Can someone explain the "behind in math" thing?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:The standard in private school is Algebra 1 in 8th. A few are accelerated to A1 in 7th, but almost none in 6th. Some public school systems are willing to accelerate much more routinely. I'm not sure what the point is -- anyone who needs post-calculus would benefit from taking a more in depth class in college.

The obsession with doing post calculus work in HS is silly—I’d argue that’s true even if your kid will likely be a math major (and you’d have to start thinking about that at a very young age which I also think is silly). You will get more in depth post calculus classes in college.

You don't get it. It's for college admissions. The arms race for college admissions has never been more cutthroat.

That's an extremely misleading statement. There are PLENTY of colleges that aren't selective or only mildly selective. And currently, the college enrollment rate in the US is the lowest it's been in 20 years.

DP. Both can be true at once. For the top 30-ish schools it's never been more cutthroat. Everyone else is getting easier.

But do you think that having your kids 2+ years advanced in math is the key to get into a top school? My oldest got into a couple Ivies while taking AB calculus senior year of high school

Highly unlikely to get into top school for STEM major with only calc AB anymore

Um, not everyone is going into STEM majors. You realize AI is going to do everything now anyway, right?

Well obviously not everyone wants to be a stem major. But typically the kids that are several yrs accelerated in math are going to be the ones wanting to go into stem. So if your kid is “behind” in math, as in only gets up to calc AB senior yr, they likely won’t get admitted into a top school for stem. If your kid plans to major in art history, maybe it doesn’t matter.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:The standard in private school is Algebra 1 in 8th. A few are accelerated to A1 in 7th, but almost none in 6th. Some public school systems are willing to accelerate much more routinely. I'm not sure what the point is -- anyone who needs post-calculus would benefit from taking a more in depth class in college.

The obsession with doing post calculus work in HS is silly—I’d argue that’s true even if your kid will likely be a math major (and you’d have to start thinking about that at a very young age which I also think is silly). You will get more in depth post calculus classes in college.

You don't get it. It's for college admissions. The arms race for college admissions has never been more cutthroat.

That's an extremely misleading statement. There are PLENTY of colleges that aren't selective or only mildly selective. And currently, the college enrollment rate in the US is the lowest it's been in 20 years.

DP. Both can be true at once. For the top 30-ish schools it's never been more cutthroat. Everyone else is getting easier.

But do you think that having your kids 2+ years advanced in math is the key to get into a top school? My oldest got into a couple Ivies while taking AB calculus senior year of high school

Highly unlikely to get into top school for STEM major with only calc AB anymore

Um, not everyone is going into STEM majors. You realize AI is going to do everything now anyway, right?

Well obviously not everyone wants to be a stem major. But typically the kids that are several yrs accelerated in math are going to be the ones wanting to go into stem. So if your kid is “behind” in math, as in only gets up to calc AB senior yr, they likely won’t get admitted into a top school for stem. If your kid plans to major in art history, maybe it doesn’t matter.

PP you quoted. My oldest did Calc AB in senior year and matriculated to a T20 majoring in Applied Math. So your statement is inaccurate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Unrelated, but what happened to that bonkers “Serious Question” thread from yesterday?

I do not recall it, but sometimes bonkers threads just disappear from DCUM.

Now we'll never learn more about fetish beef!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The standard in private school is Algebra 1 in 8th. A few are accelerated to A1 in 7th, but almost none in 6th. Some public school systems are willing to accelerate much more routinely. I'm not sure what the point is -- anyone who needs post-calculus would benefit from taking a more in depth class in college.

The obsession with doing post calculus work in HS is silly—I’d argue that’s true even if your kid will likely be a math major (and you’d have to start thinking about that at a very young age which I also think is silly). You will get more in depth post calculus classes in college.

You don't get it. It's for college admissions. The arms race for college admissions has never been more cutthroat.

That's an extremely misleading statement. There are PLENTY of colleges that aren't selective or only mildly selective. And currently, the college enrollment rate in the US is the lowest it's been in 20 years.

DP. Both can be true at once. For the top 30-ish schools it's never been more cutthroat. Everyone else is getting easier.

But do you think that having your kids 2+ years advanced in math is the key to get into a top school? My oldest got into a couple Ivies while taking AB calculus senior year of high school

Highly unlikely to get into top school for STEM major with only calc AB anymore

Um, not everyone is going into STEM majors. You realize AI is going to do everything now anyway, right?

