Reply to Anyone attend 11/29 cluster 1,2,and 3 AAP meeting at Kilmer?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Science Olympiad is not just for AAP though, so that argument makes no sense.[/quote]

The big AAP centers have the most successful team.

They have large numbers of kids interested in programs like Science Olympiad, Odyssey of the Mind, Robotics, Video Game Programing club, etc.

Take 11 kids, move them to a new middle school that up to this point has not had enough interest in those types of programs, and see how successful they are at implementing the same level of program the students at the larger centers currently have.  It is not going to happen, and those students in the tiny centers are going to be shortchanged vs what the kids in larger centers are getting.

Another thing to consider, is that by having such a small group of kids in middle school is opening those kids up to all sorts of social issues.  I don't know if you have been around many AAP classes, but those classes tend to be dominated by quirky, geeky, nerdy kids who in other situation are the type of kids who tend to be singled out as bully victims.  At a center with 2-3 classes, those kids have a peer group where they can just be one of the crowd, or in some cases, have the opportunity to become a social leader.  In a regular classroom setting, many of these kids are the ones who are isolated, made fun of and have trouble fitting in.  Having such a tiny group of AAP students at the middle school level drastically increases the odds that these kids are going to have a less than positive school experience than they would have in a larger AAP program, and increases the odds of isolation and bullying.

My child's AAP teacher last year said that one of the things she likes best about the peer group in AAP is that it brings together many kids from different schools, who are they type of kids who usually end up bullied, and gives them a place where they fit in and where their differences are seen as something to be accepted, not something to be teased.  I think she hit it on the head.  Although this sentiment has gone unstated on this board, I think this is one of the many reasons why AAP parents are so emotional about the proposed changes.[/quote]

This post must set some sort of record for small-minded bigotry, unfounded assumptions, and sterotypes, even for DCUM.[/quote]

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