<p>
[quote]
Are you equally appalled by that?
[/quote]
Actually, I do find people who do spend that much money on precollege or tutoring, etc, to be wasting their money. I am not "appalled" by it, nor am I appalled by Chelsea having a private french tutor, but in response to your comment about CTY/TIP I do think that schoolwork should be done without spending parents' money and having extra sessions outside of class, which just gives one an unfair advantage.</p>
<p>broetchen, you have completely misinterpreted my recent post, and I think you need to look much more carefully at the rest of mine to judge whether I am correctly in the group of those you handily condemn as "intolerant." I have done no such thing. My posts have been supportive of homeschooling, and of this family in particular. What you also don't know is that I PM'ed the girl. </p>
<p>You joined cc in June of 07. Some of us have been here since 04 & previously. There's a history of SAT discussions, many of them begun & continued by xiggi, who has a particular viewpoint which is respected by many, & which I hardly "condemned." He believes in the orthodoxy of a "winning" way to raise SAT scores. He brings this up often (whenever possible :)), just as others of us bring up whenever possible our pet topics & viewpoints. He has a right to do so, & I have a right to bring up an opposing viewpoint, based on my experience as an educator -- not just a student & ex-student, etc. -- whenever he does so. It was not "condemnation" or "chilling intolerance." It was about SAT prep, not about the Tribune story, not about this particular student, not an argument against her or about her.</p>
<p>You are drawing extreme & inaccurate conclusions, which I do not appreciate.</p>
<p>Please, chill out. And now I myself, having experienced the intolerance of others, am leaving this thread. I really do not appreciate at all being misquoted, misinterpreted, and called names. Sheesh.</p>
<p>Whoops, I didn't see wjb's intolerant post as well, so I'll return briefly to defend myself - which is astounding that I would even need to. For the record, I am hardly jealous, wjb, as my D is attending Princeton. Please, get over yourselves, some of you self-righteous types. I didn't criticize the girl, not once -- or criticize the family, OR criticize homeschooling, but apparently Chelsea's critical reading abilities surpass those of parents on CC.</p>
<p>^^^epiphany, I think that wjb was referring to cgm's posts, not yours. And I think is is possible that cgm's posts are what broetchen was referring to in post 137 as well. I could be wrong.
I think it's time for everyone step back from the keyboards for a few minutes and calm down.</p>
<p>epi, pssst. wjb wasn't talking about you. ;)</p>
<p>^^ but broetchen was referring specifically -- & judgmentally -- to me, as he brought up <em>SAT</em>. Then wjb commented on his comment, so I'm just covering all the bases of intolerance & a failure to read critically, you see.
Thanks anyway.
:)</p>
<p>Dang, mpm beat me to it.</p>
<p>"I appalled by Chelsea having a private french tutor, but in response to your comment about CTY/TIP I do think that schoolwork should be done without spending parents' money and having extra sessions outside of class, which just gives one an unfair advantage."</p>
<p>My dd takes private tennis lessons. Is that an unfair advantage that I'm giving her, versus going to the public park and hitting the ball around with whoever is there? My ds is interested in film production and we bought him a nice videocamera for his pursuits. Is that an unfair advantage that we're giving him? We've taken one family trip abroad and are taking another next year. Is that an unfair advantage?</p>
<p>DEEEEEP breathes everybody. Now exhale sloooooowly. Feel better? me too</p>
<p>narcissa;</p>
<p>I'll bet your parents spent money to reside in a district where it is possible for 11 year-olds to be in BC-Calc. Many people reside in districts without any AP classes, where the majority of students don't even to take the SAT, etc...</p>
<p>One of my Ss chose to attend music camp for several summers. The other chose academic camps. Should #2 be condemned but not #1? What if they had both chosen to attend a sports camp? Both attended fun camps when younger. Those fun camps were every bit as expensive as the music camps and academic camps they attended later. But they were bored in fun camps. S2 thought that his academic camps were his idea of summer heaven. He still keeps in touch with friends he made there, and had a reunion with several of them last year (they're all in college). Why should every kid conform to someone's ideas of what is appropriate? Why should every family spend their money in the same way?</p>
