Clueless kids on bus

[Anonymous]

They have this god awful poem they used to read the AAP kids on the first day which is also about how "I'm gifted! I can do things other kids can't. I think faster, and sometimes I"m bored . .. " There's always an outbreak of bragging and crowing after they 'study' that poem the first day.

And then there's the "gifted moms" -- you know, as opposed to the rest of us, the "ungifted moms" or "the stupid moms." The problem is with adults who derive their self-esteem from assuming that their genetic material somehow or other won, and now it's on parade around the playground. Lots of "gifted kids" whose moms truly aren't "gifted".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn't realize the job description for "safety patrol" includes monitoring the editorial content of conversations of younger students for political correctness. Sign me up!

I'd like to take this seriously, but OP has layered on so much BS and made so many assumptions that it makes that all but impossible. But I'll reconsider when OP reports back that her kid has also laid down the law for the GenEd boys who make fun of the athletic skills of AAP kids on the bus, on the playground, and in the classroom.

OP here. The job description for patrols includes stepping in when students are being bullied. In my son's view, and mine, the one girl was being bullied by the other two. Imagine being told you're not "smart enough" to be in a certain class. I'm proud of him for intervening and telling them to cut it out. And of course he would step in (and has) if he saw bullying going on in any form, including non-athletic kids being bullied by the jocks. Wondering why you assume it would be the AAP kids who aren't athletic though. AAP includes so many children these days that it's hard to believe that old cliche about them not having athletic skills. In most ways, these kids are really no different from those in Gen Ed (which is kind of the point of this whole topic). He's had to speak up for several kids on the bus due to various types of similar behavior. This particular instance, however, was about two AAP girls trying to make another girl feel bad about not being in AAP. And if you and PP don't view that as bullying, then so be it.

It doesn't sound like bullying to me, and if my girls had been berated by a much older boy on a bus I might complain to the school to make sure it doesn't happen again. Your kid should check cross walks, not decide what people say about test results.

Are you really criticizing a kid who had the guts to speak up for another child being teased? The OP's son did exactly what I hope my child would do. Schools would be a better place if everyone stood up against mean kids. (regardless of safety patrol status).

Tell your girls to be nice, and it won't be an issue.

[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.

Well, they ARE smarter. AAP participation ain't determined by hair color.

But they aren't better, more special, more worthwhile as human beings or — as this incident shows — more emotionally mature than Gen Ed kids. It's no different from one group of kids bullying another because they are prettier, more athletic, or richer. Kids just will be assholes to each other and it should be nipped in the bud. This isn't an AAP problem, though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn't realize the job description for "safety patrol" includes monitoring the editorial content of conversations of younger students for political correctness. Sign me up!

I'd like to take this seriously, but OP has layered on so much BS and made so many assumptions that it makes that all but impossible. But I'll reconsider when OP reports back that her kid has also laid down the law for the GenEd boys who make fun of the athletic skills of AAP kids on the bus, on the playground, and in the classroom.

OP here. The job description for patrols includes stepping in when students are being bullied. In my son's view, and mine, the one girl was being bullied by the other two. Imagine being told you're not "smart enough" to be in a certain class. I'm proud of him for intervening and telling them to cut it out. And of course he would step in (and has) if he saw bullying going on in any form, including non-athletic kids being bullied by the jocks. Wondering why you assume it would be the AAP kids who aren't athletic though. AAP includes so many children these days that it's hard to believe that old cliche about them not having athletic skills. In most ways, these kids are really no different from those in Gen Ed (which is kind of the point of this whole topic). He's had to speak up for several kids on the bus due to various types of similar behavior. This particular instance, however, was about two AAP girls trying to make another girl feel bad about not being in AAP. And if you and PP don't view that as bullying, then so be it.

It doesn't sound like bullying to me, and if my girls had been berated by a much older boy on a bus I might complain to the school to make sure it doesn't happen again. Your kid should check cross walks, not decide what people say about test results.

Are you really criticizing a kid who had the guts to speak up for another child being teased? The OP's son did exactly what I hope my child would do. Schools would be a better place if everyone stood up against mean kids. (regardless of safety patrol status).

Tell your girls to be nice, and it won't be an issue.

I'm basically just refusing to take OP's scenario at face value because she's layered it with so many assumptions and judgments as to what supposedly took place. And, even if one accepted it as wriiten, the mean AAP girls didn't call the GenEd girl stupid, hit her, or yell at her. They just said she wasn't smart enough to be in an AAP class, which is more or less what FCPS determined without using the word "smart."

