Reply to Math competitions for Mathematically Gifted kid (7 year old)

Forum Index » Advanced Academic Programs (AAP)

Reply to "Math competitions for Mathematically Gifted kid (7 year old)"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]
There are over 3 million 8th graders in the United States. You really think only 2000 kids have the math ability to compete at national level in math? I would say more like 20,000 8th graders have the math ability if not more. I mean surely the top .001 percentile math kids could compete if they put in the hours of practice.  But a very small percentage of those that can actually put in the hours and hours and hours a day to be competitive. [b]I also think the nature of math counts, for example, makes speed a real factor[/b] which isn’t favoring the deep thinking kids.

Back to the argument at hand. I think when you see Asians dominate a contest it’s because of tiger parenting. Its not meant to offend. It’s just become the shorthand for parents pushing their kids to excel academically by lots and lots of practice. I don’t think there is anything wrong with it! I don’t recall anyone on this thread bashing it. The argument made was that some kids just love math. But only some parents think that a love of math means you have to sign up for math class and study for math contests. [/quote]

The speed factor is why I don't think there are that many kids capable of breaking into the top 50 at mathcounts.  They have to be top .001 percentile kids in math and they need to have incredible speed.  The combination limits a lot of people, and it's why kids who don't do well at contests might still be amazing at actual math.

I'm not sure that tiger parenting is the reason for Asian dominance.  I think it's that Asian parents prioritize excellence in one thing over being well-rounded, whereas white parents prioritize the well-roundedness over the excellence.  Neither style is inherently superior to the other.  My college roommate (Asian) and I both spent about 3 hours per day on extracurriculars.  I did math team, debate team, piano, and volleyball.  She just played piano.  She was leagues beyond me as a pianist because she focused on it while I spent my time elsewhere.  We each kind of envied the other person, but neither of us were better or worse off.

I hate to open a can of worms with this, but most of the kids I know who are nationally competitive in math are also on the spectrum.   It's one explanation for the intense focus on math that some of these kids have.  [/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