<p>Tokenadult, I assume that you are talking about he UMTYMP program? I knew kids who participated in that program when I lived in Minnesota, but it didn’t always work out well for them – they were sometimes so accelerated that they had trouble finding math classes after that, or they may have dropped out of the program. I agree with Marite that BC calculus is not the typical course for 10th graders – I also believe that there are developmental issues regarding abstract reasoning which make this the case. I don’t think that the fact that most 10th graders are taking Algebra II/Trigonometry means that they are either slow or untalented in math.</p>
<p>In fact, I think that few kids are ready for Algebra at the age of 11 or 12 – once again, based on developmental studies I’ve read. For a student to take BC Calc in 10th grade, they would have to have taken Algebra 1 in 6th grade or so – is that right? The fact that most kids don’t do this doesn’t seem to mean that we have a dearth of talented math students in this country. </p>
<p>Finally, I have concern about the idea of accelerating too fast – I tend to think that some depth is lost in the process. So, to the OP, I would have to say that everything I’ve read says that Adcoms look at the grades within the context of difficulty. From a learning standpoint, why wouldn’t any parent want their child to take the most difficult course work they can handle? Real learning seems to take place at that place where the student just barely understands what is going on at first – when they spend more time, they really get the idea.</p>