Clueless kids on bus

[Anonymous]

It might be a good time to introduce the AAP kids to the concept of "unearned advantage". Unearned advantages – like intelligence, beauty, athletic talent, or your parents' wealth – shouldn't be flaunted, and you're a jerk if you do so. Definitely a teaching moment, and possibly a teaching moment that employs the word "asshole".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Two different threads on this? really?

+1

Where is the report button?

[Anonymous]

So why not tutor your kid so he can be in AAP programs also? Sorry but they are smarter and it's not a bad thing. They shouldn't be braggarts though.

[Anonymous]

Where is the post begging parents and staff to teach kids who are on athletic travel teams to not consider themselves better than kids less athletically inclined? Or those with more money keeping that to themselves? Those with more tech gadgets? Those who have homemade lunches vs. sad school lunches?

Shouldn't we work on teaching general acceptance and respect rather than narrowing the argument to AAP vs. GE yet again?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:in our neighborhood there are separate busses for AAP center and the gen ed. school. The kids seem to get along fine.

You do know that gen ed students attend the AAP center as well, right? Those are the students we're talking about - they ride the same bus and attend the same school. At our center, the gen ed students are now outnumbered by AAP.

I live in DC so have no dog in this fight. But if the AAP enrollment is larger, how much "smarter" can those kids be? This seems like a weird program.

And you have hit the nail on the head. This is exactly the problem.

Because the gen ed kids come from just one neighborhood, whereas the aap center includes kids from up to five different elementary schools. The proper statistic would be to look at the aap kids in the center as a percentage of the students from all the feeder schools. Of course, I completely understand the negative ramifications of one particular school, which happens to be a center school, having more aap kids than gen ed. I agree this is a problem for that school. But don't fault the program in its entirety when using wrong statistics.

OP here; the school in question is not Haycock. There are other centers which have this problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Two different threads on this? really?

+1

Where is the report button?

It was already explained in the original post why there are two threads in different forums. This issue involves kids in both AAP and GenEd. You reporting it just proves you don't want it to be discussed among a wider audience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:in our neighborhood there are separate busses for AAP center and the gen ed. school. The kids seem to get along fine.

You do know that gen ed students attend the AAP center as well, right? Those are the students we're talking about - they ride the same bus and attend the same school. At our center, the gen ed students are now outnumbered by AAP.

I live in DC so have no dog in this fight. But if the AAP enrollment is larger, how much "smarter" can those kids be? This seems like a weird program.

And you have hit the nail on the head. This is exactly the problem.

Because the gen ed kids come from just one neighborhood, whereas the aap center includes kids from up to five different elementary schools. The proper statistic would be to look at the aap kids in the center as a percentage of the students from all the feeder schools. Of course, I completely understand the negative ramifications of one particular school, which happens to be a center school, having more aap kids than gen ed. I agree this is a problem for that school. But don't fault the program in its entirety when using wrong statistics.

OP here; the school in question is not Haycock. There are other centers which have this problem.

Haycock does not have more AAP kids than GenEd kids. There may still be some individual grades where there are more AAP classes than GenEd classes, not sure whether that changed after the center opened at Lemon Road.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Where is the post begging parents and staff to teach kids who are on athletic travel teams to not consider themselves better than kids less athletically inclined? Or those with more money keeping that to themselves? Those with more tech gadgets? Those who have homemade lunches vs. sad school lunches?

Shouldn't we work on teaching general acceptance and respect rather than narrowing the argument to AAP vs. GE yet again?

I actually think that, if someone truly wants to debate the merits of the current AAP program yet again, they should start a thread on this forum for that purpose or revive an old thread.

On the other hand, I think the rhetorical prop of "mean AAP kids bullying sweet GenEd kids" is getting predictable, and I no longer believe most of the incidents reported on DCUM actually occurred. Not that things like that never happen, but I firmly believe there are posters here who manufacture scenarios so they can launch into their annual anti-AAP diatribes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where is the post begging parents and staff to teach kids who are on athletic travel teams to not consider themselves better than kids less athletically inclined? Or those with more money keeping that to themselves? Those with more tech gadgets? Those who have homemade lunches vs. sad school lunches?

Shouldn't we work on teaching general acceptance and respect rather than narrowing the argument to AAP vs. GE yet again?

