Reply to Algebra 2 in 8th Grade

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]What will they take senior year for math?  [/quote]

Haven't you heard?  Every child whose parents push them into 8th grade Algebra II (often by making them take online Geometry between 7th and 8th, not because they track there naturally) is guaranteed admission to TJ. It's the golden ticket  :roll: [/quote]

What if TJ is not a consideration?[/quote]

Then it's really hard to understand why a parent would accelerate a kid through math so quickly. The feedback parents are getting from DD's AAP Center is that HS teachers are upset about the push toward 7th, and now 6th grade Algebra because the kids who are rushed through the basics have holes in their learning that become apparent is post Algebra II math and end up needing remediation,  and that they need to slow down and master the basics. Our Carson-feeder Center very actively discourages this. And,  as PP pointed out, on this track, you are locking your kid into 2 years of post Calculus BC math.  If your kid is the one out of several hundred who is so advanced in math that they really need Algebra I in 6th, then they belong in TJ. But the cynical part of me thinks that the increasing number of kids doing this (and especially the ones that cram Geometry into summer school to make it happen) have hyper competitive parents who want to make their kids (and by extension themselves) look good/ have bragging rights. I have a kid with a nonverbal IQ in the 99.5%, and he was fine with Center advanced math (he was pull from the normal advanced math for "extensions") and Algebra I honors in 7th. You would really have to be extraordinary for this track to not be enough. I also think a lot of the parents who accelerate are doing it to give their kids some TJ edge. That's a shame, because if they are shortchanging basic math (or Geometry by doing it as summer school) to get their kids there, they are probably harming their kids' ability to succeed in advanced math. [/quote]

PP sums it up in a nutshell!  (Not to mention, why do kids want to spend their summer spending hours at the computer doing online Geometry - perhaps a reason obesity one of the biggest current pediatric problems?)[/quote]

That is a red herring. It doesn't take that long such that a kid gets no exercise or play time and become obese over the summer. I'm not "for it," but this doesn't advance the discussion. And lots of kids need summer school for a variety of reasons, advanced or remedial. And many jurisdictions have year round school.[/quote]

It's not. Kids Who are takIng geometry during summer school care not doing remediation. They are taking a class that should last 36 weeks in 8 (assuming a 2 week family vacation)--  so 4 hours a day. Plus homework. With little to no teacher interaction.  It's hard to see this as anything other than cramming  a class that is a fundamental math building block into much less time than it deserved.  I have a very bright MS who does academic camps like CTY, and I can still think of nothing more dreadful than sitting him in front of a computer screen every morning and making him do geometry homework every afternoon during summer break. And for what?  PPs have already shown that there just aren't advanced math classes that these students can take than aren't accessible to 8th grade geometry students. I see only two answers-- Perceived TJ edge (and the TJ test only covers Algebra and basic Geometry-- my 8th grade geometry student had no problem with it) and hyper competitive parents. But maybe I'm missing some other benefit of summer school geometry. Because I see only downsides-- a burned out kid spending all summer in front of a computer o whiz through a class and, almost certainly, end up with gaps in the fundamentals. [/quote]

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