Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I do think the point is that the school does the kids no favors by making them announce themselves as being from”Nysmith School for the Gifted” at every opportunity, rather than just having them say they are from Nysmith and letting the winds (or lack thereof) speak for themselves. Since the kids all do this— at debate and OOTM and Math contests, etc, I assume it’s what the school tells them to do, not their choice. So, that’s not on the kids. That’s on the school. But it is obnoxious.

+1 I have nothing at all against Nysmith, but the petty side of me enjoys it when my kids beat the Nysmith "School for the Gifted" kids at academic competitions. If they simply called their school Nysmith, there would be so much less animosity.

Parent at Nysmith and honestly that gifted part drives most Nysmith parents crazy too. Ken Nysmith the head of the school thinks it is great but it is not and he is a marketing machine. It is a great environment and the parent community is simply awesome. Most of the kids are exceptionally bright, works hard and just good kids. Are all of them gifted? No, are there some truly gifted, absolutely yes!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I do think the point is that the school does the kids no favors by making them announce themselves as being from”Nysmith School for the Gifted” at every opportunity, rather than just having them say they are from Nysmith and letting the winds (or lack thereof) speak for themselves. Since the kids all do this— at debate and OOTM and Math contests, etc, I assume it’s what the school tells them to do, not their choice. So, that’s not on the kids. That’s on the school. But it is obnoxious.

+1 I have nothing at all against Nysmith, but the petty side of me enjoys it when my kids beat the Nysmith "School for the Gifted" kids at academic competitions. If they simply called their school Nysmith, there would be so much less animosity.

It’s especially silly when the kid saying this is clearly not gifted. My AAP MS kid does academic competition where one of the Nysmith competitors wmt to his elementary school, but didn’t get into AAP. He then applied to Flint Hill and Nysmith and did not get into FH for some reason, so went to Nysmith. So, this kid *who got rejected by AAP, which isn’t even really a GT program* announces at the beginning of every round that he is John Doe representing “Nysmith School for the Gifted”. I actually feel bad for the kid. There he is competing against his former classmates (and ultimately losing much more often than winning), and he he is just drawing attention, again, and again, to the fact he is an AAP reject. I know the school has an interest in selling itself as having only gifted kids. But I have never understood why Nysmith parents don’t put a stop to it. A lot of these kids just aren’t gifted and look silly pronouncing that they are. And even if a student has a 180 IQ, bragging is in really, really bad taste.

My oldest is at TJ, and when they compete— in academics, athletics or perform in drama or music, they just say “Jefferson High School” or “Thomas Jefferson High School”. And maybe they call themselves TJ informally. They literally never do the full “Thomas Jefferson High School for...” spiel or say “TJHSST” if there is a way around it.

**** Also, writing this made me think of something for the first time. Why would a kid get into a Nysmith and not Flint Hill? I was under the impression that at the ES level, neither was all that competitive to get into, and that most UMC kids are admitted unless there are problems. In other words you don’t have stand out in a positive wayto get into these school, you just can’t stand out in a negative way. Is that not the case? This was a perfectly nice, normal UMC white kid.

Well, that’s bullsh*t because I’ve definitely been at TJ where announcers unnecessarily rattled off the school’s full name, and it’s on display on more than a few of the ubiquitous bumper stickers that TJ parents plaster all over their cars.

Nope. Not bullshit.

You get what you get for “official” announcements over loudspeakers— and it’s a hodgepodge. Fairfax County does what it does when it enters or announces TJ. And what FCPS does might be different that what the band does or what robotics does.

But when kids introduce themsleves and say the name of their school, they default to “Thomas Jefferson” or “Jefferson High School”. There are two general car magnets currently for sale “TJ”. And “TJ” then smaller letters “Science Tech”. The Althletics Departments Car magnets say “Jefferson Athletics” or “Jefferson Tennis (Swmming, Crew, Soccer...)”. Band is “TJ Band”

Anonymous wrote:You are super angry at the name of the school ? Chill out and stop bashing the students who after all didn’t name the school.

