My child taught himself to read and had a well developed number sense in Pre-K , but I did not "teach" him these things or make him work on them or take him to classes. Somehow he learned it himself while playing all day long, largely outside. Had he been able to recite his multiplication tables and rattle off math facts, but not know how to climb a tree, ride a bike, play ball or skip a stone the , yes, I would have considered his early child hood squandered.

Very low bar for kids.

My child taught himself to read and had a well developed number sense in Pre-K , but I did not "teach" him these things or make him work on them or take him to classes. Somehow he learned it himself while playing all day long, largely outside. Had he been able to recite his multiplication tables and rattle off math facts, but not know how to climb a tree, ride a bike, play ball or skip a stone the , yes, I would have considered his early child hood squandered.

Well, here's a ribbon. Your self- learner is "gifted". You can put this on her College application. We read to our children and taught them to read, write speak and number sense. Are children are not gifted like yours. They did not squander their childhood.

Check out the results the Finns are getting with their kids playing in the woods and no school at all until age 7. And I don't think there is a Kumon center in the entire country.

Why go to Finland. Check out the results of American performance compared to the Finns and Vietnamese. I am sure you would conclude Kumon centers in American is the cause of her tragic mathematics performance over the last 20 years. By the way, do you know what group has the highest performance in English/Reading and Math in our country? The last I checked it wasn't the Europeans (East or West).

My child taught himself to read and had a well developed number sense in Pre-K , but I did not "teach" him these things or make him work on them or take him to classes. Somehow he learned it himself while playing all day long, largely outside. Had he been able to recite his multiplication tables and rattle off math facts, but not know how to climb a tree, ride a bike, play ball or skip a stone the , yes, I would have considered his early child hood squandered.

Check out the results the Finns are getting with their kids playing in the woods and no school at all until age 7. And I don't think there is a Kumon center in the entire country.

There is no reading, adding, subtracting or multiplying on the WIPPSI and if your DC has never been in school ( you are applying for K, right) but has been taught these things for the purpose of being "advanced" you have squandered their early childhood and probably cemented a pretty unhealthy performance for love dynamic in your household. Some children teach themselves to read all on their own and some have a strong number sense intuitively, but I have never heard of a 5 year old who taught themselves to multiply and divide on their own unless you are talking basic word problems like: If Philly is 95 miles away and Mommy is driving 65 mph , we should be there is an our and half....that I can see a gifted 5 year old doing in their head, but not 9X8=72. That is a child who has been sent to Kumon, sorry.

Most of the households in may neighborhood not "squandering away" their children's are split/divorced households. I apologise for not being familiar with this type of family or household love dynamic. We will not wait for our future kindergarten teacher to teach our kids how to speak, read, write and manipulate numbers. We prefer to "squander away" their early childhood devoted solely to eating, pooping, bedwetting, crying, sleeping and playing.

I don't think it is a conspiracy, but $375 for an hour or so to test and an hour to type the report is a pretty good living when you note that the kids are booked back to back 8 hours a day from Sept. through June. Some Lawyers in this town should be so lucky

Required School Admission Tests

PSAT costs $13 (2 hours)

SAT costs are a $49 (with writing) (3 to 4 hours)

ACT costs are $49.50 (with writing) (3 to 4 hours)

SSAT costs are $116 (3 hours)

WPPSI costs are $375 (1 hour)


What's the definition of a scam on the backs of 4, 5, and 6-year-old children?

There is no reading, adding, subtracting or multiplying on the WIPPSI and if your DC has never been in school ( you are applying for K, right) but has been taught these things for the purpose of being "advanced" you have squandered their early childhood and probably cemented a pretty unhealthy performance for love dynamic in your household. Some children teach themselves to read all on their own and some have a strong number sense intuitively, but I have never heard of a 5 year old who taught themselves to multiply and divide on their own unless you are talking basic word problems like: If Philly is 95 miles away and Mommy is driving 65 mph , we should be there is an our and half....that I can see a gifted 5 year old doing in their head, but not 9X8=72. That is a child who has been sent to Kumon, sorry.

