<p>I dont know whether this is fair or not. An acquaintance of mine has a child who attended a school for emotionally disturbed children for eighth and ninth grade. Next year the child will enter a regular private school and will repeat ninth grade. The student wlll be enrolled in honors classes and algebra 2 because he/she has already taken a regular ninth grade curriculum ( and did very well) at the old school. Colleges will never know of the ninth grade year at the emotional growth school and the kid will appear positively gifted at the new school. The goal of this parent is to get the kid into UVa or William and Mary. On the one hand, Virginia state schools might feel a little touchy about admitting someone with a history of emotional disturbance in light of the VTech shooting. But, on the other hand, the kid will appear to be very talented when he/she is really a good (but not extraordinary) student. What do you think? Fair or not?</p>
<p>I don’t know if it’s “fair or not” but I feel sorry for parents who have to deal with a child’s problems which are severe enough to warrant enrolling in a special school for emotionally disturbed children. And I feel sorry also for the child who is suffering such problems. I would bet you that the whole family would trade any “advantage” the kid gets by repeating ninth grade in a heartbeat for life without all of the stress and suffering they have experienced. I think you should be glad that the kid is doing well enough to attend a regular school and not worry about such a petty thing.</p>
<p>I was under the impression that revealing such issues to an admissions committee was purely optional. Unless, of course, the student has a criminal record.</p>
<p>Child was placed in school as a result of a custody battle. The emotional growth school prevented the non-custodial parent from exercising visitation. This child and mine attended a previous school and he/she showed no signs of emotional disturbance.</p>
<p>Any advantage the child has in 9th grade is likely not going to translate into exceptional grades for the rest of high school unless that kid is a good student. The advantage will be minimal.</p>
<p>I agree with MotherOfTwo above. Life isn’t fair. A child with emotional difficulties in the midst of a custody dispute is already dealing with an “unfair” burden. S/he’ll have to earn good grades wherever s/he goes. S/he’s certainly not ahead of the game because of the disadvantages s/he’s had to deal with. You don’t know what the future holds, either - those emotional difficulties might yet hold her/him back in a number of unfortunate ways. </p>
<p>W & M and UVA are outstanding schools that exist first to serve the needs of high-achieving VA residents. However, an instate student does not need to be “positively gifted” or “extraordinary” to be admitted, though many such students do choose these schools. If this kid earns the stats to be a viable candidate, and if his/her emotional disturbance doesn’t result in a debilitating mental health condition, why shouldn’t he/she be admitted? </p>
<p>Personally, I wish this child luck. It sounds as if s/he’s due for some!</p>
<p>Why do you care? This is the child of “an acquaintance.” </p>
<p>If you care because the child is coming into your kid’s school and you think he’ll have an advantage over your own child, believe me, you have many more important things to worry about as your child starts high school.</p>
<p>Any “advantage” this kid may have as a result of repeating the 9th grade will disappear in the later years. If the child continues to have emotional difficulties, grades subsequently will drop (assuming that grades are high in 9th). If the child does not continue to have emotional problems - a situation devoutly to be wished - and can maintain high grades despite the “bump in the road”, then more power to him/her. Everyone deserves a second chance, and if this kid can take advantage of it, that’s great.</p>
<p>I don’t know what the OP’s point is. On the one hand, in post #1, the OP wonders if colleges will be concerned about admitting a student with emotional difficulties; on the other, in post #4. the OP claims there was no emotional disturbance. Which one is it?</p>
<p>Now as for repeating: yes, repeating will give the student an unfair advantage over other 9th graders. But then, the student will be older by one year–advantage disappears. And of course, by 10th grade, the advantage of having covered the curriculum beforehand will have been wiped out. And if the OP continues to worry about fairness, be aware that colleges tend to discount 9th grade performance.</p>
<p>Unless there is some history of violence, which there has been no mention of, it sounds as if the parent is just trying to help their child overcome a rocky past and give him/her the best advantage she can for the future. I see nothing wrong with that. The student will have to take the same college entrance exams as everyone else. I can’t see where they would have a big advantage over others. Good luck to them. </p>
<p>There have been quite a few cases lately in our area of gifted athletes/poor students leaving the public sch. system and going private schools (on schlarship?) in order to repeat a grade to get their grades/scores up and to also be a year more physically advanced in their sport for the sole purpose of college scholarship recruitment. Is that fair?</p>
<p>There are many kids with unfair advantages. I really don’t think this is one of them. I know a kid who looked more brilliant on paper, b/c he knew the foreign language that he took before he began. He was educated in a Spanish speaking country until the end of 6th grade. He began Spanish I in 7th grade. Obviously, this was a breeze, and it continued to be a breeze as he collected his As through his AP Spanish, etc. I know another student who comes from a family where Spanish is the native language of his parents and he is bilingual. He is also taking Spanish in hs, and competing with students who never spoke a word of Spanish until entering the Spanish I class. That’s life, and I doubt admissions will ever know the history of these students. It does not take away from the fact that they are both bilingual, but it does not disclose the fact that their grades are due to unfair advantage (perhaps the same thing as a junior high student collecting As in 2nd grade reading).</p>