I don’t think anyone is “super angry” at the name of the school. Not on this thread and not IRL. More like super amused at how pompous and arrogant the school is, even by DMV standards. And at the downright ridiculousness of paying $30,000 a year so that you can declare your kid Gifted!!! multiple times a day. When any kid who is slightly above average could can just do AAP for free. But without a Gifted!!! Car magnet.

It’s kind of like when Trump takes to Twitter to declare that he has the Biggest Brain! And the Best Words! People aren’t laughing with Nysmith. (Which takes itself much too seriously to laugh anyway). They are laughing at it.

And no one is bashing the students. Their parents and the school Admins are the ones who insist on the “for the Gifted” being tacked onto every mention of the school’s name. I feel bad for them. It has to suck to keep saying the For the Gifted!! Part, especially once they hit middle school. The Carson, RRMS, Longfellow kids think it’s a joke.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I do think the point is that the school does the kids no favors by making them announce themselves as being from”Nysmith School for the Gifted” at every opportunity, rather than just having them say they are from Nysmith and letting the winds (or lack thereof) speak for themselves. Since the kids all do this— at debate and OOTM and Math contests, etc, I assume it’s what the school tells them to do, not their choice. So, that’s not on the kids. That’s on the school. But it is obnoxious.

+1 I have nothing at all against Nysmith, but the petty side of me enjoys it when my kids beat the Nysmith "School for the Gifted" kids at academic competitions. If they simply called their school Nysmith, there would be so much less animosity.

It’s especially silly when the kid saying this is clearly not gifted. My AAP MS kid does academic competition where one of the Nysmith competitors wmt to his elementary school, but didn’t get into AAP. He then applied to Flint Hill and Nysmith and did not get into FH for some reason, so went to Nysmith. So, this kid *who got rejected by AAP, which isn’t even really a GT program* announces at the beginning of every round that he is John Doe representing “Nysmith School for the Gifted”. I actually feel bad for the kid. There he is competing against his former classmates (and ultimately losing much more often than winning), and he he is just drawing attention, again, and again, to the fact he is an AAP reject. I know the school has an interest in selling itself as having only gifted kids. But I have never understood why Nysmith parents don’t put a stop to it. A lot of these kids just aren’t gifted and look silly pronouncing that they are. And even if a student has a 180 IQ, bragging is in really, really bad taste.

My oldest is at TJ, and when they compete— in academics, athletics or perform in drama or music, they just say “Jefferson High School” or “Thomas Jefferson High School”. And maybe they call themselves TJ informally. They literally never do the full “Thomas Jefferson High School for...” spiel or say “TJHSST” if there is a way around it.

**** Also, writing this made me think of something for the first time. Why would a kid get into a Nysmith and not Flint Hill? I was under the impression that at the ES level, neither was all that competitive to get into, and that most UMC kids are admitted unless there are problems. In other words you don’t have stand out in a positive wayto get into these school, you just can’t stand out in a negative way. Is that not the case? This was a perfectly nice, normal UMC white kid.

Well, that’s bullsh*t because I’ve definitely been at TJ where announcers unnecessarily rattled off the school’s full name, and it’s on display on more than a few of the ubiquitous bumper stickers that TJ parents plaster all over their cars.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Finish Algebra 1, you go are presumed to go into Math 1
Finish Geometry in 8th, Math 3
Finish A2, Math 4
Finish Pre-Calc, AP AB or BC

How is the research stats requirement handled for the kids who've finished pre-calc and are heading into AP calc as freshmen? Are they required to take research stats the summer before starting?

They still must take RS. Most take it over the summer. But, they could also take RS 1st semester and take Math 6 (which is an optional semester between Pre-Calc and Calculus) or RS2 (which will give you AP Stats plus some additional material) or cryptography. And take AP BC sophomore year.

You are super angry at the name of the school ? Chill out and stop bashing the students who after all didn’t name the school.