So, hypothetically, yeah, if an older, larger boy tells my younger girl that this is "bullying" and she has to stop it, we might end up in the principal's office hashing it out. If he kindly suggests "hey, c'mon, be nice to each other," no worries.

[Anonymous]

This is bad behavior from two girls on a bus. It is not about AAP vs. GE. My DD was teased because she had glasses.

Mean kids will find a reason no matter what to set themselves apart and above their peers.

We should address this, of course, but not as AAP vs. GE.

NO child should be open to ridicule for any reason - class placement, race, gender, physical build, athleticism, etc. etc. etc. etc.

[Anonymous]

So my 3rd grade DD in AAP came home today and said that she had the distinct pleasure (not) of getting yelled at by this much larger 6th grade boy in the AAP program who is a safety patrol on the bus. He was mad at them because he heard them discussing the differences between AAP and GenEd classes with another 3rd grader.

She was really upset because the boy wasn't part of the conversation, but interrupted them. The girl in the GenEd class had been telling them repeatedly that there was no difference between GenEd classes and AAP classes and that she was just as smart as they were, if not smarter. When they explained that the AAP classes are for the more academically advanced kids, the boy ordered them to stop talking and "bullying" the other girl.

My DD is just a 3rd grader, and she'd never had such a discussion with another student before, and she certainly never had been loudly reprimanded by a 6th grade patrol leader before. Now she is scared of the boy and doesn't want to get on the bus again. She wanted to know if he was going to report her to school administrators and why she did anything wrong telling the GenEd student that the more advanced kids had been selected for AAP.

Parents of GenEd kids: please stop telling your kids they are "just as smart" as the others. They will parrot this BS back, even if you think they won't, just leading to arguments that aren't very productive.

School counselors: if you happen to be reading this, please sit down with the GenEd classes at your school and make sure these kids know that there is nothing wrong about being in either a GenEd or an AAP class. And please ask the administration to remind safety patrols that they are there to help maintain order, not take sides on behalf of GenEd students or police what younger children say to one another about how kids are selected for AAP.

FCPS: please don't bend to the pressure to do away with centers or drastically cut back AAP admittance. You would be doing our communities a disservice by pretending that all the kids have exactly the same academic needs or abilities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a friend who is an AAP teacher. She says they are likely making admissions more stringent in the next few years. For example, no longer allowing private testing when the kids don't test in via the school administered tests. AAP is supposed to be for those kids who truly need the challenge of rigorous academics (whether I agree with the program as necessary or a good idea or not - my kid is not old enough yet so I haven't fully formed my views). At our school, a level 4 center, over 60% of the 6th graders are AAP. They are over-including in my view.

It has to be because it is a center. If you took the center kids out of our school, there would be 12 kids out of about 80 3rd graders in AAP. When you add the kids in from other neighborhood schools, that rises to about 60.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So my 3rd grade DD in AAP came home today and said that she had the distinct pleasure (not) of getting yelled at by this much larger 6th grade boy in the AAP program who is a safety patrol on the bus. He was mad at them because he heard them discussing the differences between AAP and GenEd classes with another 3rd grader.

She was really upset because the boy wasn't part of the conversation, but interrupted them. The girl in the GenEd class had been telling them repeatedly that there was no difference between GenEd classes and AAP classes and that she was just as smart as they were, if not smarter. When they explained that the AAP classes are for the more academically advanced kids, the boy ordered them to stop talking and "bullying" the other girl.

My DD is just a 3rd grader, and she'd never had such a discussion with another student before[b], and she certainly never had been loudly reprimanded by a 6th grade patrol leader before. Now she is scared of the boy and doesn't want to get on the bus again. She wanted to know if he was going to report her to school administrators and why she did anything wrong telling the GenEd student that the more advanced kids had been selected for AAP.

Parents of GenEd kids: please stop telling your kids they are "just as smart" as the others. They will parrot this BS back, even if you think they won't, just leading to arguments that aren't very productive.

School counselors: if you happen to be reading this, please sit down with the GenEd classes at your school and make sure these kids know that there is nothing wrong about being in either a GenEd or an AAP class. And please ask the administration to remind safety patrols that they are there to help maintain order, not take sides on behalf of GenEd students or police what younger children say to one another about how kids are selected for AAP.

