Why do people say schools in NOVA are competitive and cutthroat when people also say the education system here is bad?

[Anonymous]

Calculus during ninth grade should not be an outlier at many (most?) high schools. And also enough math classes to fill up the rest of high school should be available. Stop arguing why obvious math nerds should be held back or shamed. You should be wondering how many more kids are being left behind because of lack of opportunity coupled with low expectations from people such as those complaining on this board.

Unless we go back to the stone age, our kids in America are competing with all the kids in the world for colleges, jobs, and opportunities. Parents who supplement only do so because the schools aren't providing the service even though it can be argued that they are legally obligated to do so. Why would you try to shame them and hold them back when it's obvious that most kids have the capacity to learn far more than the low-bar high school curriculum?

It's crazy how sports coaches push their athletes to excel while teachers are told to hold their kids back by their own parents. What's funny and sad is that so many parents don't know that many of the highest performing high school students are also some of the best athletes and musicians. It's why the wealthy ones send them to private/prep schools or are homeschooled. Real homeschooling and not the run around in the woods all day nonsense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Calculus during ninth grade should not be an outlier at many (most?) high schools. And also enough math classes to fill up the rest of high school should be available. Stop arguing why obvious math nerds should be held back or shamed. You should be wondering how many more kids are being left behind because of lack of opportunity coupled with low expectations from people such as those complaining on this board.

Unless we go back to the stone age, our kids in America are competing with all the kids in the world for colleges, jobs, and opportunities. Parents who supplement only do so because the schools aren't providing the service even though it can be argued that they are legally obligated to do so. Why would you try to shame them and hold them back when it's obvious that most kids have the capacity to learn far more than the low-bar high school curriculum?

It's crazy how sports coaches push their athletes to excel while teachers are told to hold their kids back by their own parents. What's funny and sad is that so many parents don't know that many of the highest performing high school students are also some of the best athletes and musicians. It's why the wealthy ones send them to private/prep schools or are homeschooled. Real homeschooling and not the run around in the woods all day nonsense.

You’re just full of meaningless stereotypes aren’t you? There are a few students who love math and its consistency and would do it all day if they could. The schools cannot do that so parents supplement, the kids are deliriously happy and three grades ahead of their peers. The schools are responsible to teach every child the curriculum set out by the school department. It is not low expectations of anything. You want special treatment in math only because your child has been tutored at a level higher than his peers. Nobody’s holding them back, don’t be dramatic.

Every generation our family has kids who excel in the arts and sports. They play sports in college and some get drafted to a pro team. My sister is a painter who works on commission, her daughter and my brother’s daughter, my nieces, are at RISD. No one had to work that hard at what came second nature to them but academically they and their peers were not the highest achieving students. The top students I remember became doctors and high tech people at the top of their fields.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Calculus during ninth grade should not be an outlier at many (most?) high schools. And also enough math classes to fill up the rest of high school should be available. Stop arguing why obvious math nerds should be held back or shamed. You should be wondering how many more kids are being left behind because of lack of opportunity coupled with low expectations from people such as those complaining on this board.

Unless we go back to the stone age, our kids in America are competing with all the kids in the world for colleges, jobs, and opportunities. Parents who supplement only do so because the schools aren't providing the service even though it can be argued that they are legally obligated to do so. Why would you try to shame them and hold them back when it's obvious that most kids have the capacity to learn far more than the low-bar high school curriculum?

It's crazy how sports coaches push their athletes to excel while teachers are told to hold their kids back by their own parents. What's funny and sad is that so many parents don't know that many of the highest performing high school students are also some of the best athletes and musicians. It's why the wealthy ones send them to private/prep schools or are homeschooled. Real homeschooling and not the run around in the woods all day nonsense.

There is more and more evidence that the way we do sports in the US is damaging physically and mentally to kids. The age for sport specific injuries is getting younger and younger because kids are over training for a specific sport too early. The mental damage from the intense training is causing issues. Just saying, balance is important. That is why we support DS doing math competitions and spending extra time on math but are thrilled that he thinks it is crazy to give up his summer to get farther ahead in math. His MATHCOUNTs coaches and buddies thought it was crazy he didn't take Geometry over the summer, he thought that idea was nuts. He wanted to go camping with his friends and hang out at the pool.

Calculus in 9th grade will always be an outlier, very few kids should be taking Calculus that early. I know a handful who were in Calculus in 10th grade, one was homeschooled during COVID. FCPS is actually unique in allowing so many students take Algebra in 6th and 7th grade. Most schools across the country see Algebra 1 in 8th grade as accelerated.

