Why should I feel guilty that I prepped my kid

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:AAP has enough space for everyone who qualifies, so what some other families do has no bearing on your child.

Sure it does. The teacher has had to give up trying to do much that requires real thinking and going more into depth now in my child's AAP center classroom, because half the class is the product of prepping and can't actually think at the level that a gifted program should bring out in gifted children. Oh but they can study and grind their little worker bee hearts out. They belong in gen ed, and gen ed should be higher quality. Ultimately I don't blame anyone for clawing and cheating their way out of the teach-to-the-lowest-ability gen ed mindset. Just don't kid yourself that it is without consequences.

And that's why Asian kids are admitted at lower rates to elite schools than their scores would suggest. They're hard workers, but they aren't creative or innovative thinkers. They aren't as smart IQ-wise as the white kids who have the same scores. Their scores overestimate their abilities.

I don't think this is actually true. I think this is something white people tell themselves to feel better.

Basically. I was an Indian kid who was pushed in school and sports. Also got to travel the world and make all sorts of friends. Dated. Partied. Was not a robot. Had ideal childhood. Liberal arts and science degrees. Am doctor and aspiring writer/bodybuilder. My little brother now nanotech engineer/lawyer. So go on with more ridiculous stereotypes.

Kids are smart enough to be pushed without ruining their childhoods and I don't understand why people think the two are mutually exclusive.

Some kids are okay with the push, some kids will resent the push. Good for you that the push did not make you resentful enough to hate your mother. Why? Because the direction where your mother pushed was the same direction as your interests. You are Indian. You are a doctor. That is quite a common occurrence, hence the stereotypes. But if you weren't a doctor and only made your living by being a professional body builder, then I will wonder if your mother considered you successful after she pushed you in school.

Umm, not really. No. Not at all. The point is simply to give your kids more options.

Take my brother for example.

My parents pushed him into electrical engineering when the naval academy bounced him bc of medical issues.
He hated it. He wanted to be a navy pilot.

But then when he graduated, he had options.
He started by doing research at a cutting edge nanotechnology company.
He loved it...and then got published and then got to teach in Australia and then got a masters in physics to expand his knowledge and then realized what he really wanted to do was be part of process that brings tech out and who gets to make what and call what novel, etc.
So he went to law school.

So...at the age of 30, he had three degrees, was published, had traveled all over to talk about cool stuff, AND got a job straight out of law school paying 4 times the national average of a new law grad bc of his background in technology (he is an IP attorney).

This job has meant good salary, more travel all over the world, and more opportunities in the last six years. Oh, and plenty of dating opportunities, too.

18 years ago, an 18 year old heartbroken boy screamed at his parents for "making him do engineering."

It was just about opening the door wider with a stronger foundation. He takes his dumbo doctor sister (me) to his fancy country club to play tennis and have nice meals and talk about life and work and family. Seems like it all worked out.

Neither of us were math/science kids as youngsters. I was always nose in novels, drawing my own comic strips, writing stories, playing sports, and spoke 5 languages. I wanted to be a doctor to directly help people. And disease processes fascinated me.
He was the ROTC badass who loved tennis, golf, and airplanes.
Math/science helped us achieve our dreams. They were not an end to themselves, because neither of us were math and science kids to begin with.

[Anonymous]

Damn, we didn't need to know your whole life story, and your brother's too.
This thread is about prepping a kid to get into AAP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Damn, we didn't need to know your whole life story, and your brother's too.
This thread is about prepping a kid to get into AAP.

Don't mind them prior PP. I appreciated the import of the story and found it inspirational.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You re teaching your kids to do better on tests, not learning more knowledge. This is the problem. People like you are why AAP is struggling: Instead of focusing on learning, which is the goal, you are focusing on the scores of tests.

In my family, we "prep" by taking walks talking about how the water currents change the land forms; how water flows down hill, how we can predict thing using physics and math. We put very little effort on specific tests.

Your hyper-prepped kid my score better on the CogAT -- I don't give a f*** how my kid does on that. But, my kid understands what she is doing. Oh, she is an A student in Middle school at an AAP center.

What??? AAP is flourishing. It is highly sought after, the path to TJ, a source of great pride for the county. I say bullshit to anyone misguided enough to think AAP is "struggling." Utter bullshit.

Oh dear. Looks like another one has been drinking the Kool-Aid. AAP is not flourishing. It has become the butt of way too many jokes for anyone to consider it "flourishing." Sorry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone who plans to have their kids prep for SAT, ACT, LSAT, GMAT, GRE, or MCAT has a lot of nerve complaining about NNAT and CogAT prep. Maybe it's because you don't have older kids but 90% of people in this area prep for ACT and/or SAT. If you're not, you're in the minority and you can get a cookie!

The difference is that the SAT, ACT, LSAT, GMAT, GRE, and MCAT are achievement tests. The NNAT and CogAT are not. While not IQ tests, the latter two simply measure reasoning skills. You're not supposed to prep for things like that - prepping invalidates the results.