FCPS: please don't bend to the pressure to do away with centers or drastically cut back AAP admittance. You would be doing our communities a disservice by pretending that all the kids have exactly the same academic needs or abilities.

You have no idea if this is true. I would agree that ALL the girls may be equally as smart.

--Signed the parent of an AAP kid

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So my 3rd grade DD in AAP came home today and said that she had the distinct pleasure (not) of getting yelled at by this much larger 6th grade boy in the AAP program who is a safety patrol on the bus. He was mad at them because he heard them discussing the differences between AAP and GenEd classes with another 3rd grader.

She was really upset because the boy wasn't part of the conversation, but interrupted them. The girl in the GenEd class had been telling them repeatedly that there was no difference between GenEd classes and AAP classes and that she was just as smart as they were, if not smarter. When they explained that the AAP classes are for the more academically advanced kids, the boy ordered them to stop talking and "bullying" the other girl.

My DD is just a 3rd grader, and she'd never had such a discussion with another student before[b], and she certainly never had been loudly reprimanded by a 6th grade patrol leader before. Now she is scared of the boy and doesn't want to get on the bus again. She wanted to know if he was going to report her to school administrators and why she did anything wrong telling the GenEd student that the more advanced kids had been selected for AAP.

Parents of GenEd kids: please stop telling your kids they are "just as smart" as the others. They will parrot this BS back, even if you think they won't, just leading to arguments that aren't very productive.

School counselors: if you happen to be reading this, please sit down with the GenEd classes at your school and make sure these kids know that there is nothing wrong about being in either a GenEd or an AAP class. And please ask the administration to remind safety patrols that they are there to help maintain order, not take sides on behalf of GenEd students or police what younger children say to one another about how kids are selected for AAP.

FCPS: please don't bend to the pressure to do away with centers or drastically cut back AAP admittance. You would be doing our communities a disservice by pretending that all the kids have exactly the same academic needs or abilities.

You have no idea if this is true. I would agree that ALL the girls may be equally as smart.

--Signed the parent of an AAP kid

You're wrong. I know about everything that happens with my daughter, just like OP knows about everything that happens with her son. Nothing escapes me, and I characterize every conversation to which she is a party accurately, scrupulously and fairly. By the way, she is always right, and if any other students engage in behavior that she dislikes, I hope to start new threads so that others can similarly express their disdain for them.

[Anonymous]

You all are missing the bigger picture here and that's we are talking about children's feelings here. It's pretty irrelevant if the girls were correct in their assessment of AAP, but that there words were demoralizing another child. Are you parents serious that if one of the two girls were your child that you would go to the principal and tell on the boy?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn't realize the job description for "safety patrol" includes monitoring the editorial content of conversations of younger students for political correctness. Sign me up!

I'd like to take this seriously, but OP has layered on so much BS and made so many assumptions that it makes that all but impossible. But I'll reconsider when OP reports back that her kid has also laid down the law for the GenEd boys who make fun of the athletic skills of AAP kids on the bus, on the playground, and in the classroom.

OP here. The job description for patrols includes stepping in when students are being bullied. In my son's view, and mine, the one girl was being bullied by the other two. Imagine being told you're not "smart enough" to be in a certain class. I'm proud of him for intervening and telling them to cut it out. And of course he would step in (and has) if he saw bullying going on in any form, including non-athletic kids being bullied by the jocks. Wondering why you assume it would be the AAP kids who aren't athletic though. AAP includes so many children these days that it's hard to believe that old cliche about them not having athletic skills. In most ways, these kids are really no different from those in Gen Ed (which is kind of the point of this whole topic). He's had to speak up for several kids on the bus due to various types of similar behavior. This particular instance, however, was about two AAP girls trying to make another girl feel bad about not being in AAP. And if you and PP don't view that as bullying, then so be it.

It doesn't sound like bullying to me, and if my girls had been berated by a much older boy on a bus I might complain to the school to make sure it doesn't happen again. Your kid should check cross walks, not decide what people say about test results.

Are you really criticizing a kid who had the guts to speak up for another child being teased? The OP's son did exactly what I hope my child would do. Schools would be a better place if everyone stood up against mean kids. (regardless of safety patrol status).

Tell your girls to be nice, and it won't be an issue.

I'm basically just refusing to take OP's scenario at face value because she's layered it with so many assumptions and judgments as to what supposedly took place. And, even if one accepted it as wriiten, the mean AAP girls didn't call the GenEd girl stupid, hit her, or yell at her. They just said she wasn't smart enough to be in an AAP class, which is more or less what FCPS determined without using the word "smart."

