TPMS Math Team

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:???

What's the problem if they're mostly Asian?

AOPS is prep?
You must not have any experience. AOPS is just good teaching. They do have a contest math section and post questions online so kids can practice. My kids have never taken an actual class, in person or virtual.

They just go through the books and if they were into it, they would do the online math problems on Alcumus. Why wouldn't a kid prepare? It's not an IQ test.

Absolutely no problem at all, except when people say that MCPS is biased against Asian students. Clearly it’s not. They dominate in competitive STEM fields in MCPS.

Clearly MCPS is not biased against Black and Brown students. At my kid’s nonW school, they dominate the Honors and AP classes. They also dominate at soccer and basketball.

(PP, you are ridiculous. Nobody is keeping non-Asian kids off the Math team because of race. It’s based on skill.)

Nobody said they were. Where did you get that from?

MCPS says so. MCPS says that Black and Brown students do not perform as well academically as White and Asian students. This is EXACTLY the entire premise behind the dreaded Achievement Gap. And MCPS has stated that closing the Achievement Gap is one of its main goals.

Well there you go, I guess the one being ridiculous was PP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Crazy competitive. Only kids getting on were aops and similar preppers (this was a while ago).

Aren’t those prep programs dominated by one demographic? Maybe not but the TPMS team is almost entirely Asian (like 95 percent or higher). I guess Asian kids are just innately really good at math and black, white or Latino kids don’t stand a chance.

Idk, but my Jewish kid plays basketball on a competitive team that is predominantly Black. I guess Black kids are just innately really good at basketball and Jews or Asians don’t stand a chance.

Yeah, I guess. I mean it has to be that Asian kids are just overall better than others because we couldn’t assume it’s anything to do with parental pressure, extra curricular activities, “prepping”, cultural expectations or any other factors other than innate ability.

Probably some of both if people were willing to be completely honest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Crazy competitive. Only kids getting on were aops and similar preppers (this was a while ago).

Aren’t those prep programs dominated by one demographic? Maybe not but the TPMS team is almost entirely Asian (like 95 percent or higher). I guess Asian kids are just innately really good at math and black, white or Latino kids don’t stand a chance.

Idk, but my Jewish kid plays basketball on a competitive team that is predominantly Black. I guess Black kids are just innately really good at basketball and Jews or Asians don’t stand a chance.

Yeah, I guess. I mean it has to be that Asian kids are just overall better than others because we couldn’t assume it’s anything to do with parental pressure, extra curricular activities, “prepping”, cultural expectations or any other factors other than innate ability.

Those are hallmarks of the Asian community and explain a lot, but once and a while there will be one or two kids who are genuinely talented. Nevertheless, contest math is not a good measure of mathematical aptitude. It's largely an exercise in memorizing known solutions to problems, but you got to start somewhere..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:???

What's the problem if they're mostly Asian?

AOPS is prep?
You must not have any experience. AOPS is just good teaching. They do have a contest math section and post questions online so kids can practice. My kids have never taken an actual class, in person or virtual.

They just go through the books and if they were into it, they would do the online math problems on Alcumus. Why wouldn't a kid prepare? It's not an IQ test.

Absolutely no problem at all, except when people say that MCPS is biased against Asian students. Clearly it’s not. They dominate in competitive STEM fields in MCPS.

Clearly MCPS is not biased against Black and Brown students. At my kid’s nonW school, they dominate the Honors and AP classes. They also dominate at soccer and basketball.

(PP, you are ridiculous. Nobody is keeping non-Asian kids off the Math team because of race. It’s based on skill.)

Nobody said they were. Where did you get that from?

Have you been paying attention? MCPS says so. My neighbor is a teacher and she has to take anti-bias training because MCPS operates under the assumption that teachers are inherently biased against black and Latino students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:???

What's the problem if they're mostly Asian?

AOPS is prep?
You must not have any experience. AOPS is just good teaching. They do have a contest math section and post questions online so kids can practice. My kids have never taken an actual class, in person or virtual.

They just go through the books and if they were into it, they would do the online math problems on Alcumus. Why wouldn't a kid prepare? It's not an IQ test.

This. My kid has been doing AoPS since Beast Academy because it does an EXCELLENT job of explaining Math concepts in a fun and engaging way. He has done the workbooks at home and we've never taken an in-person on online class. MCPS Math kind of stinks, so we started this and stuck with it.

Maybe she's 'prepping' to be competent in Math? Okay, then, I guess.

