I get the sense that there aren't many advanced students at your high school. Our public HS, which my kids attended, offers Multivariable Calc and Linear Algebra, so the "regular" kids don't need to look outside the HS. My older two both had kids in their class that had finished all the HS math classes by end of 8th grade, so they went to a local college for math - we are fortunate to have three four-year colleges within a mile of the HS (and another three within three miles).
Right, you clearly have had a different high school experience than we have here. As I stated, there are roughly 250 students total in the high school. And this is a mostly-rural area, it's not a high population density of engineers' and architects' and professors' families. It's absolutely true that the demand is not there for higher-level math classes. We do have bright kids, but a majority either transfer to the next town over, with a larger school that offers more options, or they move to full-time dual enrollment at the community college starting their junior year.
So no, I am not blind to the fact that my son is a medium-sized fish in a small pond. It's part of why I visit these forums, to remind myself that YOUR bright children outshine my dim ones. But, dim though he may be outside of the relative environment of an even dimmer school population, he still deserves to be met where he is and receive a free and appropriate public education. That's what I'm working on. And if he does end up having the desire to put in the work to apply to a selective school, I want it to be his own lack of talent that leads to his rejection, not his parents' lack of knowledge about opportunities he could be pursuing.
Fingers crossed, amiright??