Anonymous wrote:We have two friends that are in senior possitions with FFCPS and they both told us to send our children to Nysmith instead of their program. They are confident with the public school sysystem, but told us Nysmith was a stronger program and a better environment.

WTH is a senior position? It’s the teachers who would know.

Anonymous wrote:
Finish Algebra 1, you go are presumed to go into Math 1
Finish Geometry in 8th, Math 3
Finish A2, Math 4
Finish Pre-Calc, AP AB or BC

How is the research stats requirement handled for the kids who've finished pre-calc and are heading into AP calc as freshmen? Are they required to take research stats the summer before starting?

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know about the math competitions (we don’t do those), but I’m pretty happy with Nysmith math. My primary metrics are IOWA testing, SSAT and SCAT scores, which seem good. Nysmith kids have to take the same TJ test as others to get in, regardless of what you call the classes they took to get there. So they should theoretically be as well prepared as everyone else for the school. But placement tests should be done going in, kid by kid, to make sure they are placed in the right class. Is that not done at TJ?

TJ does placement tests in math an foreign language for freshman. But IME it was more of a suggestion for placement than a requirement and the family can overrule. Everyone takes Research Stats first semester or summer before. Based on your performance in that class and a placement test, you then track into TJ Math 1-6, with the sequence being numbered by semester.

Usually, based on your 8th grade mathclass, it’s:

Finish Algebra 1, you go are presumed to go into Math 1
Finish Geometry in 8th, Math 3
Finish A2, Math 4
Finish Pre-Calc, AP AB or BC

TJ will recommend that you place down one or more semesters (A2 kids go into Math 3 for example). And the have a couple sections of “Math 2.5” that they recommend for kids who have taken A1 and Geometry but might not be used to really rigorous, complex advanced math and would benefit from a fast review and learning how to do harder, more complex problems with outside the box thinking. But, they will not require kids to deviate downward from the standard placement recommendation given the name of their MS math class.

So, a kid might take a class called Algebra II in MS. But, they are told their placement testing says Math 3 is the right placement and their RS teacher agrees they aren’t ready for Math 4. Their parents can still override TJs recommendation and insist the kid goes into Math 4 anyway. (Because their kid is a math genius, and up until TJ, the smartest kid in their math class) And most of the time the kid either make a D or F in Math 4, or drops down into Math 3 a month into the class when it becomes apparent they are going to fail Math 4. And TJ is fine letting kids sink or swim and having the Math 3-5 sequence serve as weed out classes.

IMO, TJ should hold firm on placement. Most of the time it’s parents driving the (bad) decisionmaking, but it’s the kids who have to deal with the Msth 4 tests with a class average of 58.

Now, if your 8th grade A2 student wants to go into Math 5 instead of Math 4, they have to pass a “skip test”. And they are not easy to pass. So, parents can’t just decide to have their kid deviate upward. But they can decide to keep them in the “right” class, even if it clearly isn’t right.

Realize that most years over 100 MSs are represented in the TJ freshmen class. And they all teach math differently. So even though everyone is “good in math,” there is a lot of variation in how well prepared they are.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I do think the point is that the school does the kids no favors by making them announce themselves as being from”Nysmith School for the Gifted” at every opportunity, rather than just having them say they are from Nysmith and letting the winds (or lack thereof) speak for themselves. Since the kids all do this— at debate and OOTM and Math contests, etc, I assume it’s what the school tells them to do, not their choice. So, that’s not on the kids. That’s on the school. But it is obnoxious.

+1 I have nothing at all against Nysmith, but the petty side of me enjoys it when my kids beat the Nysmith "School for the Gifted" kids at academic competitions. If they simply called their school Nysmith, there would be so much less animosity.