<p>northeastmom,
The situation you described is VERY common in our area (Florida). MANY students already speak, or halfway speak, Spanish and they take Spanish I through AP and ace those classes. Oh well, life’s not fair. </p>
<p>As far as repeating a grade, it really isn’t going to be an unfair advantage, except in that particular grade. What about kids who are taking the accelerated math and science tracks vs. those that are going at a slower pace? What about students who take “softer” APs vs harder ones? All these things will show up in a transcript and if it’s important to a college, they will take note.</p>
<p>This can only be construed as unfair if one is concerned about relative GPAs. Which is why I/we couldn’t be bothered with the great GPA race - it’s just not worth the headache of worrying about what other people are doing.</p>
<p>"emotionally disturbed children "</p>
<p>Are we assuming that this term DOESN’T have a broad range? Maybe she cries a bit under stress, maybe she cuts herself? </p>
<p>Maybe the problem is her divorcing parents?</p>
<p>As to fair or not? I reread this post and I have to wonder to whom the poster is implying this question to? Her children or this child? </p>
<p>My kids have been very successful education wise as followed one simple policy “worry about yourself, not what others are doing.” That’s the only thing you can control.</p>
<p>Fair or not? I won’t judge this issue but only say that as a parent I, too, have witnessed a lot of what seems unfair. But, I will say, that at this point in my life and child’s life (will begin sophomore year of college this fall), I am more focused than ever on my own child rather than others. Sure, if others are going to present a danger to my child or others, I am concerned about that other child. But, as we continue to see the wisdom in events, I have come to believe that everything will wash out in the end. Try to focus on your child–if others are not qualified or think that perhaps they are beating the system, I truly believe that it will catch up to them in some shape or form.</p>
<p>I began a thread about fairness sometime ago- however- life isn’t fair- isn’t meant to be fair ( although I do not think this case would meet the criteria the OP is referring to anyway)</p>
<p>It isn’t fair when a gifted young man ( who was student body president of his senior class) has Muscular Dystrophy ( which is a progressive disease), or for his gifted engineer father to have died of ALS.</p>
<p>It wasn’t fair when the boy in my family- got most of the positive attention( financial and otherwise) simply for being XY .</p>
<p>It isn’t fair when because of the Electoral College, some votes for President don’t really * count*</p>
<p>I mean why stop at worrying about one child who may or may not have had a slight edge at some point?</p>
<p>If you want to work for fairness, there are many places where you can make a bigger impact</p>
<p>holy smokes, OP, if this were the only “unfairness” in life (or college admissions) with which one had to contend…worry about your own child and helping him or her to be happy and fulfilled…and I agree, UVA admission in-state is not particularly different than U of M, Wisconsin, UCLA, UConn or a host of other similar state u’s, more difficult than it used to be, but hardly daunting if one is anything above a run of the mill student</p>
<p>EK, I agree with you.</p>
<p>Doubleplay, It does not surprise me. We also have kids sitting for the standardized tests (ie: SATIIs) for languages that they were exposed to at home since they were born. Many were taught to read and write those languages very early on in their formative years. That is just how it is, and our hs publishes 5s for them on their AP tally and look really good, but so what! The hs did not teach them the language. They learned b/c they lived part of their lives in another country, or learned it from their parents, who are native speakers in those languages.</p>
<p>On the other hand, my D was not allowed to submit SATII scores in her native language, whereas for her all the other tests, including SATIs were in her foreign language (English). Fair? Not Fair? Isn’t probable that these Hispanic students had less English skills than kids who speak and read English at home? Is it fair that some kids have great music abilities because their parents were either skilled musicians or could pay for lessons?</p>
<p>Do I understand this correctly? The child, who was not emotionally disturbed, spent two years at a school for the emotionally disturbed to keep the noncustodial parent from seeing him/her? I see only two possibilities. Either the noncustodial parent was so violent/abusive/unfit that this very inappropriate placement was warranted as a desperation measure, or the custodial parent is insane enough to do this without a good reason. In either case, the child has had a very hard time. I hope that he/she will be able to thrive in the new school.</p>
<p>I was surprised I admit-when my nephew ( who lived until 14 yrs in Columbia- he is Hispanic), took AP Spanish in high school ( he was adopted by my brother at that time so he could come to this country- he was already my brothers nephew- now he is his nephew & son!)</p>
<p>BUt I admit, while it was irritating that my brother then used his newly adopted son as a dependent and as a reason to reduce his child support payments ( even though his son’s blood uncle was covering his expenses), and I was really irritated that as my brother belonged to the military, now my nephew also received all those benefits ( which we pay for through our taxes)
I also believe in Karma ;)</p>