If you are one who does NOT want to create a sense of superiority in your AAP accepted child

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I told my dd that some kids who think differently learn better in an AAP classroom. I made no mention of better, smarter, faster, or gifted. However, it only took a few months there before she had adopted the lingo and was talking about being with the "smart kids."

And herein lies the problem. It needs to be reinforced to these kids - and clearly their parents too - that AAP students are not the only "smart" kids. I think it's far too easy to forget just how very many Gen Ed kids almost got into AAP, had similar test scores, etc. The cutoff is so arbitrary that it creates a false sense of just who is capable of what. If the minimum threshold for admittance were much higher, then it would be clear that only those kids who are actually gifted and might need specialized classes are receiving these services. The way the system is run right now, it's more like half the population are Star-Belly Sneeches and half are Plain-Belly. But in most cases, they are completely interchangeable.

At my DC's HGC over 2000 kids applied. 54 got in.

But this forum is addressing AAP within FCPS. I was the PP who commented that obviously MoCo schools are doing it right, by selecting only the few actually gifted kids for their program. AAP, on the other hand, accepts far too many kids to make it meaningful at all.

[Anonymous]

What is stupid is to tell your child he is smart. Would you tell a borderline child he is dumb? Of course not. We'd say to ANY child that he/she is smart to provide encouragement. Therefore when you say your kid got in because he thinks different, learns faster, is smarter, etc. it sets this boundary up of the haves and the have nots. So no, I'm not telling my child she is "in" because she is smart. I'm not using words 'smart,' 'learns faster,' 'needs more challenging work,' etc. I'm using words like, "the school is trying to consolidate things for third grade to streamline classes. Pulling kids in and out won't work as well so I think they are just doing some classes with no pull outs. Period. That's it. If she comes home and says this is for the 'smart kids' per your kid, I'm going to tell my kid your kid is mistaken because obviously we know kids not in her class who are smart.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I told my dd that some kids who think differently learn better in an AAP classroom. I made no mention of better, smarter, faster, or gifted. However, it only took a few months there before she had adopted the lingo and was talking about being with the "smart kids."

And herein lies the problem. It needs to be reinforced to these kids - and clearly their parents too - that AAP students are not the only "smart" kids. I think it's far too easy to forget just how very many Gen Ed kids almost got into AAP, had similar test scores, etc. The cutoff is so arbitrary that it creates a false sense of just who is capable of what. If the minimum threshold for admittance were much higher, then it would be clear that only those kids who are actually gifted and might need specialized classes are receiving these services. The way the system is run right now, it's more like half the population are Star-Belly Sneeches and half are Plain-Belly. But in most cases, they are completely interchangeable.

In some ways this is true..that other smart kids didn't get in. I'm PP who told my DC that DC was smart, but don't think you're smarter than everyone else. I told DC that it's not just about grades or how well DC did on the test. The teacher has to recommend for a child to go into GT because teacher feels GT will be better for the child. So, even if another child didn't get in, doesn't mean the child is not smart..just maybe not meant for GT. Also told my DC that just cause DC is in GT now, don't think getting into a program like this in MS or HS is guaranteed.

Balance.

In middle and high school, kids can self-select honors and AP classes, so it's not going to be the same thing at all, thankfully.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is stupid is to tell your child he is smart. Would you tell a borderline child he is dumb? Of course not. We'd say to ANY child that he/she is smart to provide encouragement. Therefore when you say your kid got in because he thinks different, learns faster, is smarter, etc. it sets this boundary up of the haves and the have nots. So no, I'm not telling my child she is "in" because she is smart. I'm not using words 'smart,' 'learns faster,' 'needs more challenging work,' etc. I'm using words like, "the school is trying to consolidate things for third grade to streamline classes. Pulling kids in and out won't work as well so I think they are just doing some classes with no pull outs. Period. That's it. If she comes home and says this is for the 'smart kids' per your kid, I'm going to tell my kid your kid is mistaken because obviously we know kids not in her class who are smart.

I don't tell my children they're in AAP because they're smart because research shows that telling children they're smart tends to backfire and lead to children who do less than they could because they're afraid they might reveal themselves as not smart.

However. I do tell them it looks like they enjoy school, that they employ creative problem solving strategies, that they continue working at problems even when they're frustrated, and things like that.

