NCS Parents - "I wish I had known x" type advice.

[Anonymous]

I am the NCS teacher who posted at 10:28. I am not a math teacher, for the subsequent poster who assumed I was, but as all upper school faculty are advisors, I am well-informed about the curriculum. PP is wrong to assume that kids in the Principles (lowest level ninth grade math) class end with Precal in 12th grade. That is incorrect. As some other poster noted, the Principles class is a review of algebra as well as basic geometry, and the kids from that class go into Alg. 2 in 10th, Precal in 11th, then a choice of calc or stats classes in 12th (those are weak math students so they don't usually end up in an AP).

FWIW, 10:26 seems like a sane parent; OP should listen to her!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am the NCS teacher who posted at 10:28. I am not a math teacher, for the subsequent poster who assumed I was, but as all upper school faculty are advisors, I am well-informed about the curriculum. PP is wrong to assume that kids in the Principles (lowest level ninth grade math) class end with Precal in 12th grade. That is incorrect. As some other poster noted, the Principles class is a review of algebra as well as basic geometry, and the kids from that class go into Alg. 2 in 10th, Precal in 11th, then a choice of calc or stats classes in 12th (those are weak math students so they don't usually end up in an AP).

FWIW, 10:26 seems like a sane parent; OP should listen to her!

Is Principles a remedial course? Currently, there are several freshmen already taking Algebra 2/Trig.

[Anonymous]

How did this discussion get to upper level mathematics courses at NCS and St. Albans? The OP asked about potential 4th and 7th grade candidates for admission and the type of environment they would face.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How did this discussion get to upper level mathematics courses at NCS and St. Albans? The OP asked about potential 4th and 7th grade candidates for admission and the type of environment they would face.

At post 21:46 on page 2, someone expressed regret that NCS has limited offerings for upper level math classes. That led to pro-NCS people arguing that the STA math offerings are plenty adequate for NCS girls. From there, it was just a hop-skip-jump to fighting about 9th grade Algebra!

Oh wait ... was your question meant to be rhetorical?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't recommend it for a child with any significant academic weaknesses or with any anxiety/insecurity. Social environment is tough and there is a fairly normal level of meangirls. I think anyone who pushes a kid to go unless the kid really wants to is making a mistake.

This was true 20 years ago when I was a student at NCS. Great education but at a high emotional price.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How did this discussion get to upper level mathematics courses at NCS and St. Albans? The OP asked about potential 4th and 7th grade candidates for admission and the type of environment they would face.

This is an anonymous internet forum. Digressions will occur -- and apparently many people are interested in math/science/STEM issues, as the number of posts indicates. I personally don't think it's all about math, but a 7th grade entrant will be in the upper school in a couple years so a focus on upper school academics does not seem too much of a stretch.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How did this discussion get to upper level mathematics courses at NCS and St. Albans? The OP asked about potential 4th and 7th grade candidates for admission and the type of environment they would face.

At post 21:46 on page 2, someone expressed regret that NCS has limited offerings for upper level math classes. That led to pro-NCS people arguing that the STA math offerings are plenty adequate for NCS girls. From there, it was just a hop-skip-jump to fighting about 9th grade Algebra!

Oh wait ... was your question meant to be rhetorical?

I would argue that social issues vary with the grade level and the actual children in the class; accordingly, if there's objective information people care about (range and rigor of courses in a various subject), why not explore it?

And STEM stuff is all the rage just about everywhere education is discussed -- very little is being written about how to teach English or history, but scads and scads on flipped classrooms for math, how to produce more American engineers, why our kids aren't better at the international math rankings, how to get technology in the classroom, etc.

[Anonymous]

Someone on this board once mentioned that there are significant differences in the level of "mean girl"-ness among cohorts.

Can someone tell me whether any of the current lower school grades have particular mean girl issues? (4-5-6?) Or whether they are a particularly nice group of girls?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Someone on this board once mentioned that there are significant differences in the level of "mean girl"-ness among cohorts.

Can someone tell me whether any of the current lower school grades have particular mean girl issues? (4-5-6?) Or whether they are a particularly nice group of girls?

There's bullying in "nicer" classes (groups/years) of girls. Grades 7-8 is when it heightens.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Someone on this board once mentioned that there are significant differences in the level of "mean girl"-ness among cohorts.

Can someone tell me whether any of the current lower school grades have particular mean girl issues? (4-5-6?) Or whether they are a particularly nice group of girls?

There's bullying in "nicer" classes (groups/years) of girls. Grades 7-8 is when it heightens.

Well, how is the current 7-8?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Someone on this board once mentioned that there are significant differences in the level of "mean girl"-ness among cohorts.

Can someone tell me whether any of the current lower school grades have particular mean girl issues? (4-5-6?) Or whether they are a particularly nice group of girls?

There's bullying in "nicer" classes (groups/years) of girls. Grades 7-8 is when it heightens.

Well, how is the current 7-8?

It seems pretty clear that the NCS grinch doesn't have any connection to NCS, or at least not a current connection. I can see that easily, and I don't have a girl there myself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Someone on this board once mentioned that there are significant differences in the level of "mean girl"-ness among cohorts.

Can someone tell me whether any of the current lower school grades have particular mean girl issues? (4-5-6?) Or whether they are a particularly nice group of girls?

There's bullying in "nicer" classes (groups/years) of girls. Grades 7-8 is when it heightens.

Well, how is the current 7-8?

It seems pretty clear that the NCS grinch doesn't have any connection to NCS, or at least not a current connection. I can see that easily, and I don't have a girl there myself.

Posing and open ended question gets one branded a "grinch"? Are not you assuming the worst possible response? Seems very scrooge like of you.

[Anonymous]

Hi - I'm the one who posted the question about Lower School. Not a grinch at all. We admire the school and are hoping our daughter will attend in a couple of years. I know at our current school, there are grades with significant issues and grades that are very inclusive. So it was a real question. Sorry it came across grinch-like.

[Anonymous]

Note that the PP who claims to be a teacher says that the weak math students repeat Algebra material in 9th grade. Who wants to be in that group?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Note that the PP who claims to be a teacher says that the weak math students repeat Algebra material in 9th grade. Who wants to be in that group?

All the other girls know you're in the "refresher" class. I may have referred to it by calling it the wrong name, Algebra I, but that's basically what it is with a slight intro to geometry thrown in so that it doesn't appear so remedial. It's likely that if you're taking the lowest math class as a freshmen a couple of your other core courses are with the easy teachers on the bottom track as well. What's the likelihood that a girl will achieve dramatic academic improvement when on this track? Sure you can finish the math prog by taking Precal, but as a "C" student.
What colleges are these girls admitted into, hopefully they have great ECs.