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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]True, honors level freshman have some classes with the "masses" but therein lies the beauty of Wilson. 
My child (who is an honors student) fully enjoyed and learned a lot in non-honors classes freshman year. First of all, all honors would be incredibly stressful and we are mostly interested in having our teenager be happy while getting her work done. And teachers are professionals, they are not in the business of putting the brakes on their entire class
[b]She gained some valuable insight:
She learned that she is in fact a really good student by being in classes with kids who are not as academically prepared. Interesting reality check for a 14/15 year old. Kind of a "hey, I know stuff, I get this, I'm a good writer, I know how to study, etc".[/b] Sometimes, kids asked her for peer help, she was happy to share. 
She found herself doing group projects with kids that on paper may seem to not have a lot to offer academically, but she learned from them, appreciated their perspectives, found some to be "really smart" others to be "so funny" and all to have something to add-even if they don't ace all the tests. 
We feel really lucky that our kid gets to gain this very important perspective early on. Not everyone comes from the same kind of house or has a family where all the adults have advanced degrees, but it's all ok and it is so important to be able to relate to people who are not all just like you.
 [/quote]

I have no kids at Wilson so this is not about the school per se. However, I've got to say I don't think the "insight" above is actually so valuable. I went to a decent but not great school where I did well without having to do very much. So much so that I didn't learn that I needed to put some serious effort into my studies. I learnt this the hard way much later when I was in a harder program with more advanced students and by then I'd say too many poor habits were set.

So...I think there's a sweet spot between feeling overwhelmed by school and feeling like you're a star. I don't think either of those two extremes is good for kids.[/quote]

Right -- and a lot of kids don't go to either extreme -- and there are many lessons to be learned in life that are not necessarily learned at school or that don't sink in the first time around -- can't blame the kids' school for that.[/quote]

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