One of my children loves lacrosse but he's mediocre at it. He has friends who're great. He has observed they're great. When he was little (<9) and he asked me how good a player he was, I'd ask him what he thought. As he got older, I was honest with him, and I told him areas he was competent at and areas that he struggled with. Why would I lie to him? Especially at ages where he's beginning to see how effort can result in improvements that can results in him being a better player? There are some areas where he might always be at a disadvantage, such as his height. We're honest about that too. Just because "the good lacrosse" kids play on a particular team does not mean that there aren't other good lacrosse kids playing elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is stupid is to tell your child he is smart. Would you tell a borderline child he is dumb? Of course not. We'd say to ANY child that he/she is smart to provide encouragement. Therefore when you say your kid got in because he thinks different, learns faster, is smarter, etc. it sets this boundary up of the haves and the have nots. So no, I'm not telling my child she is "in" because she is smart. I'm not using words 'smart,' 'learns faster,' 'needs more challenging work,' etc. I'm using words like, "the school is trying to consolidate things for third grade to streamline classes. Pulling kids in and out won't work as well so I think they are just doing some classes with no pull outs. Period. That's it. If she comes home and says this is for the 'smart kids' per your kid, I'm going to tell my kid your kid is mistaken because obviously we know kids not in her class who are smart.

I don't tell my children they're in AAP because they're smart because research shows that telling children they're smart tends to backfire and lead to children who do less than they could because they're afraid they might reveal themselves as not smart.

However. I do tell them it looks

One of my children loves lacrosse but he's mediocre at it. He has friends who're great. He has observed they're great. When he was little (<9) and he asked me how good a player he was, I'd ask him what he thought. As he got older, I was honest with him, and I told him areas he was competent at and areas that he struggled with. Why would I lie to him? Especially at ages where he's beginning to see how effort can result in improvements that can results in him being a better player? There are some areas where he might always be at a disadvantage, such as his height. We're honest about that too. Just because "the good lacrosse" kids play on a particular team does not mean that there aren't other good lacrosse kids playing elsewhere.

So those not in AAP don't enjoy school, don't employ creative problem solving strategies, and don't continue working at problems even when they're frustrated? Wow, poor things.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is stupid is to tell your child he is smart. Would you tell a borderline child he is dumb? Of course not. We'd say to ANY child that he/she is smart to provide encouragement. Therefore when you say your kid got in because he thinks different, learns faster, is smarter, etc. it sets this boundary up of the haves and the have nots. So no, I'm not telling my child she is "in" because she is smart. I'm not using words 'smart,' 'learns faster,' 'needs more challenging work,' etc. I'm using words like, "the school is trying to consolidate things for third grade to streamline classes. Pulling kids in and out won't work as well so I think they are just doing some classes with no pull outs. Period. That's it. If she comes home and says this is for the 'smart kids' per your kid, I'm going to tell my kid your kid is mistaken because obviously we know kids not in her class who are smart.

And how did you explain the small group pull outs to your child?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is stupid is to tell your child he is smart. Would you tell a borderline child he is dumb? Of course not. We'd say to ANY child that he/she is smart to provide encouragement. Therefore when you say your kid got in because he thinks different, learns faster, is smarter, etc. it sets this boundary up of the haves and the have nots. So no, I'm not telling my child she is "in" because she is smart. I'm not using words 'smart,' 'learns faster,' 'needs more challenging work,' etc. I'm using words like, "the school is trying to consolidate things for third grade to streamline classes. Pulling kids in and out won't work as well so I think they are just doing some classes with no pull outs. Period. That's it. If she comes home and says this is for the 'smart kids' per your kid, I'm going to tell my kid your kid is mistaken because obviously we know kids not in her class who are smart.

I don't tell my children they're in AAP because they're smart because research shows that telling children they're smart tends to backfire and lead to children who do less than they could because they're afraid they might reveal themselves as not smart.

However. I do tell them it looks

One of my children loves lacrosse but he's mediocre at it. He has friends who're great. He has observed they're great. When he was little (<9) and he asked me how good a player he was, I'd ask him what he thought. As he got older, I was honest with him, and I told him areas he was competent at and areas that he struggled with. Why would I lie to him? Especially at ages where he's beginning to see how effort can result in improvements that can results in him being a better player? There are some areas where he might always be at a disadvantage, such as his height. We're honest about that too. Just because "the good lacrosse" kids play on a particular team does not mean that there aren't other good lacrosse kids playing elsewhere.

So those not in AAP don't enjoy school, don't employ creative problem solving strategies, and don't continue working at problems even when they're frustrated? Wow, poor things.

What is your problem? She's not building an airtight case in a courtroom, she's offering an explanation that works for her son.

