Reply to Gifted kid - APS, FCPS, or Nysmith?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]

I do think the point is that the school does the kids no favors by making them announce themselves as being from”Nysmith School for the Gifted” at every opportunity, rather than just having them say they are from Nysmith and letting the winds (or lack thereof) speak for themselves. Since the kids all do this— at debate and OOTM and Math contests, etc, I assume it’s what the school tells them to do, not their choice. So, that’s not on the kids.  That’s on the school. But it is obnoxious. 
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+1  I have nothing at all against Nysmith, but the petty side of me enjoys it when my kids beat the Nysmith "School for the Gifted" kids at academic competitions.  If they simply called their school Nysmith, there would be so much less animosity.  [/quote]

It’s especially silly when the kid saying this is clearly not gifted.   My AAP MS kid does academic competition where one of the Nysmith competitors wmt to his elementary school, but didn’t get into AAP.   He then applied to Flint Hill and Nysmith and did not get into FH for some reason, so went to Nysmith.  So, this kid *who got rejected by AAP, which isn’t even really a GT program* announces at the beginning of every round that he is John Doe representing “Nysmith School for the Gifted”.  I actually feel bad for the kid.  There he is competing against his former classmates (and ultimately losing much  more often than winning), and he he is just drawing attention, again, and again, to the fact he is an AAP reject.  I know the school has an interest in selling itself as having only gifted kids.  But I have never understood why Nysmith parents don’t put a stop to it.  A lot of these kids just aren’t gifted and look silly pronouncing that they are. And even if a student has a 180 IQ, bragging is in really, really bad taste.

My oldest is at TJ, and when they compete— in academics, athletics or perform in drama or music, they just say “Jefferson High School” or “Thomas Jefferson High School”.  And maybe they call themselves TJ informally.   They literally never do the full “Thomas Jefferson High School for...”  spiel or say “TJHSST” if there is a way around it.

**** Also, writing this made me think of something for the first time.  Why would a kid get into a Nysmith and not Flint Hill?   I was under the impression that at the ES level, neither was all that competitive to get into, and that most UMC kids are admitted unless there are problems.  In other words you don’t have stand out in a positive wayto get into these school, you just can’t stand out in a negative way.  Is that not the case?  This was a perfectly nice, normal UMC white kid. [/quote]

Well, that’s bullsh*t because I’ve definitely been at TJ where announcers unnecessarily rattled off the school’s full name, and it’s on display on more than a few of the ubiquitous bumper stickers that TJ parents plaster all over their cars.[/quote]

Nope. Not bullshit.

You get what you get for “official” announcements over loudspeakers— and it’s a hodgepodge.  Fairfax County does what it does when it enters or announces TJ.  And what FCPS does might be different that what the band does or what robotics does.

But when kids introduce themsleves and say the name of their school,  they default to “Thomas Jefferson” or “Jefferson High School”.  There are two general car magnets currently for sale “TJ”. And “TJ” then smaller letters “Science Tech”.  The Althletics Departments Car magnets say “Jefferson Athletics” or “Jefferson Tennis (Swmming, Crew, Soccer...)”.  Band is “TJ Band”[/quote]

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