Why I hate AAP Parents - vent

[Anonymous]

I just need to vent. I was at a middle school event at my middle school this week, (which is not an AAP middle school, but does keep all the level IV kids together for their main classes.) While at an Odyssey of the Mind meeting for starting a team at the school (yup - geek warning) this one mother was interrogating this a 7th grade boy as to if his was in the AAP program. The boy looked a little clueless (as I think most 7th grade boys look when adults they don't know talk to them). I have no clue what his AAP status is. I know he is friends with my DS and they are in Hn. Algebra together (in 7th grade) and play on a sports team together (and was at our non-AAP base elementary school together).

Really, you are going to judge kids as to if they are AAP or not, still at the 7th grade level? I realize that OotM is a total geek activity, but your need to talk about what AAP level your kid is is not directly related to the creative problem team activities that happen at Odyssey of the Mind (yeah, I know many AAP kids do OotM, but it's not a requirement!).

But why in meeting a kid for the first time do you need to ask him his AAP status? You just re-affirmed for me that the choice I made 4 years ago not to go to the AAP school was the best choice. I like all my DCs parents we talk about the whole kids. Never have I seen such judgmental behavior at my base school toward kids (Judgmental toward parents, hell yes, but not the kids)

I know it's like when I get asked what do I do, but I at least know you are judging me, and can answer appropriately.

thank you
vent over (or add your own AAP parents behaving badly here) glad they have their own forum so I don't have to deal with them too much!

[Anonymous]

Yes because all AAP parents are the same, just like all black people eat watermelon and chicken wings, all Asians are bad at driving, all Hispanics are illegals and all white people hate those that aren't white.

(eye roll) x infinity

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes because all AAP parents are the same, just like all black people eat watermelon and chicken wings, all Asians are bad at driving, all Hispanics are illegals and all white people hate those that aren't white.

(eye roll) x infinity

She said it was a vent. Get off your soapbox, jerk!

[Anonymous]

For the record OP, I am an "AAP parent" (assuming I get to use that title because my kids are in AAP??!!).

If someone (AAP parent or not) had asked those questions of a kid in my presence, I would have said something to the parent. Immediately.

I was right there with you until your last line about "let's start a thread about how awful all the AAP parents are." Grow up.

[Anonymous]

OP complains that a parent wanted to know if a kid was in AAP, yet she apparently wants to make sure we all know her kid is taking HN Algebra in 7th grade.

Yes, the other parent sounds obnoxious, but OP isn't the right person to be venting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes because all AAP parents are the same, just like all black people eat watermelon and chicken wings, all Asians are bad at driving, all Hispanics are illegals and all white people hate those that aren't white.

(eye roll) x infinity

She said it was a vent. Get off your soapbox, jerk!

If you want to vent and don't want a response don't post to an open forum. I call a spade like a spade.

[Anonymous]

Many 2E children need AAP. Odyssey of the mind is for all children not just AAP children. "AAP does not make a smart child" AAP accommodates a "different" learning style which is needed for many.

The title of "AAP center program" is a misnomer as it indicates that all children who are in the program are academically advanced across all subjects. Many parents think their children are smarter if they are in this program. It has become a real sore spot for a lot of parents in Fairfax County because many parents with high achieving children are fully aware that many children in the AAP center program are not truly advanced in all academic areas. Yet these center children are being afforded opportunities which are not given to the child who doesn't make the cut scores into the program or is not admitted for many reasons. It is a problem and I believe the truly advanced programs should be available at all schools based on achievement not learning styles and the MS advanced academic center program candidates should be recommended by teachers from all schools and not automatically included upon graduation from the current AAP center program. This would increase the quality and level of academics in the GE schools and truly give all children a real chance at their highest academic achievement.

[Anonymous]

What makes a student "gifted"? This study says we're getting it wrong.

http://www.vox.com/2014/9/24/6835643/gifted-education-classrooms-nber-study

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What makes a student "gifted"? This study says we're getting it wrong.

http://www.vox.com/2014/9/24/6835643/gifted-education-classrooms-nber-study

Unfortunately, the people who most want to keep AAP are the parents of these students. It's a way for them to feel their bright children are something special academically even if they're not gifted. I had a gifted child (and all the challenges that entailed), but had the GT program he was in disappeared, I wouldn't have fought for it. It was nice to have, but he would still have been off the charts smart and special without it and not had his intelligence diminished without it.

[Anonymous]

why did you post this in the AAP forum? Not going to see anyone on your side here.

[Anonymous]

It's rude. Just as it's rude to ask little kids other personal things like what their parents do or things like that.

[Anonymous]

"Some researchers, though, argue that this type of sorting perpetuates academic inequality. The best students, whether they're chosen based on their IQ or their standardized test scores, get the richest curriculum; the others are left behind.

Grouping students together based on ability for one subject, particularly in elementary school, is fairly common. But the idea is that students can move between ability groups as they progress. That's very different from picking students out and assigning them to a separate classroom based on their score on a standardized test."

The above was quoted from the article and articulates well why sorting students into "AAP" and "Gen Ed" classrooms is a huge mistake. There is no fluidity for children to move around as needed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What makes a student "gifted"? This study says we're getting it wrong.

http://www.vox.com/2014/9/24/6835643/gifted-education-classrooms-nber-study

Unfortunately, the people who most want to keep AAP are the parents of these students. It's a way for them to feel their bright children are something special academically even if they're not gifted. I had a gifted child (and all the challenges that entailed), but had the GT program he was in disappeared, I wouldn't have fought for it. It was nice to have, but he would still have been off the charts smart and special without it and not had his intelligence diminished without it.

+100

[Anonymous]

^ Amen!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What makes a student "gifted"? This study says we're getting it wrong.

http://www.vox.com/2014/9/24/6835643/gifted-education-classrooms-nber-study

Unfortunately, the people who most want to keep AAP are the parents of these students. It's a way for them to feel their bright children are something special academically even if they're not gifted. I had a gifted child (and all the challenges that entailed), but had the GT program he was in disappeared, I wouldn't have fought for it. It was nice to have, but he would still have been off the charts smart and special without it and not had his intelligence diminished without it.

any parent who doesn't feel that AAP should be relabeled special ed, doesn't really have that bright of a kid. I love my AAP off the charts kid, but really it's difficult to be an outlier no matter what tail you are on.