<p>Mary…don’t be ****ed be proactive. Reach out to the schools where he is on the WL and express his continued interest in attending there. If you don’t need financial aid (even if you applied for it) let them know he will attend even if no aid is available. Ask his HS counselor if he/she has any contacts at any of the WL schools and if they can put a call in for you. </p>
<p>Everyone who has critiqued your comments about your son’s scores are self important fops. </p>
<p>Worse case scenario is he can apply now for January admission to other schools. All is not lost. Hopefully you can get him in off of a waitlist. </p>
<p>The situation is not good but you are not defeated yet! </p>
<p>Finally, check out some schools in Europe (St. Andrews in Scotland for instance). sometimes, they accept applications this late in the year. not close to home but a great school and an opportunity.</p>
<p>I’m more prone to draw pretty rainbows with my 27 different highlighter colors. I remember being in 1st grade and having to color a stupid picture of a rabbit in some flowers, I scribbled the colors in because I wanted to do something real like READ a book. I still don’t like to color…what exactly was that teaching me?</p>
<p>Interesting conversation about boys vs. girls succeeding in school. In D1’s class, it was a very boy heavy class in terms of recognized academic “success;” out of 20+ kids in the gifted certified program only 2 were girls. But NMFs were 3 girls & 1 boy. 3 years later, D2’s class is predominantly weighed in the girls favor and it’s been that way since 3rd grade. Out of the top 25 students, D2 thinks there’s only 3 boys, only 3 boys out of 20+ gifted certified kids, probably no NMSF boys based on chatter. If it was consistent from year to year, I’d buy it but in our community the pendulum tends to swing from year to year.</p>
<p>ETA: my girls always hated the stupid artsy academic projects. Disdain…it’s not just for boys.</p>
<p>Interesting RobD. But, do you actually believe those stats? I mean, how can there be so few actually gifted boys? I don’t believe it, myself. (I have only daughters, but it’s clear to me that school does favor girls these days, in tone, if nothing else.)</p>
<p>My girls hated the busy work stuff, but they could DO it. They could “get” what was being asked of them. They could make the rainbows on the page where necessary. they “understood” the language of glitter and decoration, even if the one found it tedious beyond belief. (the other is a costume designer by trade and has no problem finding her way around a sequin. per se.)</p>
<p>I would say that the girls I know that are top students are there because they work hard, study hard, not because they are naturally ‘that’ smart. The boys I know that are top students are ‘that’ smart, never or rarely study and just “get it”. Using the ever so small sample of the class valedictorians from our high school, last year’s crop (3 of them-all girls) were VERY studious. They still were involved in things but their social life centered around these 3 girls getting together to study. The year before that 2 boys, one was pure genius. Scored a 5 on every AP test he took, perfect ACT/SAT’s, national finalist for Chem Olympiad, National Math test finalist, blah, blah, blah. He studied but did homework studying, and not much more. The other boy was a gifted musician for which school was easy, again, did his homework but didn’t “study”. In our kids’ grade, the #1 in the class right now, girl, studies for hours and hours each night, has dropped out of pretty much everything so she can study because she wants to be val more than anything. The class behind them, boy, almost as smart as the genius above, but more “normal”. Again, does his homework, doesn’t really “study”.</p>
<p>I actually didn’t believe it either year; in D1’s year there had to be more GT girls who hadn’t been identified and I’d like to think that in D2’s year there are more GT boys than identified (although D2 assures me that based on anything that happens in a classroom it is an accurate number ;)</p>
<p>I never really finished my post earlier, about my boys not enjoying having to make all those pretty posters for their APUSH class.</p>
<p>What really disturbed them and me was that the teacher offered all those fluff assignments because the actual WORK in the class was appropriately hard and rigorous. So those students who couldn’t do A level work could still get good grades by excelling in pretty posters. My kid was the one who, even in preschool, could not see the logic behind projects like gluing cotton balls on paper plates (he would glue on exactly one and insist he was done) or doing the little assignments showing he could count to ten when he could already count to 1000.</p>
<p>I dont care if they want to offer an “effort” boost with homework grading, but it drives me crazy when they penalize those who are doing well with the tests and papers for NOT doing the fluff boosters.</p>
<p>My oldest once suggested they should offer three types of grading for each student to choose from at the start of the class: 1. equal weighted homework and tests/papers. 2. heavier weighted homework and lesser tests/papers. 3. no homework grading, pure test/papers. and the student couldn’t change their mind partway through.</p>
<p>She presented this to the principle, who loved the idea and probably threw it in the circular file when she left the room. But, at least he pretended to listen.</p>
<p>I was referring to averages. I agree writing ability and attention span are desireable (and necessary) traits in a college applicant. Since you attended college, you must have had those traits ( and I assume your friends are also mostly college grads). Also, I don’t think attention span per say, is less in boys than girls, it’s the inability for most to sit for such long periods of time without moving around. Many schools have cut recess and are limiting PE, two more strikes against most boys.</p>
<p>I am interested in what your view is of why male and females have different brains and why it has no effect on learning styles.</p>
<p>Love it, poetgrl. I had an art history class like that in college. We got to choose our grading system - just the final for all the marbles or final and weekly quiz section quizzes. I was a just the final kid.</p>
<p>My DS never had to do those pretty little posters, and didn’t bother with the extra assignments. I hate those as well, though they stopped once he was in Honors and AP classes.
