Yes, there is such a thing as having a good dilemma. We received a letter this week from the school district notifying us that our girl is being recommended for math acceleration at grade 6. Multiple points were of focus to determine this placement; her 4th grade math state test scores, her 5th grade math core assessments, teacher recommendation, and her Algebra Prognosis test score that she recently completed.
We are so very proud of her and know that the accelerated program would be a perfect fit for her sixth and seventh grade academics. However, the rest of the letter is very clear that once in the program students are expected to continue in the accelerated path through high school graduation. Which means, that she will be taking Calculus AB as a Junior and Calculus BC as a Senior. I do not know what that really means, other than it is a big deal from the Seniors that I know who have been in the program.
Charting my daughter's academic path as an eleven year old student is a dilemma. After discussion with her teacher, she feels my child will be bored in the standard math track. I agree with her now, but I am more worried about the future. If she enrolls, she is stuck in a sense, because to opt-out in the future (I'm not even sure what qualifies a student/parent to be granted an opt-out) would mean she'd be repeating the same class for two years. Then we'd be right back to the bored factor. If she sticks with it, but is completely stressed out and needs tutor help, would it be worth it? Or maybe she goes in the accelerated program from 6th to 12th and shines. Or she opts for the standard path and finds it challenging enough as she continues to higher grade levels.
We will only know the correct answer of our choice when it is all said and done on high school graduation night. Until then we will need to think smart. We have two weeks to decide.
I joked with her that if she wasn't so responsible, such a hard worker, serious student with smarts, then we wouldn't be in such A Good Dilemma!
2 comments:
How about talking with kids in the accelerated program?
You must feel very proud.
A very good dilemma for sure!
I would go for it. It is always better to be challenged than bored. There are SO many ways that a really good math core will help her in college, especially if she is at all interested in any of the sciences. Math and calculus are the fundamental building blocks of physics, chemistry, statistics, etc. It may even qualify her for NOT having to take certain core classes in college if she's already had advanced math in high school and count towards some of her prerequisites, if say, she doesn't choose a science major.
(This coming from the one with the B.S. in Biochemistry, who started out a Chemistry major, but changed because she didn't want to take that second year of calculus! So, take what I say with a grain of salt. =))
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