Reply to I'm not from this country. Would you please explain to me WHY taking Algn 7th grade seems to be the

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=pettifogger][quote=Anonymous][quote=pettifogger][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]the goal of every other parent on this board?

So, if you take Algebra I in 7th grade, what is the result? What is the difference in outcome for the student who takes algebra I in 7th vs. the student who takes it in 8th grade?

My child is in 6th grade btw.

I would really appreciate it if someone would explain this to me as my child will be going to 7th next year and, if she fulfill the requirements, I would like to make an informed decision.

Thanks.[/quote]

Americans like to rush "smart" kids through math so that they get to complicated concepts sooner. However, they rarely do challenging problems so most of the progress is illusionary. I went to a top school in the US and nobody in my class was familiar with mathematical proofs, like, they literally never did it. Now, in my own country kids do proofs starting in fifth grade. But it is quite possible that those very same Americans wrote their first integral earlier than I did. But before starting on integrals I had to do a lot of difficulty problems with limits, epsilon delta type problems, proofs of theorems etc.[/quote]

Exactly this. The AP race to calculus is pretty much a sham because the kids have no problem solving abilities and can barely handle the algebra to compute integrals.

https://artofproblemsolving.com/news/articles/avoid-the-calculus-trap[/quote]

If MIT and Stanford and Cal were to say that we don't care about the highest class taken, but here's an Algebra test and you better get 100% if you want to be considered, the rush to calc would vanish. That will never happen, and those kids know they can retake calculus in college so other than the A+ and the 5, high school AP doesn't matter [/quote]

The problem isn't top schools. Places such as MIT and Stanford wouldn't really care about AP classes anyway. They're looking to differentiate among the large applicant pool; someone who took 2 more APs than someone else doesn't really look anymore impressive or different.

The problem is the number of students and parents who want to go to only the top schools and believe that they will stand out via perfect grades and APs (they will to some degree, but that's not nearly enough for those schools, due to the far larger # of qualified applicants vs acceptances). By pushing quantity vs quality, parents and teachers are removing the joy of learning and curiosity from education.

Parents need to step back, remove the pressure to "get ahead" to college, and first and foremost focus on whether their child is actually learning valuable things. Getting into college is just a first step; excelling there is a completely different story.[/quote]

Props to you for two things:

1) nailing this right on the head

2) being the only person I've seen on this board in 5+ years to actually use a profile and not post anonymously[/quote]

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