<p>epiphany, I apologize for wording my post in a way that it made it seem that I was being judgmental of you. I read all of your posts in this thread and did not have them in mind with my comments. </p>
<p>xiggi has no need for my defending him, the only point I was making, was that I didn't think that he was prescribing his method as the ONLY one. </p>
<p>Again, I should have been more specific in my wording, but I honestly was not trying to portray you in any way, rather, I was responding to some of the other rather negative posts.</p>
<p>"Some have made serious progress."</p>
<p>Cur, I've never denied this. I certainly agree with this, & heartily approve, believe me, of ANYTHING that works, most esp. if it's free, or almost. ;)</p>
<p>Others have not made serious progress, or any progress. Referring again to the many posts/threads in which xiggi (not here, elsewhere) has protested that it will work more universally than he assumes. It does not work for those whose base training in math has been poor (including those who were never taught geometry discretely -- a big factor, btw).</p>
<p>
[quote]
Is that an unfair advantage?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Well, it technically is, but there's no way to ask rich people not to spend their money, so..</p>
<p>Personally, I try to go as far without using money as I can. For example, I've been playing tennis for the last 10 years and never had a single private lesson, and I have competed in and won tournaments, and am the first singles and captain of my school's team. I have also never had test prep or anything of that sort throughout high school.</p>
<p>I haven't even read this thread and I can already tell you,** if I'd have had more money I would have given my kid even more advantages than I did. Sue me. ;)<a href="Edited%20to%20Bold.%20Just%20in%20case%20anybody%20missed%20it%20the%20first%20time%20through%20;">/b</a>) </p>
<p>Congrats kiddo and good job 'rents. Use what you got, we only get one shot. (Or possibly more if you are Shirley MacLaine.)</p>
<p>"narcissa;</p>
<p>I'll bet your parents spent money to reside in a district where it is possible for 11 year-olds to be in BC-Calc."</p>
<p>LOL, exactly! Somehow I'm betting Narcissa's school district is at least middle class if not upper middle class. Isn't that an unfair advantage versus the kids in the inner cities?</p>
<p>"Personally, I try to go as far without using money as I can. For example, I've been playing tennis for the last 10 years and never had a single private lesson, and I have competed in and won tournaments, and am the first singles and captain of my school's team. I have also never had test prep or anything of that sort throughout high school."</p>
<p>I think you've missed a bigger point; because of your parents' money, you can participate in afterschool activities like tennis, because you have the advantage of having that time free, versus having to work an afterschool job and contribute to the family rent and food budget. I guess you're pretty privileged too.</p>
<p>Pizzagirl, regarding post 141
Narrisca is a teenager ["Actually, perhaps I am wrong in looking at a regular high school environment as similar to my school's...my school is very conducive to intelligence and most of us, even the snobby/materialistic people look up to (or at least dont make fun of) their smart, high-achieving classmates.-"]
. She's not a mom and has a limited viewpoint of what parent's choose to do/have to do for their kids outside of school.</p>
<p>
[quote]
S2 thought that his academic camps were his idea of summer heaven.
[/quote]
If you enjoy the intellectual stimulation at academic camps, there is no reason not to go. However, it just annoys me when my friends spend tens of thousands of dollars a year to go to Harvard SSP or CTY or TIP in order to prepare for classes that they'll be taking in high school the next year--just to get a small advantage. By all means, if you want to take something cool just because you are interested, there is nothing wrong with curiosity.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>And I agree with you, too but I don't understand big scary words like "taught geometry discretely" (under the covers with a Lost in Space flashlight?) and anyway...you have a pretty name. ;)</p>
<p>Narcissa: "Personally, I try to go as far without using money as I can."</p>
<p>Chelsea's parents work hard in their business to earn money. What better use could they possibly put it to than enriching their daughter's life with the opportunities they have been able to give her? She's enjoyed it, they've enjoyed it - she appears to be the absolute ANTITHESIS of the stereotypical pushed-by-her-parents-to-achieve-HYP-at-all-costs-or-bring-dishonor-on-them that we read about so often on CC. What else should they do with their money? Watch it grow in the bank? Buy furs and jewelry?</p>