This has been explained ad nauseam, and yet there are still the willfully obtuse posters who refuse to "get" it.

[Anonymous]

I teach algebra to 7th graders. It is immediately apparent who was "prepped" to make the cut, and who has the ability to think beyond. The poor prepped kids work their tails off to keep up. Half do, half don't. The ones who do are usually really good memorizers, but not necessarily critical thinkers.

I try to push forward at the same pace I would teach a class of all top students (which is what 7th grade algebra should be) but some years I cut out a bunch of extensions because a good portion of the class can't keep up with the basics

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I teach algebra to 7th graders. It is immediately apparent who was "prepped" to make the cut, and who has the ability to think beyond. The poor prepped kids work their tails off to keep up. Half do, half don't. The ones who do are usually really good memorizers, but not necessarily critical thinkers.

I try to push forward at the same pace I would teach a class of all top students (which is what 7th grade algebra should be) but some years I cut out a bunch of extensions because a good portion of the class can't keep up with the basics

Sad. But at least the parents get to say their kids are taking honors algebra in 7th grade ... it never ceases to amaze me how many people around here are only concerned about their kids getting ahead from a competitive standpoint, as opposed to actually proceeding at a pace where they might learn something.

[Anonymous]

Ok, the brother's story? Electrical engineering degree, M.S. in physics and a law degree by the age of 30? Plus travelled all over the world? What?

[Anonymous]

Oh dear. Looks like another one has been drinking the Kool-Aid. AAP is not flourishing. It has become the butt of way too many jokes for anyone to consider it "flourishing." Sorry.

You sound desperate to right the ship. God forbid someone disagrees. You should have told one of your many jokes. Though it's news to me that the intrinsic value of something is proportional to how much obsessed cranks fume over it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You shouldn't. We didn't prep but if we did I wouldn't feel guilty. All these people who complain about test prep, talk to them when their kids get ready to take the SAT or ACT and I dare them to suggest no PSAT was taken and no prep courses were paid for.

AAP wasn't important enough for us to prep for so we didn't. 2 of my kids got in and 1 is too young, but had it been important to us, we would have prepped with no guilt. I can say with 100% certainty when the time comes we WILL do SAT prep for every single child. I had SAT prep, as did my husband. We got great scores and both went to Brown. I went on to get my JD from Harvard (with LSAT prep) and my DH got his MBA from Wharton at UPenn (he did GMAT prep). No guilt. No shame.

Wait, I thought the PSAT WAS the prep for the SAT?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone who plans to have their kids prep for SAT, ACT, LSAT, GMAT, GRE, or MCAT has a lot of nerve complaining about NNAT and CogAT prep. Maybe it's because you don't have older kids but 90% of people in this area prep for ACT and/or SAT. If you're not, you're in the minority and you can get a cookie!

The difference is that the SAT, ACT, LSAT, GMAT, GRE, and MCAT are achievement tests. The NNAT and CogAT are not. While not IQ tests, the latter two simply measure reasoning skills. You're not supposed to prep for things like that - prepping invalidates the results.

This has been explained ad nauseam, and yet there are still the willfully obtuse posters who refuse to "get" it.

I don't disagree, but find it interesting that those tests are somehow considered culturally biased. Reasoning is innate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I teach algebra to 7th graders. It is immediately apparent who was "prepped" to make the cut, and who has the ability to think beyond. The poor prepped kids work their tails off to keep up. Half do, half don't. The ones who do are usually really good memorizers, but not necessarily critical thinkers.

I try to push forward at the same pace I would teach a class of all top students (which is what 7th grade algebra should be) but some years I cut out a bunch of extensions because a good portion of the class can't keep up with the basics

I thought getting into 7th grade algebra was from sols and Iowa testing? People aren't prepping for that are they? I think kids are struggling in algebra because it's 2 years ahead and probably really hard. Not all aap kids do algebra in seventh - right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No need to feel guilty. The best education possible is the best gift you can give a kid.

that's why AAP is so popular (flourishing) in certain ares of Fairfax county and among certain parents - others have other priorities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I teach algebra to 7th graders. It is immediately apparent who was "prepped" to make the cut, and who has the ability to think beyond. The poor prepped kids work their tails off to keep up. Half do, half don't. The ones who do are usually really good memorizers, but not necessarily critical thinkers.

I try to push forward at the same pace I would teach a class of all top students (which is what 7th grade algebra should be) but some years I cut out a bunch of extensions because a good portion of the class can't keep up with the basics

I thought getting into 7th grade algebra was from sols and Iowa testing? People aren't prepping for that are they? I think kids are struggling in algebra because it's 2 years ahead and probably really hard. Not all aap kids do algebra in seventh - right?

People are definitely prepping for the IAAT.I know people that did this.

[Anonymous]

I have a question re: prepping. My child was in pool with test scores to the center but I put together a package of work samples, pictures, certifications and recommendation letter. Is that considered prepping? Didn't her file have an advantage because I did all that? Isn't that prepping?