Reply to smart kid not really being fostered at a JKLM; what to do?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I sometimes wonder what it is that you are all pushing your children for. Life? It does not require being an overachiever at age 12. Life, even med school... Not really that complicated. Encourage interests, show them the world, and enjoy yourself.[/quote]

This. A million times this.

I have a PhD in a "challenging" field (I don't know which other word to use). If you can teach your child critical thinking, you will do them a tremendous service. This is a legitimate if. Even if you think yourself smart, many people lack true depth-of-thinking abilities. I work with dozens of other PhDs; not all of us have this skill. Teach you child to maintain competing, even contradictory, thoughts in his head simultaneously. Challenge him to present arguments he does not support/believe. Ask him "why he thinks that" whenever he presents to you a seemingly unsubstantiated claim.

Do these things and your child will be more than fine. [/quote]

OP here. 
I think my issue is that at our JKLM there is an overwhelming sense that the goal is to bring the class cohort to the grade standard(s) at the end of the year and then NOTHING is fostered beyond this.   I have a kid who sails through the grade objectives with no effort and no work needed outside of school.  I wonder if in a different school his/her interest in math (he/she will tell you she/he LOVES math) would be nurtured a bit more or pushed.  A teacher would say, "hey, you can do this material in your sleep, let's work with you on something more challenging.  Or Have you ever thought about this?" 
I.e. for this kid scoring at the top of the PARCC or meeting the objectives at school does not require critical thinking.  How do I teach critical thinking or provide this for my child (preferably in the classroom)?  And will they get it at Deal and Wilson in the later years? Or should we be looking at private school?

[/quote]

My opinion (and only my opinion) from 20+ years or schooling: rare is the teacher who is able to teach these skills. Far from an indictment of the teacher's ability (although this is a hurdle that must be cleared), the reality of teaching to 10-25 kids at once necessarily makes the back-and-forth dialogue needed to foster these skills largely impossible. That means, the skill will come from you, if not only you then mainly you.

Some teachers can help, but they need to be able to take one student's comment/claim/belief, translate it into terms all of the others can simultaneously interpret, ensure they each internalize the comment/claim/belief as if it were their own, and then somehow manage to get the entire class to engage with the idea at a sufficient level at the same time. This is a very tall order.

You can achieve the same thing much easier just speaking with your child in the car and at the dinner table. They'll find you annoying, but (trust me) they'll quickly impersonate your Socrates to their friends. And the rest of the time they can play on the trampoline, light things on fire, and generally be a kid. Your gift works in the background. [/quote]

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