Anonymous
Post 01/11/2014 14:04     Subject: Re:Cross Post: Elementary School Magnet tests | MoCo
How does the poster know these athletes -- Peyton and Manning--had the raw skills (don't we all have the raw skills?) if they were nurtured and prepared assiduously so early in life? Where is the data or evidence? Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

I wonder what will happen, if like Peyton and Manning in their single focused and preoccupation since age 7 ( football and swimming), others applied the same strategy for math, computer science, or music at an early age? It happens all around us. Just visit TJ, Blair Magnet, TPMS magnet, and the HGC for kids doing what Peyton and Manning did in football and swimming -- in math, music and computer science. For Peyton and Manning it's their club teams in football and swimming at age 7 ... or club magnet school!

Anonymous
Post 01/11/2014 13:54     Subject: Re:Cross Post: Elementary School Magnet tests | MoCo
I [b]doubt Peyton Manning and Michael had their parents "investing in them" to this extent at 9 - they were letting their child follow their passion by going to the pool for swim team or playing football. [/b]Not to mention these athletes had the raw skill needed to succeed and did not need their parents to get extra special coaches at 9 to make sure they got on the "best team" - they competed with their neighborhood communities.

It is not quite the same as spending 2k for test prep for a child to get into an HGC that they might not otherwise get into.

Those of us who think you are crazy, want our child to have the opportunity to follow their passion of learning with their raw skills - not attain some goal we have set for them. It doesn't mean we don't ask them to work hard on schoolwork or even teach them more at home - we just aren't trying to "game the system" by trying to find someone who we can pay money to to "prep" them for a test that isn't even supposed to be "studied for".

And if we are being really honest - if I wanted to "prep" my child, I could have done it myself. This stuff isn't really so hard, it's for 3rd graders after all! I could teach it to children as easily as anyone I could pay to do it.

I think the PP talking about working hard in class is a totally different thing. Yes, I want my children to have teachers and a curriculum that challenges them. And I am hoping HGC will be a step in a better direction.


If you call 7 hours a week at NBAC swim club team (Baltimore) at age 9 for Phelps following "his" passion... He signed up (ask his mom -- a middle school principal in Baltimore at the time), drove himself to the pool and paid the year-round bills -- following a passion (or ADHD)? You clearly are clueless.

As for the Mannings with a father a pro-quaterback and 3 sons -- also quarterbacks (just the random luck) with one converting to an end due to injury. They were all having fun, following their random passion each as a football players with their pro football father -- simply a random fly on the wall.

I have doubts about your common sense.
Anonymous
Post 01/11/2014 13:37     Subject: Re:Cross Post: Elementary School Magnet tests | MoCo
Anonymous wrote:
Let's see you give that sage advice to Peyton Manning and Michael Phelps. No peer is their equal when it comes to preparation. Preparation is preparation whether it is free or costs 2K. Given the choice, I prefer my surgeon, pilot, lawyer, and child to prepare.


perfect example of...crazy!



Yup, Peyton Manning and Michael Phelps are crazy. Just as your doctor/brain surgeon and pilots flying you to your leisure destinations for play are all crazy.


I doubt Peyton Manning and Michael had their parents "investing in them" to this extent at 9 - they were letting their child follow their passion by going to the pool for swim team or playing football. Not to mention these athletes had the raw skill needed to succeed and did not need their parents to get extra special coaches at 9 to make sure they got on the "best team" - they competed with their neighborhood communities.

It is not quite the same as spending 2k for test prep for a child to get into an HGC that they might not otherwise get into.

Those of us who think you are crazy, want our child to have the opportunity to follow their passion of learning with their raw skills - not attain some goal we have set for them. It doesn't mean we don't ask them to work hard on schoolwork or even teach them more at home - we just aren't trying to "game the system" by trying to find someone who we can pay money to to "prep" them for a test that isn't even supposed to be "studied for".

And if we are being really honest - if I wanted to "prep" my child, I could have done it myself. This stuff isn't really so hard, it's for 3rd graders after all! I could teach it to children as easily as anyone I could pay to do it.

I think the PP talking about working hard in class is a totally different thing. Yes, I want my children to have teachers and a curriculum that challenges them. And I am hoping HGC will be a step in a better direction.
Anonymous
Post 01/11/2014 13:10     Subject: Re:Cross Post: Elementary School Magnet tests | MoCo
Let's see you give that sage advice to Peyton Manning and Michael Phelps. No peer is their equal when it comes to preparation. Preparation is preparation whether it is free or costs 2K. Given the choice, I prefer my surgeon, pilot, lawyer, and child to prepare.


perfect example of...crazy!



Yup, Peyton Manning and Michael Phelps are crazy. Just as your doctor/brain surgeon and pilots flying you to your leisure destinations for play are all crazy.
Anonymous
Post 01/11/2014 12:19     Subject: Re:Cross Post: Elementary School Magnet tests | MoCo
Anonymous wrote:
There are people paying like 1 or 2K for test prep. Crazy. I am with you guys. If you need to prep you don't belong.