I actually think that, if someone truly wants to debate the merits of the current AAP program yet again, they should start a thread on this forum for that purpose or revive an old thread.

On the other hand, I think the rhetorical prop of "mean AAP kids bullying sweet GenEd kids" is getting predictable, and I no longer believe most of the incidents reported on DCUM actually occurred. Not that things like that never happen, but I firmly believe there are posters here who manufacture scenarios so they can launch into their annual anti-AAP diatribes.

That's certainly your prerogative, but as the OP, I can honestly say this did happen and similar incidents happen all the time, whether or not you want to believe it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It might be a good time to introduce the AAP kids to the concept of "unearned advantage". Unearned advantages – like intelligence, beauty, athletic talent, or your parents' wealth – shouldn't be flaunted, and you're a jerk if you do so. Definitely a teaching moment, and possibly a teaching moment that employs the word "asshole".

THIS. There's nothing wrong with being "______-er" than others when we're not using it to make others feel badly about themselves. Acknowledging our individual gifts with kindness and humility goes a long way. Imagine if parents on both sides of the debate honored this...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where is the post begging parents and staff to teach kids who are on athletic travel teams to not consider themselves better than kids less athletically inclined? Or those with more money keeping that to themselves? Those with more tech gadgets? Those who have homemade lunches vs. sad school lunches?

Shouldn't we work on teaching general acceptance and respect rather than narrowing the argument to AAP vs. GE yet again?

I actually think that, if someone truly wants to debate the merits of the current AAP program yet again, they should start a thread on this forum for that purpose or revive an old thread.

On the other hand, I think the rhetorical prop of "mean AAP kids bullying sweet GenEd kids" is getting predictable, and I no longer believe most of the incidents reported on DCUM actually occurred. Not that things like that never happen, but I firmly believe there are posters here who manufacture scenarios so they can launch into their annual anti-AAP diatribes.

That's certainly your prerogative, but as the OP, I can honestly say this did happen and similar incidents happen all the time, whether or not you want to believe it.

I remain highly skeptical, and the "similar incidents happen all the time" line suggests to me that, at best, you go looking to collect such incidents so you can craft narratives of GenEd kids being mistreated by AAP kids.

Basic civility should be taught to all kids, GenEd and AAP. Had that been the thrust of your first post, I'd find this more instructive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So my DS came home today and said that he had the distinct pleasure (not) of sitting behind two AAP 3rd grade girls who were crowing about the fact that they were in the "smart" classes at their center school. Apparently they were arguing with another girl, saying they were smarter than her because she is not in AAP.

Because my son is a 6th grader at this school (Gen Ed), he has heard these kinds of remarks countless times and knows just to roll his eyes at the ridiculous kids who blather on like this. But he's a patrol and he felt bad for the girl they were arguing with, so he stuck up for her and told the other two to pipe down, and that they were wrong.

Parents of AAP kids: please stop telling your kids they are "smarter" than the others. They will parrot this BS back, even if you think they won't, making them even more insufferable than usual.

School counselors: if you happen to be reading this, please sit down with the AAP classes at your school and make sure these kids know that they aren't any better, smarter, or more special than the Gen Ed kids. Please ask the administration to stop treating them as such.

FCPS: please do away with centers and drastically cut back AAP admittance, or else open it up to all. You are doing our communities a disservice by dividing up kids in this way.

I'm posting this on both the AAP and VA School forums because it's an issue that affects all kids in this area. Unfortunately.

Ironically, the OP displays a great deal of antipathy and incivility to AAP kids in her OP. She needs a mirror, not an audience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Where is the post begging parents and staff to teach kids who are on athletic travel teams to not consider themselves better than kids less athletically inclined? Or those with more money keeping that to themselves? Those with more tech gadgets? Those who have homemade lunches vs. sad school lunches?

Shouldn't we work on teaching general acceptance and respect rather than narrowing the argument to AAP vs. GE yet again?

+1.

[Anonymous]

Yes, OP shows a lot of hatred to AAP children. I'm sure she models this to her kids and they bully AAP kids. Probably exacerbated by his position as a patrol.

[Anonymous]

OP sounds horrible and I would find it unsettling if I knew her kid was a patrol at our school. I bet her attitudes have rubbed off on him and that he looks to pick fights with AAP kids. Ugh.