Gifted Bulletin Board

Welcome to the Gifted Issues Discussion Forum.

We invite you to share your experiences and to post information about advocacy, research and other gifted education issues on this free public discussion forum.
CLICK HERE to Log In. Click here for the Board Rules.

Links


Learn about Davidson Academy Online - for profoundly gifted students living anywhere in the U.S. & Canada.

The Davidson Institute is a national nonprofit dedicated to supporting profoundly gifted students through the following programs:

  • Fellows Scholarship
  • Young Scholars
  • Davidson Academy
  • THINK Summer Institute

  • Subscribe to the Davidson Institute's eNews-Update Newsletter >

    Free Gifted Resources & Guides >

    Who's Online Now
    0 members (), 73 guests, and 39 robots.
    Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
    Newest Members
    anon125, BarbaraBarbarian, signalcurling, saclos, rana tunga
    11,541 Registered Users
    December
    S M T W T F S
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7
    8 9 10 11 12 13 14
    15 16 17 18 19 20 21
    22 23 24 25 26 27 28
    29 30 31
    Previous Thread
    Next Thread
    Print Thread
    Page 23 of 34 1 2 21 22 23 24 25 33 34
    Joined: Feb 2010
    Posts: 2,640
    Likes: 2
    B
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    B
    Joined: Feb 2010
    Posts: 2,640
    Likes: 2
    Originally Posted by bluemagic
    I asked my son a few weeks back what he thought the kids getting A's in his math class were doing that he wasn't. He thought most of them had already taken the class. I believe what he means by this is that had spend their previous summer taking one of the "prep" classes that is offered in the area. These are so common that the district enrichment summer program offers them.
    Many people, including me, dislike Everyday Mathematics, the curriculum used here. I expect that the curriculum at the Russian School of Math my middle son attends is better and is taught better (by someone who is not expected to teach all subjects). The term "arms race" implies a deadweight loss, but the competition for college admissions encourages some parents to spend extra time and money educating their childrne. Would it better for society if I spent my disposable income on a fancy car?

    I don't want my children to work past the point of exhaustion in high school. One way to avoid that may be to build a good foundation in elementary and middle school.

    Joined: Sep 2008
    Posts: 1,898
    C
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    C
    Joined: Sep 2008
    Posts: 1,898
    Maybe there's just a terminology issue, but I don't see why playdates have to be structured. My kid's just had two days on which two different friends came over for the day. I ignored them, except to remind them when it was lunchtime and point them at the food I'd left out, they got on with whatever they wanted to do. I'm also in an apartment, they were indoors all day. That's unstructured play in my book. Even if you can't be the one supervising, someone is - if that someone is someone you're paying to do it, surely you can just ask them not to structure?


    Email: my username, followed by 2, at google's mail
    Joined: Jan 2008
    Posts: 1,691
    Likes: 1
    W
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    W
    Joined: Jan 2008
    Posts: 1,691
    Likes: 1
    My view is arranging the playdate is structured. What they do is unstructured but Levine's book was about total unstructure, at least that was my interpretation.

    The child that goes out on its own, finds kids to hang with or not and then they originate their own play was all crucial to development of self esteem.

    When I was DD's age, 9, I went to the store, crossing busy streets, figuring out the optimal choice of penny candy for my dime or bought bread for my mother at the grocery store next door. I found friends and we created games, we would go to someone's house, find cookies, make Kool-aid on our own.
    Make sandwiches. Parents were often somewhere in the neighborhood but I do not remember a parental presence very much.
    We grabbed our Barbies and went to someone's house and created a Barbie village. We had to be far more creative, we had a lot less stuff. We took far more initiative than DD when I arranged a playdate yesterday and today. In Levine's view, the playdates are structural activities at this age, not enough initiative for the kids.

    Joined: Sep 2008
    Posts: 1,898
    C
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    C
    Joined: Sep 2008
    Posts: 1,898
    Ah, I see. Yes, that's hard to get these days. (Outside boarding schools, actually! Odd that this might be an argument in favour of those...)


