Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments school with super high achievers

We have moved to a new country where my girls just started at a private international school with an American curriculum. The girls were assessed and came out shell shocked at how hard the tests were. I had warned them that they may not get the easy grades they are accustomed to. Both mine cried after the testing, and it was tough. I am glad that they will be more challenged (and my DYS 12 year old certainly needs it).

I think the tricky part is that a percentage of the students come from homes where the parents are very very pushy. These kids go to school during the day and then attend more school until late at night. It's crazy. The parents expect perfection from the kids, and the school is used to these uber high achievers. Our DD13 may get sucked into this mindset, and we need to watch for that. Our DD12 year old I am not sure of. I wonder how this will play out? How will the teachers understand my HG+ kid when they have all these children who work so hard? I went back to a previous question of mine about attending a new school, and I like the answers, but wow - this is a school that is so different than stateside.

With the introduction of Common Core standards... followed by "enforcement" of the standards and data collection to monitor progress toward equal outcomes for all students, many have noticed a dumbing down of curriculum and expectations in the US public schools.

While your children may not achieve high grades in the new school with ease as they have become accustomed to in your former local US public school, their needs may be met if they have:
- appropriate academic challenge,
- academic/intellectual peers and other items mentioned in this article.

Also keep in mind that giftedness and hard work are not mutually exclusive.

It may be that a lot of those kids are gifted. It is not likely to be a population that is similar to a cross section of the US.

DD is in a HG school like Hunter, 7-12 grades. The curriculum is accelerated but they try and get the kids thinking out of the box, problem solving. At the end, they are driven, ambitious, applying to the top schools. But it doesn't mean they don't have a show where they sing and act, or have school "clubs" and go off twice a year for a week of community building.

Teens can lose or gain 20 IQ points in these years of brain development. Last year, when DD started out and was used to the easy pace of public school, she was getting 3-4s. But then she realized that she had to apply herself if she wanted opportunities in the debate club and other stuff she wanted. That application was far reaching. All of sudden her focus was better, she desire to do better mushroomed in her school work and she ended the year 4s and 5s. She is now capable of getting 5s in her school work but still do debate, be part of the jazz dance in the show, be on the ski team, the track team. (All her choice -- the ski team gets 4 days per year just to go skiing) This school teaches her to manage her time, to push her brain to think better. Not to do the minimum, but to do her best. Takes more work than slacking. But she likes it. She really likes getting the 5s, being more creative, more industrious AND seeing the positive results. This all happened, not because of my nagging, (which I tried) but as a result of wanting to be on debate and knowing it was going to be competitive. She saw what she wanted and worked for it. And the work spilled over. I credit the level of the school. I do not believe she would have pushed herself in an easier school.

International schools do have a very different student body than an average school, and indeed if the school draws heavily from highly educated parents, a greater percentage of the school will be gifted. Additionally, if you're in a location with limited opportunities for spousal employment, highly educated spouses unable to work will often use significant resources (tutoring/extra homework/etc.) to ensure that their children succeed at many different things, including school. This is most certainly the case in our location, and our school (private international with a UK curriculum) is very high achieving with very pushy parents.

Our experience at such a school, with lower elementary students, is that the teaching staff is incredible. They meet kids where they are and are particularly sensitive to new kids. The entire transition for your children is overwhelming, and the school knows that and will help them to succeed. Hopefully, your new school is able to attract and support a stellar teaching staff.

I've found that because my kids work at such a high level, they haven't had to do the drill work that other kids have done, but they are also not grade skipped. If your girls have been grade skipped, they will be in for significant challenge if your school is similar to ours, as the general level is already at least half a grade to a full grade higher than a good school back home. For example, my K'er did second grade math in class with other advanced/gifted kids. It was still easy for him, but the school has enough K kids working that far ahead to offer than in class. Any child actually working on K level curriculum was behind.

First off, don't stress too much about the school until you're settled. You may find the lifestyle in your new location to be significantly different from home, and you may adjust and find the situation "normal" quickly enough. Give yourself and your kids time to adjust to all of the newness, and school will sort itself out in time.

Actually, it may be easier to get A's in that type of environment as the parents expect it and more of the students earn it. There is an extremely wide disparity in the "level" of academics within the the U.S., within each state, within each county, within each district and even within each school. However, it often seems that more higher level grades (A's and B's) are awarded in the more competitive environments, rather it is GT versus standard classes or top school versus struggling school.

Another consideration is that there are probably plenty of gifted students at that type of international school so your DDs will be in good company. I would also caution against certain assumptions that may cause your DDs unnecessary stress. There have been countless times when I have let other parents assume that my kids actually has to work hard in their classes (or a competition, etc.) when that wasn't true.

we just took our son out of a school like you describe ... He spent his days being stressed - all the time ... I think weather or not your child excelled n such an environment doesn't depend on being gifted or not but on the personality. I you already have a child that is prone to perfectionism or a low self esteem - this might be a BAD fit. It is exhausting to " keep up" with highly driven peers ( or rathe their parents). Our school had a large percentage of " Tiger parents" - lots of extra tutoring even for obviously " high" kids. Our son did well academically but lost all passion for learning and developed an intense dislike for competitions of all kinds.
There is certainly no harm in trying though ... some kids do well with some pressure - my daughter loves the same school I took my son out of and doesn't even seem to notice the high expectations.
I learned over the years to go with the flow ... try things out and ... admit when they don't work ... I always have a " contract" with my kids ...: we try for one school year ... we are prepared to give it our best shot ... if it is not working ...we'll change it ...

We are 5 weeks in, and so far our girls are happier than I expected. More frequent vacations, experimental trips, incredible soccer coaching...and, so far, good grades. They might casually mention there is more homework, but they aren't stressed over it. DD12 is grade accelerated, but she isn't finding it any more difficult than stateside. Half the eighth grade class is taking geometry so our girls have many kids taking geometry with them.

My friends who have kids attending international schools in various countries had warned me that the classes would be more difficult, and the reviews of this school had said the same thing so I figured it was true. I did find out that some kids leave to go to another international school because they find this school too difficult, but we just are not experiencing that. In fact, we are working with an advisor to see if DD12 can do some work with high school kids.

I find that I have great sympathy for the kids with the pushy parents. The kids are getting little rest and have been known to fall asleep in class. The college advisors are telling the parents that the constant grind is not helpful, and it won't help them get into the colleges they want, but the parents will not listen (the school has college counselors who focus on different countries). The kids are tired and stressed. My kids are now realizing they do not want to push themselves that hard. They like more of a balance of fun and academics.