[Anonymous]

OH.BRO.THER!!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I told my dd that some kids who think differently learn better in an AAP classroom. I made no mention of better, smarter, faster, or gifted. However, it only took a few months there before she had adopted the lingo and was talking about being with the "smart kids."

And herein lies the problem. It needs to be reinforced to these kids - and clearly their parents too - that AAP students are not the only "smart" kids. I think it's far too easy to forget just how very many Gen Ed kids almost got into AAP, had similar test scores, etc. The cutoff is so arbitrary that it creates a false sense of just who is capable of what. If the minimum threshold for admittance were much higher, then it would be clear that only those kids who are actually gifted and might need specialized classes are receiving these services. The way the system is run right now, it's more like half the population are Star-Belly Sneeches and half are Plain-Belly. But in most cases, they are completely interchangeable.

At my DC's HGC over 2000 kids applied. 54 got in.

But this forum is addressing AAP within FCPS. I was the PP who commented that obviously MoCo schools are doing it right, by selecting only the few actually gifted kids for their program. AAP, on the other hand, accepts far too many kids to make it meait saningful at all.

Well, on the forum description is says, "Advanced Academic Programs (AAP) Primarily for discussion of Fairfax County's Advanced Academic Programs, but open for discussion of AAP and similar programs elsewhere as well."

But anyway, I don't think i'll be back. This thread is stupid beyond belief. I can't fathom the contortions some posters are going through to avoid the obvious -- that if anyone is better than your child in any arena, there must be some kind of mistake. Some people are smarter than others. Some people are more attractive than others. Some people are more athletic than others. Etc. This is life, no matter how much you pretend it's all a matter of choosing the right words to keep that reality at bay. How are your kids going to be prepared for life when you are no longer around to hand-feed them their perceptions of themselves in relation to others?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I told my dd that some kids who think differently learn better in an AAP classroom. I made no mention of better, smarter, faster, or gifted. However, it only took a few months there before she had adopted the lingo and was talking about being with the "smart kids."

And herein lies the problem. It needs to be reinforced to these kids - and clearly their parents too - that AAP students are not the only "smart" kids. I think it's far too easy to forget just how very many Gen Ed kids almost got into AAP, had similar test scores, etc. The cutoff is so arbitrary that it creates a false sense of just who is capable of what. If the minimum threshold for admittance were much higher, then it would be clear that only those kids who are actually gifted and might need specialized classes are receiving these services. The way the system is run right now, it's more like half the population are Star-Belly Sneeches and half are Plain-Belly. But in most cases, they are completely interchangeable.

At my DC's HGC over 2000 kids applied. 54 got in.

But this forum is addressing AAP within FCPS. I was the PP who commented that obviously MoCo schools are doing it right, by selecting only the few actually gifted kids for their program. AAP, on the other hand, accepts far too many kids to make it meait saningful at all.

Well, on the forum description is says, "Advanced Academic Programs (AAP) Primarily for discussion of Fairfax County's Advanced Academic Programs, but open for discussion of AAP and similar programs elsewhere as well."

But anyway, I don't think i'll be back. This thread is stupid beyond belief. I can't fathom the contortions some posters are going through to avoid the obvious -- that if anyone is better than your child in any arena, there must be some kind of mistake. Some people are smarter than others. Some people are more attractive than others. Some people are more athletic than others. Etc. This is life, no matter how much you pretend it's all a matter of choosing the right words to keep that reality at bay. How are your kids going to be prepared for life when you are no longer around to hand-feed them their perceptions of themselves in relation to others?

PP again. Sorry, I now see why the two programs would create two completely different perceptions of why some kids get in and some do not. My apologies. Maybe we need a MC HGC forum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is stupid is to tell your child he is smart. Would you tell a borderline child he is dumb? Of course not. We'd say to ANY child that he/she is smart to provide encouragement. Therefore when you say your kid got in because he thinks different, learns faster, is smarter, etc. it sets this boundary up of the haves and the have nots. So no, I'm not telling my child she is "in" because she is smart. I'm not using words 'smart,' 'learns faster,' 'needs more challenging work,' etc. I'm using words like, "the school is trying to consolidate things for third grade to streamline classes. Pulling kids in and out won't work as well so I think they are just doing some classes with no pull outs. Period. That's it. If she comes home and says this is for the 'smart kids' per your kid, I'm going to tell my kid your kid is mistaken because obviously we know kids not in her class who are smart.

And how did you explain the small group pull outs to your child?

Why would I need to explain it? What about it requires an explanation?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is stupid is to tell your child he is smart. Would you tell a borderline child he is dumb? Of course not. We'd say to ANY child that he/she is smart to provide encouragement. Therefore when you say your kid got in because he thinks different, learns faster, is smarter, etc. it sets this boundary up of the haves and the have nots. So no, I'm not telling my child she is "in" because she is smart. I'm not using words 'smart,' 'learns faster,' 'needs more challenging work,' etc. I'm using words like, "the school is trying to consolidate things for third grade to streamline classes. Pulling kids in and out won't work as well so I think they are just doing some classes with no pull outs. Period. That's it. If she comes home and says this is for the 'smart kids' per your kid, I'm going to tell my kid your kid is mistaken because obviously we know kids not in her class who are smart.

I don't tell my children they're in AAP because they're smart because research shows that telling children they're smart tends to backfire and lead to children who do less than they could because they're afraid they might reveal themselves as not smart.

However. I do tell them it looks

One of my children loves lacrosse but he's mediocre at it. He has friends who're great. He has observed they're great. When he was little (<9) and he asked me how good a player he was, I'd ask him what he thought. As he got older, I was honest with him, and I told him areas he was competent at and areas that he struggled with. Why would I lie to him? Especially at ages where he's beginning to see how effort can result in improvements that can results in him being a better player? There are some areas where he might always be at a disadvantage, such as his height. We're honest about that too. Just because "the good lacrosse" kids play on a particular team does not mean that there aren't other good lacrosse kids playing elsewhere.

So those not in AAP don't enjoy school, don't employ creative problem solving strategies, and don't continue working at problems even when they're frustrated? Wow, poor things.

What is your problem? She's not building an airtight case in a courtroom, she's offering an explanation that works for her son.

The problem is that this is what divides the schools and kids. My kid is the same kid that she was before the AAP letter arrived. The letter didn't create or confirm anything else about her. I resent you telling your kids something else which my kid and other kids hear. My kid comes home and says your kid said AAP is for the smart kids I'm telling her your kid is mistaken and there are plenty of smart kids not in AAP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is stupid is to tell your child he is smart. Would you tell a borderline child he is dumb? Of course not. We'd say to ANY child that he/she is smart to provide encouragement. Therefore when you say your kid got in because he thinks different, learns faster, is smarter, etc. it sets this boundary up of the haves and the have nots. So no, I'm not telling my child she is "in" because she is smart. I'm not using words 'smart,' 'learns faster,' 'needs more challenging work,' etc. I'm using words like, "the school is trying to consolidate things for third grade to streamline classes. Pulling kids in and out won't work as well so I think they are just doing some classes with no pull outs. Period. That's it. If she comes home and says this is for the 'smart kids' per your kid, I'm going to tell my kid your kid is mistaken because obviously we know kids not in her class who are smart.

I don't tell my children they're in AAP because they're smart because research shows that telling children they're smart tends to backfire and lead to children who do less than they could because they're afraid they might reveal themselves as not smart.

However. I do tell them it looks

One of my children loves lacrosse but he's mediocre at it. He has friends who're great. He has observed they're great. When he was little (<9) and he asked me how good a player he was, I'd ask him what he thought. As he got older, I was honest with him, and I told him areas he was competent at and areas that he struggled with. Why would I lie to him? Especially at ages where he's beginning to see how effort can result in improvements that can results in him being a better player? There are some areas where he might always be at a disadvantage, such as his height. We're honest about that too. Just because "the good lacrosse" kids play on a particular team does not mean that there aren't other good lacrosse kids playing elsewhere.

So those not in AAP don't enjoy school, don't employ creative problem solving strategies, and don't continue working at problems even when they're frustrated? Wow, poor things.

What is your problem? She's not building an airtight case in a courtroom, she's offering an explanation that works for her son.

The problem is that this is what divides the schools and kids. My kid is the same kid that she was before the AAP letter arrived. The letter didn't create or confirm anything else about her. I resent you telling your kids something else which my kid and other kids hear. My kid comes home and says your kid said AAP is for the smart kids I'm telling her your kid is mistaken and there are plenty of smart kids not in AAP.

+1. I will tell my kid your kid is absolutely incorrect.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I told my dd that some kids who think differently learn better in an AAP classroom. I made no mention of better, smarter, faster, or gifted. However, it only took a few months there before she had adopted the lingo and was talking about being with the "smart kids."

And herein lies the problem. It needs to be reinforced to these kids - and clearly their parents too - that AAP students are not the only "smart" kids. I think it's far too easy to forget just how very many Gen Ed kids almost got into AAP, had similar test scores, etc. The cutoff is so arbitrary that it creates a false sense of just who is capable of what. If the minimum threshold for admittance were much higher, then it would be clear that only those kids who are actually gifted and might need specialized classes are receiving these services. The way the system is run right now, it's more like half the population are Star-Belly Sneeches and half are Plain-Belly. But in most cases, they are completely interchangeable.

