Reply to If you are one who does NOT want to create a sense of superiority in your AAP accepted child

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]We're in MCPS but I handled it the same way -- by not talking it up. The issue is once they actually begin and are surrounded by all the other kids. Once in the HGC my DC picked up a lot of bragging about how great it was to be in there (but also how great an opportunity it was). Once the "i'm smarter" started in I said, "People who are smart know not to brag about it" and I stick with that.[/quote]

Sorry, I didn't answer your question. When he first got accepted I said it was for kids who did well in and enjoyed school, just like kids who do well in baseball join a travel team, etc. and that everyone has their strengths and weaknesses and it's important to pursue your particular strength.[/quote]

But let's hope parents and kids realize that kids who are not in AAP (or HGC, etc.) are also students who do well and enjoy school.  Just because a child is not in an advanced academic program doesn't mean they aren't good students.[/quote]

Sorry to be blunt but clearly it's a matter of "above and beyond" not just being a good student. Sorry again, not trying to hurt your feelings, but it's just like saying "everyone is equally good at baseball" when your kid is just good but another kid is excellent.[/quote]

NP here. I have a genius-level IQ and was in gifted education (what it was called back then) for my entire school career. My daughter is in AAP.

I am surprised you're not able to distinguish the difference between being a good student and being naturally very intelligent. Many of the gifted students I went to school with ended up doing less well at higher levels of their schooling/careers because they hadn't established good habits as students (even gifted classes are too easy when you are smarter than the teachers, I speak from experience).

Being a "good student" has more to do with developing effective studying and learning habits that will carry one through later challenges -- when things don't come so easy (and no, I don't mean because the intellectual challenge might be too great, I mean challenges like the overwhelming work burden of some PhD programs or the stresses of launching a startup). Just working on "challenging" material in school is not the same thing as facing a real challenge (I was working on special relativity as my 7th grade science project, and I can tell you, it was easy for me).

There most [i]certainly[/i] are non-AAP students who succeed in life at a much higher statistical rate than AAP students. Part of it is not fearing failure as much (some AAP students end up succumbing to this and being paralyzed by fears of not being the "best," therefore never accomplishing anything), part is being humble enough to know when you need to ask for help (again, since this thread is specifically about avoiding a sense of superiority, that can be an issue with AAP kids, whereas those who succeed know that avoiding isolating behaviors and building a supportive network is critical to later success), part is being "hardy" enough to have psychological strategies for dealing with challenges you can't just breeze through (so many gifted colleagues of mine failed there).[/quote]

You miss the point. There are good students and intelligent students not in AAP programs. Are you saying that there are arbitrary selections to the AAP programs or do you acknowledge that there are some students who are both highly intelligent AND good in school, and that they are culled from the rest of the school population because they stand out from the rest for those reasons? Or do you think the entire AAP system is BS?[/quote]

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