Science Olympiad Question

[Anonymous]

Is the S/O team at your school randomly chosen? In reality? Is it mostly Asian? Do you think this is an issue? Curious.

[Anonymous]

Not random, you have to test to make the "A" team that goes to the contests/meets/show (whatever it is called). Mostly but not nearly all Asian.

[Anonymous]

Ours was open to all kids at the school from the appropriate grades.

Only AAP kids showed up for the informational meeting even though everyone received the flyer.

A few kids peeled off when they hewrd the requirements. I assume that the parent coaching requirement for participation was the culprit.

Our team was about 2/3 Asian and 1/3 white.

The teams (A vs B) were divided between kids who had competed SO in previous years including state and those who were less experienced and had less seniority.

The state team was based off of which events scored highest at regionals.

For the most part they were A team kids but some of the B team kids made the cut.

[Anonymous]

Random. Drawn by lottery.

[Anonymous]

There are different divisions for VASO.
Division A is for 3rd to 5th graders, more "recreational". in DC school the participants were drawn by lottery, coached by parents, minimal school help.
Division B for 6th graders. They were supposed to tested in. Probably there was dedicated coach, not sure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Random. Drawn by lottery.

I have heard that, but there are only two white kids and the rest are Asian in our school! For obvious reasons, I will NOT say where.

[Anonymous]

Parent participation was a requirement and knocked out a number. In the end, the team was pretty diverse and fairly reflective of school make-up. Wish more parents would volunteer though.

[Anonymous]

Ours are mostly Asian, and the parents do *not* speak English. It is a big deal, in reality.

In truth, I think the teachers want to win at any cost, and prefer to not have parent communication, but do want parental involvement (to motivate the children). In other words, I think the teachers may fear that the white kids do not have the tiger parenting.

In reality, I know some over qualified (!!!!) white children who were overlooked because **supposedly** the S/O is chosen by "lottery" (fairly unbelievable). No doubt, it is the school's loss. It is especially the school's loss if the parent is highly successful and speaks English, too.

I wonder if certain media outlets would be curious to know about this practice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ours are mostly Asian, and the parents do *not* speak English. It is a big deal, in reality.

In truth, I think the teachers want to win at any cost, and prefer to not have parent communication, but do want parental involvement (to motivate the children). In other words, I think the teachers may fear that the white kids do not have the tiger parenting.

In reality, I know some over qualified (!!!!) white children who were overlooked because **supposedly** the S/O is chosen by "lottery" (fairly unbelievable). No doubt, it is the school's loss. It is especially the school's loss if the parent is highly successful and speaks English, too.

I wonder if certain media outlets would be curious to know about this practice.

That's a wacky school you are in, or you have no idea how it goes with your SO team.
I assume you are talking about division A SO, because division B most likely will be tested in.
There is no "winning school" for division A this year, all projects are for the individual kids (in 2 kids team), so there is no point to have the "winning kids only' on the team. And the teachers will have no idea which kids are the "winning kids" for SO, since it's totally different from the class learning. For the research projects, yes, you probably can 'tiger" some, but the building projects won't benefit a whole lot from "tiger parenting". The kids have to do the project themselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ours are mostly Asian, and the parents do *not* speak English[b]. It is a big deal, in reality.

In truth, I think the teachers want to win at any cost, and prefer to not have parent communication, but do want parental involvement (to motivate the children). In other words, I think the teachers may fear that the white kids do not have the tiger parenting.

In reality, I know some over qualified (!!!!) white children who were overlooked because **supposedly** the S/O is chosen by "lottery" (fairly unbelievable). No doubt, it is the school's loss. It is especially the school's loss if the parent is highly successful and speaks English, too.

I wonder if certain media outlets would be curious to know about this practice.

I'm Asian and have been educated in English - from Lower Kindergarten in an Asian Country. I was 3 when I was enrolled in school. I have a Master degree in Engineering from a very good school in the US.

Most of my Asian friends talk fine English. Why this racial bias against Asians?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ours are mostly Asian, and the parents do *not* speak English. It is a big deal, in reality.

In truth, I think the teachers want to win at any cost, and prefer to not have parent communication, but do want parental involvement (to motivate the children). In other words, I think the teachers may fear that the white kids do not have the tiger parenting.

In reality, I know some over qualified (!!!!) white children who were overlooked because **supposedly** the S/O is chosen by "lottery" (fairly unbelievable). No doubt, it is the school's loss. It is especially the school's loss if the parent is highly successful and speaks English, too.

I wonder if certain media outlets would be curious to know about this practice.

From an outside perspective, you are probably right.

There was likely not an actual lottery.

However, selection was not based on what you suspect, ie tiger parents.

The "lottery" was likely to keep pain in the rear parents like you out of the program, as no one wants to spend more time with a self important ass than actually necessary.

[Anonymous]

Our division B elementary school team was chosen by lottery by the school, which was somewhat odd because other than paying the fees, the school provided no support..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
The "lottery" was likely to keep pain in the rear parents like you out of the program, as no one wants to spend more time with a self important ass than actually necessary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our division B elementary school team was chosen by lottery by the school, which was somewhat odd because other than paying the fees, the school provided no support..

What grade kids in your division B? I would imagine most of schools take division B quite seriously, at least the middle schools.

[Anonymous]

Wait, are these examples of "talk fine English" serious????!!!