<p>I not only agree with Soozievt’s analysis of the OP, but if you feel any poster is a ■■■■■, please don’t respond to the post. If you feel the question is legitimate…post. We’re all adults and don’t need people telling us who to believe and who not to believe. Geesh.</p>
<p>I also think if you believe someone is ■■■■■■■■ on CC, report it to the moderators. If they feel someone is ■■■■■■■■, they would take care of it. </p>
<p>About the little boy who was about nine in the classroom where I was the sub…I recall it pretty vividly. He is very bright but he was not always focused, wasn’t getting work done, etc. I was reading over his journal entry about wanting to go to MIT and I asked how he had heard of it (this is NOT a community like many of you reside in and going to MIT would be VERY RARE). He told me how he wanted to be an architect and had met ones who had gone to MIT (we have several architects in our community, many whom have moved here for the lifestyle but grew up and were educated elsewhere). I recall talking to him about how it was good to have goals and what he would need to do to work hard to reach those goals and dreams (he really could have used a goal to hang onto and to keep him motivated to do the work). This is not a place where many families discuss college admissions or have goals of the Ivy League. As well, I think this local single mom has had to struggle with some educational issues with her bright son who has other problems in class at times, or did back then anyway. I can see the OP and her son in a similar light.</p>
<p>Also, look at the posting names that ■■■■■■ DO use. This poster, in her naivety, who has never posted here before, may have joined using her real name. Most ■■■■■■ would not do that. Even most “Ivy tracked Parents” would not do that.</p>
<p>A lot of you live in middle to upper middle class communities where lots of kids and families in the school aspire to a race to get to the Ivy League. I read thread after thread about such communities. Even books are written about this. I read posts about how many graduates of some of your schools got into every single Ivy and top school. Well, you simply are not aware of other communities. Only 2/3’s of the graduates of our HS even GO to a 4 year college. Once in a while someone from the HS gets into an Ivy. That’s one Ivy for the entire school. Where this poster is coming from is not like where many of you may be coming from. </p>
<p>Let’s just say, for example, she were a nurse in a hospital and has many acquaintences who are well educated doctors whom her son has met. Just like the little boy I was referring to here who wants to be an architect and had met several very well educated ones in our community. The mom, wanting a “better life” for her son, knows the names of these top colleges and even alums and has exposed her son to it all. Not far fetched to me.</p>
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<p>I wasn’t aware of that. I’ve looked around CC and I can’t find this spelled out anywhere. Perhaps you can direct me to this rule. I haven’t seen it observed in my time on CC, assuming that such a rule does exist. </p>
<p>Frequently, amazingly poor diction is a indication of a made-up post. I guess it is part of the fun for the person who does it. This is why I pointed it out. If there is a rule about not pointing out errors, I will not do so again.</p>
<p>I have little doubt the post is fake. There is no reason to report such a thing to a moderator if entertainment or enlightenment is forthcoming, much less any obligation to do so. Nor is there any requirement that people simply ignore that which they do not believe. </p>
<p>If the post is not fake, it still deserves a mocking response, albeit for another reason. I would prefer to think that someone is trying to make a joke rather there is someone who is considering how to buff the credentials, narrow down the colleges and majors, and explore college course offerings for a seven year old.</p>
<p>Having homeschooled my daughter and been on homeschool boards for years, I can tell you that I’ve never heard anyone who homeschooled a young child, however precocious, sound like this. It rang very false in my ears. I also don’t see anything working class or rural about the post, which happened to be my original background. I certainly didn’t run across alumni of Harvard, MIT, and Princeton nor did I see people writing like this or expressing such sentiments.</p>
<p>It seems that no matter how outlandish a post, some want to believe it.</p>
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<p>I knew, from about 3rd or 4th grade, that I wanted to go to UCLA. I grew up in LA, which makes it less exceptional than the aforementioned child, but I still knew it.</p>
<p>Here’s a test. I PM’ed the OP yesterday- no response so far. If none in a few days, must not be real.</p>
<p>Soozie , with all due respect I don’t think I care whether the OP is from the planet Zeldar, much less if she comes from an un-savvy background on this planet. The kid is seven years old. People should be told that asking about Ivy admission strategies when their kid is 7 is inappropriate behavior no matter what the circumstances. (BTW, I did allow for the possibility that it was a real post. I suggested immediate family counseling which is what I would have suggested if I knew the post was real.)</p>