At my DC's HGC over 2000 kids applied. 54 got in.

But this forum is addressing AAP within FCPS. I was the PP who commented that obviously MoCo schools are doing it right, by selecting only the few actually gifted kids for their program. AAP, on the other hand, accepts far too many kids to make it meait saningful at all.

Well, on the forum description is says, "Advanced Academic Programs (AAP) Primarily for discussion of Fairfax County's Advanced Academic Programs, but open for discussion of AAP and similar programs elsewhere as well."

But anyway, I don't think i'll be back. This thread is stupid beyond belief. I can't fathom the contortions some posters are going through to avoid the obvious -- that if anyone is better than your child in any arena, there must be some kind of mistake. Some people are smarter than others. Some people are more attractive than others. Some people are more athletic than others. Etc. This is life, no matter how much you pretend it's all a matter of choosing the right words to keep that reality at bay. How are your kids going to be prepared for life when you are no longer around to hand-feed them their perceptions of themselves in relation to others?

PP again. Sorry, I now see why the two programs would create two completely different perceptions of why some kids get in and some do not. My apologies. Maybe we need a MC HGC forum.

I can see how in MC, it would be easy to explain to the kids who don't get into HGC. You would just say, "There is a very small % of kids who are truly academically advanced (or gifted, in that case) and who learn so fast that they really need to be in a separate class/school." There, the vast majority of kids aren't in the gifted program, so it's no big deal and everyone understands why a few kids are. Here in FCPS, however, the AAP system has turned what should be "regular" or community schools into ones in which almost half the 3rd-6th grade population is placed in separate classes, creating this artificial hierarchy. The message this sends to the Gen. Ed. community is pretty unfortunate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I told my dd that some kids who think differently learn better in an AAP classroom. I made no mention of better, smarter, faster, or gifted. However, it only took a few months there before she had adopted the lingo and was talking about being with the "smart kids."

And herein lies the problem. It needs to be reinforced to these kids - and clearly their parents too - that AAP students are not the only "smart" kids. I think it's far too easy to forget just how very many Gen Ed kids almost got into AAP, had similar test scores, etc. The cutoff is so arbitrary that it creates a false sense of just who is capable of what. If the minimum threshold for admittance were much higher, then it would be clear that only those kids who are actually gifted and might need specialized classes are receiving these services. The way the system is run right now, it's more like half the population are Star-Belly Sneeches and half are Plain-Belly. But in most cases, they are completely interchangeable.

At my DC's HGC over 2000 kids applied. 54 got in.

But this forum is addressing AAP within FCPS. I was the PP who commented that obviously MoCo schools are doing it right, by selecting only the few actually gifted kids for their program. AAP, on the other hand, accepts far too many kids to make it meait saningful at all.

Well, on the forum description is says, "Advanced Academic Programs (AAP) Primarily for discussion of Fairfax County's Advanced Academic Programs, but open for discussion of AAP and similar programs elsewhere as well."

But anyway, I don't think i'll be back. This thread is stupid beyond belief. I can't fathom the contortions some posters are going through to avoid the obvious -- that if anyone is better than your child in any arena, there must be some kind of mistake. Some people are smarter than others. Some people are more attractive than others. Some people are more athletic than others. Etc. This is life, no matter how much you pretend it's all a matter of choosing the right words to keep that reality at bay. How are your kids going to be prepared for life when you are no longer around to hand-feed them their perceptions of themselves in relation to others?

PP again. Sorry, I now see why the two programs would create two completely different perceptions of why some kids get in and some do not. My apologies. Maybe we need a MC HGC forum.

I can see how in MC, it would be easy to explain to the kids who don't get into HGC. You would just say, "There is a very small % of kids who are truly academically advanced (or gifted, in that case) and who learn so fast that they really need to be in a separate class/school." There, the vast majority of kids aren't in the gifted program, so it's no big deal and everyone understands why a few kids are. Here in FCPS, however, the AAP system has turned what should be "regular" or community schools into ones in which almost half the 3rd-6th grade population is placed in separate classes, creating this artificial hierarchy. The message this sends to the Gen. Ed. community is pretty unfortunate.

Ah! I am PP that stated I told my DC that DC is smart to get into GT. We are in MoCo. Sorry, I should not have posted in this thread since I had no idea about how AAP worked. My bad.