Posts by mellowskipper

Did everything just grind to a halt during COVID? Maybe. But this year, there really isn't any excuse for things staying closed—not anymore. I’m personally hoping we finally see those open campus days or maybe even some kind of local high school fair.
Just keep an eye on the local news outlets or the district portals... I don't know what else you'd check, honestly.

wanderingbadger77 said:Honestly, if you just scrape those book summaries off the internet, you aren't really solving anything.
Most kids don't even bother reading them in the first place.

There isn't really any copying involved—not when there’s a test or an essay prompt that asks for a specific detail you simply couldn't have plucked from a summary. In her class, everyone actually reads; I can see from the parent group chats that a whole swarm of parents are reading along with them, too.

Jason Ortiz5 said:I can't speak for the official district policy, but for our local high school, I’d suggest reaching out to the school counselor. She pops into parent meetings every now and then, and she’s always mentioned that we can swing by for anything—not just when things go sideways. Honestly, she seems super friendly and easy to talk to, really approachable...

That's about all I know.

Alright, thanks. I think I'll try reaching out to the counselors at those two high schools I've been looking at. Maybe they'll have some open house events coming up soon, which might be a better way to handle it.

Jacob Lopez2 said:We didn't have grades from first through fourth grade, so we just managed fine once we hit fifth grade; I don't recall any massive shockwaves back then.

It honestly feels to me like they’re demanding way too much from kids in the upper elementary years these days. By fifth grade—if not even sooner—they're expected to put together projects, give presentations, and conduct actual research, which is stuff we barely touched on in high school and didn't get serious about until college.

Basic fundamental knowledge is almost entirely ignored when it comes to grading. You should have to study just as hard for second grade as you do for fifth, but if you miss a single point, suddenly you're looking at a C or a D.
That’s how we were taught, and it wasn't until we were in university. I have no idea which schools are handing out failing grades to everyone, but in my district, they certainly don't hand out grades for free. In fact, the grading is actually harsher than what anyone would reasonably expect based on actual knowledge.

Exactly, Cepin40. Just look at the book reports where they ask seven questions like, "Connect the author's biography to the socio-political context of the era," and so on.
We truly only dealt with stuff like that in high school. My friends who went to vocational schools never had to do it.
I'm not sure if this is the case in every elementary school, or if this is just the standard curriculum for reading assignments. Back in my day, you would just write a bilješka o pisac.
And there are plenty of examples like that across a whole bunch of other subjects.

Is there actually some kind of admissions coordinator or a specific point of contact at high schools—I’m not even sure what the official title would be, I guess—that I can reach out to?
Would it be possible to request an appointment to sit down with my kid and have a brief conversation if they’re interested in a particular school and have a few questions?
Or am I just supposed to browse the school's website and call it a day?

Nicole Patel2 said:You’d probably need a referral to get into one of the hospitals.

I know that Rib, Vinogradski, and—if I recall correctly—maybe Petrov definitely have outpatient clinics specializing in obesity. Perhaps someone here can chime in with a specific recommendation for a particular doctor...

I'm not sure what Petrov has to do with this—that's basically just a maternity ward and a gynecology clinic.
Rib and Vinogradski almost certainly have an obesity clinic under their endocrinology department.

Sarah Hall53 said:Look, speaking from my experience as a teacher—and I say this with all due respect to both sides—I’m really against pushing school start dates back for no reason, but I’m just as much against rushing kids into enrollment earlier than they're ready.
You can actually see the fallout when they hit 7th grade and hit the wall with science classes like physics and chemistry. At twelve years old, most kids haven't quite developed that capacity for abstract thinking that these subjects demand—mostly because that cognitive leap usually doesn't happen until they're around thirteen. So, you end up making everything unnecessarily difficult for them, turning what should be learning into a total nightmare of frustration and "why am I even doing this?!" moments.

Larry Walker24 said:I run into this exact same mess every single year.

Sarah Hall53, you really hit the nail on the head there—I'm not entirely sure if it's down to some complex neurobiology or just basic physics, but I guess it’s possible. A friend's kid actually enrolled earlier, and by the time they hit seventh grade, everything just... fell apart. It was a total meltdown—to the point where they ended up seeing a child psychologist because of these massive learning hurdles. Everything seemed perfectly fine until that point, though. Maybe it's just how things go.

Susan James said:The main reason is that they’d have to overhaul the entire school district policy.
Right now, for 5th and 6th grade, they only look at the overall GPA, whereas for 7th and 8th, they start factoring in specific subject grades.
Can you imagine the total chaos if they suddenly decided to switch things up and look at individual subject grades for 5th and 6th grade instead of just that general average? (Which, let's be honest, isn't even a super helpful metric anyway).

So, apparently, changing the regulations isn't even within the scope of Congressional procedure—which means the bureaucrats over at the Department have to fix it themselves, and then the Secretary has to sign off on it. It’s just... honestly, it's appalling.
I suppose I have to agree regarding this senseless category—though I'm not exactly thrilled about it.

I suppose I should probably address this—though I’m not entirely sure why it matters at this point—but regarding capttawish... kaže:
Under the old grading system—back when things were actually straightforward—they only looked at seventh and eighth grade marks. Then, out of nowhere, they decided to overhaul the entire scoring process and suddenly started factoring in the overall GPA from fifth and sixth grade too... which, of course, hit the generation that was already sitting in eighth grade at the time. So, I guess it’s not exactly a new phenomenon to see them introduce this kind of chaos. There's definitely a precedent for it.

Yeah, we’re looking at a total revolution in how the scoring and admissions systems actually work.

Susan James said:It's actually mandatory in 5th and 6th grade.
it could work...

If that's the case, then I honestly don't get why it isn't already implemented?
I mean, basic chemistry, right?

Larry Walker24 said:Chemistry and computer tech? What kind of weird combo is that?

Well, the most logical choice would be Computer Science, but apparently, that’s an elective—so that’s off the table. That leaves us with chemistry, history, or maybe music. Honestly, it doesn't really matter; none of those subjects are actually going to help someone working as a computer technician, I suppose.

It seems to me—if I may be so bold—that you might actually have a gifted child on your hands

Michelle Nelson4 said:Parents often try to "sneak" classical languages into their kids' schedules by enrolling them in specialized private academies where class sizes are smaller and the pressure feels a bit more manageable. They figure, "Hey, it won't hurt them," and they just get used to it.

And of course, the entry scores look lower because they’re pulling from a disproportionately tiny pool of students, which ends up stretching that grading scale from a perfect 4.0 all the way down to a passing grade. Given how many kids are hitting those minimum requirements at local three-year vocational schools, I suspect there are still plenty of them out there 😁

Honestly, all this outrage about needing such high scores to get into an elite school like Isaac Newton is kind of ridiculous. It's the perfectly predictable outcome of a policy that decides admissions should be based solely on classroom grades and absolutely nothing else. Any time you make a one-sided decision like that, you're going to see these kinds of anomalies. This isn't a new problem; the current system has been fundamentally flawed for decades, and this is just one more symptom of that deep-rooted issue.

If they actually implemented standardized testing for the specific subjects these schools care about, then a kid's history grade wouldn't matter nearly as much. That would give students the actual power to choose between a STEM-focused academy or somewhere like Isaac Newton.

Regarding Isaac Newton—it’s about damn time they implemented an entrance exam. I mean, maybe I'm being too harsh, but honestly? It feels necessary at this point.

Michelle Nelson4 said:Honestly, even these "standard" programs have relatively low average scores compared to the rest of our top-tier prep schools. It's not just that the classicist approach isn't trendy anymore; it’s been true for at least a decade now—these are some of the easiest high-level academies to get into, provided you aren't looking at the ones out in the suburbs or those private Catholic schools that take anyone with a decent attitude.

I've heard enough people claiming that the technical high school over in Newport is absolutely top-tier—so, I guess if you don't manage to get into Isaac Newton, that’s where everyone ends up heading.

Kate Jackson4 said:It all comes down to the demographics... urban centers require significantly higher scores than the suburbs, and New York City is likely the worst case scenario.

The entry threshold for computer technicians climbs by about two points every year; in New York City, if you aren't an honor student, you're basically out of luck.

My boy won't even consider prep school... he says he has no interest in studying everything, just the things that actually matter to him.😁

Yeah, the cutoff scores are climbing—it’s getting absolutely ridiculous at this point. I mean, honestly, every school that's being flooded by these incoming waves really ought to implement an entrance exam, and one that actually carries more weight than what we're seeing now. It just seems like the only logical way to handle the influx, I guess. Maybe it's too blunt a solution, but things are getting out of hand.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy A13 via Reddit

https://bhvedu.com/2023/01/05/sajam-...nje-u-americi/
Here’s the link—if anyone actually cares to look into it.

Brenda Martin8 said:Hey, does anyone know if having diarrhea on the fourth day of the flu is normal? Has anyone else dealt with this? It's really worrying me and honestly just making everything so much harder.

It can happen—honestly, it’s more common in kids, but adults definitely deal with it too.

I’ve sat through this one twice now—and honestly, I think it grew on me—but there is just this one specific thing I absolutely cannot get past.
Generally speaking, though, I suppose James Wan is alright enough.

Peter Rogers said:Emma is such a total idiot.
I honestly couldn't even get into Dorian Gray's stuff either, especially since I had to go out of my way just to decipher his writing style, which felt... I don't know, just unnecessarily provocative?
I haven't finished everything they've written, but from what I have managed to get through, I wouldn't say they were all just being hateful for the sake of it.
It’s been years now and I still struggle to actually sit down and finish a book properly; instead of actually absorbing the story, I’m just staring at the pages, panicking, trying to check off a box so I can say I "read" it, while my mind is drifting off into space somewhere else entirely.

In the original script
we never really had access to Dorian g.'s work.
Anyway, I'm glad I pushed through those school reading lists too; they do enrich you in a way, I guess. You gain a bit of general knowledge, a sense of culture, and maybe even expand your vocabulary a little.
Back then, though, I certainly didn't see it that way.

I suppose I should probably weigh in here—though I’m not entirely sure if anyone actually wants my take on this particular mess. It feels like we’re circling the same drain, doesn't it? I mean, looking at the way things are trending lately, it’s almost predictable, if you have the stomach for it. I guess what I'm trying to say is that there’s a certain level of inevitability to these situations—a sort of slow-motion train wreck that everyone just watches while sipping their coffee. Maybe I'm being too cynical, or maybe I'm just seeing the patterns more clearly than most. It’s hard to tell sometimes. Anyway, I’ll just leave that hanging there. kaže:
🤣
I felt that impulse from the very first time I picked it up—I mean, I really did. To be honest, the book itself feels like a living, breathing bore. It’s just... tedious. I guess some epistolary novels actually manage to pull off a decent plot, but this one? Not so much. ☕

I seem to have this lingering habit—if you can even call it that—where I find myself powering through a book just to see if any little detail might accidentally show up on a test... I guess I just keep reading until the very end, sort of obsessively checking for those tiny plot points that could trip me up later.

Keith Nguyen7 said:I actually finished Crime and Punishment too. That one was a bit easier for me. But Anna Karenina? That was the first book I physically couldn't finish. And I used to be one of those kids who actually tried to get through all the required reading. Honestly, that book was the turning point where I officially stopped being a diligent student and started just skimming everything 😁

Crime and Punishment is absolutely phenomenal.
Anna Karenina—well, that was just my impression at the time—what a total idiot.I have to say—honestly—that book was just... terrible. I really wanted to like it, but it was an absolute disaster from start to finish.

Come on, you little manchild

nimblelynx7 said:Honestly, this is one of those books that actually holds up.
I've read plenty of much worse.

The servant answers to Smail aga,
within his own Tower of London,
deep in Germany.

Have faith—truly, have faith—and maybe, just maybe, that faith will be what saves you.
Well, I guess it happened to me too—that whole thing with the agency.

Easy for Russ—but what about Judith? Or that whole mess involving the tenant, maybe even some fishing and all that endless complaining that comes with it... I practically bled for this one