Well obviously not everyone wants to be a stem major. But typically the kids that are several yrs accelerated in math are going to be the ones wanting to go into stem. So if your kid is “behind” in math, as in only gets up to calc AB senior yr, they likely won’t get admitted into a top school for stem. If your kid plans to major in art history, maybe it doesn’t matter.

PP you quoted. My oldest did Calc AB in senior year and matriculated to a T20 majoring in Applied Math. So your statement is inaccurate.

Agreed, our school only goes through calc AB and we have seen kids to to MIT, Cal Tech, and Ivies for math and science. While we don’t go past calc the quality of instruction is strong and we have a lot of 800 or high 700s math SATs and 5s on the AP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The standard in private school is Algebra 1 in 8th. A few are accelerated to A1 in 7th, but almost none in 6th. Some public school systems are willing to accelerate much more routinely. I'm not sure what the point is -- anyone who needs post-calculus would benefit from taking a more in depth class in college.

The obsession with doing post calculus work in HS is silly—I’d argue that’s true even if your kid will likely be a math major (and you’d have to start thinking about that at a very young age which I also think is silly). You will get more in depth post calculus classes in college.

You don't get it. It's for college admissions. The arms race for college admissions has never been more cutthroat.

That's an extremely misleading statement. There are PLENTY of colleges that aren't selective or only mildly selective. And currently, the college enrollment rate in the US is the lowest it's been in 20 years.

DP. Both can be true at once. For the top 30-ish schools it's never been more cutthroat. Everyone else is getting easier.

But do you think that having your kids 2+ years advanced in math is the key to get into a top school? My oldest got into a couple Ivies while taking AB calculus senior year of high school

Highly unlikely to get into top school for STEM major with only calc AB anymore

Um, not everyone is going into STEM majors. You realize AI is going to do everything now anyway, right?

Well obviously not everyone wants to be a stem major. But typically the kids that are several yrs accelerated in math are going to be the ones wanting to go into stem. So if your kid is “behind” in math, as in only gets up to calc AB senior yr, they likely won’t get admitted into a top school for stem. If your kid plans to major in art history, maybe it doesn’t matter.

PP you quoted. My oldest did Calc AB in senior year and matriculated to a T20 majoring in Applied Math. So your statement is inaccurate.

Agreed, our school only goes through calc AB and we have seen kids to to MIT, Cal Tech, and Ivies for math and science. While we don’t go past calc the quality of instruction is strong and we have a lot of 800 or high 700s math SATs and 5s on the AP.

And one of the upsides of private vs. public that I wasn't even considering when enrolling my kids. Both took limited number of AP courses and still got into top schools. If they were at our local public, they would have had to take twice as many APs for the same outcome (and with very large class sizes).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Unrelated, but what happened to that bonkers “Serious Question” thread from yesterday?

I do not recall it, but sometimes bonkers threads just disappear from DCUM.

Now we'll never learn more about fetish beef!

No no it’s ok, that was the grandparents paying thread! There’s still hope!
https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/45/1292781.page#30806176

😂

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ummm. Not everyone needs to go to college. Trades are very important. Obviously most kids at Privates will go to college so its not even really relevant for this thread but its not pathetic that people choose not to go to college.

Not everyone needs to be in Calculus BC in high school. Total overkill unless torrenting into certain areas.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The standard in private school is Algebra 1 in 8th. A few are accelerated to A1 in 7th, but almost none in 6th. Some public school systems are willing to accelerate much more routinely. I'm not sure what the point is -- anyone who needs post-calculus would benefit from taking a more in depth class in college.

The obsession with doing post calculus work in HS is silly—I’d argue that’s true even if your kid will likely be a math major (and you’d have to start thinking about that at a very young age which I also think is silly). You will get more in depth post calculus classes in college.

You don't get it. It's for college admissions. The arms race for college admissions has never been more cutthroat.

That's an extremely misleading statement. There are PLENTY of colleges that aren't selective or only mildly selective. And currently, the college enrollment rate in the US is the lowest it's been in 20 years.

DP. Both can be true at once. For the top 30-ish schools it's never been more cutthroat. Everyone else is getting easier.

But do you think that having your kids 2+ years advanced in math is the key to get into a top school? My oldest got into a couple Ivies while taking AB calculus senior year of high school

Highly unlikely to get into top school for STEM major with only calc AB anymore

Um, not everyone is going into STEM majors. You realize AI is going to do everything now anyway, right?

Well obviously not everyone wants to be a stem major. But typically the kids that are several yrs accelerated in math are going to be the ones wanting to go into stem. So if your kid is “behind” in math, as in only gets up to calc AB senior yr, they likely won’t get admitted into a top school for stem. If your kid plans to major in art history, maybe it doesn’t matter.

