Reply to Why is the GT program in APS so anemic?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Elementary school parenting is a blip on the radar of your life.  You all will learn soon enough that what you are doing here is sweating the small stuff.  None of it means anything.  [/quote] High school parents here, I strongly disagree. These are fundamental skills, and you were building a love of learning or associating school with boredom. [/quote]
Funny. Truly gifted kids will love learning what they’re passionate about. Most learn in spite of teachers. Parents just want to brag about their kids being gifted. [/quote]
That's nonsense.  [/quote]

Gifted kids will read and learn vocabulary and facts but you need a teacher to, for example, teach you how to write different kinds of papers--how to identify a good research question,  construct a thesis statement, evaluate evidence, etc. I got 1500 on the SATs but got to college without knowing how to write a paper because I had lousy teachers in high school and they didn't offer any AP classes except for calculus, bio, and chem. Or on the science side -- I killed it on exams throughout high school but had no idea how to design my own project because we always just followed the instructions we were given. There is so much wasted talent because schools are happy when there are kids that aren't much work for them, that just do well and don't need help and get good scores. [/quote]

Sorry, I was agreeing with the person who said it's nonsense that gifted students will love learning what they're passionate about. Gifted kids need to be educated as well as other kids. [/quote]

Completely agree.  In elementary, teachers either professed to love my kid because “he’s just so easy” or were annoyed when he would ask too many follow up questions or try to expand on the subject.  Elementary science was mostly non-existent, but what was taught drove my kid nuts because he couldn’t understand why teachers would insist that there are only 3 states of matter.  It sounds ridiculous to adults, but trying to teach a little kid to smile and nod and give the teacher the answer they want to hear is soul crushing.

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Ha, your example makes me laugh because my kid also complains about the school only teaching 3 states of matter. But I don't think any teacher has ever told my kid to stop asking questions.  Mine is in APS and has started to get pulled out for additional science (5th grade) but he also creates his own projects in science ( does them at home and brings them in)  but also counting down the days till high school science.  [/quote]

Is the Internet short on science learning?  Are there no local STEM summer camps you can afford?  My 4th grader did a Boolean Girl programming camps subsidized by Arlington last summer that was great. My eldest seems to be learning quite a bit in her life science class in 7th grade at an Arlington MS.

Sheesh, naysayers, our public schools can't be everything to all comers.  Just supplement already.  HS science comes up fast.[/quote]

Why would this be the answer? It just makes the kids more bored. [/quote]

Agree with first poster.  As a parent, you just can't expect the sun, the moon and the stars from highly diverse public schools in every subject all the time.  Our schools simply don't have the per capita budgets to compete with selective admissions privates charging a bomb, or Fairfax all-GT classrooms from 4th-8th grades (which APS policies have never supported).

[b]If you want a fantastic education from APS, you need to add to what schools are doin[/b]g with summer programs, tutoring etc  The arrangement certainly isn't ideal, but really beats paying for a private on my government salary or moving further out to Fairfax.[/quote]

Then you aren't really getting a fantastic education from APS, are you?[/quote]

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