So, hypothetically, yeah, if an older, larger boy tells my younger girl that this is "bullying" and she has to stop it, we might end up in the principal's office hashing it out. If he kindly suggests "hey, c'mon, be nice to each other," no worries.

Take a look at the two areas bolded. How is telling someone they're not smart enough NOT saying they're stupid??

Good for your son, OP! I wish there were more kids like him out there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You all are missing the bigger picture here and that's we are talking about children's feelings here. It's pretty irrelevant if the girls were correct in their assessment of AAP, but that there words were demoralizing another child. Are you parents serious that if one of the two girls were your child that you would go to the principal and tell on the boy?

I think the odds are reasonably good the entire scenario is manufactured, not that such things never happen, so the OP can launch into an annual diatribe against the AAP program, just as some posters can never stop posting about why school times should not be changed, undocumented minors should not be schooled, and any number of other pet topics.

If people want to debate the AAP program on the merits, that's fair game. But I find these "incidents" faintly ridiculous, in that they may be fictional and, in any event, are reported by posters who were not there and do not know the exact words used or their broader context. And, since they weren't present, we can just as easily come up with alternative versions in which the AAP girls were harassed by an older GenEd student, rather than a sweet GenEd student being verbally insulted by two mean AAP girls.

FCPS made a judgment that AAP should begin with third grade, so younger kids will discuss what it means to be in AAP with the vocabulary they possess at that age.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn't realize the job description for "safety patrol" includes monitoring the editorial content of conversations of younger students for political correctness. Sign me up!

I'd like to take this seriously, but OP has layered on so much BS and made so many assumptions that it makes that all but impossible. But I'll reconsider when OP reports back that her kid has also laid down the law for the GenEd boys who make fun of the athletic skills of AAP kids on the bus, on the playground, and in the classroom.

OP here. The job description for patrols includes stepping in when students are being bullied. In my son's view, and mine, the one girl was being bullied by the other two. Imagine being told you're not "smart enough" to be in a certain class. I'm proud of him for intervening and telling them to cut it out. And of course he would step in (and has) if he saw bullying going on in any form, including non-athletic kids being bullied by the jocks. Wondering why you assume it would be the AAP kids who aren't athletic though. AAP includes so many children these days that it's hard to believe that old cliche about them not having athletic skills. In most ways, these kids are really no different from those in Gen Ed (which is kind of the point of this whole topic). He's had to speak up for several kids on the bus due to various types of similar behavior. This particular instance, however, was about two AAP girls trying to make another girl feel bad about not being in AAP. And if you and PP don't view that as bullying, then so be it.

It doesn't sound like bullying to me, and if my girls had been berated by a much older boy on a bus I might complain to the school to make sure it doesn't happen again. Your kid should check cross walks, not decide what people say about test results.

Are you really criticizing a kid who had the guts to speak up for another child being teased? The OP's son did exactly what I hope my child would do. Schools would be a better place if everyone stood up against mean kids. (regardless of safety patrol status).

Tell your girls to be nice, and it won't be an issue.

I'm basically just refusing to take OP's scenario at face value because she's layered it with so many assumptions and judgments as to what supposedly took place. And, even if one accepted it as wriiten, the mean AAP girls didn't call the GenEd girl stupid, hit her, or yell at her. They just said she wasn't smart enough to be in an AAP class, which is more or less what FCPS determined without using the word "smart."

So, hypothetically, yeah, if an older, larger boy tells my younger girl that this is "bullying" and she has to stop it, we might end up in the principal's office hashing it out. If he kindly suggests "hey, c'mon, be nice to each other," no worries.

Your obstinate refusal to acknowledge the issue here makes it clear you're the type of parent who is a big part of the problem. I bet if your daughter is bullied in this way (or sorry, guess you don't qualify kids picking on others as "bullying" unless there's actual physical contact?), you'd be pounding on the principal's door demanding to know why this was allowed to go on, whether at school, on the playground, or on the bus. But because this happened to someone else's child, and not your precious snowflake, it's just something to be scoffed at. Really pathetic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So my 3rd grade DD in AAP came home today and said that she had the distinct pleasure (not) of getting yelled at by this much larger 6th grade boy in the AAP program who is a safety patrol on the bus. He was mad at them because he heard them discussing the differences between AAP and GenEd classes with another 3rd grader.