That just isn't the case.

First, it's not difficult to find a summer Geometry course (GDS, Burke, Sidwell, etc. all have offered one in the past, I believe), which lets you jump forward a year and do AB in 11th grade.

Also, most of the competitive private colleges don't have you apply for a specific major anyway. Math, physics, English, music, etc. are all in one college and you don't declare a major until 1-2 years in. Sure, it's different for competitive engineering schools at flagship state universities – but you can't know at this stage whether that's the right option for your kid anyway. Regardless, I think folks get stuck on the BC Calculus thing because it's such a direct way to indicate rigor. But it's just not the be-all, end-all. It's one class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The standard in private school is Algebra 1 in 8th. A few are accelerated to A1 in 7th, but almost none in 6th. Some public school systems are willing to accelerate much more routinely. I'm not sure what the point is -- anyone who needs post-calculus would benefit from taking a more in depth class in college.

The obsession with doing post calculus work in HS is silly—I’d argue that’s true even if your kid will likely be a math major (and you’d have to start thinking about that at a very young age which I also think is silly). You will get more in depth post calculus classes in college.

You don't get it. It's for college admissions. The arms race for college admissions has never been more cutthroat.

That's an extremely misleading statement. There are PLENTY of colleges that aren't selective or only mildly selective. And currently, the college enrollment rate in the US is the lowest it's been in 20 years.

DP. Both can be true at once. For the top 30-ish schools it's never been more cutthroat. Everyone else is getting easier.

But do you think that having your kids 2+ years advanced in math is the key to get into a top school? My oldest got into a couple Ivies while taking AB calculus senior year of high school

Highly unlikely to get into top school for STEM major with only calc AB anymore

Um, not everyone is going into STEM majors. You realize AI is going to do everything now anyway, right?

Well obviously not everyone wants to be a stem major. But typically the kids that are several yrs accelerated in math are going to be the ones wanting to go into stem. So if your kid is “behind” in math, as in only gets up to calc AB senior yr, they likely won’t get admitted into a top school for stem. If your kid plans to major in art history, maybe it doesn’t matter.

That just isn't the case.

First, it's not difficult to find a summer Geometry course (GDS, Burke, Sidwell, etc. all have offered one in the past, I believe), which lets you jump forward a year and do AB in 11th grade.

Also, most of the competitive private colleges don't have you apply for a specific major anyway. Math, physics, English, music, etc. are all in one college and you don't declare a major until 1-2 years in. Sure, it's different for competitive engineering schools at flagship state universities – but you can't know at this stage whether that's the right option for your kid anyway. Regardless, I think folks get stuck on the BC Calculus thing because it's such a direct way to indicate rigor. But it's just not the be-all, end-all. It's one class.

This exactly. I am the PP that regretted letting my kid advance in math. She's doing BC in senior year, but she won't be applying to engineering schools...wants pre med or some other chemistry or biology major. And her older brother got into a T20 applying to College of Science with AB as a senior. He graduated with a degree in Applied Math/Data Science. It's fine.

[Anonymous]

At most universities, the engineering program is in a completely separate application pool from say Arts & Humanities. For engineering applicants, strongly desirable to have at least one year of calculus in HS.

Sometimes the laboratory Sciences (as different from social sciences) are their own admission pool, but often they lumped in the same applicant pool as humanities. Laboratory sciences applicants benefit strongly from taking Calculus in HS.

Social sciences are different and benefit more from statistics than calculus, especially population statistics.

CS sometimes is in Engineering (UVA), other times elsewhere (WM), and once in a while (UMCP) it is direct admission in its own applicant pool. This is highly variable from one university to another. Calculus is common in CS applicants, so HS students desiring CS should have Calculus in HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The standard in private school is Algebra 1 in 8th. A few are accelerated to A1 in 7th, but almost none in 6th. Some public school systems are willing to accelerate much more routinely. I'm not sure what the point is -- anyone who needs post-calculus would benefit from taking a more in depth class in college.

The obsession with doing post calculus work in HS is silly—I’d argue that’s true even if your kid will likely be a math major (and you’d have to start thinking about that at a very young age which I also think is silly). You will get more in depth post calculus classes in college.

You don't get it. It's for college admissions. The arms race for college admissions has never been more cutthroat.

That's an extremely misleading statement. There are PLENTY of colleges that aren't selective or only mildly selective. And currently, the college enrollment rate in the US is the lowest it's been in 20 years.

