Anonymous wrote:I agree this was true in the 90's too. Friends who went to top HSs breezed through our elite SLAC. Unfortunately I went to a terrible public and struggled. Luckily my smart friends helped me that first semester.

+1. The kids from top privates were shocked that I had never pulled an all-nighter until college. All-nighter! I rarely even had any homework to do at home since I was usually able to finish it in class. And I never studied for tests. I'm trying to make sure my DC's have a more challenging experience in their publics, but so far they're not working that much either.

I went to a Catholic HS and found the classes at a public college very easy. I ended up transferring to a private Catholic college after my freshman year. I could not believe my classmates from public high schools had to spend their freshman year in remedial classes. They didn't know how to write. No wonder it took most of them five years to graduate since the remedial classes took up a lot of their freshman year. My neighbors graduated from a well regarded public high school and also had to take remedial classes in college.

This thread reeks of First World Problems.

From the article:

"At Thomas Jefferson, students choose among 14 post-A.P. courses, including a new class on bionanotechnology that studies the relationship between small biological systems and technology. Most telling is that several advanced math courses — for example, “Complex Analysis,” which blends abstract math with practical applications in physics, electrical engineering and fluid modeling — are taught by Robert Sachs, a math professor and former department chairman at George Mason University. Dr. Sachs uses the same text for some high school and college classes, and says “Complex Analysis” covers the same material a college junior or senior would take.

“If you ask me, ‘Is it like the honors curriculum at M.I.T.?’ we’re probably real close,” says Dr. Sachs, who notes that he had the most students ever, 35, enrolled this past semester. The number is particularly impressive because students gain entry to the course by completing a full year of advanced math after A.P. calculus. “The courses I teach are actually a second year beyond A.P.,” he says.

Such high-level offerings, says Nina Pitkin, director of student services at Thomas Jefferson, reflect the fact that a lot more students arrive having completed algebra II and geometry in middle school, though these courses are typically taken in 9th and 10th grades. Some students actually enter ninth grade having taken the A.P. exam in calculus."

Anonymous wrote:Crazy. If this is you in college do you:

a) Take classes you need, sleep in and get great grades with no struggle

b) Take classes you need, great grades, and write your novel or code your website on the side

c) Take additional, more challenging classes and either graduate in 3 years or do all your post doc too

or

d) whine to your former headmaster as if they can do anything about it except pat themselves on the backs?

I went to one of the "W" high schools in MoCo and I chose option c -- I graduated in 3 years. Saved my parents a bunch of money too. This was at a top-25 university.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly I think a bigger issue is kids showing up at college burned out from all the work and intense pressure of getting into college.

+1

Absolutely, so so true. Which can lead to reckless/delayed teenage behavior that is especially worrisome with little supervision.

This is so true -- freshman year is when cases of alcohol poisoning are highest. But the other thing that happens is that they are too burned out to take full advantage of the academics college offers.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly I think a bigger issue is kids showing up at college burned out from all the work and intense pressure of getting into college.

+1

Absolutely, so so true. Which can lead to reckless/delayed teenage behavior that is especially worrisome with little supervision.

No one says kids have to work themselves to death. Sometimes this is driven by the kid, but usually its the parents who are pushing them. Half of the problem is this obsession with getting into a handful of colleges in the state and country. People need to chill a little.

I so agree with this. I'm taking the long-view approach to raising my kids. If they get decent grades (mainly B's is fine with us) in high school and are involved in one or maybe two activities that really interest them, then DH and I are happy. No way am I going to make them run the gauntlet of pointless overachievement just so they can - maybe - get into a top college. A middle-of-the-road, good college is fine with us. But I guess we're in the minority in this crazy bubble we live in.

I agree this was true in the 90's too. Friends who went to top HSs breezed through our elite SLAC. Unfortunately I went to a terrible public and struggled. Luckily my smart friends helped me that first semester.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly I think a bigger issue is kids showing up at college burned out from all the work and intense pressure of getting into college.

+1

Absolutely, so so true. Which can lead to reckless/delayed teenage behavior that is especially worrisome with little supervision.

+1000. High school kids are under too much stress.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:12:52, if you are a product of a big three private school, that's a shame. Your sentence construction, grammar and spelling are atrocious.

You need a comma after 'grammar.' Stop throwing stones.

The comma splice is a bigger issue than her decision not to use the Oxford comma, which is a perfectly acceptable choice IMO.

In any case, she's right about 12:52, and that's what counts!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly I think a bigger issue is kids showing up at college burned out from all the work and intense pressure of getting into college.

+1

Absolutely, so so true. Which can lead to reckless/delayed teenage behavior that is especially worrisome with little supervision.

No one says kids have to work themselves to death. Sometimes this is driven by the kid, but usually its the parents who are pushing them. Half of the problem is this obsession with getting into a handful of colleges in the state and country. People need to chill a little.