The workbooks are easily available to order online for anyone and everyone to use.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How competitive are the kids near the top? What level are those kids on?

I don't have objective measures, but from what I've heard, they're dazzling, in a great way. If DC qualifies and can join the team it should be a pretty special experience.

Are they qualifying for AIME/USAJMO/MathCounts Nationals?

Yes for all three competitions. But the current lottery selected 6th and 7th grades have less of these type of kids due to lottery. So it won't be that competitive next year. Even for the non-top ones, it is still some valuable experience to be exposed every week to different kind of math competition questions with a great cohort of peers.

Before the lottery, typically a dozen non-eighth graders made the varsity team. This year there are only five. So yes, it's a little less competitive but the the score needed to get into varsity was the same as previous years on the tryout..

Were there any non-eighth graders this year who made it to chapter round?

Ms Manchester limited participation in mathcounts to 8th grade. I think it was because most hadn't been able to participate the previous years because of the pandemic. The few 6th and 7th graders that might've been able to do it didn't get that chance.

This makes no sense.

A school can send up to 12 kids, and Ms. M usually sends the top 12 kids from the varsity team. If a kid is in the varsity team, and in the top 12, they get to go. She doesn't hold back kids because they have not participated before; by that logic, no kid will ever get to participate.

The other poster above said there are only five sixth/seventh graders in the varsity team this year. Are you saying some of them were in the top 12, and were prevented from participating in the chapter round?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How competitive are the kids near the top? What level are those kids on?

I don't have objective measures, but from what I've heard, they're dazzling, in a great way. If DC qualifies and can join the team it should be a pretty special experience.

Are they qualifying for AIME/USAJMO/MathCounts Nationals?

Yes for all three competitions. But the current lottery selected 6th and 7th grades have less of these type of kids due to lottery. So it won't be that competitive next year. Even for the non-top ones, it is still some valuable experience to be exposed every week to different kind of math competition questions with a great cohort of peers.

Before the lottery, typically a dozen non-eighth graders made the varsity team. This year there are only five. So yes, it's a little less competitive but the the score needed to get into varsity was the same as previous years on the tryout..

Were there any non-eighth graders this year who made it to chapter round?

Ms Manchester limited participation in mathcounts to 8th grade. I think it was because most hadn't been able to participate the previous years because of the pandemic. The few 6th and 7th graders that might've been able to do it didn't get that chance.

This makes no sense.

A school can send up to 12 kids, and Ms. M usually sends the top 12 kids from the varsity team. If a kid is in the varsity team, and in the top 12, they get to go. She doesn't hold back kids because they have not participated before; by that logic, no kid will ever get to participate.

The other poster above said there are only five sixth/seventh graders in the varsity team this year. Are you saying some of them were in the top 12, and were prevented from participating in the chapter round?

Of course it makes sense. Eighth graders were prioritized because they haven’t had a chance in prior years due to the pandemic and this is their last year of middle school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:???

What's the problem if they're mostly Asian?

AOPS is prep?
You must not have any experience. AOPS is just good teaching. They do have a contest math section and post questions online so kids can practice. My kids have never taken an actual class, in person or virtual.

They just go through the books and if they were into it, they would do the online math problems on Alcumus. Why wouldn't a kid prepare? It's not an IQ test.

Absolutely no problem at all, except when people say that MCPS is biased against Asian students. Clearly it’s not. They dominate in competitive STEM fields in MCPS.

Clearly MCPS is not biased against Black and Brown students. At my kid’s nonW school, they dominate the Honors and AP classes. They also dominate at soccer and basketball.

(PP, you are ridiculous. Nobody is keeping non-Asian kids off the Math team because of race. It’s based on skill.)

if by skill you mean prep then sure

How do you get where you are now by just sitting there?

When an Asian kid doing well in math, they are accused of prepping.
No wonder MCPS give students 50% score for doing nothing.
You and your anti Asian attitude fail to encourage students of all races to be the best and to reach their potential.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How competitive are the kids near the top? What level are those kids on?

I don't have objective measures, but from what I've heard, they're dazzling, in a great way. If DC qualifies and can join the team it should be a pretty special experience.

Are they qualifying for AIME/USAJMO/MathCounts Nationals?

Yes for all three competitions. But the current lottery selected 6th and 7th grades have less of these type of kids due to lottery. So it won't be that competitive next year. Even for the non-top ones, it is still some valuable experience to be exposed every week to different kind of math competition questions with a great cohort of peers.