Let's see you give that sage advice to Peyton Manning and Michael Phelps. No peer is their equal when it comes to preparation. Preparation is preparation whether it is free or costs 2K. Given the choice, I prefer my surgeon, pilot, lawyer, and child to prepare.



I agree. Growing up I had a HS Math teacher who gave us drills after drills after drills of math problems. He was a hard task master and a strict disciplinarian. Even our parents were intimidated. However, now I realize that he had a bark that was worse than his bite. He took a class full of teens, some were motivated and most were not and put the fear of God in us. I loved his teaching style. He would go through problems, show us step by step and then 10 questions done in 10 minutes. Then go over them, the next 10 questions to be solved in 5 minutes. He would throw chalk pieces at us if we gave the wrong answer, yet, he was funny, loving, sarcastic, humorous and we loved him. And nearing our final exams - we would have extra classes on Sunday. 3 hours of Math and our brains would be fried. He took the weakest students in Math and made them stars.

He used to tell us "When you are so tired that your brain cannot function, I want your fingers to remember how to do the problem". Doors opened for us in life because of how well we had mastered Math in our HS years. Thank you, JC Sharma Sir!

My heart aches when I see a kid struggling in Math today. They are not as lucky as we were. Everybody can master Math.
Anonymous
Post 01/11/2014 11:58     Subject: Re:Cross Post: Elementary School Magnet tests | MoCo
Anonymous wrote:
There are people paying like 1 or 2K for test prep. Crazy. I am with you guys. If you need to prep you don't belong.


Let's see you give that sage advice to Peyton Manning and Michael Phelps. No peer is their equal when it comes to preparation. Preparation is preparation whether it is free or costs 2K. Given the choice, I prefer my surgeon, pilot, lawyer, and child to prepare.
perfect example of...crazy!
Anonymous
Post 01/11/2014 06:28     Subject: Cross Post: Elementary School Magnet tests | MoCo
Anonymous wrote:Prep your kid for the test way beforehand. I guaranty you that's what most of the kids' parents have them do who get in.[/quote

We didn't. I wouldn't even know where to begin on prepping for this kind of test - where does one eve get copies of past test???

Anonymous
Post 01/11/2014 03:36     Subject: Re:Cross Post: Elementary School Magnet tests | MoCo
There are people paying like 1 or 2K for test prep. Crazy. I am with you guys. If you need to prep you don't belong.


Let's see you give that sage advice to Peyton Manning and Michael Phelps. No peer is their equal when it comes to preparation. Preparation is preparation whether it is free or costs 2K. Given the choice, I prefer my surgeon, pilot, lawyer, and child to prepare.
Anonymous
Post 01/11/2014 00:22     Subject: Cross Post: Elementary School Magnet tests | MoCo
Mine and many others who toured with him. Wait list or not, still was accepted in. Oh, and we, too, turned it down, opening spot for yet someone else on wait list. Didn't stop him from getting into MS magnet.

+1 with others on no test prep. Didn't do that with either child. 1 at HGC.
Anonymous
Post 01/10/2014 20:57     Subject: Cross Post: Elementary School Magnet tests | MoCo
Anonymous wrote:Don't think you need to be above the cut off on all three. Had one child who was below on one of the three, was wait listed and then offered a spot.



Your kid was waitlisted. Which means that their admission was not assured. Only after some kid who got into the program and declined the invitation (thereby freeing up a space), was your kid offered that spot.
Anonymous
Post 01/10/2014 20:54     Subject: Cross Post: Elementary School Magnet tests | MoCo
Anonymous wrote:There are people paying like 1 or 2K for test prep. Crazy. I am with you guys. If you need to prep you don't belong.


You cannot really prep for these tests. Yet many people are paying hundreds of dollars to prep for these tests. And majority of these people are those groups that are anyways doing well in MCPS and standardized tests. Many kids already in HGC centers and magnets will be attending these classes.

So, what is the lure of these classes for these people? Many go to become familiar with test taking strategies, but many more actually go because it is a very cost effective way to get their kids extra practice in quantitative reasoning and reading comprehension. Mainly because they feel that the standards have been lowered in MCPS schools.

The kids who go to these prep classes are not the kids who need to prep to get admissions. They could probably get in without prep.




Anonymous
Post 01/10/2014 18:50     Subject: Cross Post: Elementary School Magnet tests | MoCo
Anonymous wrote:How do you even prep for this test? All we told our daughter was she is taking will be taking a test and try her best...she had no idea what the test is about.
+1
Anonymous
Post 01/10/2014 18:15     Subject: Cross Post: Elementary School Magnet tests | MoCo
Anonymous wrote:How do you even prep for this test? All we told our daughter was she will be taking a test and try her best...she had no idea what the test is about.
Anonymous
Post 01/10/2014 18:14     Subject: Cross Post: Elementary School Magnet tests | MoCo
How do you even prep for this test? All we told our daughter was she is taking will be taking a test and try her best...she had no idea what the test is about.
Anonymous
Post 01/08/2014 22:38     Subject: Cross Post: Elementary School Magnet tests | MoCo
There are people paying like 1 or 2K for test prep. Crazy. I am with you guys. If you need to prep you don't belong.