Anonymous wrote:I am Asian and do not like either Sunshine or Curie. These have become marketing machines and a huge waste of effort. All they are doing is pre-teaching what they would be learning in their schools anyway. Yes, they add a little, tiny, tiny bit of additional harder questions in their tests to be able to say we are more rigorous or teach at a much more advanced level than FCPS, etc. But that is complete nonsense.
What they do is alleviate guilt that parents is not doing everything they can to give a child a leg up. You are enrolling to get rid of this feeling. That is what these guys are preying on.
People are using these places so that their kids earn A’s in school more easily and improve their chances at top universities and scholarships. Their kids would probably earn A’s in the same classes during the school year but it would be a bit more work.
And yes, we do math competition classes and RSM/AoPS type classes because DS likes them. He started in those when the math in school was boring and they are the only way that math has stayed interesting for him. I have no problem with academic enrichment in order to keep DS interested in areas that he enjoys.
We prefer DS to have fun during the summer. He likes camps that teach robotics or coding or chemistry and other similar subjects. If other families want to send their kids to camps that pre-teach material, cool. I hope that their kids enjoy the summer as much as my kid does. We have friends who spend the summer at the pool and they think we are crazy. Every family and kid has their idea of how to spend the summer, do your thing and enjoy.