DP. Both can be true at once. For the top 30-ish schools it's never been more cutthroat. Everyone else is getting easier.

But do you think that having your kids 2+ years advanced in math is the key to get into a top school? My oldest got into a couple Ivies while taking AB calculus senior year of high school

Highly unlikely to get into top school for STEM major with only calc AB anymore

Um, not everyone is going into STEM majors. You realize AI is going to do everything now anyway, right?

There was a great Dilbert 2.0 comic about this. The boss tries to fire Dilbert because AI can do his job. Dilbert says "Who will upgrade the AI?" The boss says, "I'll hire a consultant." Dilbert says, "I'm now an AI consultant."

I mean - there's still going to be a human in the loop on this AI stuff for a long time. How people don't realize this baffles me.

-programmer

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The standard in private school is Algebra 1 in 8th. A few are accelerated to A1 in 7th, but almost none in 6th. Some public school systems are willing to accelerate much more routinely. I'm not sure what the point is -- anyone who needs post-calculus would benefit from taking a more in depth class in college.

The obsession with doing post calculus work in HS is silly—I’d argue that’s true even if your kid will likely be a math major (and you’d have to start thinking about that at a very young age which I also think is silly). You will get more in depth post calculus classes in college.

You don't get it. It's for college admissions. The arms race for college admissions has never been more cutthroat.

That's an extremely misleading statement. There are PLENTY of colleges that aren't selective or only mildly selective. And currently, the college enrollment rate in the US is the lowest it's been in 20 years.

DP. Both can be true at once. For the top 30-ish schools it's never been more cutthroat. Everyone else is getting easier.

But do you think that having your kids 2+ years advanced in math is the key to get into a top school? My oldest got into a couple Ivies while taking AB calculus senior year of high school

Highly unlikely to get into top school for STEM major with only calc AB anymore

Um, not everyone is going into STEM majors. You realize AI is going to do everything now anyway, right?

There was a great Dilbert 2.0 comic about this. The boss tries to fire Dilbert because AI can do his job. Dilbert says "Who will upgrade the AI?" The boss says, "I'll hire a consultant." Dilbert says, "I'm now an AI consultant."

I mean - there's still going to be a human in the loop on this AI stuff for a long time. How people don't realize this baffles me.

-programmer

Dilbert has no AI expertise, why would he be hired as an AI consultant?

[Anonymous]

In the top tier private school in the Carolinas that my kids went to, probably 60% of the class did Algebra 1 or an accelerated math in 8th and 40% in 9th.

The accelerated kids went on to schools like Southern Cal, Wake, UNC, UVA, UPenn, Duke, Dartmouth. Non accelerated kids were schools like Clemson, Sewanee, USC, Auburn, Wofford, SMU, TCU, and Elon.

My daughter was not in accelerated and my son was. One went to South Carolina, other went to Clemson. They’re both in their late 20s now with great jobs in major cities in the same jobs as their friends who went to Wake and UVA. And had great college experiences.

Math isn’t something to get worked up about! Your kids will be fine

[Anonymous]

My daughter adores math. She’s in ES at a private K-8.

We would love for them to accelerate her in math, but they just don’t do it until middle school.

That’s fine though. Here’s the thing:

- All the top private HS offer advanced math, up to BC calc and sometimes beyond.

- MCPS math proficiency scores are abysmal, so I’m not sure people are on the firmest ground claiming that MCPS is this math powerhouse.

- Overall, public schools are in such disarray that I’ll take my kid not being challenged in math for a few years over her being in MCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My daughter adores math. She’s in ES at a private K-8.

We would love for them to accelerate her in math, but they just don’t do it until middle school.

That’s fine though. Here’s the thing:

- All the top private HS offer advanced math, up to BC calc and sometimes beyond.

- MCPS math proficiency scores are abysmal, so I’m not sure people are on the firmest ground claiming that MCPS is this math powerhouse.

- Overall, public schools are in such disarray that I’ll take my kid not being challenged in math for a few years over her being in MCPS.

I have no issue with the math at our daughter's private school, but to look at the overall statistics for MCPS and conclude that it isn't a math powerhouse misses the fact that the kids at the top, who are at either the magnets or the highest level math at the strong HS's, are definitely a match and then some for top students at any of the local private schools. The problem for families with students in ES in MCPS is that the system has done everything possible to make it more unpredictable for top students in high SES areas to access the CES programs and competitive MS magnets (TPMS, EMS, etc.). It was great track, and likely is still great track, if your kid is lucky enough to get selected. Or you can take a route that is more predictable.