Does AAP create unhelpful elitism and separation?
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Anonymous
Did you read this thread from the beginning? Or do you just disbelieve other posters? |
Anonymous
Who you're talking to? You were actually not clear in your statement! The only obvious thing was rage. So arrogant to think that you are above others because of your beliefs about them. |
Anonymous
Well, excuse me! I should have said AAP Level IV services, in a separate classroom. I apologize for puzzling you. |
Anonymous
They could tell everyone about the availability of prep materials instead of saying all you need is a good night's sleep. This way everyone will be in the know. |
Anonymous
A couple posters saying that it doesn't work doesn't hold much water, especially since they haven't managed to back their viewpoints with anything other than conjecture and anecdata. It sounds more like a bunch of people with bright average, non-gifted kids are desperate to retain their special status and are using any excuse as to why their kids needs simply can't be met without being completely separated from the masses. The vast majority of AAP kids return to their base schools for high school and are mixed with the formerly gen ed kids. Amazingly, it all works fine there. |
Anonymous
I am the pp. Frankly, I used to think that just raising the bar for everyone was the answer. But I realize now that I have had kids, Thai it is not the answer. FWIW, the Eastern European curriculum was based on the assumption that only 30% or so of the top students would go to college and everyone else would be shunted to the vocational track in/after high school. Different kids have different abilities. Some need a more advanced curriculum. Others need the extra help in one subject or another. Unfortunately, differentiation has very negative connotations in this country - people claim that it's racist, classist and what not. Whereas in reality, everyone has different strengths and they should be accommodated as much as possible. |
Anonymous
This is not a good reason to move, IMO. You might move into an area that has more economic snobbery, more ethnic divide...there will always be something. Just teach your kids to be good people and hope for the best. Also, are you sure parents are telling the kids? I remember DC coming home from school and saying kids were discussing it at lunch. Each parent tells their child when they get in because many times it involves a school change. Also, when kids go to the orientation they see kids from their base school. Those kids talk about it at lunch....I told my DC not to discuss it because I know it can create a divide, but as second graders if someone brings it up, I'm not sure how much self restraint they had. I get how you feel, but I have friends in other school districts and they have issue too. |
Anonymous
In high school there is still segregation. The same group of kids tend to take IB or AP classes together. Some previously gen ed kids join the group and now are a part of the group. I think the real reason we are where we are today with the AAP divide is that some SJWs decided that tracking in lower grades is bad, so there is no open enrollment honors classes before middle school. Parents of kids with academically advance kids then see AAP as a way to get their kids the differentiation they want (instead of once a week pull out) and do whatever it takes to get that. Because of the way AAP is structured, it's all or nothing, and you can't place based on achievement (like you can in MS and HS). Starting open enrollment honors in 3rd grade would avoid a lot of the issues, but alas, you'd have people steaming about that, ignoring the fact that AAP no longer serves only gifted kids and is way worse in its effect on segregating kids. |
Anonymous
| *parents of academically advanced kids... |
Anonymous
We're again talking in circles. You clearly think that kids with 120s IQs "need" to be separated from the masses and placed in special classrooms. I don't. Could you please cite some sources showing that above average kids simply cannot function in a regular classroom, even with differentiation in core subjects? |
Anonymous
You made the point very clearly. Thanks. The reason I brought it up was to illustrate that no matter the model, it won't work for everyone. The point is, what do you do with the kids that are clueless, do you put them in an advanced curriculum and let them be lost, or do you differentiate their learning, so the can comfortably learn something. The biggest problem is that most parents whose kids aren't advanced can't admit that that is the case, but want every one else to lower their standards. Then they start calling other parents elitist. Also, smart parents will have smart kids, so given the high number of high achiever/smart/well educated parents in parts of the county, you'll have more smarter kids in those areas. Intelligence like every other human attribute is mostly genetic. The same as we inherent physical traits, we also inherent personality and intellectual traits. The problem is that it's a big 'no no' to say that. If those more affluent areas with a higher number of advanced kids had a different curriculum from the rest of the county, that'd be a big 'no no' too, because it would create disparity in opportunities. Hence we are left with a separate Level of differentiation. This debate will never end, because there is not a one solution fits all to this problem. |
Anonymous
Nope. The biggest problem is that parents with kids who are above average but not gifted can't admit that is the case, and instead have forced AAP to lower its standards to include their children. This is why about 20% of children are identified as Level IV. In the meantime, kids who are actually gifted suffer from a watered down AAP curriculum and learn next to nothing. We can keep going at this all day. 
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Anonymous
They may function, but they are underserved, and end up wasting their time in class. Stays at school for 7hrs with kids that don't get it is mistreating the gift of time. That's cruel. Than they say that the kids are learning a lot, which they aren't. If they let them stay together and let them play outside in the sun a lot, is be ok with that, but I can afford (time wise) to enrich them when they come home so Larla doesn't get left behind. The kids need many more activities than school, and they need to maximize the benefit of the time spent, because they have very busy schedules. Its essentially like going to work full time. Would you like to get stuck in a job with low level workers if you're highly educated? Do you lack the skills to function around those people, or is it just not beneficial for you? |
Anonymous
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"Really, kids who are 145+ in WISC FRI or cogat Quant need something much more than AAP math."
This is one of the crazy ideas out there. My mathy kids grew up with two neighbors who were 150+. One of the neighbors was a published novelist in elementary school. The other was a violin prodigy. Neither of them needed math really at all. They both finished Alg II in the 8th grade and then were dragged through enough math to be an engineer in HS. It was almost cruel. |
Anonymous
These same kids were served just fine in 2nd grade with switching classes and flexible grouping. Many of the kids didn't even qualify for the advanced math grouping or were middle-of-the pack within the advanced language arts or advanced math groupings. Meanwhile, kids who are actual outliers and poorly served in 2nd grade will continue to be poorly served in AAP, because the bar has been lowered so much. If 120s Larla simply can't be served in the same school as 110s Carla, then how on earth can 130s or 140s Darla be served in AAP with the 120s kids? Let me guess... You have a 120s kid, and you're desperately clinging to the notion that your child is so special that (s)he "needs AAP". 
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