Reply to How important is TJ for college?

Forum Index » Advanced Academic Programs (AAP)

Reply to "How important is TJ for college?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Here is the point

Accelerating math does more harm than good

I know tons of smart bright kids and some college professors too

Almost everyone recommends starting at Calculus and some very rare cases the next level of Calculus in college which negates the whole rush to acceleration in middle and high school[/quote]

TJ parent here, and I 100% agree. It is incredibly annoying to deal with the TJ math department which focuses on getting to and through Calculus ASAP. Discrete math, concrete math, combunatorics, advanced prob / stats, game theory— there are lot of places to dig deep without having HS kids do three years of Calculus.

But FCPS should shoulder some of the blame here. They are enabling a math for TJ arms race.  There is zero reason to allow middle school kids to take geometry as a summer school class, for example, once you take TJ admissions out of the mix. . You can’t take Algebra I as an online or summer school class in middle school. So why is online summer school geometry offered in MS?

And they should stop it with the Algebra I in 6th grade. Yes— your amazing kid can pass the IiAT then.  But it will not kill them to wait a year.  In some ESs Algebra I just isn’t offered. In others, it isn’t offered But you can go to the MS.  In others it is taught at the ES to a few kids. It’s time for to make one rule, and stick with it. Preferably, the rule is that you can’t start until 7th grade.   I know quite a few TJ kids who took Algebra I in 6th grade. What they all have in common is a pushy parent. I don’t know any kid who had an educational need for Algebra before 7th grade. 6th grade Algebra was about their parents’ anxieties and distinguishing themselves for TJ admissions.

[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics