<p>
</p>
<p>Congratulations PizzaGirl and he totally deserve it. Still I’ll disagree on the point that “he WAS born smart.” No one is born smart, some do become smart because of either hard work on their own part or from the collective hard work of the family.</p>
<p>Upbringing has lot to do with it.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I’ll answer with a question. A teacher at school tells a parent:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>while another teacher tells a parent:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Are the two equivalent? Is the second any way derogatory at all?</p>
<p>If she was offered a higher level of preparation than was delivered, she has a right to sue for damages. The question is not about whether she should offer that to her child. The point is whether the preschool agreed to provide it and didn’t. </p>
<p>So many parents neglect their children’s education. You have to give her credit for making her daughter’s education a priority. What she has to understand is that preschools don’t typically have Ivy League educated staff and are unlikely to be able to truly prepare a child for that type of education if the child is of that caliber intellectually. </p>
<p>Schools that charge that much and make those sorts of claims need to be careful to deliver.</p>
<p>Hey, we all make different choices about our lives. I too strongly prefer a parent home with the child. In fact, I kicked my fast track high tech management career to the curb when I couldn’t find appropriate day care and schooling for my son, entering a state of financial poverty for years to homeschool him because he was years ahead of same age peers. However, it was not without a huge price to myself, and it was hard for my son. In truth, it was the very best thing for him and in general the thrived. He’s very well balanced and accepted to every school he’s applied to including the very top in the country. </p>
<p>Having said that, everyone’s situation is different. Just as for us life was very difficult due to the need to homeschool but it was worth it, for others it maybe be better for the child to be in day care and the parents to work. Statistically, it’s not, but we all have to make our own choices. I think it’s important to be careful when judging people we really don’t know. The studies show it’s better for a child to have a parent at home, on average. But, statistics don’t go make that easy for every family who wants to do it. No one came and paid my bills or did the heavy lifting for me while I made my choice to homeschool as a single parent. Plenty of people harshly judged me. Now, they are calling me “supermom,” literally. But, even if they weren’t, who cares? I have to do what is best for my child even if it’s not best for me, and I don’t care what other people think. In the long run, I’m much more content and my son has always maintained he will care for me when he’s old. I don’t think he’ll have to, but it’s nice to know he wants to.</p>
<p>Teachers do not tell parents their kids are idiots, POIH. I’ll assume, for argument’s sake, you were using that as an example. I really hope you do not genuinely believe that they would say such a thing.</p>
<p>Also, there is a significant genetic heritability in innate intelligence. How it is expressed can be influenced by environmantal factors. Your bright daughter probably got her genetic intellectual predisposition from the maternal side of the family :rolleyes:</p>
<p>By the way, this week’s episode of “Wait Wait, Don’t Tell Me” had a field day with this story today!!</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>No, no, no, no … you don’t get to change things like that. The teacher would have had to say, “I’m not sure how much of this will make sense to (your child) as I don’t know if (his or her brain) have been exposed to a level of activity where it’s even possible to comprehend this logic.” </p>
<p>The teacher would also have to make this challenge to the (adult, by the way) student’s logic as the endnote of a disjointed lecture, which included statements such as:</p>
<p>
[quote]
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. [/qoute]</p>
<p>(*) [MIT</a> Facts 2011: Undergraduate Education](<a href=“http://web.mit.edu/facts/undergraduate.html]MIT”>Undergraduate Students – MIT Facts) — “From MIT’s founding as a “school of industrial science” in 1861, its mission—and its strength—has been the fusing of academic knowledge with practical purpose. The official seal of the Corporation, approved in 1864, displays a craftsman at the anvil and a scholar with a book, symbolizing the ideal cooperation between intellectual pursuits and practical application— ** between mind and hand, or mens et manus, which is MIT’s motto **. As a result, undergraduate education at MIT has traditionally combined rigorous academic training with a “learning-by-doing” approach to acquiring knowledge.” (emphasis mine)</p>
<p>jym626, I love that show. And Paula Poundstone’s grade school teachers best be lawyering up as we speak!</p>
<p>I wish the mother would realize that just because she could be put into a ‘better class’ she won’t have an advantage over other harvard applicants in about 14 years. She could get into weed during high school and then not apply to any colleges at all. And whose fault would that be? not the preschool’s (which is a joke for demanding $19k), but the mother’s for poor parenting, and obviously she has poor parenting skills. I wouldn’t be surprised if she read shakespeare when she was pregnant. If her child didnt get into harvard, she could blame shakespeare, for not giving her the proper english language skills. This lady is completely deranged and she needs to go to a mental rehab center.</p>
<p>P.S. i’m sorry if i sound a little harsh this just really upset me. People that go to regular old public high schools have a shot of getting into harvard if they work hard enough</p>
<p>Poih in post 320 – that’s not me you are responding to, it’s mtnmomma. My son never got an offer from MIT :-)</p>
<p>jym626:
</p>
<p>So you must be from the group that believe the URM at US colleges are due to their intellectually lower genetic heritage.</p>
<p>So in your view being born white or asian are the only way to get the superior intellectual genes.</p>
<p>I don’t believe in that and in my view the person’s upbringing has more to do with their intellectual growth than the genes they are born with.</p>
<p>Pizzagirl:
I wished as he is a deserving candidate.</p>
<p>mtnmomma: Congratulations to your DS!, he genuinely deserve it.</p>
<p>jym626–that whooshing sound you hear is your sarcasm going over POIH’s head…</p>
<p>oldfort, I commend you, and I apologize if I came across as judgmental. We all make different parenting choices, and no one way is best. I suggest home-schooling as just one option, certainly not as an imperative. (I do think even working parents can help their preschool kids learn numbers and the alphabet—even if it’s only by taping *Sesame Street * and buying a pack of flash cards. 
