Reply to Math acceleration: does it actually benefit the kid?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP again,

I've heard the argument that accelerating math causes kids to gloss over stuff and move on to higher levels without being prepared.  I have no idea if this is true, but I'm not sure why someone who believed it would be accused of "not believing math is important".  If one believes math is important, wouldn't you want it to be taught fully and completely?[/quote]

I said this, and you're right to call me out on the idea that wanting a child to move more slowly means not believing math is important.  It is good if that is what fits the child.  I was reacting to the overgeneralization I often hear: to move faster through the curriculum is  (a) due to pushy parents and (b) results in students who are unprepared.  That accusation, like mine, imputes motives that are also questionable.  Just as a child should move at a slower or normal (deliberate) pace is that is appropriate, it can be appropriate for a child who gets the math more easily to move faster, and not be held back and potentially turned off of math.

Anyway, to take Geo in the summer seems perfectly reasonable.  Your son will probably never encounter it again, by the way.  It is not a logical part of the sequence from algebra to calculus, even though it is put in the sequence - they should take it at some point, and 8th or 9th grade is a reasonable time, but it neither builds on nor provides much foundation for the longer algebra-calc sequence.  Top - and I mean really top - kids in math have different strenths, some algebra, some calculus, some geombetry, and if a child has a harder time with the more spatial stuff in geometry that may just not be a strength, rather than signalling a problem with "math."[/quote]

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