Talk me off the ledge, people.
I live in NYC, and people take Kindergarten admissions very seriously. My 4 year old is in pre-school now, and we are applying to K next year. I never thought this process would be so stressful.
There are two options for us - public or private. Both my husband and I are fundamentally opposed to private schools (we are both products of the NYC public school system, and damn proud of it). Still, wishing to cover all my bases, I went to a bunch of private school open houses, and I was unimpressed. The kids were snobby, the teachers were obnoxious. The other parents carried on discussions about the superiority of one area code over another and how inadequate their nannies are. This is just not my life, and I know that my son will NOT fit in with kids like that. But whenever I mention that I am not applying to Collegiate/Trinity/Dalton, I get looks of horror. "You mean you are not applying to ANY of them?" (Also, I would feel like a total dunce paying 30,000/year for Kindergarten!) Am I wrong about this? Am I just arrogant and snobby in my own way by looking down on these obviously prestigious schools?
Then, there are public schools. We have several citywide "Gifted & Talented" schools, and to get into those, the kid has to be in the 99th percentile (nationally) on the OLSAT, which is a very inadequate IQ test. As an academic with a focus on cognitive psychology, I am totally opposed to IQ tests like this. As a parent, I realize that I need to play the system to give my son the best shot at a good school. Has anyone gone through this sort of process? So far, my son is pretty cool with the prep we are doing (about an hour of work books every day), and is very enthusiastic about it. But, I do feel bad about what many others would call "robbing him of his childhood," aka "just let him be a kid."
Rant over. Opinions? Advice? Words of wisdom and comfort?
I live in NYC, and people take Kindergarten admissions very seriously. My 4 year old is in pre-school now, and we are applying to K next year. I never thought this process would be so stressful.
There are two options for us - public or private. Both my husband and I are fundamentally opposed to private schools (we are both products of the NYC public school system, and damn proud of it). Still, wishing to cover all my bases, I went to a bunch of private school open houses, and I was unimpressed. The kids were snobby, the teachers were obnoxious. The other parents carried on discussions about the superiority of one area code over another and how inadequate their nannies are. This is just not my life, and I know that my son will NOT fit in with kids like that. But whenever I mention that I am not applying to Collegiate/Trinity/Dalton, I get looks of horror. "You mean you are not applying to ANY of them?" (Also, I would feel like a total dunce paying 30,000/year for Kindergarten!) Am I wrong about this? Am I just arrogant and snobby in my own way by looking down on these obviously prestigious schools?
Then, there are public schools. We have several citywide "Gifted & Talented" schools, and to get into those, the kid has to be in the 99th percentile (nationally) on the OLSAT, which is a very inadequate IQ test. As an academic with a focus on cognitive psychology, I am totally opposed to IQ tests like this. As a parent, I realize that I need to play the system to give my son the best shot at a good school. Has anyone gone through this sort of process? So far, my son is pretty cool with the prep we are doing (about an hour of work books every day), and is very enthusiastic about it. But, I do feel bad about what many others would call "robbing him of his childhood," aka "just let him be a kid."
Rant over. Opinions? Advice? Words of wisdom and comfort?
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