Reply to Why is the math so terrible? Can parents do anything?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]
That is what MCPS is telling you is the reason why. I do not believe it.  I honestly think there are kids that can do math like this if it is taught correctly and with a group of hard working kids who apply themselves. My daughter did not have a tutor.  Never did, hopefully never will.  Her friends did not either that I know of.  I am not saying everyone should be taking Algebra 1 as quickly as possible.  I am just saying they should not, not let kids move ahead if they are ready to do so.  [/quote]

I don't need MCPS to tell me this.  I can see it by observing my kids and others.  My DC is pretty advanced in math, too - in compacted math.  Perhaps where you live there is a cluster of super smart kids, but as I said, *most* kids who were pushed too early probably weren't ready as *most* smart kids aren't that advanced in math.  People have stated this before - a large public school cannot meet *every* child's needs. It is for the majority.  The very advanced or very slow kids get left behind.  Yes, it's a shame, but a public school is not your kid's tutor.   I have heard from a teacher that if your ES child is super smart at math, there is an opportunity to take a math class in a HS. But again, most smart kids aren't at that level.

MCPS math tracking for the majority in 2.0 is already above the nation's standards, with Alg 1 by 8th grade.  Some kids may be able to do more, but probably not that much more, at least not without help at home.  So really, it doesn't make sense to push them that hard.[/quote]

Yeah, let's not push our kids. We'll let the Asians and Europeans do that. After all, America is #1. Future is secure.[/quote]

PP - the suicide rate amongst teens in China/Korea/Japan is very high due to the immense academic stress and pressures. There's been a rash of suicides by high achieving teens in the DMV area, too.  Maybe there were other factors involved for these teens, IDK, but I do know that pushing kids close to their breaking point is not how I want to raise my kids.  Also, in Korea, kids as young as 1st grade go to after school tutoring classes for 2+ hours/day.  They also go to school on Saturday, I mean public schools, not after school tutoring (I think it's every other Saturday now because the gov't is trying to bring some balance in the kids' lives).  The parents,  usually the moms, pretty much live for their kids education.  You can google several articles about them.

And in Europe, they don't really push their kids. Quite the opposite.  The countries in Europe that scored high on the PISA test, for the most part, are socialist countries that provide a tremendous amount of support to families.  Some of those countries offer free college education.  We don't have that kind of support system here.  They also pay and respect their teachers a lot more than we do here.

I'm not saying we shouldn't expect more from our kids.  But don't think the Asian school models are so great.  And if you want the northern European school models, well, that would take an act of our illustrious leaders to turn our country into a Socialist country modeled after West/Northern Europe.[/quote]

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