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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Honest question: are all of these kids really this curious about mathematics, or is math beyond calculus essential for all college admissions now, or are people seeing broader STEM potential in their kids that they are trying to support with math study, or are there other thoughts/motivations at work? Why is everyone so fixated on accelerating?

Boredom in class when classmates cannot execute whatever is afoot does not _necessarily_ equal curiosity, aptitude, or readiness for more or faster math. If there were a way to knock out the entire math curriculum a year or more ahead of time in HS in order to leave space for other things, I could completely see that. But since MCPS requires math every single year no matter what, what's the real incentive?

If your kid loves math and is hungry for more, or is forecasting a deeply STEM career, total respect. But beyond that I'm not following the obsession. I don't actually want my kid accelerating in math only to end up in a level they can't handle later.[/quote]

Great questions.  Boredom in class is part of the problem.  Here in the States, we end up having too few going into STEM, and a lot of that is because math starts to lack challenge by the middle of elementary school. 
Kids get turned off to it.  Acceleration and enrichment (true enrichment) are options to increase challenge, but the former is far easier to implement for most elementary teachers, not to mention the system.

So there are kids who are distinctly math-inclined or so able across subjects that, yes, getting to something beyond calculus in high school is desired (and can be important to their higher education/career options if they aim for that involving higher-level math.  Then there are a much larger number of kids that need the challenge through about Algebra II just to maintain interest.  Math 4/5, Math 5/6, AIM and even 6+ and 7+ can offer this.

A problem is that post-Algebra II phase.  MD requires a math class in each year of high school.  That means either a course beyond Calc or one, like Stats, that is perceived as an off-ramp by some, despite stats being extremely useful in most people's lives.

At the same time, colleges (or college Math dapartments) often prefer their own delivery of post-Calc courses to that given in high school.  Making things even more difficult is that many admissions offices will also look at Stats or the like in senior year as "taking it easy" vs. pursuing rigor.

Taking Stats after Algebra II and before the Calc courses might make sense, but there is a progression from Algebra topics to Pre-calc and Calc that gets lost, a bit, from a year of Stats in between -- though if taught in a particular way, Stats and Calc have concepts that would support an understanding of each other.

So, what to do?  Modifying the MD a-year-of-math-each-year-in-high-school requirement to except any student who had successfully completed a college-level courae (AP Calc or AP Stats) would seem to be a no-brainer; MD only requires completion of Algebra and Geometry, anyway (not even Algebra II, which is among the MCPS aims).  Engaging with the college admissions community to encourage a more favorable view of alternatives, like Stats, to post-Calc coursework would be great (and important!), but is a long-term fix with uncertain adoption.  Changing the standard secondaey curriculum to integrate the Algebras with Geometry and the Calcs with Stats would be visionary, but likely infeasible from a political standpoint. 
 Elimimating or reducing access.to the accelerated elementary/middle courses, though, would, IMO, be the worst option -- kids wouldn't be taught where they are and would, as a result, be increasingly turned off to the subject.  [/quote]

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