Another near-sighted poor soul who believes the only venue in America for a 5 or 6-year-old to learn how to read, write and manipulate numbers is in our wonderful schools and that such a child with such ability before entering these hallowed halls has squandered their early childhood.

But, it's ok to learn tackle football, lacrosse, gymnastics, swimming, violin and piano by age 6 without being on the USA Olympic team or The Juliard?

Do any 6-year-old teach themselves any of these skills?

If parents/families are bereft of literacy and mentoring skills one may have to go to Kumon. It sounds like Kumon is a dirty word but private tutors and SAT prep is the real and pure deal.

Sorry or sorrow is not acceptable.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:... which is not very different from the statement you take offensive with - i.e. that WPPSE tests etc. serve as a means of providing income to child psychologists.

Not true at all. The false claim that annoys me is the claim that these tests are just a big scam designed to funnel huge amounts of money to psychs (e.g., "to make their boat payments"). We're all very aware that the tests cost money and thus provide some income to the psychs. I don't think anyone expects the psychs to administer the tests for free. (Would you?) But there's a big difference between "some income" and "huge amounts."

I don't think it is a conspiracy, but $375 for an hour or so to test and an hour to type the report is a pretty good living when you note that the kids are booked back to back 8 hours a day from Sept. through June. Some Lawyers in this town should be so lucky.

Anonymous wrote:

If you try to prep for the WPPSI, the test administrator will be able to recognize it and will note it in their write-up.

To each their own, though.

Absolute malarky. Testers should recognize and appreciate a 5 or 6-year-old already reading and writing sentences that can add, subtract, divide and multiply. Such an accomplishment is not unethical or immoral on the part of either parent or child even if it prepares the child to ace any "American" IQ test. There are many 5 and 6 year-olds around the world performing at this level.

There is no reading, adding, subtracting or multiplying on the WIPPSI and if your DC has never been in school ( you are applying for K, right) but has been taught these things for the purpose of being "advanced" you have squandered their early childhood and probably cemented a pretty unhealthy performance for love dynamic in your household. Some children teach themselves to read all on their own and some have a strong number sense intuitively, but I have never heard of a 5 year old who taught themselves to multiply and divide on their own unless you are talking basic word problems like: If Philly is 95 miles away and Mommy is driving 65 mph , we should be there is an our and half....that I can see a gifted 5 year old doing in their head, but not 9X8=72. That is a child who has been sent to Kumon, sorry.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's a big scam alright. The annual hue and cry over WPPSI in this community is pure testamount to this.

Testamount isn't a word.

If you had a WPPSI score above 95 you should be able though to figure out what the poster meant. Unless you were prepped.

Anonymous wrote:It's a big scam alright. The annual hue and cry over WPPSI in this community is pure testamount to this.

Testamount isn't a word.

It's a big scam alright. The annual hue and cry over WPPSI in this community is pure testamount to this.

Anonymous wrote:... which is not very different from the statement you take offensive with - i.e. that WPPSE tests etc. serve as a means of providing income to child psychologists.

Not true at all. The false claim that annoys me is the claim that these tests are just a big scam designed to funnel huge amounts of money to psychs (e.g., "to make their boat payments"). We're all very aware that the tests cost money and thus provide some income to the psychs. I don't think anyone expects the psychs to administer the tests for free. (Would you?) But there's a big difference between "some income" and "huge amounts."

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Same test results can be sent to multiple schools, so the 9:48 assessment is slightly off, but the point is taken.

Good point. That actually means they make even less on admissions testing.

So child psychologists actually lose money on these tests and perform them purely as a service to society.

Keep your eyeroll to yourself. No one said they're losing money; just that administering the tests is not a big moneymaker, and may be less profitable than other psych services these professionals offer.

So why do they offer to administer the tests if they can get paid more for other psych services? Not my field, but I'd guess it's because (1) few psychologists have a steady 40-50 hours/week of higher-paying psych consulting appointments, so administering the tests is a good way to profitably fill time, and (2) administering tests creates a good first-contact point that can lead to other more-profitable work.

... which is not very different from the statement you take offensive with - i.e. that WPPSE tests etc. serve as a means of providing income to child psychologists.