Reply to calc BC in 8th grade at Takoma Park Middle?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Uhhhh these responses are weird, but I guess understandable considering the typical DCUM profile.

In my experience, 99% of the time, a kid would get there by being an extreme outlier math genius who (most likely) loves math and does it for fun. Not by having some striver parents hothouse them by pushing them through Algebra 2 in preschool or something.

The people reacting as if it were the latter ("horrendous") fail to see the most likely answer. It's more that the school has just enough outliers to create an actual demand for such a class-- whether offered at TPMS (I have no idea) or requiring busing to Blair.

I attended the Blair math-science magnet and knew a few kids who had finished Calculus before HS-- or took it in their freshman year-- at a time most kids graduating HS didn't even take calculus at all. They're mostly MacArthur Genius Grant awardees and math professors who will probably be up for the Fields Medal someday.  [/quote]

It is bizarre when you are talking about kids who start algebra in 6 or 7th grade.   How much further do they need to be pushed ahead and how much are they really learning if they combine algebra and geometry.[/quote]

You... completely missed my point. Am I taking crazy pills? The people I knew who did this did not have to be pushed. They did things like taught themselves algebra in early elementary school. They "really learned it." A friend of mine just solved a problem that had been unsolvable for 100 years. He didn't take calculus extra early because his pushy, awful parents wanted him to have something exciting to put on his college application.[/quote]

To make myself crystal clear, what I am saying is that it's hardly worth considering how the child came to be in Calc B/C as an 8th grader, because it's not a "track" you can or should get your kid on. Most likely, they are on that "track" because they are a wild outlier. If your kid were that kind of outlier, you would know. But that also means that it's unlikely that the kid is being "horrendously" pushed on an "absurd" track. They are just extraordinarily good at-- and most likely very much enjoy-- you know... math.

DCUM thinks in college applications, so they can't imagine anyone else does not. [/quote]

I have a child who started Algebra in 6th.  I think its absurdly early but child wanted to do it.  No way I'd agree to allow for skipping pre-calculus or accelerate any more than they are.[/quote]

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