<p>Coming to this thread late. Please forgive me if this has already been said.</p>
<p>First, neither of my kids is a math person or ready for those advanced courses in high school. Both felt pretty good about plain old AP Calc.</p>
<p>Having said that, I know many of the kids whose parents spoke here are.</p>
<p>I am very happy they were able to have courses that really challenged them in high school. It’s exciting to me to think of them spreading their intellectual wings.</p>
<p>Two factoids:</p>
<p>Math skill peaks early. Why not teach advanced when these students are best able to absorb it?</p>
<p>And I know a entire math department who left their university and started the most successful hedge fund in the world. (Each went from a regular Joe to a billionaire.) They complain that they can’t find any Americans to fill their jobs. Math skills aren’t adequate according to them. </p>
<p>Now I know this isn’t true for the brilliant American kids taking very advanced courses in high school. </p>
<p>So, maybe the US has it wrong and other countries have it right. If a kid has an aptitude challenge it, demand more, not less.</p>
<p>As for writing, I think the problem is writing and language skills are much harder to teach, and most high school teachers are just not competent to do the job.</p>
<p>Sorry if high school English teachers are reading this. I am sure you are the exception.</p>
<p>This was my area of expertise as a young person and my teachers gave up an told me to go the library every day. I ended up graduating a year early which I don’t thing was the best choice. Missed all those senior year milestones, including how to drive.</p>
<p>However, I did finally get really challenging humanities courses the minute I dipped my toe in college.</p>