<p>This has been an interesting read - beyond the back and forths, however, what strikes me as particularly fascinating are Suze's semantics - words like "pesky" and "goodies" certainly seem outdated for today's generation -- more of a throwback to an earlier one (her mother's perhaps...?) Am wondering if mother and daughter - much like us (mother and son) share a login? Many of Suze's email posts certainly don't sound like they come from a teenager - but if they do, she's one scarey young person who needs to get out more, run around, and get some sunshine and fresh air...
So...who are we really talking to here?</p>
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Many of Suze's email posts certainly don't sound like they come from a teenager - but if they do, she's one scarey young person who needs to get out more, run around, and get some sunshine and fresh air...
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</p>
<p>I don't know Suze and I haven't followed this thread all that closely, but I just wanted to say that my son's writing often more closely resembles that of an adult than that of a teen. He is quite gifted with words and has a large vocabulary.</p>
<p>I was once, many months ago, dubbed a "fake" on this forum <em>lol</em>for my "overuse of superlatives", though I did subsequently receive a gracious apology, both public and private. On a parenting forum, I was once "accused" of "using big words" <em>lol</em>. Everyone has his/her own unique writing style, and I hate to see anyone falsely accused of not being genuine unless there is very good evidence to support such an accusation.</p>
<p>~berurah</p>
<p>I remember when Jeopardy had a game on the net where you competed against others from around the world, and my DD, who was 12, 13, 14, etc., would post she was a child (she beat the adults) that they didn't want to believe her. A child also picks up words from their peers and their parents. My DD thinks "geezer" is hysterical and uses it whenever appropriate. A child who has been exposed to the world, news and adults, will use vocabulary to which he/she has been exposed. That does not make that child any less of a child - just a world wise person.</p>
<p>I don't think a larger vocabulary necessarily makes someone "worldwise", but they probably do read a lot :)</p>
<p>Berurah--I'm sorry if I misspoke; I didn't mean to suggest that the dream of elite college admission was yours rather than your son's, or that he wouldn't have been happy at any school on his list.</p>
<p>I may have chosen the wrong example, but the point I was trying to make was that certain extremely motivated, high-achieving students may have difficulty in finding safeties they truly love--not because of prestige, but because the colleges that are reaches in the current super-competitive environment really may fit their interests and drive better than schools that admit over half of their applicants.</p>
<p>It obviously makes sense for students to apply to a wide range of selectivity levels, and to take all of their applications seriously. It also makes sense to recognize that schools with acceptance rates of 30% may not be safeties anymore, even for top students. But I feel that some of the best and the brightest kids are in a genuine bind: On the one hand, they have the intellectual passion and achievement to make them "belong" at schools that admit as few as 1 in 10 of their applicants (the vast majority of whom are similarly qualified); on the other hand, after years of being encouraged to work hard and dream big, they're now being asked to be content with schools that may not--whether or not it's politically correct to say so--meet their needs in the same way. Some dreams really will be denied in this process, and it's not "insanity" to acknowledge that or to struggle with legitimate disappointment.</p>
<p>Hijack here. In the sub-thread of kids who use big words or sophisticated language, last night I was discussing where to go out to dinner with my 14 year-old S. He proposed Indian, I said I would be a little worried due to my allergies, but was OK with it. He then said "But Mom, would it diminish your experience?". Had to tell him yes. We went elsewhere:)</p>
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Berurah--I'm sorry if I misspoke; I didn't mean to suggest that the dream of elite college admission was yours rather than your son's, or that he wouldn't have been happy at any school on his list.
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lastbastion~
Oh that's no problem...I guess I'm just a little oversensitive to the inference that the elite college dream was mine. Truly it was NOT. My H and I tried, on numerous occasions, to convince my son that he could go just as far with a degree from KU BECAUSE HE HAS THE INTELLIGENCE, DRIVE, AND COMMITMENT. And we BOTH would LOVE for him to be closer. And yet, we understand his unique needs and desires and have worked hard to support him in those.</p>
<p>Other than that, I agree with EVERYTHING you said in post # 205 and I thank you very much for clarifying what you meant! ~b.</p>
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But Mom, would it diminish your experience
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alum~
<em>lololololol</em> loverly! :) ~b.</p>
<p>Crash, I can try to use words like awesome, dude, hella and sweet, and in all honesty they sometimes slip into my spoken language but almost never my written. Journalism is on my career short list! Wouldn't that be awesome man? So sweeeeeet!!!</p>
<p>Alumother, "diminish" is not such a high level word. Being in music, I learned that one in elementary school.</p>
<p>children are often much more sophisticated with language than we realize since many of us operate on about an 8th grade level day to day anyway.
