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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I sat in class, bored out of my mind in all the AP classes in my high performing suburban high school. I didn’t experience academic challenge in the classroom until college. So if you can find a private school that saves kids from that, it saves them from wasting years of their lives not learning anything interesting.[/quote]

Well aren't you special.[/quote]

This is a valid point. If you are never challenged, you never learn the skills needed to work above your current level. This is why the transition to a rigorous school with traditional grading is often a huge wake up call to smart kids accustomed to coasting. Many kids work hard in traditional public high schools and do very well in life. But there is a category of kids who don't have to work hard there to get by, and they often need a different environment, where teachers don't let them coast, to learn how to apply themselves and stretch the limits of their abilities. These are your classic underachievers who need more to thrive.[/quote]

I’m the pp and I wasn’t special. I struggled mightily in college, compared to my peers who had attended boarding schools and top private schools. They knew how to study, how to take notes, how to write well, how to do formal math proofs, how to write lab reports. I was completely lost and it took me a couple of years to find my footing. Unlike one of the other posters who sought help, I was completely resistant (embarrassed for some reason? I didn’t even know how office hours worked) to talk to my professors. It was really hard. Not to mention I have random gaps in the knowledge I should have learned in history, etc. High school was a breeze because the standard was low, not because I was special.  [/quote]

PP here who went to elite school from public without any AP or college prep. This is it exactly. It went from being the big fish without even trying to a drowning bird with out any idea how to swim. It was awful.

I do think office hour would have helped (and I know some students who went to office hours often), but I was so embarrassed at how behind I was I wanted to “prep” for office hours before I went, but I never was able to catch up b/c I was trying to make up for 4years of academic deficits in 1-2 semesters.

Also, I realize now the office hours were all cute girls.  Maybe it’s because they are pretty they are used to getting help from others (this is well documented) or a different reception/encouragement from the (mostly male) professors.  [/quote]

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