I'm not sure I accept the argument that prepping is g-loaded and therefore it's okay. That's just another way of justifying coaching your kid into scoring an extra ten points on the test so he can qualify for Hunter or wherever. IMO, this practice is particularly egregious when the testing is for entering kindergartners. HG+ kids can learn K and 1st grade level skills through osmosis before they start school. These kids really, truly need something different. Justifying prep as a means of entry is similar to the idea that placing everyone into algebra in 8th grade will help get them ready for college (with the predictable result that algebra gets watered down). Both ideas are simply wrong.
Hyper-prepping non-gifted kids up to the cutoff just makes it harder for truly gifted kids to get what they NEED. Do the non-GT kids benefit from the programs? Probably. But at what cost to the kids who met the cutoff but got cut out because of the lottery? And what's the cost to the gifted kids who got lucky in the lottery, but are now in a "gifted" classroom where prepping has depressed the average IQ?
Yeah, I know that gifted but-low-SES kids may not have the same osmosis advantage due to environment, but they're not the ones with personal tutors. If anything, the personal tutor crowd just makes things even harder for the gifted low SES kids.
Last edited by Val; 07/12/14 10:11 AM.
