<p>I think that is the main point of contention. I don’t think you’re born smart. Every human have a brain which need training. Some human can train themselves and some one like you’ll consider them “born smart”. But every human brain has to be trained before it can work wonders.</p>
<p>I’m sure there is no dearth of smart people (mtnmomma’s definition) in this world. Will all those smart humans get into HMSPY or become successful? No, not necessarily.</p>
<p>Just being smart doesn’t mean you’ll be successful. You still need education/guidance and a fine institute just do that.</p>
<p>A fine institute (pre-school, elementary, middle, high, college, university) does make a difference. It can challenge the creative, analytical and mathematical abilities of the children and train their brains so that it can process complicated problems.</p>
<p>If you look into MIT motto you’ll see that the emphasis is on raising the brain activities to the level where it can process complicated problems. The course content is not important but the problem concepts/solving is. That’s why they have their courses available online. MIT believes that the important thing is to develop brain activity and not teaching some mundane course content.</p>
<p>You can bring down this same principle to high school and lower grade schooling too. A fine pre-school or K-12 school can actually develop or enhance children brain activities. This enhanced brain activity in some children makes a common person think of them as smart.</p>
<p>I’m not sure how much of this will make sense to you as I don’t know if your brain have been exposed to a level of activity where it’s even possible to comprehend this logic.</p>
<p>POIH–The reason all those smart people won’t get into HYPS etc. is because there aren’t enought SPACES for them all. Harvard has 35,000 applicants this year for what, 1800 slots? I don’t feel like looking it up; my point still stands.</p>
<p>There are many other fine institutions of higher learning available.</p>
<p>And POIH–you sound really patronizing. I hope you don’t mean to be.</p>
<p>Speaking as a NYC resident who’s born and raised…depends on the family and the kids. For some, it is one means to provide a more nurturing, collaborative, and far less cutthroat/no handholding environment than many larger zoned/magnet public schools. A reason why it was a great choice for a younger cousin of mine as she needed it at that stage of her life. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, for far too many IME, it is also all about upper/upper-middle class parents keeping their children sheltered from having to associate with the “lower orders” whose “inferiority” because of their lower socio-economic status may negatively influence their children. Observed this among some older wealthier relatives/their neighbors and heard about it from several Stuy classmates who attended private K-8 schools and left partially because they were fed up with that mentality among former classmates and their parents. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Even attending the best educational institutes is no guarantee of success if the student concerned has average/below average intelligence or more importantly, lacks a decent work ethic. My HS/college classmates and I knew of dozens of private school graduates who ended up crashing and burning in undergrad and/or in grad school/working world. And most don’t have nearly the great connections that W or those of his ilk have had throughout their lives…</p>
<p>Some parents who moved away from NYC into the suburbs end up paying for private schools, on top of the high property taxes. My H’s alma mater in NJ is charging $26K for kindergarten. It’s mind boggling. I have 2 kids living in NYC and it makes me anxious and concerned about how they will handle their future children’s education.</p>
<p>Maybe you missed the point here. I meant there are millions of “born smart” children who never even reach a stage that they become a competitive applicant for HMSPY.</p>
<p>A fine pre-school or K-12 education can make a solid applicant out of those millions of “born smart” children. </p>
<p>There are millions of students who graduates from high schools in USA and there are at most 50000 unique HS students that apply to HMSPY.</p>
[quote]
I’m not sure how much of this will make sense to you as I don’t know if your brain have been exposed to a level of activity where it’s even possible to comprehend this logic. [/qoute]</p>
<p>Something that almost certainly comes from the nurture, rather than the nature, column is a proper sense of shame. Training in this and other social necessities is obviously lacking for some.</p>
<p>Not everyone (men and women) wants to be a stay home parent, and it shouldn’t be the only option for people. I have raised 2 young women, I would like them to have options someday, and staying home to raise their children shouldn’t be the only option for them. Both H and I have taken turns in working from home, so we could be available to our kids, in addition to have hired help. I opted for a higher paying job because we wanted to make sure our kids wouldn’t be limited to their college options due to finance, but it did come with personal sacrifices. </p>
