In 4th grade, my son's school starts to separate out kids by math ability, thus changing rooms for math. They pre-test the kids at the beginning of the year, and after a few weeks the new math assignments begin. DS was put in the highest math grouping. But on the first day, the new math teacher started by telling the students how hard the math class was going to be. DH and I just cringed. Why not tell the students how exciting the year was going to be? Why not say that it is fun to be challenged and that they were going to do some amazing things in this class?
Now when DS rushes through an assignment because it is too simplistic, and hence gets a lousy grade on a homework assignment, he just shrugs his shoulders and says that it is because math is hard. <fume, fume, fume!!!>
I would happily move so that DS could be in a challenging school. In fact, DH and I had that discussion just last night.
