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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I’m a latecomer to this thread and am jumping right in. Accelerated math. I knew many kids at private and public schools (early 90’s) who took the traditional, standard track- algebra in 9th grade, geometry in 10th, and trig in 11th. And many of them are now successful doctors and engineers. The kids who made it to Calc BC were rare. [b]I wonder if too much acceleration too soon can backfire.[/b] [/quote]

Absolutely.  One of my child's teachers told us this.  They said too many kids were being pushed into accelerated math and then struggling in the higher level classes because they never received a solid grounding in the basics.  My kids also were on the traditional track you describe and had no issues with college admissions.[/quote]

I don't have a huge issue with the kids accelerating. What I hate is this very narrow view that they think they are more impressive than the bulk of the rest of America that doesn't do this. For every kid who benefits from being pushed, there are many more who are being set up to fail. To your point, it seems like the schools accelerate a lot of kids to a) fill out a class, and b) because so many parents think their kids are extra special and their is pressure to have your kid in the most advanced class offered.

Back in the day I was advanced and took BC Calc as a junior, which was pretty rare at the time - my school district had about 5 or so kids a year skip 6th grade math and go into class with 7th graders. It was good to be challenged but there were definitely also negatives from this - not sure if I would have done it again. I got a passing score on the AP exam, took 3rd semester math in college and didn't do particularly well, and that was the end of my math career.[/quote]

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