Anonymous
05/14/2024 13:02
Subject: Congrats to 2 NoVa students in Mathcounts top 12
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Now watch them get rejected from TJ.
Those kids will be fine anywhere while TJ would make a huge difference in an underprivileged child's life trajectory.
Hypothetical Counterpoint: With TJ's advanced math classes, they continue on the path to finally solving Goldbach's conjecture. The underprivileged kid, on the other hand, goes from being top in his high school and getting accepted into Harvard (full ride due to low income) to being bottom of his class at TJ and attending a local college below his potential.
Why should a kid whose school doesn't offer mathcounts be disadvantaged? If FCPS wants to use something as a data point for admission, they need to make sure it is available in all middle schools
Even if it were available at all schools across the county, there aren't going to be any other kids with the raw aptitude to make Mathcounts top 12. Extra middle school programming is not going to turn a kid into a math prodigy. People who make the argument that the PP did just don't grasp how advanced and amazing these kids are.
Also, any kid who wants to participate can do so. Mathcounts allows kids to register and compete as an independent student if their school doesn't have a team or if they're homeschooled.
My kid well in Mathcounts although not nearly as well as the 2 in this thread. He was naturally good at math, but no prodigy. What separates the really good Mathcounts kid and the great Math counts kid is a lot of practice. That practice happens at home. One can possibly find a prodigy among the Mathcounts contestants, but it's overwhelmingingly kids just putting in the work to be fast.
Do you consider a kid who attend the Scripps spelling bee a spelling prodigy? How about the National Geography Bowl or the National History Bee?
MathCounts is just one type of math-- speed and accuracy. Very obviously all of us already know.
PP, have you looked at MathCounts national count down round problems? Maybe you could take a look before you make your point. And also have you heard of USAJMO?
https://maa.org/sites/default/files/pdf/AMC/usamo/2024%20USAJMO%20Awardees.docx.pdf
Both of these two "great MathCounts" kids happen to be on the list.
I don't believe in the theory of prodigy too much. What I see is talent and hard work, hand in hand, in these kids.
Anonymous
05/14/2024 13:00
Subject: Congrats to 2 NoVa students in Mathcounts top 12
Congrats to these amazing American kids. We are lucky our youngest generation has lots of smart kids who work hard. They are going to do amazing things.
Anonymous
05/14/2024 12:56
Subject: Congrats to 2 NoVa students in Mathcounts top 12
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Now watch them get rejected from TJ.
Those kids will be fine anywhere while TJ would make a huge difference in an underprivileged child's life trajectory.
Hypothetical Counterpoint: With TJ's advanced math classes, they continue on the path to finally solving Goldbach's conjecture. The underprivileged kid, on the other hand, goes from being top in his high school and getting accepted into Harvard (full ride due to low income) to being bottom of his class at TJ and attending a local college below his potential.
Don't the high schools that Longfellow and Carson feed into ALSO offer dual enrollment post-AP math courses through George Mason, the exact same track TJ offers?
No. TJ has special dual enrollment courses beyond multivariable and linear algebra only offered at TJ. If these kids are taking pre-calc or calc in 8th, they will run out of math classes at McLean, even with dual enrollment. Likewise, if they're physics oriented, their offerings will cap at AP Physics C, rather than the many post-AP classes offered at TJ.
The argument that "those kids will be fine anywhere" is absurd. TJ is made for kids who have academic needs that can't be met at their base school. These kids need TJ and its expanded offerings. Whether or not TJ would make a huge difference for an underprivileged child is irrelevant. These kids aren't competing for spots against kids at lower SES schools. They're competing against the other privileged but much less advanced and much less accomplished kids at Longfellow and Carson.
I don't know. I mean if they did this well because of outside enrichment they'll be fine anywhere.
Anonymous
05/14/2024 12:53
Subject: Congrats to 2 NoVa students in Mathcounts top 12
They work hard but very few are geniuses. The math geniuses are usually autistic.
Anonymous
05/14/2024 12:29
Subject: Congrats to 2 NoVa students in Mathcounts top 12
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Now watch them get rejected from TJ.
Those kids will be fine anywhere while TJ would make a huge difference in an underprivileged child's life trajectory.
Hypothetical Counterpoint: With TJ's advanced math classes, they continue on the path to finally solving Goldbach's conjecture. The underprivileged kid, on the other hand, goes from being top in his high school and getting accepted into Harvard (full ride due to low income) to being bottom of his class at TJ and attending a local college below his potential.
Why should a kid whose school doesn't offer mathcounts be disadvantaged? If FCPS wants to use something as a data point for admission, they need to make sure it is available in all middle schools
Even if it were available at all schools across the county, there aren't going to be any other kids with the raw aptitude to make Mathcounts top 12. Extra middle school programming is not going to turn a kid into a math prodigy. People who make the argument that the PP did just don't grasp how advanced and amazing these kids are.
