Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments High school and busy work

That's okay! My last comment was b/c I have seen a few posts that seemed to insinuate that her age was the reason this was a problem and/or that grade skips might have negative consequences later down the line that weren't seen earlier.

I don't think that what she is being asked to do is reasonable regardless of age.

On a side note, she couldn't bring herself to drop photo b/c she loves it so much so, for now, she's still in the same spot with the same classes. Today she will be working on building a life sized anatomical model of a human with the front of the body cross-sectioned to show the internal organs down to capillaries. Then there is journal writing, vocab catch up b/c she's behind on that, French, Geometry, and Earth Systems homework...

Hmm. Consider this. Given the effects of Title IX, it is easier for girls to get a full ride athletically than academically as compared to boys. Most colleges will support a five year plan so sports and academics are a realistic goal in college. They also support with tutors, dorms, etc.



A good networking person, system admin, or DBA with 5 solid years of experience can make 100K pretty easily. People with 10+ years make 250K pretty easily. Or, you can get an MBA and enter the managment ranks and make 500K or more after 10-15 years. There is still no way out of 60 hour weeks and you may not like where you end up.


I agree. Everyone matures at different rates. However, high achievers tend to have high workloads put on them at an early age and then find a way to deal with it. Sometimes this is a load they place on themselves or it comes from an outside source.

Dermatology give you 4 day work weeks, $300,000, and life near the beach. You have to put in the residency hours, but then you can cruise after you're out.

I didn't realize that DBAing was still paying good salaries, like that, though. One of my friends seems stuck at $120,000 or so with 10 years experience.

And just think of all the fun of popping those zits!


So he's making $60 an hour while he is being billed out at $300 an hour? There are agencies that take just 20% of your bill rate and who also pay you a 5% commission on their hours on anyone you place. A good DBA with five people placed will do well. Or you could just place people and work on commission. Or bring in a whole project.

I don't think you make that much in Dermatology anymore, LOL. You can work part-time, but you won't make THAT kind of money. My friend who is one sees 30 patients a day, so I also wouldn't say "you can cruise after you are out." She also has the threat of lawsuits if she misses a melanoma/skin cancer.
Like any job, it has negatives.
I"m a cardiologist and think it's alot of fun. However, I would never suggest being a doctor if you didn't really like it- 4 years college, 4 years medical school, 3-8 years training post-med school working 80-100 hours a week at $35,000 a year?? You would make more money for the hours you put in if you opened your own small business!

Or you'd make no money at all for the hours you put in, and end up declaring bankruptcy to escape the mountain of debt. Being self-employed has its negatives, too.

I know that there is a lot of overhead including malpractice insurance in the medical field, but is it really that low paying for a doc? Heck, my kids picked up some horrible cough from my brother's children this summer that a PA at the ped's office dx as mycoplasma is a 15 minute office visit (she saw both of them together). We were in and out in 15 mins and then off to get antibiotics which dd12 turned out to be allergic to, but that's another story.

When the bill came in, we had $138 per kid for that 15 mins, so essentially $276 for 15 mins of office time or $1104/hr. Insurance paid a little over $50 of it, leaving me with an over $200 bill for what was seriously 15 mins for both of them together.

She's talking about residency. And, no, you make more money as a resident than that. And when you get out, your pay essentially depends on your rank in doctor-world.

You need to get into the proper specialty. The best specialties, according to my psychiatrist brother-in-law, have two requirements:

(1) You treat patients with serious, I'm about do die, conditions - cancer/heart problems.

(2) Your patients are relatively well off, with solid insurance, who have worked their lives to accumulate $$$.

I talk to him about doctor status levels. He asserts that psychiatrist is the lowest. I told him that I thought GPs were the lowest, but apparently psychiatrists are even more disfavored (although better paid). Apparently that's the specialty you go into when you get through med school and figure out you don't want to be a doctor.

I'm just grouchy about my (relatively) low salary and near complete disinterest in my job. It's annoying to have to save 50% of your salary.

I just can't tell whether the upcoming sovereign debt catastrophe will slice physician salaries by 50% and/or destroy the economic rent seeking that's present in the better specialties.

hmm. I think there are some kids who work fast and some that don't and it is pretty much independent of age (within bounds). Therefore it is critically important that you know your child's strengths and weaknesses and be able to evaluate the high school(s) accordingly. Tailor as much as possible.


I couldn't resist:
http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/grade_skipped.htm

I'm abhorred by this entire conversation. Let's set aside that this is a younger, gifted child, because I don't think ANY child, of any age or ability level, is well-served by spending this much time on unproductive nonsense outside of school hours. It sounds like this school has forgotten that the purpose of school is learning.

I'd pull my child out ASAP, and I'd have some very strong words at the next Board of Education meeting.

FWIW, you can add my voice to the many AP graduates who found a real AP education involved less homework, not more. Heck, my US History teacher gave out a worksheet that might take 20 minutes, and he'd walk in the classroom the next morning to see us all copying the homework answers from the one kid in the class dumb enough to actually do it. He never said a word.

I scored a 5 on that one.