<p>When asked why he had his 7th grader take the SAT, the above answers are what the OP posted.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>What remarkable award would one get by taking the SAT as a 7th grader…and why would THAT matter (the student did NOT get 700 on the math section which is what the parent claims was the cut off for this award).</p></li>
<li><p>SAT experience?? As a 7th grader? Really??</p></li>
<li><p>The kid was in 7th grade. Any high school program would be a couple of years away.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>This parent is obsessed with standardized test scores, and higher level courses for his kid…a TWELVE year old.</p>
<p>I’m sorry, but is physics this summer too tough…YES. But so are a lot of other things going on with this young kid.</p>
<p>Back to my example of my school district evaluation younger versus older kids taking calculus. Someone posting had questioned the methodology. The reason the school reviewed student performance was because of the preponderance of young kids who were bright but not ready being pushed into the courses before they were ready developmentally. What was initially a couple of parents with unusually gifted kids wanting to accelerate their child turned into a flood of “me too” frantic parents afraid of their kid not looking as good.</p>
<p>Obviously the data collected was not an experiment but simply correlation. The assessment was based on student and parent questionnaires (e.g: Did you hire a calculus tutor or did a parent tutor the student? How many hours a day are spent studying?) and looking back at student grade level and comparing AP scores (high percentage of 5’s with the older kids, very few 5’s with younger kids). No, it was not a scientific study but analysis to assist parents in making appropriate choices for their children. The system emphasized AP outcome because that seemed to be the only tactic that made parents rethink their choices. Better to hold junior back if he is not going to earn a 5.</p>
<p>The OP is an example of a parent caught in the madness of keeping up with SOME high achieving families. The obsession and drive can ruin a child’s love of the subject in many instances (be it the arts, sciences, sports) or, worse, lead to despondence on the part of the child. The whole discussion reminds me of “The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother”-great, quick read with lots of insight into culture. I don’t want to bash the OP too much because it is easy to get caught in this “keeping up” hyperparenting, especially if she lives in a community of high achieving families</p>
<p>*The OP is an example of a parent caught in the madness of keeping up with SOME high achieving families. * I think it’s about exceeding other families in the bragging dept. The hamster wheel. That’s what’s wrong here.</p>
<p>The colleges aren’t going to care one whit that he did this at this age. And if he does turn out to accomplish high stats in hs, they’re going to be looking for far more rounding than that. The top tier are all holistic. Plenty of kids list summer priogram after summer program or school year enrichment. And the adcom reaction can be: and then what? And it smells like a fish when it seems the achievements were parent pushed, parent paid for. They’re not looking at admitting the parents.</p>
<p>But OP has blinders on. You won’t convince her. She doesn’t want informed opinions- she has her own. I think this thread was to test the waters on how impressed we would be. </p>
<p>What is sorely missing from this discussion is what the kid thinks and OP doesn’t seem interested in discussing that. If he’s really enjoying working hard this summer on something that interests him and if this is his initiative, not something the OP pressed him into doing, then I see nothing wrong with mom helping, provided that the homework is graded only on effort made to complete, and not for correctness in which case it would obviously be cheating. I certainly hope the teacher’s policy was clear. </p>
<p>But from the OP’s posts, it certainly seems to all of us that this boy is being pushed too hard. Have you asked him if it’s too much for him? Is he excited about the class and eager to do the problem sets, or does he need prodding to do the work and would clearly rather be doing something else? The finer points of physics curriculum and SAT scores and prerequisites don’t matter in the end. What really matters is whether he is really happy with this arrangement, and if he is talented and supported enough to be successful at it. If he’s not happy there is no point to it and if he wants to do it but simply isn’t capable yet then you may be squashing his enthusiasm for science. </p>
<p>I think the posters on this thread all suspect that you pushed him and it’s not really what he wants, because you are generally silent on the topic of what he wants or whether he is truly happy (as opposed to simply going along with something where he didn’t perceive he had much choice not to).</p>
<p>What is even the point of this post? To show that you are a strict parent? You don’t care whether or not you are being too tough because you haven’t absorbed anything said to you on here. It’s time for this thread to be shut down. I’ll pray for your child.</p>
<p>I think the OP wanted proof that her snowflake was indeed special. As many posters have written, their kids did far better on SATs in middle school. </p>
<p>I use to do gifted testing for school placement, and it was tough dealing with disappointed parents.</p>
<p>I think the OP wanted proof that her snowflake was indeed special. As many posters have written, their kids did far better on SATs in middle school. </p>
<p>I use to do gifted testing for school placement, and it was hard to disappoint parents.</p>
<p>" The reason the school reviewed student performance was because of the preponderance of young kids who were bright but not ready being pushed into the courses before they were ready developmentally. What was initially a couple of parents with unusually gifted kids wanting to accelerate their child turned into a flood of “me too” frantic parents afraid of their kid not looking as good." </p>
<p>Bravo to your school for wanting to put a stop to this. Our school has many bright but not extraordinary kids–not unlike the OP’s son I think–who are pushed too fast in middle school, either by overly optimistic elementary school teachers who don’t understand what is to come, but also often by parents seeking to bypass the already overly lax standards for acceleration. Thus many happy honor students are turned into stressed out struggling students in high school. The high school has twice changed their curriculum to try to deal with the underprepared students they are being sent. But none of this is communicated to the parents of younger kids and the cycle of pushing kids into failure continues. No one seems willing to just say no to the parents who are trying to keep up with the Jones’s. </p>
<p>There are extraordinary kids who might be just fine taking physics at age 12. But I would expect them to be extremely self-motivated and mathematically sophisticated enough to already have learned the necessary math. I can’t see why a parent would sign a kid up for a clearly age-inappropriate program without carefully investigating what it would entail. The OP should have asked what math was required–there is no excuse for being surprised at the math prerequisites. If this had been my child, I certainly wouldn’t have run off and signed them up based on an SAT score. If my child had begged for it and was ready to make that time commitment, I would have discussed my child’s background with the teacher, looked through the book with my child to make sure the material is accessible and that my child would have a good experience, and tried to talk to students who have taken the class to get their opinion.</p>