one of my favorite comments was when my younger daughter- who wasn't usually very verbal exclaimed ( she was about 26 months) when I was chasing her around the house trying to change her diapers * don't change my diapers! Change your mind!*</p>
<p>Texasmathwhiz - It wasn't the word diminish. It was the concept of using "diminish" in concert with "experience" to discuss eating Indian food. </p>
<p>emeraldkity - ROFLOL. Your daughter showed signs of inheriting your sense of humor, huh?</p>
<p>Beruhah's posts make me wonder about the process of the admission staffs - not so much from my own personal situation (which is pretty bad), but just in general. Clearly Duke and UPenn saw things in the app that the folks at Yale either didn't see, or did not require for their current class.</p>
<p>This raises the question (for me, at least), since I'm just curious - how do adcoms judge their own work? As an example, we all know Bill Gates got accepted (then famously dropped out) of Harvard. But did he apply anywhere else, and get rejected? Do the the adcoms ever go back and take a look at their assessments of certain applicants, and say, "oops - why didn't we catch that trait from his recs? Yeah, he would have been a great admit. Let's watch for that in the future" or, on the other side, "Applicant A looked so good on paper, and now we have to ask him to leave. What did we miss?" I just find the whole process interesting. I'm a big believer in post mortems, and we did it at work, and learn a lot from the process. Do adcoms do it? Anybody know?</p>
<p>And I might add, Beruhah - I hope that one day Yale looks back and says, How on earth did we let that kid go without snapping him up!</p>
<p>I assumed it was "diminish" because that is the highest level word I could find in there.</p>
<p>Still, whatever the concept is, that is not very high level vocabulary.</p>
<p>It is interesting what a low standard some people have these days, while the colleges all seem to be raising the bar for admission, even if it weeds out intelligent people who just didn't take school seriously, or didn't have the time.</p>
<p>he did attend during a period when college was not quite so competitive, especially if you had the background of being from an academic family and a stellar student in a top prep school from a region not overly represented on the east coast.</p>
<p>Maybe he applied ED?
He did also have a great hook of programming computers when he was 13 ( 1968) way before many of us had an inkling of their potential.</p>
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And I might add, Beruhah - I hope that one day Yale looks back and says, How on earth did we let that kid go without snapping him up!
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Awwwwwww, hayden, thanks so much!! I know <em>I</em> sure feel better at the prospect of their doing this down the line! Either way, though, I completely honestly believe that it's their loss at this point. And that is NOT a sour grapes comment, but a true belief! :) ~b.</p>
<p>Is it a hook that I can program at 16?</p>
<p>I'm not sure if words like "peskie" and "goodies" necessarily indicate that one has a "large" vocabulary or an "adult" one. It does signify, however, that they have a dated one (say, from the 1930s thru 1960s...) -- and no, Suze, I don't necessarily think you should be dependent on popular slang words of today to validate your age - but after reviewing manmy of your previous posts, I did note an interesting see-saw trend (in terms of wording, insights, and experience). Just an observation, perhaps astute, perhaps not.</p>
<p>I wouldn't think so, not anymore, Texasmathwhiz: there are probably quite a few young people with some measure of programming skill by age 16 now. In 1968, it was a pretty rare skill for anyone to be able to program computers, especially someone age 13.</p>
<p>Texasmathwhiz - Let me just give you some food for thought. You are 16? That means lots of time to develop sides of yourself - for college or even better just for growth. </p>
<p>Here's a question. How do you think I felt when you disparaged my son's vocabulary? Why do you think I posted the quote from my son to begin with? What do you think it implies that your screen name is Texasmathwiz? </p>
<p>Now, I don't know you at all. But I infer from all of the above data that you may be quite arrogant. I infer from the above that you might lack in emotional intelligence, which is not uncommon amongst high IQ math/programming types. Here's the thing, while it may not be uncommon amongst that segment of the population to lack emotional intelligence, neither is it necessary.</p>
<p>How about as a hook you do some public service with people in Texas who are not "math whizzes"?</p>
<p>Now do take everything I just said with a grain of salt. You offended me when you disparaged my son's vocabulary, as I was posting in the state of parental adoration and worship you will see often if you spend much time on the parent's forum. So maybe I am telling you something of use, maybe not. It's a good test to figure that out.</p>