Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How silly. I was a gifted kid in a school system with effectively no program. Yes, school was a little boring (up to and including my top college). Yes, I did a lot of independent reading. Which, incidentally, is great training for being a grown up. No one needs some personally-tailored super challenging middle school experience.

No one NEEDS it, but it might nonetheless be nice to have it.

The real problem is this: public elementary school doesn't provide an adequate foundation for success.

Private schools introduce foreign language in K.

Private schools teach vocabulary and grammar. (I was diagramming sentences in 4th grade.)

Private schools foster structure and discipline, and students are well equipped for HS and college thanks to the traditional approach to education.

I could go on and on.

I've been wondering about this lately, about what seems to be a lack of spelling and grammar being taught. When or at what point are things like subject/verb agreement, vocabulary, spelling, etc taught? Lots of math worksheets, but I've never seen a language arts worksheet.

Anonymous wrote:For anyone not sure where to start reading this thread, it gets really funny after 03/17/2016 09:51

OMG. 45yr old mom here laughing enough that my (planned) kids keep asking me what's so funny...

And yeah, this old mom's kid just got into HGC, too.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

You expect your child to learn to do their best from grades on a report card?

In my elementary school, there were no grades for K-6. I wonder how we managed?

It's not the grades on the report card. It that the kids don't get any feedback, the teachers aren't aware of their abilities, and don't have the time/energy to challenge the kids or care. In your "no-grades K-6" I bet the teachers challenged you (your kids?), and had the expectation that you would work hard and learn. Now, they don't care if the kids are "learning", they only care whether they can check the box by P. The problem is, if the kids already knew that stuff (below their level math, etc.), they didn't actually learn anything. Does that make sense?

No, it doesn't, because my kids' teachers do challenge them and expect them to learn.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Exactly! Normally I wouldn't have bothered with HGC, but I can't stand this P system. It's teaching my child to do the minimum and get lazy. No incentive to work harder - the teachers don't give enough "ES Opportunities" for a child to actually get an ES on the report card. Kids who easily get Ps are ignored. MCPS is teaching to the bottom. 80% of the teacher's time goes to the bottom few. Luckily, DC got into HGC for next year. I am interested to see how it feels for DC to be in a classroom of peers for the first time...

You expect your child to learn to do their best from grades on a report card?

In my elementary school, there were no grades for K-6. I wonder how we managed?

It's not the grades on the report card. It that the kids don't get any feedback, the teachers aren't aware of their abilities, and don't have the time/energy to challenge the kids or care. In your "no-grades K-6" I bet the teachers challenged you (your kids?), and had the expectation that you would work hard and learn. Now, they don't care if the kids are "learning", they only care whether they can check the box by P. The problem is, if the kids already knew that stuff (below their level math, etc.), they didn't actually learn anything. Does that make sense?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Exactly! Normally I wouldn't have bothered with HGC, but I can't stand this P system. It's teaching my child to do the minimum and get lazy. No incentive to work harder - the teachers don't give enough "ES Opportunities" for a child to actually get an ES on the report card. Kids who easily get Ps are ignored. MCPS is teaching to the bottom. 80% of the teacher's time goes to the bottom few. Luckily, DC got into HGC for next year. I am interested to see how it feels for DC to be in a classroom of peers for the first time...

You expect your child to learn to do their best from grades on a report card?

In my elementary school, there were no grades for K-6. I wonder how we managed?