But, again, we all make different choices, and that’s OK.)</p>
<p>I think most of us would agree, though, that this Manhattan Mom–the lawsuit lady–is quite nutty and has taken the Preschool Thing way, waaaay too far…</p>
<p>*It’s sad if you ask me. The girl is in pre-school and age four at that. What’s wrong with her playing with kids half her age and learning about color and shapes? That’s apart of her development. That’s the kind of development that actually makes her smarter.</p>
<p>Not some exam question about how a reality television show impacts viewers…
*</p>
<p>Sister Vengeance, I could not agree more. Nowadays our kids are pushed so hard–and not just in Manhattan, and not just academically. Toddler T-Ball? What’s next? Baby Soccer? Newborn B-Ball?</p>
<p>When do our kids have time to just be kids?</p>
<p>simply ridiculous</p>
<p>Mommy Dearest!!!</p>
<p>I have been giving this thread a lot of thought and I do think it comes down to our own experiences as to what is right for our individual children. My only concern is the narrow focus on strictly academics that seems to be so prevalent on this forum </p>
<p>POIH–I say this with you in mind. I can tell that you love your D and are willing to do whatever you can to make her life as good as it can be. Please, don’t waste the precious time you have with her just planning her future. She will be grown before you know it–what will you do if in spite of all your hard work and hers she doesn’t get into your dream school?</p>
<p>I am know you feel that institutionalized educational experiences are the only way to go–and that may be all you can give your child at this point. Others of us are at different points in our lives where we feel confident in our ability to provide that ourselves. No need to argue about it.</p>
<p>When my first child was ready for pre-school, we actually paid for him to go to Head Start. It was a sacrifice(it was actually quite pricey) but we felt the experience would be worth it–he was the only child who had English as his first language. He didn’t need any academic preparation-he had already taught himself to read and was socially advanced. We felt he needed to learn about the world he lived in. </p>
<p>When it was time for MIT kid to go to preschool we didn’t have a lot of extra money (as I took time off work to be home with a newborn) and so we opted for the parent co-op. It was considered the “best” pre-school in town. The price was doable and I had the time. Kid was kicked out by Oct because he pinched the other children. Hahaha–we all agreed that he wasn’t quite mature enough for pre-school.</p>
<p>When I went back to work he and his baby brother spent their days with their dad (who worked nights). They spent a lot of time hiking through the forest (with baby in a hiking pack) and building lego cities. They even managed to build quite a wonderful fort in the back yard. I didn’t like the “no girls allowed” sign but they took it down when they reached their pre-teen years. </p>
<p>He did eventually attend the local community center pre-school (3 hours, 3 days a week) but there were no ABC’s or math worksheets, just paint, play dough and a really big sandbox. He still managed to be ready for K in spite of the sub par academics and his exposure to “average” children.</p>
<p>Anyway, he still managed to learn a lot (I still tell him I learned everything he knows by the time I was in the second grade and he nods and smiles–smart kid!). So when you “make fun” of us on this forum for not seeing things your way…well, its just kind of naive. We get it, but maybe what we don’t get is the world you come from or the obstacles you have had to overcome.</p>
<p>Baby Soccer?</p>
<p>Hey, Jimmy Connor’s mother taped a table tennis racquet to his hand(s) and suspended a tennis ball over his crib. It worked…</p>
<p>Illyria-- LOL. I only heard part of the show today. Its a riot. </p>
<p>mommusic- LOL to you too! You are so right. Quick wit is wasted on the banal.</p>
<p>POIH- You are apparently unfamiliar with this literature, and please don’t waste everyones time trying to pull up old Watson junk publications. There is a diffference between lack of intelligence and ignorance. Perhaps post #331 is a reflection the latter.</p>