Reply to Algebra 2 after summer geometry: online or in person?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]What makes you think parents are adding summer school to keep up with the Joneses?[/quote]

It’s not summer school—summer school is nearly eight weeks long, offered at the home school, requested by the home school, and for remediation.

This is cramming to get ahead instead of appreciating and really absorbing fundamental math upon which the highest levels really depend by taking advantage of a program designed for kids who failed the class the first time.

If a kid was that passionate about and gifted in math that they’re willing to give up their entire summer for cramming, they would have been in algebra in 6th to begin with.[/quote]
Ok, but just to be clear here: You're not including kids who have already done a year of geometry outside the school (a seemingly more common thing these days and in this area) in your argument, right? If you are, then explain how they'd be giving up their entire summer if they already learned the material and just want to check it off?

This is exactly the reason why testing should be the norm anytime a family wants to skip a year. The kids who already spent a year (and did well) shouldn't have to waste 6 weeks checking things off; an administered test is much quicker. At the same time, the kids who were enrolled to get ahead and have never seen the material before should be thoroughly tested by the school to make sure they've truly 'absorbed fundamental math', as you said. [/quote]

Algebra and geometry are important subject.  But we pass kids through those subjects all the time when they don't have proficiency.  By your reasoning, shouldn't we also require an achievement test to make sure kids understand algebra before we allow them to take geometry?
I don't disagree.  I think we graduate way too many math illiterates.
But there would be waaay too many kids that would never make it past algebra if we actually had achievement standards.

[quote]It is not possible to thoroughly and truly learn a year of material in six weeks at that age. One can't just make a scaling argument, i.e. that if you quadruple the amount of time spent per day, it will lead to 4x the learning. The brain simply does not work this way because it needs time and rest; both necessary inputs to learning. All teachers know this. Therefore, departments of education should recognize and be able to differentiate between kids who already did a year of rigorous geometry and do not want to repeat it verbatim in school, with the kids who are being hyper accelerated to essentially 'absorb' and immediately 'regurgitate' the material. This doesn't even take into account that it's almost all being done virtually in 6 weeks.[/quote]

Wait.  So their brain can handle 5+ hours of learning if it is split up into half a dozen subjects but cannot handle 3 hours of learning in a single subject?  Do you have any evidence for this?[/quote]

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