Before the lottery, typically a dozen non-eighth graders made the varsity team. This year there are only five. So yes, it's a little less competitive but the the score needed to get into varsity was the same as previous years on the tryout..

Were there any non-eighth graders this year who made it to chapter round?

Ms Manchester limited participation in mathcounts to 8th grade. I think it was because most hadn't been able to participate the previous years because of the pandemic. The few 6th and 7th graders that might've been able to do it didn't get that chance.

This makes no sense.

A school can send up to 12 kids, and Ms. M usually sends the top 12 kids from the varsity team. If a kid is in the varsity team, and in the top 12, they get to go. She doesn't hold back kids because they have not participated before; by that logic, no kid will ever get to participate.

The other poster above said there are only five sixth/seventh graders in the varsity team this year. Are you saying some of them were in the top 12, and were prevented from participating in the chapter round?

Of course it makes sense. Eighth graders were prioritized because they haven’t had a chance in prior years due to the pandemic and this is their last year of middle school.

MathCounts has not canceled any chapter contests, but they ran them online the last two years.
The top 12 only started in 2022, there could be 15 in 2021, and before that it was a top 10.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How competitive are the kids near the top? What level are those kids on?

I don't have objective measures, but from what I've heard, they're dazzling, in a great way. If DC qualifies and can join the team it should be a pretty special experience.

Are they qualifying for AIME/USAJMO/MathCounts Nationals?

Yes for all three competitions. But the current lottery selected 6th and 7th grades have less of these type of kids due to lottery. So it won't be that competitive next year. Even for the non-top ones, it is still some valuable experience to be exposed every week to different kind of math competition questions with a great cohort of peers.

Before the lottery, typically a dozen non-eighth graders made the varsity team. This year there are only five. So yes, it's a little less competitive but the the score needed to get into varsity was the same as previous years on the tryout..

Were there any non-eighth graders this year who made it to chapter round?

Ms Manchester limited participation in mathcounts to 8th grade. I think it was because most hadn't been able to participate the previous years because of the pandemic. The few 6th and 7th graders that might've been able to do it didn't get that chance.

This makes no sense.

A school can send up to 12 kids, and Ms. M usually sends the top 12 kids from the varsity team. If a kid is in the varsity team, and in the top 12, they get to go. She doesn't hold back kids because they have not participated before; by that logic, no kid will ever get to participate.

The other poster above said there are only five sixth/seventh graders in the varsity team this year. Are you saying some of them were in the top 12, and were prevented from participating in the chapter round?

The top 12 were selected from 8th graders since they did not have a chance to go (in person) in prior years. To put this in math terms, a set of 8th graders does not include other grades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:???

What's the problem if they're mostly Asian?

AOPS is prep?
You must not have any experience. AOPS is just good teaching. They do have a contest math section and post questions online so kids can practice. My kids have never taken an actual class, in person or virtual.

They just go through the books and if they were into it, they would do the online math problems on Alcumus. Why wouldn't a kid prepare? It's not an IQ test.

Absolutely no problem at all, except when people say that MCPS is biased against Asian students. Clearly it’s not. They dominate in competitive STEM fields in MCPS.

Clearly MCPS is not biased against Black and Brown students. At my kid’s nonW school, they dominate the Honors and AP classes. They also dominate at soccer and basketball.

(PP, you are ridiculous. Nobody is keeping non-Asian kids off the Math team because of race. It’s based on skill.)

if by skill you mean prep then sure

How do you get where you are now by just sitting there?

When an Asian kid doing well in math, they are accused of prepping.
No wonder MCPS give students 50% score for doing nothing.
You and your anti Asian attitude fail to encourage students of all races to be the best and to reach their potential.

I get you to want to define merit as spending the most on prep because that's a variable you can control, but prep doesn't equate to aptitude.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:???

What's the problem if they're mostly Asian?

AOPS is prep?
You must not have any experience. AOPS is just good teaching. They do have a contest math section and post questions online so kids can practice. My kids have never taken an actual class, in person or virtual.

They just go through the books and if they were into it, they would do the online math problems on Alcumus. Why wouldn't a kid prepare? It's not an IQ test.

Absolutely no problem at all, except when people say that MCPS is biased against Asian students. Clearly it’s not. They dominate in competitive STEM fields in MCPS.

Clearly MCPS is not biased against Black and Brown students. At my kid’s nonW school, they dominate the Honors and AP classes. They also dominate at soccer and basketball.

(PP, you are ridiculous. Nobody is keeping non-Asian kids off the Math team because of race. It’s based on skill.)

if by skill you mean prep then sure

How do you get where you are now by just sitting there?

