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That's what I'd thought, and our public high school does have an excellent reputation. That said, the pricey private school sends kids on a 'cultural expeditio

That's what I'd thought, and our public high school does have an excellent reputation. That said, the pricey private school sends kids on a 'cultural expedition' to Malaysia.

an_opabinia 6y ago
It's difficult for random people on the Internet to know what's right for you and your children, but I hope everyone tells you your heart is in the right place and naturally enrichment is something they'll come to appreciate as much as many other things. The simple reality of it is if your kids have a natural aptitude for taking standardized tests well with little studying, they are sort of wasting their time in normal schools. Like how else are they going to be evaluated, or the quality objectively measured, if not tests? And then, if your kids just test well, without studying, they have this true gift for whatever idiosyncratic reason... Why not go to a "cultural expedition" to Malaysia every month? Why do 4 hours of homework instead of 30 minutes? Why read 1 chapter or fewer of many books, instead of 1 book you really enjoy? Why not spend all day reading 1 book every day, instead of taking 9 classes, 8 of which you don't enjoy? Why do this structure designed for maximizing SAT scores and common app competitiveness? That is why you can get away with reading almost no books in high school and get an A in English, why you can take 10 classes and 4 extracurriculars and seemingly excel at all of them. It's not designed for anything earnest - of course it is impossible for a kid to excel at everything, of course there's something broken with the way naturally good test takers are evaluated. Why not, as one mom put it to me, "pet fluffy animals" the whole day one day a week? A lot of schooling, public or private, is stuck in a feedback loop where they are good at making the average student excel at test taking - recall, the only objective measure of performance - attracting more average students, thereby making their focus on improving test performance even more intense. So many families are stuck in this trap, a relentless focus on making average students test well. Testing well - at once totally useless and also sometimes just given to some kids, by some gift. If you're affluent and have such a child, listen they're not going to celebrate the homework, the cramming, the well-roundedness, the being-forced-to-do-shit. It will not ever be relevant in their life. If they have the natural aptitude for testing, it is impossible for the prevailing social order from distinguishing them from someone without that natural aptitude who studies 10x as hard. This is the future of remote learning. Unlocking happiness for the small number of deeply misallocated children. Not helping the average student. Testing is the culprit for their misery, not remote learning, and tell me, what alternative is there?
- nineplay 6y ago
  I really appreciate the time and thought you've put into this. There's so many consideration. If I want my kids to get STEM degrees and go to one of the FAANGs, they may eventually need to learn how to deal with > the homework, the cramming, the well-roundedness, the being-forced-to-do-shit Perhaps that's not exactly what's best for them, but it's a pretty good outcome for me so I don't know how else to look at it.
  - surge 6y ago
    >go to one of the FAANGs You realize by then, those places will likely be like IBM by then. You'll be the same as a parent wanting their kid to get a job with the local factory, because its what did you so well all these years, and arguing with the kid when they want to do something different, then the factory shuts down in 5 years. What you want is your kid to be versatile enough to go to whatever is the thing by then, and it might not even be a "tech" company. At least not in the traditional sense because at some point all companies are tech companies, especially as time goes on. Even Walmart is a tech company since they only require humans to man the stores to put things on the shelves and drive the trucks at this point.

That's what I'd thought, and our public high school does have an excellent reputation. That said, the pricey private school sends kids on a 'cultural expedition' to Malaysia.

an_opabinia 6y ago

It's difficult for random people on the Internet to know what's right for you and your children, but I hope everyone tells you your heart is in the right place and naturally enrichment is something they'll come to appreciate as much as many other things. The simple reality of it is if your kids have a natural aptitude for taking standardized tests well with little studying, they are sort of wasting their time in normal schools. Like how else are they going to be evaluated, or the quality objectively measured, if not tests? And then, if your kids just test well, without studying, they have this true gift for whatever idiosyncratic reason... Why not go to a "cultural expedition" to Malaysia every month? Why do 4 hours of homework instead of 30 minutes? Why read 1 chapter or fewer of many books, instead of 1 book you really enjoy? Why not spend all day reading 1 book every day, instead of taking 9 classes, 8 of which you don't enjoy? Why do this structure designed for maximizing SAT scores and common app competitiveness? That is why you can get away with reading almost no books in high school and get an A in English, why you can take 10 classes and 4 extracurriculars and seemingly excel at all of them. It's not designed for anything earnest - of course it is impossible for a kid to excel at everything, of course there's something broken with the way naturally good test takers are evaluated. Why not, as one mom put it to me, "pet fluffy animals" the whole day one day a week? A lot of schooling, public or private, is stuck in a feedback loop where they are good at making the average student excel at test taking - recall, the only objective measure of performance - attracting more average students, thereby making their focus on improving test performance even more intense. So many families are stuck in this trap, a relentless focus on making average students test well. Testing well - at once totally useless and also sometimes just given to some kids, by some gift. If you're affluent and have such a child, listen they're not going to celebrate the homework, the cramming, the well-roundedness, the being-forced-to-do-shit. It will not ever be relevant in their life. If they have the natural aptitude for testing, it is impossible for the prevailing social order from distinguishing them from someone without that natural aptitude who studies 10x as hard. This is the future of remote learning. Unlocking happiness for the small number of deeply misallocated children. Not helping the average student. Testing is the culprit for their misery, not remote learning, and tell me, what alternative is there?

nineplay 6y ago
I really appreciate the time and thought you've put into this. There's so many consideration. If I want my kids to get STEM degrees and go to one of the FAANGs, they may eventually need to learn how to deal with > the homework, the cramming, the well-roundedness, the being-forced-to-do-shit Perhaps that's not exactly what's best for them, but it's a pretty good outcome for me so I don't know how else to look at it.
- surge 6y ago
  >go to one of the FAANGs You realize by then, those places will likely be like IBM by then. You'll be the same as a parent wanting their kid to get a job with the local factory, because its what did you so well all these years, and arguing with the kid when they want to do something different, then the factory shuts down in 5 years. What you want is your kid to be versatile enough to go to whatever is the thing by then, and it might not even be a "tech" company. At least not in the traditional sense because at some point all companies are tech companies, especially as time goes on. Even Walmart is a tech company since they only require humans to man the stores to put things on the shelves and drive the trucks at this point.