Reply to Haters Gonna Hate, but Centers are here to stay (with busing)

Forum Index » Advanced Academic Programs (AAP)

Reply to "Haters Gonna Hate, but Centers are here to stay (with busing)"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Know why parents freak out about entry into AAP?  Several reasons.  One being that the program is so bloated that it's embarrassing for some parents to be excluded.

And secondly, the obvious public nature of "Centers."  It's easy to drop it into casual conversation how smart your child is if he/she doesn't go to the neighborhood school.

Get rid of centers, pare the program from the gigantic ego trip it's become to a real G/T program, and move on. [/quote]

PP in an LLIV school. And instead of name dropping schools, parents just name drop the AAP teacher for the grade. Everyone-- parents and kids alike, knows exactly who is in the "smart" class. [b]And since the AAP kid stay together in all subjects for 4 years, tight, and often mean girl, cliques form-- among the AAP kids and the AAP moms. Why would you want this in your school. It really is an awful environment [/b](and I'm not exactly fighting for Centers because I have a vested interest my kids are going through LLIV (we actually have a strong LLIV and a week Center). [/quote]

Two close friends with kids in established LLIV school like yours said the same as you say in bold above -- much more possibility for friction between kids that lasts across several school years, because there's little opportunity to mix up the core academic classes from year to year and thus separate kids who have issues with each other (or even kids who are best friends and distract each other for that reason, rather than because there's friction). The up side, friends said, was that their families forged really good, close friendships with some families since the kids were together for everything every year. But they found a real down side in terms of kids being with the same group for so long. I can hear responses now saying things like "Kids need to learn to work out their stuff year to year" but that's easily said and not as easily done, if you're an elementary kid who is being distracted from the point of school -- academics -- by having to work on social stuff that is often resolved just by summer break and starting with a new class in the fall. Full disclosure, our own kid went to a center school because our base had zero LLIV option, and benefited from meeting and working with a lot of different kids. [/quote]

YMMV, we did not experience this at all (clicks based on academic class). It really depends on the cohort of students and not which math class they attend.  I have two children - two years apart.  Both went to the same ES and had the same teachers through 2nd grade.  At least 25% of the class had a sibling in the other grade.  The "tone" "flavor" or whatever you want to call it was night and day.  The eldest's class had too many BMOC wanna bees and too many queen bee wanna bees.  It was horrific.  If you were on the bottom of the social ladder you were toast.  It was a class that no aide wanted to be assigned as they moved through the school.  Teachers dreaded its arrival. OTOH, two years later in my younger DC's class - it had an exceptionally large number of inclusive savvy boys and girls.  It was the "nice" class.  It was the class that everyone wanted as it moved through the school.  Same administration, same % of smart verses bright, large % of same parents and gene pool.  Luck of the draw.  From what I understand, we experienced the best and worst mixes of personalities you can get. Do not be so quick to blame the academic problem on social issues.  Those will be there regardless of how they slice and dice the class.  The mean ones will find the scab to pick.[/quote]

Probably all very true. But when the "mean ones" are all kept together year after year AND are told that they are in the academically superior class AND, let's face it, often have parents with the same attitude, it creates the perfect storm. [/quote]

My point was being in AAP or gen Ed doesn't really matter.  there will always be something they can find to "lord it over" someone else.  It does not compound the problem as your seem to be implying.  It will be there regardless of whether or not AAP is there or wether or not they are told that they are academically superior or not.  I assure you if they were in Gen Ed they would be behaving in the same exact way. AAP is not the real issue. [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics