I suspect then that the angling for positions at prestigious pre-school, kindergarten, prep, etc. is to add that little note to the kid’s “resume” that parents hope may tip the balance in university admission. Parents maybe think if Johnny has 15 years of “remarkable achievement” or getting past significant social filters, it will make the difference when they apply.
I know I found the “big fish little pond” syndrome to be very true. Even in a private school I coasted to consistent 2nd or 3rd in the class with minimal work; when I got into sciences in university, I found I was just average in that crowd. I imagine the same shock must occur especially to those remarkably gifted kids from small town America.
I recall at a recruiting seminar I once asked about marks vs. position at some of Canada’s bigger companies, and an HR fellow from some big company remarked that they did a survey - if they’d been hiring based only on (university) marks, most of their top managers would not have been hired. What makes you succeed in the real world has less to do with book learning and a lot to do with other qualities.
I can actually tell you what preschool I attended, it was one run by a different ELCA church than the one (also ELCA) that my family attended.
Of course, I’m now kinda stuck in the middle. I’ve got a MS, so my BS work doesn’t really matter anymore, but at least when looking for my first job I also had to deal with the questioning of why not going for the PhD.
On the one hand, my heart breaks for the kids who go to these schools and have to suffer such incredible pressure unrelentingly, from such a young age. But on the other hand, my heart breaks for all the smart kids born into middle class or poor homes, who will never have these kinds of advantages, and will surely suffer from it. Sure, if you are exceptional you can go to an ivy league college later, but who can say these kids in $20,000 a year preschools don’t have a leg up on that? I know the American Dream was always a lie, but stuff like this really shoves it your face.
That’s certainly what happened to me, although I was never from a small town. I was one of the top students in my fairly large, urban, high school, and was accepted at a quite prestigious college. Soon after I got there I realized that I was, as you say, just average among the students there. It was humbling.
:dubious: I would beg to differ. It’s just that it’s not absolute, that everyone will be successful. Nor is it an absolute that everyone born into poor homes will stay poor.
I believe that also say a lot about the job market in Canada. In most cases, school name doesn’t count for much when trying to land a job here. I’ve heard that it might angle in your favour in the MBA/Law world. If you are being interviewed by alumni that also might count for something (but only with Canadian schools that stress alumni connections). It’s a program over name issue up here.
I often scratch my head at the private schools in Canada as their graduates usually end up at the same schools as their public school counterparts. There are a few old-boys club high schools though.
I’m a product of one of our so-called “Canadian Ivy League” schools and it hasn’t helped me nail down a decent job.
I remember taking those tests to get into kindergarten myself. Blocks matching, looking at pictures with missing parts and explaining what was missing, etc. In the Midwest, in 1971. It’s not a new practice or restricted to Manhattan.
Then my parents got divorced and (private school now too expensive) I was switched to public school. I went from “bright enough but struggles” to “omg she’s too smart for the class” and got quickly slated into the “advanced” class (what they now call “enriched” I think).
There the kids were basically the same as in the private school, but less rich and more mean I think the “mean” was more due to the age than the school, though.
Due to not continuing in private school, of course, I was unable to get admitted to Ivy League universities. I mean, what other possible reason could there be? (kidding) I still got a good education, and now work at the best possible company to work for.
Okay. I have to know. How do you intend four to five year olds to get the dog out of the ice. I just can’t see you handing flammables or power tools to small children. By that age I already knew how to cook meth and reload .30-06 cartridges, but I thought quality time with Mummy in New York was different. The only other solution that springs to mind is to smash the ice open. Could you post the results on YouTube if you intend for the children to smash kilogram sized blocks of ice against the floor, walls, or themselves? Thx!
I provide them with salt, toothbrushes, and warm water. They also come up with ideas which I let them try including shining flashlights on the ice, whacking it with a block, and poking at it with kid scissors. They ask for, but do not receive, fire. Most of them succeed, but if they are getting tired I suggest they put their ice in the sink and run warm water over it for a few minutes, which does the trick. Generally the dogs are close to one side of the balloon unless I am sadistic enough and have good enough timing to rotate the balloons after the right amount of first stage freezing. So pretty soon after they begin they will be able to touch part of the dog, which encourages them to keep going.
All the redneck kids in my class would have been all over that animal frozen in ice problem too. Book smarts never beats a daddy (or momma) who teaches you how to use the heavy ammo around the house when it comes to brute force problems.
I think the “mean” was more due to the age than the school, though.