[Anonymous]

The education system isn't bad but we just have a ton of ESOL students that don't even read or write in their native languages.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The education system isn't bad but we just have a ton of ESOL students that don't even read or write in their native languages.

This is true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Calculus during ninth grade should not be an outlier at many (most?) high schools. And also enough math classes to fill up the rest of high school should be available. Stop arguing why obvious math nerds should be held back or shamed. You should be wondering how many more kids are being left behind because of lack of opportunity coupled with low expectations from people such as those complaining on this board.

Unless we go back to the stone age, our kids in America are competing with all the kids in the world for colleges, jobs, and opportunities. Parents who supplement only do so because the schools aren't providing the service even though it can be argued that they are legally obligated to do so. Why would you try to shame them and hold them back when it's obvious that most kids have the capacity to learn far more than the low-bar high school curriculum?

It's crazy how sports coaches push their athletes to excel while teachers are told to hold their kids back by their own parents. What's funny and sad is that so many parents don't know that many of the highest performing high school students are also some of the best athletes and musicians. It's why the wealthy ones send them to private/prep schools or are homeschooled. Real homeschooling and not the run around in the woods all day nonsense.

There is more and more evidence that the way we do sports in the US is damaging physically and mentally to kids. The age for sport specific injuries is getting younger and younger because kids are over training for a specific sport too early. The mental damage from the intense training is causing issues. Just saying, balance is important. That is why we support DS doing math competitions and spending extra time on math but are thrilled that he thinks it is crazy to give up his summer to get farther ahead in math. His MATHCOUNTs coaches and buddies thought it was crazy he didn't take Geometry over the summer, he thought that idea was nuts. He wanted to go camping with his friends and hang out at the pool.

Calculus in 9th grade will always be an outlier, very few kids should be taking Calculus that early. I know a handful who were in Calculus in 10th grade, one was homeschooled during COVID. FCPS is actually unique in allowing so many students take Algebra in 6th and 7th grade. Most schools across the country see Algebra 1 in 8th grade as accelerated.

+1 to this. There also isn’t really a point. Aside from being a mathematician, there are only a handful of math classes you even need past calculus for other STEM degrees/jobs (let alone anything else) and they can easily be fit into a college schedule. You can try to argue it’s needed for boredom but you only get to calculus in 9th if you spent a ton of time outside of school on it. So it’s alleviating a self-created boredom by racing so far ahead - you can’t expect schools to cater to that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you want to see how Singapore school system works, go to you tube and search for the video Inside Singapores Elite Education System by SBS Dateline

The show walks through the pressure that 11 year olds have on them to prepare for the test to attend HS. A low score sends you to vo Tech school where they teach things like cooking and how to be a barista. This schooling starts at 12.

70% of kids are participating in tutoring programs. The kid that they followed is in school from 9-1:30, science tutoring for 2 hours, drama class for 2 hours, and then has 2 hours of homework before bed.

So when we are comparing HS test scores, remember that we are comparing only the kids who test into the college prep classes vs all of the kids who attend HS in the US.

And this system is not unique to Singapore, it exists across a lot of Asia.

European education is somewhere between the US and Singapore.

Germany sorts kids at around 15 into apprenticeships/votech or college-bound.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It makes no sense. I don't know how it's true that the education system here is awful and students are poorly educated when people are also saying the schools are competitive here and that it's hard to stand out. Aren't the two contradictory?

The system has its problems (closed all the time; too much tech and so one). You can bet your dollars the parents are picking up the slack.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The education system isn't bad but we just have a ton of ESOL students that don't even read or write in their native languages.

That doesn’t make the education system bad, thats scapegoating instead of admitting your counties aren’t putting the money into the schools and they aren’t as good as they used to be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The education system isn't bad but we just have a ton of ESOL students that don't even read or write in their native languages.

That doesn’t make the education system bad, thats scapegoating instead of admitting your counties aren’t putting the money into the schools and they aren’t as good as they used to be.

It's not scapegoating - I work in a non profit that serves this community. Every single day we have new children arriving. The lowest performing schools in FFX have 70% of these kids. The only reasons the schools aren't failing is the AAP centers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you want to see how Singapore school system works, go to you tube and search for the video Inside Singapores Elite Education System by SBS Dateline

The show walks through the pressure that 11 year olds have on them to prepare for the test to attend HS. A low score sends you to vo Tech school where they teach things like cooking and how to be a barista. This schooling starts at 12.

70% of kids are participating in tutoring programs. The kid that they followed is in school from 9-1:30, science tutoring for 2 hours, drama class for 2 hours, and then has 2 hours of homework before bed.