<p>^Well…the op has probably run from this board like her hair was on fire, never to return. </p>
<p>I remember when I first started posting here and was ‘mocked’ or chastised. I would sit in the privacy of my computer niche, with cheeks flushed red with embarrassment, convinced you all thought I was an idiot. This is a board full of educated, savvy folks and it can get intimidating… especially for a newcomer who gets rolled over by dozens of sarcastic posts. It would take some guts to come back.</p>
<p>OOPs sorry curmudgeon, crossed posts with you. My arrow points to the post above you.</p>
<p>Curmudgeon - This one is for you. Why is it surprising or inappropriate that someone would start the Ivy League ‘strategery’ at age 7? That’s about when parents throw full pads on these little buggers and put them on a football field in hopes of a college or professional sports career.</p>
<p>What is “natural” about how early to think about these things depends on the circles the family socializes in.</p>
<p>ldmom–true, but most are not asking, “I’d like to see him on the Steelers or Cowboys. He’s looked up their stats and thinks he’d fit on either one.”</p>
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<p>weenie, I just about chocked myself laughing…Yes, it would be quite something, I assure you. The years have not been kind. jmmom would never worry about her son entering a Hooters again.</p>
<p>ta and ld, are y’all being serious? Strategizing, planning, calculating and devising a path to the Ivy League at age 7 could be considered appropriate behavior? If so, at what age is it inappropriate to start the campaign? Amniocentesis? When considering your mate? ;)</p>
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<p>How many 7-years old care to know that their acquaintances are alumni of HPM and have had conversations about their “overview of courses”? How many 17-year olds, for that matter, have had such conversations until they actually are deciding on which college to apply to (and maybe not even then)? I don’t think my S, at 7, knew the difference between knot theory and differential geometry, combinatorics and recombinant DNA, Plato and NATO.</p>
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I want to be careful not to offend anyone so let me politely say “Because it is bug-eating nuts.”</p>
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I don’t know about Plato or Nato. My kid knew about Play-doh. She had a big set. We worked with that stuff for hours. She knew about Pluto- that’s one goofy dog. And that horrific “Littlest Pet Shop”. I spent days in agony with that. I always exited after a couple of parental eons by saying I was the vet and she wasn’t keeping up on her bill. Oh, the fun times. Maybe I should have tried those Natorecomtorics. Were they like Legos? ;)</p>
<p>I’m not that experienced here, but Carla could be a real person. One of my son’s friends was doing “hydraulics projects” at the beach with PVC pipes and building unbelievable structures with working parts from a very young age. His parents are both electrical engineers and I could easily have described him as interested in Engineering. He was and still is. I also think some kids show incredible business talents and interest early. And if a parent’s friends who are alums visit and get asked about their college coursework, they could give even a 7 year old a brief overview of what’s offered that could be of interest.</p>
<p>It’s still too early to be worrying about Ivies, imo, but I don’t plan to ever worry about Ivies.</p>
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But bethie after all that, the family couldn’t be said to be naive or un-savvy about the process, could they?</p>
<p>Littlest Pet Shop! Ah, good times, good times.</p>
<p>bethievt, I suspect lots of little boys have a natural interst in physics. When my son was 7, he’d always be asking H a million physics-related questions about engines & drag & thrust & torque, etc. But it was normal 7 year old stuff. As H is an engineer, he could toss ideas back & forth & apply the principle to other machines in a way a 7 year old could grasp. When he was a toddler & was addicted to construction site videos (parents of girls may not be aware of that fascinating series) I didn’t start researching good civil engineering programs.</p>
<p>curmudgeon - first of all, you crack me up… always. </p>
<p>I didn’t make my point well. Of course, 7 year olds shouldn’t be prepped for Ivy League…or the NFL. That IS bug eatin’ nuts. I’m just saying that it shouldn’t be presumed the op was a ■■■■■ because she is no different that millions of parents who stick a golf club in a 2 year old’s hand, or sign a 4 year old up for Mandarin Chinese lessons, or put toddler in front of computer loaded with math software. </p>
<p>My daughter took up tumbling when she was a 6th grader. We waited until we knew it was her choice and she would have the drive to succeed at the sport without our constant prodding. And it worked, she became quite good…and all I had to do was write the checks. But the gym where she trained started kids at as soon as they were out of diapers. There were teeny tinies throwing aerials on the beam…and plenty of blubbering, overstressed kids and out-of-control ambitious parents. </p>
<p>There is just a wave of bug-eatin’ insanity rolling across this country when it comes to parental ambition. And for that reason, I took the op to be a serious poster.</p>