<p>I have a lot of friends who did not work while kids were young. Some of them spend all of time with their children and some of them did a lot of lunches and volunteer work. I often saw just as many working parents at sports events, recitals, school trips as stay home parents. I also knew as many stay home parents who neglected their kids as working parents.</p>
<p>As D1 starts the journey of becoming a working woman, and maybe later a mom, I tell her it is all about balance and know what’s most important to her. To me, my family has always come first. My global manager in NY asked me to cancel my trip with D2 tomorrow because there is a major event happening in my region next week. I decided not to cancel a trip that’s very important to D2. I prepared everything last week, and arranged to have someone on the ground to handle anything unexpected. I told my manager my plan, but I was not going to cancel the trip. I am taking the risk of something going south and I would be blamed for it. </p>
<p>As far as options for working parents in NYC - childcare is so expensive, many parents need to work long hours in order to afford childcare. It’s one of the reasons people move out to the 'burbs.</p>
<p>Certainly, it depends on the upbringing and not every one have a good one and that is why it’s easier for some to say “IDIOT” when one can’t process the complexity of the logic.</p>
<p>Sorry old fort–i should have not been so direct, it sounded harsher then I intended. I did choose to work (I agree with your later post that being a stay at home mom isn’t for everyone) but I didn’t choose a job that would require my kids to be in day care for 12 hours a day. I was also commenting on how you thought you’re kids weren’t “roughing it” and you judging that those who were in a less prestigious neighborhood were. This is also a judgement on those parents who choose to spend more time with their children vs. have a higher income.</p>
<p>Home school-agreed, not for me either (but it doesn’t mean I never worked with them on topics I found were inadequately covered in school.</p>
<p>^^^LOL. POIH - I have to give you credit, you have demonstrated more good upbringing than most people (myself included, demonstrated by my snarky remarks to some deserving individuals).</p>
<p>mtnmom - my post was directed at some people (cobrat) who thought by living in a rougher neighborhood some how was character building, and kids who had it easier was sheltered and coddled. To me, that is being judegemental. I grew up as a Chinese immigrant (not in Chinatown), but bought most of my clothes in second hand stores and went to college with full FA. I grew up with kids telling me to go back to where I came from and kids throwing stones at me just because I looked different (midwest). I know what it is like roughing it. Just because I grew like that, it doesn’t mean I believe it was the best way for my kids to grow up, and it doesn’t mean they are entitled.</p>
<p>It is my general observation – not directed at you – that those who “don’t get” parents being gone for 12 hours a day also tend to be those who have jobs, as opposed to careers. I suppose my husband, when delivering a baby, could stop and say, “Sorry, I’ve got to give you a C-Section, I’ve been away from my children for 10 hours now and I need to get back to them,” but it doesn’t work that way.</p>
<p>hahaha–you’re probably right about the brain activity thing, as I get older I often start to wonder. Buy hey, thanks for the MIT reference and letting me know about their on-line courses. Oops, I forgot my son already used one to self study AP Physics C–see what I mean about the brain thing!</p>
<p>Oh yeah–I’m not sure about providing “enhanced brain activity” for the little one but he did just get an admission offer from MIT–go figure! I can tell you one thing for sure–he WAS born smart. I can also tell you that that is not enough to get into HYPSM.</p>
<p>“It is my general observation – not directed at you – that those who “don’t get” parents being gone for 12 hours a day also tend to be those who have jobs, as opposed to careers. I suppose my husband, when delivering a baby, could stop and say, “Sorry, I’ve got to give you a C-Section, I’ve been away from my children for 10 hours now and I need to get back to them,” but it doesn’t work that way.”</p>
<p>Or they left a career, to which they could not go back, and now have to justify that enormous sacrifice to the Internet forevermore.</p>
<p>I say this as a person going back into my career now that kids can be in care and I’ve realized what a schlock this stay-at-home-parent myth is.</p>
<p>Snarks have become an entrenched part of many discussions on computer message boards. Many of these snarks involve questioning the intelligence of another poster, such as:</p>
<p>Patronizing insults questioning a poster’s ability to comprehend logic.</p>
<p>I think you are confusing a career with a job in which you have no control over your hours. The two are not necessarily mutually exclusive. </p>
<p>I am sorry if I ruffled some feathers with the day care thing–I know better than that. I know that everyone has their own way and children from all types of parenting styles do just fine. </p>
<p>Oldfort–again, sorry to have judged. I had no right to write what I did.</p>