She was really upset because the boy wasn't part of the conversation, but interrupted them. The girl in the GenEd class had been telling them repeatedly that there was no difference between GenEd classes and AAP classes and that she was just as smart as they were, if not smarter. When they explained that the AAP classes are for the more academically advanced kids, the boy ordered them to stop talking and "bullying" the other girl.

My DD is just a 3rd grader, and she'd never had such a discussion with another student before, and she certainly never had been loudly reprimanded by a 6th grade patrol leader before. Now she is scared of the boy and doesn't want to get on the bus again. She wanted to know if he was going to report her to school administrators and why she did anything wrong telling the GenEd student that the more advanced kids had been selected for AAP.

Parents of GenEd kids: please stop telling your kids they are "just as smart" as the others. They will parrot this BS back, even if you think they won't, just leading to arguments that aren't very productive.

School counselors: if you happen to be reading this, please sit down with the GenEd classes at your school and make sure these kids know that there is nothing wrong about being in either a GenEd or an AAP class. And please ask the administration to remind safety patrols that they are there to help maintain order, not take sides on behalf of GenEd students or police what younger children say to one another about how kids are selected for AAP.

FCPS: please don't bend to the pressure to do away with centers or drastically cut back AAP admittance. You would be doing our communities a disservice by pretending that all the kids have exactly the same academic needs or abilities.

I wish I could spit on you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn't realize the job description for "safety patrol" includes monitoring the editorial content of conversations of younger students for political correctness. Sign me up!

I'd like to take this seriously, but OP has layered on so much BS and made so many assumptions that it makes that all but impossible. But I'll reconsider when OP reports back that her kid has also laid down the law for the GenEd boys who make fun of the athletic skills of AAP kids on the bus, on the playground, and in the classroom.

OP here. The job description for patrols includes stepping in when students are being bullied. In my son's view, and mine, the one girl was being bullied by the other two. Imagine being told you're not "smart enough" to be in a certain class. I'm proud of him for intervening and telling them to cut it out. And of course he would step in (and has) if he saw bullying going on in any form, including non-athletic kids being bullied by the jocks. Wondering why you assume it would be the AAP kids who aren't athletic though. AAP includes so many children these days that it's hard to believe that old cliche about them not having athletic skills. In most ways, these kids are really no different from those in Gen Ed (which is kind of the point of this whole topic). He's had to speak up for several kids on the bus due to various types of similar behavior. This particular instance, however, was about two AAP girls trying to make another girl feel bad about not being in AAP. And if you and PP don't view that as bullying, then so be it.

It doesn't sound like bullying to me, and if my girls had been berated by a much older boy on a bus I might complain to the school to make sure it doesn't happen again. Your kid should check cross walks, not decide what people say about test results.

Are you really criticizing a kid who had the guts to speak up for another child being teased? The OP's son did exactly what I hope my child would do. Schools would be a better place if everyone stood up against mean kids. (regardless of safety patrol status).

Tell your girls to be nice, and it won't be an issue.

I'm basically just refusing to take OP's scenario at face value because she's layered it with so many assumptions and judgments as to what supposedly took place. And, even if one accepted it as wriiten, the mean AAP girls didn't call the GenEd girl stupid, hit her, or yell at her. They just said she wasn't smart enough to be in an AAP class, which is more or less what FCPS determined without using the word "smart."

So, hypothetically, yeah, if an older, larger boy tells my younger girl that this is "bullying" and she has to stop it, we might end up in the principal's office hashing it out. If he kindly suggests "hey, c'mon, be nice to each other," no worries.

Your obstinate refusal to acknowledge the issue here makes it clear you're the type of parent who is a big part of the problem. I bet if your daughter is bullied in this way (or sorry, guess you don't qualify kids picking on others as "bullying" unless there's actual physical contact?), you'd be pounding on the principal's door demanding to know why this was allowed to go on, whether at school, on the playground, or on the bus. But because this happened to someone else's child, and not your precious snowflake, it's just something to be scoffed at. Really pathetic.

If you wagered such a bet, you'd be out of money or luck, as the case may be. But getting the goat of an over-protective helicopter parent here was fun.

I'd definitely tell all the kids to be nice to one another and mindful of each other's feelings. It's what we used to call civics or basic courtesy. But the idea (go back to OP's first post) that the school has to issue detailed instructions to AAP students, parents and administrators on their interactions with GenEd students is dumb, and likely counter-productive.

Have a nice day.