Also, any kid who wants to participate can do so. Mathcounts allows kids to register and compete as an independent student if their school doesn't have a team or if they're homeschooled.
My kid well in Mathcounts although not nearly as well as the 2 in this thread. He was naturally good at math, but no prodigy. What separates the really good Mathcounts kid and the great Math counts kid is a lot of practice. That practice happens at home. One can possibly find a prodigy among the Mathcounts contestants, but it's overwhelmingingly kids just putting in the work to be fast.
Do you consider a kid who attend the Scripps spelling bee a spelling prodigy? How about the National Geography Bowl or the National History Bee?
Anonymous
05/14/2024 12:25
Subject: Re:Congrats to 2 NoVa students in Mathcounts top 12
I went to one of the local competition and those kids are truly amazing. Congratulation to all the MATHCOUNTS participants and teachers who sponsor them!
Anonymous
05/14/2024 12:00
Subject: Congrats to 2 NoVa students in Mathcounts top 12
Anonymous wrote:Wow Chinese Americans are dominating Math competitions
Of the top 12, all are Asian.
Of the top 56, maybe 3 or 4 are non-Asian and the other 52-53 are Asian.
There also aren't many girls.
https://www.mathcounts.org/sites/default/files/2024%20Final%20Standings%20Document.pdf
Anonymous
05/14/2024 11:46
Subject: Congrats to 2 NoVa students in Mathcounts top 12
Anonymous wrote:I don’t oppose setting aside 30%-35% of seats at TJ for low-income and URM students. They should select the best candidates in those group of students. Moreover, they should make sure that the remaining seats will go to the brightest and most motivated students in the county. The current lottery admissions has failed in all aspects.
When did that lottery happen? Is it opened for public or they do that privately? Did you peek and can see the names?
Anonymous
05/14/2024 11:42
Subject: Congrats to 2 NoVa students in Mathcounts top 12
Wow Chinese Americans are dominating Math competitions
Anonymous
05/14/2024 11:33
Subject: Congrats to 2 NoVa students in Mathcounts top 12
I don’t oppose setting aside 30%-35% of seats at TJ for low-income and URM students. They should select the best candidates in those group of students. Moreover, they should make sure that the remaining seats will go to the brightest and most motivated students in the county. The current lottery admissions has failed in all aspects.
Anonymous
05/14/2024 11:21
Subject: Congrats to 2 NoVa students in Mathcounts top 12
Anonymous wrote:TJ isn’t just math class.
No, but math is a part of TJ, and the very small handful of kids who need access to TJ's advanced math courses, advanced Physics courses, and highly competitive math competition team certainly belong at TJ. There's plenty of room at TJ to include all of the outliers as well as a large number of bright, motivated kids from all SES levels and all schools. These kids are outliers. They undoubtedly are among the small handful of kids who need TJ the most.
Congratulations to both of these students, who not only are math outliers, but also must have worked very hard to rise to the top!
Anonymous
05/14/2024 11:15
Subject: Congrats to 2 NoVa students in Mathcounts top 12
TJ isn’t just math class.
Anonymous
05/14/2024 10:57
Subject: Congrats to 2 NoVa students in Mathcounts top 12
Gifted is special needs. SJWs are unable to understand.
Anonymous
05/14/2024 10:41
Subject: Congrats to 2 NoVa students in Mathcounts top 12
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Now watch them get rejected from TJ.
Those kids will be fine anywhere while TJ would make a huge difference in an underprivileged child's life trajectory.
Hypothetical Counterpoint: With TJ's advanced math classes, they continue on the path to finally solving Goldbach's conjecture. The underprivileged kid, on the other hand, goes from being top in his high school and getting accepted into Harvard (full ride due to low income) to being bottom of his class at TJ and attending a local college below his potential.
Don't the high schools that Longfellow and Carson feed into ALSO offer dual enrollment post-AP math courses through George Mason, the exact same track TJ offers?
No. TJ has special dual enrollment courses beyond multivariable and linear algebra only offered at TJ. If these kids are taking pre-calc or calc in 8th, they will run out of math classes at McLean, even with dual enrollment. Likewise, if they're physics oriented, their offerings will cap at AP Physics C, rather than the many post-AP classes offered at TJ.
The argument that "those kids will be fine anywhere" is absurd. TJ is made for kids who have academic needs that can't be met at their base school. These kids need TJ and its expanded offerings. Whether or not TJ would make a huge difference for an underprivileged child is irrelevant. These kids aren't competing for spots against kids at lower SES schools. They're competing against the other privileged but much less advanced and much less accomplished kids at Longfellow and Carson.
Anonymous
05/14/2024 10:37
Subject: Re:Congrats to 2 NoVa students in Mathcounts top 12
DS is getting ready to attend Carson next year. I asked the Mouthcounts Advisor how many kids participate in the program. He explained that 130 kids take the initial test, 30 are in the club, and then a set number are selected to compete.