Anonymous wrote:If prepping is so bad, then wouldn't we see a lot of kids who prepped (therefore faking their way into the program) struggling to keep up or just going back to GE?

That's the problem, isn't it? The purists (non-preppers) want to keep AAP "pure" with only non-prepping, naturally intuitive/intelligent kids. The preppers, say: look at the proof! -- my kid prepped and it may have given him a few points extra but s/he IS able to handle the curriculum, so prepping was, in fact, good insurance.

I understand both sides, but it seems to me that the "proof is in the puddin'" side makes the most sense. Prep or not -- if the kid can keep up, then he belongs there. The issue we should be concerned with is all the other borderline or non-preppers who didn't get in but really should be given the same opportunity. That's the tragedy to me -- the sharp cliff b/t fulltime AAP and very little (at the GE schools). I'm glad that they all have Adv. Math now, but that's not enough.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One problem with Fairfax County not explicitly saying that prepping is considered cheating but instead saying there are no materials for prepping for the test is that there is a huge segment of fcps parents who've never been on this forum and so know nothing about why prepping is considered cheating. They are used to studying for tests being viewed as allowed. If they do a search and find the test materials, they could reasonably think that the fcps site just is outdated since it just says no materials are available. Are you going to punish those kids? FCPS has no standing to complain about prepping until it explicitly says prepping is unethical/cheating and putting that on it's website and also sending home materials to that effect starting in kindergarten. If anyone in the fcps administration is reading this thread, would you mind explaining the rationale for not doing this?

I agree that some people prepping their kids are just oblivious and doing what they think is right. Our neighbor, who I hardly know, casually told me at the bus stop that her husband was prepping their DC for the Naglieri using a sample booklet that he ordered. We talk only at the bus stop and usually about the weather. We talked about how it was getting colder then about how the school year was going, and she mentioned the prepping. She wasn't confiding any secret to me but just chatting innocently about how their DC was doing in first grade. I didn't have the heart to bring up that what their family was doing could be considered cheating, and after all there is no official statement to this effect that I could point to.

There is nothing from FCPS that says don't prepare. Just some info saying you don't need to, just like they say you don't need homework in the first couple years of school. If you want to supplement, got for it.....

Well, you really don't need homework in the first couple of years of school. Or at least you didn't before everyone around here went crazy. I lived in China for several years and saw the intense prepping approach in action. I'm not maligning the Chinese because I understand the culture and where the need to do well academically comes from , so save the racist rants. I'm just saying what I observed, and what I observed was a bunch of kids who worked themselves to death through grade school and high school to get into certain colleges and then did..... nothing. They were burnt out. Done. At a time when young minds should be opening up to explore the intellectual universe, they were marking time till they got out. So sad to see people unable to enjoy the prize because of what it took to get there.

Is that really what we want here? has it really become so competitive that we think the only way our kids will have a happy life is if we drill them to death in academics and make childhood all about the advantages of prepping?

btw, I have three kids -- one in AAP, others GE, never prepped for CogAT, didn't enforce homework until 3rd or 4th grade. All three are doing great in school. Oldest a National Merit Scholar.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One problem with Fairfax County not explicitly saying that prepping is considered cheating but instead saying there are no materials for prepping for the test is that there is a huge segment of fcps parents who've never been on this forum and so know nothing about why prepping is considered cheating. They are used to studying for tests being viewed as allowed. If they do a search and find the test materials, they could reasonably think that the fcps site just is outdated since it just says no materials are available. Are you going to punish those kids? FCPS has no standing to complain about prepping until it explicitly says prepping is unethical/cheating and putting that on it's website and also sending home materials to that effect starting in kindergarten. If anyone in the fcps administration is reading this thread, would you mind explaining the rationale for not doing this?

I agree that some people prepping their kids are just oblivious and doing what they think is right. Our neighbor, who I hardly know, casually told me at the bus stop that her husband was prepping their DC for the Naglieri using a sample booklet that he ordered. We talk only at the bus stop and usually about the weather. We talked about how it was getting colder then about how the school year was going, and she mentioned the prepping. She wasn't confiding any secret to me but just chatting innocently about how their DC was doing in first grade. I didn't have the heart to bring up that what their family was doing could be considered cheating, and after all there is no official statement to this effect that I could point to.

I think we can all agree that prepping does increase a child's score. I was VERY against any kind of prepping until I bumped into some crazy moms sending their kids to classes and prepping months/years in advance. SO - I prepped my son with some practice questions and going over the ones he got wrong gave him confidence and he understood some of the ones he didn't quite get. He is quite bright and I figured he'd get in anyway, but wanted to avoid all the appeal stuff and any questions. I am sure giving him those practice questions helped raise his score. I feel bad about it, because I do think it's unfair to some kids, but I didn't want to be on the wrong side of the prep/no prep results because it was no longer an even playing field.

So now FCPS has a problem. Some kids are prepping and some are not. This test is not useful anymore. Going just by teacher and history I am sure my kid would get in, but I was worried because of all the parent lobbying and ass kissing and whatever else goes on.

I don't know the answer but the current system is definitely broken and surely they need to stop some of this madness. Prepping for my kid was fun, he loves puzzles and these things and I didn't push, but I imagine some kids do not react the same way.

Fundimentally, a gifted child does not need to prep for these tests. The gifted child does not need to do multple drill and practices to get something. The gifted child will do the work until they understand it, then move on to something else. The gift child will hate busy work. A truly gifted report card in Elementry School would be 4's in subject knowlege and 1's in does the homework: they ace the test while doing a minimal amount of homework.

Exactly why the CogAt, or FxAt, should be administered every year (if it even needs to be given at all); to catch the many ways children's problem solving skills (not intelligence, BTW) will change over time.

You are very eccentric and your "arguments," such as they are, have no relevance on this thread. What on earth does the Bible have to do with this?

Anonymous wrote: ...
Prepping for class and homework at 7 leads to prepping for tests, college, grad school and then the work place. For Peyton, the work place is now NFL games, for the brain surgeon it is the neuroblastoma on the schedule for tomorrow, and for the lawyer preparing to argue a case before the Supreme Court.

These habits are not turned on like a switch when one starts life's work. It is ingrained into behavioral DNA early in life for many like Peyton, Phelps and Supreme Chief Justice Roberts.