I, too, feel sorry for those helpless kids who got ushered into test prep every day and told they could not do the extracurricular activity they loved. The kids who stayed with the extracurriculars ending up many times having much better college choices than the kids who spent so much time in test prep. A kid wh explores a lot of interests is just better prepared for a good life than a kid who spends so much time in test prep.

Anonymous wrote:

I, too, feel sorry for those helpless kids who got ushered into test prep every day and told they could not do the extracurricular activity they loved. The kids who stayed with the extracurriculars ending up many times having much better college choices than the kids who spent so much time in test prep. A kid wh explores a lot of interests is just better prepared for a good life than a kid who spends so much time in test prep.

I see your major objective in life is to get to better colleges and then a good life. Do you think we all agree on what a better college and what a good life is? I'm positive a better college is the college you attended and a good life is the one you are living? How many times are you divorced, if you don't mind telling?

I, too, feel sorry for those helpless kids who got ushered into test prep every day and told they could not do the extracurricular activity they loved. The kids who stayed with the extracurriculars ending up many times having much better college choices than the kids who spent so much time in test prep. A kid wh explores a lot of interests is just better prepared for a good life than a kid who spends so much time in test prep.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The ones who spent all the time and money on test prep who came up short of their hopes. Those families may very well have been better off broadening their children's exposure to a variety of extracurriculars, including, but certainly not limited to sports. In fact, sports was not even mentioned in the post that was partially quoted.

Kids who spend time on academics and a mix of other activities have many, many advantages over kids who spend very little time on anything other than academics. Leadership, organizational skills, persistence, determination, hard work, interpersonal skills: only a few of the areas of growth for kids who explore interests in non-academic areas in their after school time. They develop traits that will benefit them for their entire lives and can make lasting friendships at the same time. As an extra benefit, they become better candidates for college admission. A win-win all around.

What about the control group of families with similar desires who do not spend time and money and still come up short of their hopes. I wonder if they are not worse off for not even trying. Oh, those regrets can haunt one. If only I'd given it a shot...what may have been!

For some it's better to have tried and failed than not to have tried at all. Which failure is worse?

So true. Certain parents dread the word preparation. Instead of acknowledging and getting their irrational fear treated, they deprive their kids of new skills, suppressing their desire to be better, foolishly justifying that they should have been born with it. All out of their own misguided closet fear that any training might be labeled as preparation?

Helpless kids, feel sorry for them.

Good problem solvers have good memories.

Poor problem solvers have poor memories.

Problem solving and memory are positively correlated (and not negatively correlated).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The ones who spent all the time and money on test prep who came up short of their hopes. Those families may very well have been better off broadening their children's exposure to a variety of extracurriculars, including, but certainly not limited to sports. In fact, sports was not even mentioned in the post that was partially quoted.

Kids who spend time on academics and a mix of other activities have many, many advantages over kids who spend very little time on anything other than academics. Leadership, organizational skills, persistence, determination, hard work, interpersonal skills: only a few of the areas of growth for kids who explore interests in non-academic areas in their after school time. They develop traits that will benefit them for their entire lives and can make lasting friendships at the same time. As an extra benefit, they become better candidates for college admission. A win-win all around.

What about the control group of families with similar desires who do not spend time and money and still come up short of their hopes. I wonder if they are not worse off for not even trying. Oh, those regrets can haunt one. If only I'd given it a shot...what may have been!

For some it's better to have tried and failed than not to have tried at all. Which failure is worse?

So true. Certain parents dread the word preparation. Instead of acknowledging and getting their irrational fear treated, they deprive their kids of new skills, suppressing their desire to be better, foolishly justifying that they should have been born with it. All out of their own misguided closet fear that any training might be labeled as preparation?

Anonymous wrote:NP: I am an immigrant and I am against test-prep. I even have my kids playing NOVA lacrosse.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The ones who spent all the time and money on test prep who came up short of their hopes. Those families may very well have been better off broadening their children's exposure to a variety of extracurriculars, including, but certainly not limited to sports. In fact, sports was not even mentioned in the post that was partially quoted.

Kids who spend time on academics and a mix of other activities have many, many advantages over kids who spend very little time on anything other than academics. Leadership, organizational skills, persistence, determination, hard work, interpersonal skills: only a few of the areas of growth for kids who explore interests in non-academic areas in their after school time. They develop traits that will benefit them for their entire lives and can make lasting friendships at the same time. As an extra benefit, they become better candidates for college admission. A win-win all around.

What about the control group of families with similar desires who do not spend time and money and still come up short of their hopes. I wonder if they are not worse off for not even trying. Oh, those regrets can haunt one. If only I'd given it a shot...what may have been!

For some it's better to have tried and failed than not to have tried at all. Which failure is worse?

So true. Certain parents dread the word preparation. Instead of acknowledging and getting their irrational fear treated, they deprive their kids of new skills, suppressing their desire to be better, foolishly justifying that they should have been born with it. All out of their own misguided closet fear that any training might be labeled as preparation?

Anonymous wrote:

The ones who spent all the time and money on test prep who came up short of their hopes. Those families may very well have been better off broadening their children's exposure to a variety of extracurriculars, including, but certainly not limited to sports. In fact, sports was not even mentioned in the post that was partially quoted.

Kids who spend time on academics and a mix of other activities have many, many advantages over kids who spend very little time on anything other than academics. Leadership, organizational skills, persistence, determination, hard work, interpersonal skills: only a few of the areas of growth for kids who explore interests in non-academic areas in their after school time. They develop traits that will benefit them for their entire lives and can make lasting friendships at the same time. As an extra benefit, they become better candidates for college admission. A win-win all around.

What about the control group of families with similar desires who do not spend time and money and still come up short of their hopes. I wonder if they are not worse off for not even trying. Oh, those regrets can haunt one. If only I'd given it a shot...what may have been!

For some it's better to have tried and failed than not to have tried at all. Which failure is worse?

Anonymous wrote:Heck, if MCQ books were so bad there would not be a market for these items in NOVA. The poster has not heard of the concept of supply and demand economics in the USA. The poster is likely an immigrant!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

These families could have had more and better success had they taken another route. We're not talking about families who do nothing for their children. We're talking about families that have spent a lot of time and money on test prep in hopes of a particular outcome, but have fallen short. Had they spent that time and money (and in many cases, much less money) in a different way, they could have had a much better result. Their kids could have had a much broader and varied education and ended up as better candidates for college by having a variety of experiences.

How do you know? What makes your choices and preferences the choices and preferences of others? Why don't you move to Cuba or Russia where individual freedoms and choice are not honored for the nirvana you desire?

If I want to spend my dollars on medical marijuana, guns, cigarettes, bibles, MCQ workbooks and classical music I believe this should be my business and not yours. Do you agree?

Did you even read the post you're ranting about?

Anonymous wrote:

These families could have had more and better success had they taken another route. We're not talking about families who do nothing for their children. We're talking about families that have spent a lot of time and money on test prep in hopes of a particular outcome, but have fallen short. Had they spent that time and money (and in many cases, much less money) in a different way, they could have had a much better result. Their kids could have had a much broader and varied education and ended up as better candidates for college by having a variety of experiences.

How do you know? What makes your choices and preferences the choices and preferences of others? Why don't you move to Cuba or Russia where individual freedoms and choice are not honored for the nirvana you desire?

If I want to spend my dollars on medical marijuana, guns, cigarettes, bibles, MCQ workbooks and classical music I believe this should be my business and not yours. Do you agree?