodates a "different" learning style which is needed for many.

The title of "AAP center program" is a misnomer as it indicates that all children who are in the program are academically advanced across all subjects. Many parents think their children are smarter if they are in this program. It has become a real sore spot for a lot of parents in Fairfax County because many parents with high achieving children are fully aware that many children in the AAP center program are not truly advanced in all academic areas. Yet these center children are being afforded opportunities which are not given to the child who doesn't make the cut scores into the program or is not admitted for many reasons. It is a problem and I believe the truly advanced programs should be available at all schools based on achievement not learning styles and the MS advanced academic center program candidates should be recommended by teachers from all schools and not automatically included upon graduation from the current AAP center program. This would increase the quality and level of academics in the GE schools and truly give all children a real chance at their highest academic achievement.

This. [phone]