So when we are comparing HS test scores, remember that we are comparing only the kids who test into the college prep classes vs all of the kids who attend HS in the US.

And this system is not unique to Singapore, it exists across a lot of Asia.

European education is somewhere between the US and Singapore.

Germany sorts kids at around 15 into apprenticeships/votech or college-bound.

The French do something similar. I was sent to the scientific section with speciality in biology. They said I didn't have the grades for the math/physics section. When I graduated school I couldn't get into an engineering program because of that. I randomly picked medicine even though I didn't want to be a doctor. But I was stuck because they sent me to the biology speciality in HS.

Thank God the US is not backward like that. I came here and studied engineering.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you want to see how Singapore school system works, go to you tube and search for the video Inside Singapores Elite Education System by SBS Dateline

The show walks through the pressure that 11 year olds have on them to prepare for the test to attend HS. A low score sends you to vo Tech school where they teach things like cooking and how to be a barista. This schooling starts at 12.

70% of kids are participating in tutoring programs. The kid that they followed is in school from 9-1:30, science tutoring for 2 hours, drama class for 2 hours, and then has 2 hours of homework before bed.

So when we are comparing HS test scores, remember that we are comparing only the kids who test into the college prep classes vs all of the kids who attend HS in the US.

And this system is not unique to Singapore, it exists across a lot of Asia.

European education is somewhere between the US and Singapore.

Germany sorts kids at around 15 into apprenticeships/votech or college-bound.

The French do something similar. I was sent to the scientific section with speciality in biology. They said I didn't have the grades for the math/physics section. When I graduated school I couldn't get into an engineering program because of that. I randomly picked medicine even though I didn't want to be a doctor. But I was stuck because they sent me to the biology speciality in HS.

Thank God the US is not backward like that. I came here and studied engineering.

It actually starts earlier in that in Europe - usually by 12 they've pigeonholed the kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you want to see how Singapore school system works, go to you tube and search for the video Inside Singapores Elite Education System by SBS Dateline

The show walks through the pressure that 11 year olds have on them to prepare for the test to attend HS. A low score sends you to vo Tech school where they teach things like cooking and how to be a barista. This schooling starts at 12.

70% of kids are participating in tutoring programs. The kid that they followed is in school from 9-1:30, science tutoring for 2 hours, drama class for 2 hours, and then has 2 hours of homework before bed.

So when we are comparing HS test scores, remember that we are comparing only the kids who test into the college prep classes vs all of the kids who attend HS in the US.

And this system is not unique to Singapore, it exists across a lot of Asia.

European education is somewhere between the US and Singapore.

Germany sorts kids at around 15 into apprenticeships/votech or college-bound.

The French do something similar. I was sent to the scientific section with speciality in biology. They said I didn't have the grades for the math/physics section. When I graduated school I couldn't get into an engineering program because of that. I randomly picked medicine even though I didn't want to be a doctor. But I was stuck because they sent me to the biology speciality in HS.

Thank God the US is not backward like that. I came here and studied engineering.

A lot of countries around the world with similar systems lose their best students to the US because of this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you want to see how Singapore school system works, go to you tube and search for the video Inside Singapores Elite Education System by SBS Dateline

The show walks through the pressure that 11 year olds have on them to prepare for the test to attend HS. A low score sends you to vo Tech school where they teach things like cooking and how to be a barista. This schooling starts at 12.

70% of kids are participating in tutoring programs. The kid that they followed is in school from 9-1:30, science tutoring for 2 hours, drama class for 2 hours, and then has 2 hours of homework before bed.

So when we are comparing HS test scores, remember that we are comparing only the kids who test into the college prep classes vs all of the kids who attend HS in the US.

And this system is not unique to Singapore, it exists across a lot of Asia.

European education is somewhere between the US and Singapore.

Germany sorts kids at around 15 into apprenticeships/votech or college-bound.

The French do something similar. I was sent to the scientific section with speciality in biology. They said I didn't have the grades for the math/physics section. When I graduated school I couldn't get into an engineering program because of that. I randomly picked medicine even though I didn't want to be a doctor. But I was stuck because they sent me to the biology speciality in HS.

Thank God the US is not backward like that. I came here and studied engineering.

The French and German educational systems are hardly “backward.” They have both proven they are far more effective, practical, and efficient than the current U.S. system.

In the U.S., we are headed in the wrong direction, educationally.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It makes no sense. I don't know how it's true that the education system here is awful and students are poorly educated when people are also saying the schools are competitive here and that it's hard to stand out. Aren't the two contradictory?

I have honestly never heard that the education system is bad. Only how great it is!