Reply to Science says: never get rid of AAP

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I think everyone knows this. But it's who you're trying to support- top learners benefit from AAP, but taking top learners out of gen ed hurts the bottom learners. [/quote]

How so?[/quote]

But why would you want to hurt the top learners?

What do the top learners owe to the bottom learners?[/quote]

Why should *public* education help the top learners at the expense of those at the bottom? If you don’t like it you can do private or hire a tutor. [/quote]

Ever volunteered at an “equity” class, where there are four different groups of learning levels because of this mentality?  The teachers burn out fast and leave the school. Ever wonder why *your* ES can’t seem to keep a gened  teacher but the AAP teachers stay forever?  Ever see the top learners teach a class while a teacher cries at her desk?

Equity classes are so hard. Those bottom level kids struggle. They know they are behind. They (the kids) cry in class (I saw this as a volunteer.) the top level kids learn nothing and end up thinking school is pointless.

AAP classes aren’t just to “tutor” smart kids. It’s to give the kids that are Gen Ed the ability to thrive in school. To find joy in school. When the comparison is in separate classes, the Gen Ed kids thrive more too because they don’t find school so hard and don’t see the comparison as starkly. Comparison is the thief of joy- and Gen Ed kids feel this even more acutely when they are in the same class as AAP kids.

That’s the whole point of tracking. I know it sucks to have to teach your kids at home- but if you really want to help your kids do better in school- you have to push them at home with workbooks  and enrich in every way possible.

And that is why some high achievers  are in AAP. Even the laziest high achieving  parent will force their kids to do summer workbooks. And if your kid is doing the workbooks and still isn’t in AAP- then please get a tutor. If your kid isn’t doing workbooks- they stay in Gen Ed.

This is how it has worked from when I went to school 30 years ago. The parents with kids in AAP don’t share that they force their kids to do more workbooks and homework after school- they assume you are doing that too. They do three sports- because they assume that’s what you are doing too. They don’t do church. (Ever noticed that AAP kids tend to have sports on Sunday?)

All of this because it’s not the schools job to teach your kids at home. Just like it’s not your job to teach at the school or make the policies at school.

If high achieving kids are separated out, this is a good thing. Make the parents do more at home if they want more than Gen Ed. But Gen Ed is basically what you are going to get in private and in any other state public- because you aren’t the ones supporting at home. Your kid won’t be in the special class. Because you aren’t supporting them at home.

Stop blaming the schools. Stop blaming the teachers. If your kid is in Gen Ed- it’s a good fit for them. But if you want more- you do the work at home or pay for private.

Finally- so many transplants come here and wonder why they gifted kid from Arkansas is in special Ed here. We high a higher population of type A overachievers here. That’s why you can’t just do nothing at home and have a gifted kid. [/quote]
so you agree that AAP is more representative of kids whose parents have more resources than anything else? I'm asking as an AAP parent.[/quote]

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