Reply to Algebra 1 as Sixth Grader?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Yes, she’s a 11 year old 9th grader, at an age when most kids are in 5th grade.

I don’t necessarily agree that you need to do competition math to prove one’s worth. A lot of these kids seem to be very social, thrive with the spotlight on them and generally have more than one area of interest. Competition math is opposite, a concentrated focus in one narrow area.

College coursework credit is a real math credential for most. Maybe her interest and strength is not in going super deep in math on route to math Olympiad, which in my view is also an artificial goal and to a degree a waste of time.

These are different paths and you can endlessly argue the advantages of one over the other. Being socially savvy and knowing how to sell yourself is a good skill to have even if it seems somewhat cringy at this age.

She definite has a lot of support, I’m really curious how these kids do later in life on their own.[/quote]
Most 11 year olds are in 6th grade.  Her bio says that she was skipped ahead 3 years.

I agree that kids don't need to do competition math to prove that they belong in calculus at age 12.  Doing well in the courses is proof enough.  The kids who are at or close to a JMO level would also certainly be capable of calculus at age 12, if only FCPS didn't make them waste so many years learning nothing.

Her school system supported her and let her advance into classes appropriate for her intelligence and motivational levels.  Meanwhile, OP's kid was supposed to take Algebra I in 6th at her previous school, but was effectively barred from taking it and forced to waste a year of her time in FCPS.  A school system that actually supports advanced kids would have either asked for documentation and then honored the math placement, or they would have administered their own placement test.  Kudos to Gainesville, and shame on FCPS.[/quote]

One of the links said 6 years skipped in math, which would be typical of Algebra 2 in 8th.

Most likely the support and skipping is a combination of parent persistence, and willingness to accommodate from the principal and district. The situation is likely so rare that they haven’t encountered anything like this before.

While I agree with getting education at the student level, I don’t really see the point of skipping full grades. In a way it’s a guarantee that the student will get a more challenging workload, but there’s a real risk of not being able to keep up and ending up in the muddled middle, albeit while still being the youngest student in the class.

There’s plenty of data that going early to college does not always result in a good outcome, on the contrary there’s a lot of developmental, social and emotional stress that is often overlooked compared to purely academic capability.

The years someone has is middle and high school to dedicate to learning is unlike anything you’ll encounter in life, so I don’t really see the rush, why not just take the time and find an interest and just go deep and wide to wherever it takes you. [/quote]

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