It’s especially silly when the kid saying this is clearly not gifted. My AAP MS kid does academic competition where one of the Nysmith competitors wmt to his elementary school, but didn’t get into AAP. He then applied to Flint Hill and Nysmith and did not get into FH for some reason, so went to Nysmith. So, this kid *who got rejected by AAP, which isn’t even really a GT program* announces at the beginning of every round that he is John Doe representing “Nysmith School for the Gifted”. I actually feel bad for the kid. There he is competing against his former classmates (and ultimately losing much more often than winning), and he he is just drawing attention, again, and again, to the fact he is an AAP reject. I know the school has an interest in selling itself as having only gifted kids. But I have never understood why Nysmith parents don’t put a stop to it. A lot of these kids just aren’t gifted and look silly pronouncing that they are. And even if a student has a 180 IQ, bragging is in really, really bad taste.

My oldest is at TJ, and when they compete— in academics, athletics or perform in drama or music, they just say “Jefferson High School” or “Thomas Jefferson High School”. And maybe they call themselves TJ informally. They literally never do the full “Thomas Jefferson High School for...” spiel or say “TJHSST” if there is a way around it.

**** Also, writing this made me think of something for the first time. Why would a kid get into a Nysmith and not Flint Hill? I was under the impression that at the ES level, neither was all that competitive to get into, and that most UMC kids are admitted unless there are problems. In other words you don’t have stand out in a positive wayto get into these school, you just can’t stand out in a negative way. Is that not the case? This was a perfectly nice, normal UMC white kid.

I don’t know about the math competitions (we don’t do those), but I’m pretty happy with Nysmith math. My primary metrics are IOWA testing, SSAT and SCAT scores, which seem good. Nysmith kids have to take the same TJ test as others to get in, regardless of what you call the classes they took to get there. So they should theoretically be as well prepared as everyone else for the school. But placement tests should be done going in, kid by kid, to make sure they are placed in the right class. Is that not done at TJ?

Anonymous wrote:We have two friends that are in senior possitions with FFCPS and they both told us to send our children to Nysmith instead of their program. They are confident with the public school sysystem, but told us Nysmith was a stronger program and a better environment.

Sure, that sounds plausible.

We have two friends that are in senior possitions with FFCPS and they both told us to send our children to Nysmith instead of their program. They are confident with the public school sysystem, but told us Nysmith was a stronger program and a better environment.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I do think the point is that the school does the kids no favors by making them announce themselves as being from”Nysmith School for the Gifted” at every opportunity, rather than just having them say they are from Nysmith and letting the winds (or lack thereof) speak for themselves. Since the kids all do this— at debate and OOTM and Math contests, etc, I assume it’s what the school tells them to do, not their choice. So, that’s not on the kids. That’s on the school. But it is obnoxious.

+1 I have nothing at all against Nysmith, but the petty side of me enjoys it when my kids beat the Nysmith "School for the Gifted" kids at academic competitions. If they simply called their school Nysmith, there would be so much less animosity.

I drive by Nysmith to take my kid to school most days, and the line of bumper stickers with "school for the gifted!" on them never fail to remind me of good old Midvale:



I'm not knocking private (our old kid is in private because it's a better fit) or gifted kids (younger one is actually gifted, just not advertised as such), it just comes across to me as not being that different than buying a designer bag with the biggest logos one can find. Were it just "Nysmith School" and they didn't insist upon including "for the Gifted" at every possible turn, it would fly completely under the radar. I don't even feel animus toward it, it's just cartoonish.

Anonymous wrote:

I do think the point is that the school does the kids no favors by making them announce themselves as being from”Nysmith School for the Gifted” at every opportunity, rather than just having them say they are from Nysmith and letting the winds (or lack thereof) speak for themselves. Since the kids all do this— at debate and OOTM and Math contests, etc, I assume it’s what the school tells them to do, not their choice. So, that’s not on the kids. That’s on the school. But it is obnoxious.

+1 I have nothing at all against Nysmith, but the petty side of me enjoys it when my kids beat the Nysmith "School for the Gifted" kids at academic competitions. If they simply called their school Nysmith, there would be so much less animosity.