    Email: my username, followed by 2, at google's mail
    Joined: Jan 2008
    Posts: 1,691
    Likes: 1
    W
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    W
    Joined: Jan 2008
    Posts: 1,691
    Likes: 1
    If that were really true, why are kids applying to 8+ schools?

    Who wants to admit they are going to the school 5th on their list?

    I know of one kid who got rejected by Amherst, her first choice early admission, got wait listed at Princeton, got into Columbia, which is now her first choice. Yes, she will say that. Now, many people will say Columbia is a great school but it wasn't her first choice. My point being the mind changes with the path.

    I need to stop procrastinating and work. I get into these topics for distraction.

    Joined: Apr 2012
    Posts: 454
    N
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    N
    Joined: Apr 2012
    Posts: 454
    My kid had a bunch of reaches on her list and she was accepted to her 8th choice. 6 rejections and 1 waitlist in her top 7 schools.

    I don't think this article is talking about kids who apply to top schools. If it were, the percentage of students accepted to their first choice school would be a lot less than 75%.

    Joined: Oct 2011
    Posts: 2,856
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    Joined: Oct 2011
    Posts: 2,856
    I think the idea of "first choice" changes quite a bit once the acceptance letters are in, and financial reality begins.

    And that's why there's all the hype. Even for the kids who are more interested in the state flagship, we've been telling kids for generations that if they earn top grades and/or excel in the right extracurriculars, they'll earn enough scholarships/grants to pay for college. That particular lie has gotten bigger every year.

    Joined: Feb 2010
    Posts: 2,640
    Likes: 2
    B
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    B
    Joined: Feb 2010
    Posts: 2,640
    Likes: 2
    Originally Posted by CFK
    I think maybe people are getting too caught up in the college hype.

    The reality:

    http://www.forbes.com/sites/lucielapovsky/2014/03/28/getting-in-to-college-why-all-the-hype/

    "The facts are the 75% of students attend their first choice college..."
    The acceptance/rejection threads on College Confidential where applicants post their stats and application results are frightening. One can debate aspects of the admissions policies of the most prestigious colleges (weight of extracurriculars, legacy preferences, race and sex preferences, ...) but the hard math is that the number of places at the "top" 10 colleges has been about constant over the decades, while the population has increased and as students throughout the country vie for schools that used to be more regional. So it just keeps getting harder to get in to those schools. To stay sane you (umm, I) need to convince yourself that doing so is not make-or-break.

    Joined: Nov 2012
    Posts: 2,513
    Likes: 1
    A
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    A
    Joined: Nov 2012
    Posts: 2,513
    Likes: 1
    Originally Posted by Dude
    Even for the kids who are more interested in the state flagship, we've been telling kids for generations that if they earn top grades and/or excel in the right extracurriculars, they'll earn enough scholarships/grants to pay for college. That particular lie has gotten bigger every year.

    This is compounded by the fact that the average student can't self-finance university studies through summer work anymore:

    http://www.theatlantic.com/educatio...working-your-way-through-college/359735/


    What is to give light must endure burning.
    Joined: Jul 2011
    Posts: 2,007
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    Joined: Jul 2011
    Posts: 2,007
    Originally Posted by Dude
    I think the idea of "first choice" changes quite a bit once the acceptance letters are in, and financial reality begins.

    And that's why there's all the hype. Even for the kids who are more interested in the state flagship, we've been telling kids for generations that if they earn top grades and/or excel in the right extracurriculars, they'll earn enough scholarships/grants to pay for college. That particular lie has gotten bigger every year.

    It's also based on the composition of the board choosing the scholarships.

    Page 23 of 34 1 2 21 22 23 24 25 33 34

    Moderated by  M-Moderator 

    Link Copied to Clipboard
    Recent Posts
    Gift ideas 12-year-old who loves math, creating
    by Eagle Mum - 11/29/24 06:18 PM
    Quotations that resonate with gifted people
    by indigo - 11/16/24 12:59 PM
    i Am genius and no one understands me!!!
    by Tomas - 11/10/24 03:53 AM
    Help with WISC-V composite scores
    by aeh - 11/09/24 05:54 PM
    Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.5