When an Asian kid doing well in math, they are accused of prepping.
No wonder MCPS give students 50% score for doing nothing.
You and your anti Asian attitude fail to encourage students of all races to be the best and to reach their potential.

I get you to want to define merit as spending the most on prep because that's a variable you can control, but prep doesn't equate to aptitude.

Meh
I'm not signing my teen up for a high jump coach even though some of her friends are doing it. She may not be able to compete in that track event next year. It is what it is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:???

What's the problem if they're mostly Asian?

AOPS is prep?
You must not have any experience. AOPS is just good teaching. They do have a contest math section and post questions online so kids can practice. My kids have never taken an actual class, in person or virtual.

They just go through the books and if they were into it, they would do the online math problems on Alcumus. Why wouldn't a kid prepare? It's not an IQ test.

Absolutely no problem at all, except when people say that MCPS is biased against Asian students. Clearly it’s not. They dominate in competitive STEM fields in MCPS.

Clearly MCPS is not biased against Black and Brown students. At my kid’s nonW school, they dominate the Honors and AP classes. They also dominate at soccer and basketball.

(PP, you are ridiculous. Nobody is keeping non-Asian kids off the Math team because of race. It’s based on skill.)

if by skill you mean prep then sure

How do you get where you are now by just sitting there?

When an Asian kid doing well in math, they are accused of prepping.
No wonder MCPS give students 50% score for doing nothing.
You and your anti Asian attitude fail to encourage students of all races to be the best and to reach their potential.

I get you to want to define merit as spending the most on prep because that's a variable you can control, but prep doesn't equate to aptitude.

Cool. Same with soccer. Those Latino kids playing travel soccer year-round, spending thousands of dollars on coaches and tournament fees.

I get that you want to define athletic ability as spending the most on soccer.

PP, it sounds like you dislike Asian kids who do Math outside of school. What is your issue with that? Do you have the same disdain for Latino kids who play soccer on teams that are not run through MCPS? Or is it just your overall bias against Asian kids what causes you to be so… weird?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How competitive are the kids near the top? What level are those kids on?

I don't have objective measures, but from what I've heard, they're dazzling, in a great way. If DC qualifies and can join the team it should be a pretty special experience.

Are they qualifying for AIME/USAJMO/MathCounts Nationals?

Yes for all three competitions. But the current lottery selected 6th and 7th grades have less of these type of kids due to lottery. So it won't be that competitive next year. Even for the non-top ones, it is still some valuable experience to be exposed every week to different kind of math competition questions with a great cohort of peers.

Before the lottery, typically a dozen non-eighth graders made the varsity team. This year there are only five. So yes, it's a little less competitive but the the score needed to get into varsity was the same as previous years on the tryout..

Were there any non-eighth graders this year who made it to chapter round?

Ms Manchester limited participation in mathcounts to 8th grade. I think it was because most hadn't been able to participate the previous years because of the pandemic. The few 6th and 7th graders that might've been able to do it didn't get that chance.

This makes no sense.

A school can send up to 12 kids, and Ms. M usually sends the top 12 kids from the varsity team. If a kid is in the varsity team, and in the top 12, they get to go. She doesn't hold back kids because they have not participated before; by that logic, no kid will ever get to participate.

The other poster above said there are only five sixth/seventh graders in the varsity team this year. Are you saying some of them were in the top 12, and were prevented from participating in the chapter round?

The top 12 were selected from 8th graders since they did not have a chance to go (in person) in prior years. To put this in math terms, a set of 8th graders does not include other grades.

This would apply next year as well, since all those 7th graders were left out this year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Crazy competitive. Only kids getting on were aops and similar preppers (this was a while ago).

You sound crazy competitive and bitter. Do you say the same about the kids who ‘prep’ for high school soccer by playing MSI Classic or Travel? Or are you just biased against kids who enjoy Math?

Not PP, but I also have the impression that it’s crazy competitive and the kids are obnoxious about it. My kid was totally turned off by that and hasn’t tried out for the team despite being very strong in math and going to the Blair magnet next year.

I am the PP. The defensive parent cracked me up. It is what it is. Sure, I was bummed my kids couldn't do it because I did math team as a kid and enjoyed it. But, it's not that big a deal, not enough for me to have some ulterior motive to denigrate those on it. It just was the case that the kids who got on didn't simply love math, they trained for that type of math (aops, discrete, etc). Again, this was a while ago.