AAP for totally unmotivated super smart slacker?
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Anonymous
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Would like to hear from other parents who either decided not to pursue AAP for their smart but unmotivated child...
Or from those who did, and got in... what happened to your kid? how was his/her experience? My son is a really smart 2nd grader (at least according to me, and a bunch of standardized tests). He is also HUGELY unmotivated when it comes to school. He does not have an ounce of self-discipline. And he's smart enough to figure out exactly where the "line" is (the line for how much of something bad he can do without getting into trouble, or how little effort he can expend and still "pass" the task), and then do .01% better than that. His 1st grade grades were pretty good, but some were mixed -- although the teacher said the low ones were 100% caused by a lack of effort on his part. I'm curious if people have thoughts about whether AAP is appropriate for these kids, whether they benefit from it, or whether it is generally a bad fit? My older son is in AAP, and while I think the kids in his class are mostly smart -- it is also mostly full of kids who are very mature and self-motivated -- which I think is 90% of the reason they're in the class. I'm not interested in rehashing the whole "should AAP be for truly gifted children? or should it be for hard-working test preppers" argument. It is what it is. I would love to hear some first hand feedback about parents' experiences with their own kids who were not highly motivated when entering AAP. For what its worth, some of the lack of motivation might be due to boredom. But most of it is that he has the attention span of a gnat. |
Anonymous
| Raise the bar by getting him in AAP. Seek professional help if he truly has zero attention span. |
Anonymous
| I agree with 08:20 -- there is a large base of educational research on "unmotivated" gifted kids and how they rise to the challenge when with their academic peers. |
Anonymous
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Wait till you get your test results from this year. That is what matters. Also look at where your child scores vs the cut-off. If the cut off is 135 and your kid scored a 137, I would skip it. There will be kids who score 150 in the class and there is a good chance that your kid will struggle and might be better off being the big fish in the smaller pond. (of course there will be plenty of kids in the 130s)
However, if your child scored a 150 or up and is unmotivated, nothing is going to help. Frequently these are the kids that figured out exponents in the 1st grade and they are just going to be bored and since everything comes easy to them, they don't try hard. The AAP system doesn't serve these kids very well in it's current form. I've got a 6th grader and it has always been a struggle with motivation. DC did/didn't do the work for years without trying and now struggles with the basic BS that is homework and "projects". Trying to explain that you have to show your work in Pre-Alegbra, not just the answer or your essay needs more than one sentience. But then this also opens other conversations about homework value.... Not to mention anything that involves a posterboard! |
Anonymous
| I'd pput him in and see how it goes. 2nd grade is wayyyyyy to early to be deciding kids are "unmotivated." |
Anonymous
| We are on the flip side of this. I did NOT put my very highly testing 3rd grader into AAP. He is now in 8th grade, taking all advanced classes, happy, and motivated. He clicked with the material and structure of middle school for a variety of reasons, and I think if we pushed him in the rigor of AAP and all that comes with that back in 3rd grade he likely would have shut down completely. He enjoyed the remainder of his ES career, with us knowing that he would be in the exact same classes as his AAP peers in MS, and when he gets to HS he will likely end up REALLY enjoying school. For us it was a very difficult decision, but for this kiddo it turned out really well. You need to take a stab at whichever you think might work, knowing that you have the other option in your back pocket if the one you choose doesn't work out. AAP isn't for everyone - and it wasn't for my son. |
Anonymous
| I think he will be even more bored if not in AAP. If he is smart, raise the level!! |
Anonymous
This is exactly the situation with our son as well. Qualified for AAP (then GT) but we decided it wasn't something we wanted to pursue. We felt that, like his older sister who had been in GT, he would be burned out by the end of elementary school, just as the more interesting and challenging classes in MS and HS were ramping up. Sure enough, he had a great elementary school experience, then excelled in honors classes in MS and AP classes in HS. In fact, he does better in the AP classes than in standard electives, because the APs are so much more interesting and filled with kids who share a love of learning and really want to be there. Not being in AAP during elementary school had absolutely no bearing on his later success. In fact, I feel it allowed him to take his time and enjoy being in elementary school without the additional pressure AAP can create. Just our experience. |
Anonymous
| How sad that 2nd graders are already unmotivated. What does that say? I've never seen this before actually. |
Anonymous
| If he qualifies for AAP, you can opt in any year from 3rd to 8th grade. DS was unmotivated also, but did very well last year in third grade AAP. My experience with smart unmotivated kid is that they tend to know what they can get by with at each level and if you raise the bar they adjust fine. Your DS will do fine in AAP if he's smart. Just make sure there is a balance between school and play and he will adjust well. |
Anonymous
Really? I was like that as a kid. I was smart but would only do the minimum required to get good grades and nothing more. I was never the child who went above and beyond. I think once these second graders get older and start taking classes that they relate to their motivation level will increase. Nothing to be sad about. A lot of times because they are smart and can do well with very little effort, they appear unmotivated, when in fact they just aren't being challenged yet and will rise to the occasion once they are. |
Anonymous
| We put ours in AAP, he still slacked but got exposure to more motivated kids. He's in middle school now and things are harder. He knew they would be and he is up for the challenge. We also supplemented in areas he was interested. My advice would be to challenge him. |
Anonymous
| DC didn't do anything in 1st and 2nd because he didn't have to. Was able to excel with little effort. So maybe that's the case with your DC. |
Anonymous
My DS did not do anything in 1st grade and hated school in 2nd grade. He is now in 3rd grade AAP and looks happier than before. He did his word study HW today and enjoyed it. He also talks alot about earning a scholarship in 6th grade  But when you ask him about school, he still doesn't sound very motivated.
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Anonymous
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Whether he's in general ed or AAP, he will still be the same kid with the same strengths and weaknesses. It's not as if general ed classes don't have homework, or standards, or expectations that he will have to fulfill.
I do believe that no matter what you choose, your child will be fine. But I'd say go for AAP if he qualifies. |