Reply to really interesting article on math and acceleration

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[quote=Anonymous]I've had kids in both public and private and here's my two cents.  The problem isn't the advanced math itself, because some kids actually do well with the additional challenge. The problem is when parents and kids think they *need* to do advanced math but the kids aren't really ready.

Half of this perceived "need" is really status. ("Johnny is in advanced math, how about little Mikey?")

And half of it is a legitimate (I think) parental fear that if little Johnny doesn't get on the advanced track in 3rd grade, then he won't be a candidate for advanced math in later grades (because you can't easily skip from on-grade math to above-grade math). And ultimately he won't get into the college of his choice.

My kid has been guilty of this as well - he pushed us to meet with the head of school to get him into advanced math. I thought at the time, and I still think, it was partly a status thing among the kids because he'd tell us stories about how so-and-so got in so he wanted to be in too. He's now in the Takoma math magnet and getting As, so there was something there, but I'm not ruling out the status aspect either.[/quote]

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