I also only remember only one class in my hs that required all the sparkles, etc. It was a required government class that had a set of posters of Indiana and the US that accounted for 50% of the grade, designed so everyone could pass.</p>
<p>Anyone preferring only finals should go to school in UK. They only have those and that too at the end of the year. Work being done throughout the year is just to learn which eliminates the fluff.</p>
<p>My favorite was pi-day on March 14th at our middle school. They did all sorts of things to commemorate it - everything, in fact, other than doing anything directly related to the number or the math behind it.</p>
<p>I could relate to what SteveMA says- girls works harder to stay in the top, boys who are at the top doesn’t work as much to stay there from my high school teaching experience from 3 different countries. As a girl who excelled academically(especially in math and science)in my all girls school, I never noticed such differences when I grew up.( Have only one sister). Anyway, in classrooms- I see the trend that is mentoned above. Occassionally I see a girl who is at the top without much hardwork, and see a boy who is at the top with a lot of hardwork, but the overlap is somewhat thin when considering the overall trend.</p>
<p>Perhaps there are generalizations by gender, but it comes down to skill set. I have two naturally bright kids who are both great test takers. DD lacked organization skills and drive in hs (wing it mode no longer worked). DS got his act together in hs. </p>
<p>For parents bemoaning homework and projects… that is often an important part of the learning. This is especially true in science with labs and English/writing courses. Also it teaches students how to juggle priorities. (Yes, there are some teachers guilty of assignming busy-work homework too.)</p>
<p>The thing with my son and his projects is that it seems that if a project isn’t pretty the teachers think they are being disrespected by the students because the perception is that the students aren’t taking the projects seriously. I disagree with that. My son is far from perfect, but these long-term projects in which he can do a little at a time and change direction if need be play to all of his strengths and he knows it. However, he is design challenged and the concepts of color schemes, themes and sparkle completely escape him. Whatever his best efforts might be, his showboards will never, ever look pretty. The colors will clash or they will be messy or something. However, the theses will be interesting, the data will be collected and recorded in detail, and he will come to supportable conclusions. Like poetgrl said, the kids of whatever gender who don’t/can’t do the fluff stuff shouldn’t be penalized if they are doing the academic stuff.</p>
<p>^ so it is OK if his work is “messy”? He can’t work on at least presenting something that shows effort.</p>
<p>My bad-- I know you said he puts a lot of effort into the actual project. I’m just wondering why he can’t put the same effort into th presentation. We all know first impressions are important.</p>
<p>My son’s handwriting is the size of a pinhead. I keep telling him it affects his grades, but he refuses to write larger. When he has major projects, I have encouraged him to make posters using templates and then going to copying shops to have them printed up. He uses powerpoint instead of handwritten presentations, etc. He always submits typed assignments except when he’s got AP practice and they make him write by hand. (Sunday night poetry analysis essay had to be done with pencil and paper. I could not read 99% of it for its microscopic letters.) He had to do a presentation on himself (geez, all he did was write about himself all fall for college apps!), and I suggested a powerpoint, imported pictures from his life, and quotes from either his favorite college essays or from previous writing. Microsoft online has incredible powerpoint templates. Result? Classy and sophisticated instead of cheese ball with his writing that NO ONE can read. (I love my kid.)</p>
He puts a lot of effort, but no matter how hard he tries, unless his sister sprinkles glittter, his projects will never be pretty. By messy, I don’t mean a rushed, slop job, I mean that there might be fingerprints on silver paper or the lines may not be perfectly straight. I wouldn’t let him turn in something disrespectful, but he never quite gets it rightt on appearance. I’ve noticed that with some boys. It’s almost like color blindedness. Ultimately, doesn’t it come down to a matter of personal taste? Is a black/white/gray color scheme really inferior to purple, pink, teal with puffy paint and glitter?</p>
per se.)</p>
But, at least he pretended to listen.</p>