As entrance in top schools has become more and more competitive, parents are becoming more aggressive in seeking to guarantee every advantage for their children. In the case of Nicole Imprescia, this means going to court to sue a school over its failure to prepare her daughter for the Ivy League. Her daughter, Lucia, is four. The school is the York Avenue Preschool. It seems that there are “Tiger Moms” but then there are “Tiffany Moms.”
The preschool is $19,000 a year and Imprescia insists that she paid the money because (and this is actually in the filing) “[i]t is no secret that getting a child into the Ivy League starts in nursery school.” Imprescia insists that the pre-school was not grooming Lucia for the Ivy League but simply letting her play with friends.
The filing also notes “[s]tudies have shown entry into a good nursery school guarantees more income than entry into an average school.” Wow.
Imprescia insists that the school should have been prepping Lucia for the intelligence test known as the E.R.B. and that she has fallen behind her competitors among the four-year-old crowd.
I know little about the E.R.B. and my wife and I are committed to supporting the public school system. While we have had serous concerns over class size in Fairfax County, we believe strongly in reinforcing the public school system. With Madie completing kindergarten, it now appears that I have already missed the window for top schools and probably set her on a course for a penal institution. On the other hand, she just made a really really cool Leperechaun trap.
Source: NY Times and first seen on ABA Journal
Jonathan Turley
Off topic but on the subject of educational testing:
From Huffington (3/17/2011)
SAT Prompt About Reality TV Angers Students
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/17/sat-prompt-asks-students-_n_837087.html
Excerpt:
When prepping for the SAT, don’t forget to review grammar, vocab and … Jersey Shore?
A question on one recent version of the SAT asked students to assess the social impact of reality television — to the horror of test-takers who aren’t familiar with the pop culture phenomenon.
According to the New York Times, students expressed dismay at the question through online discussion forums like College Confidential. In a thread discussing the prompt, one student wrote, “this is one of those moments when I wish I actually watched T.V.”
Another student told the New York Daily News that she had been preparing for questions of a higher caliber. “A lot of what we did in SAT prep classes was to use historical events or literature in our essays,” she said. “I guess the kids who watch crap T.V. did well.”
The Washington Post reports that offended students complained that the question unfairly assumed that all test-takers have a television, watch reality shows and can tell such programs apart — putting students who don’t fit these assumptions at a disadvantage.
But officials from the College Board say that the question was fair, and that any student could answer it regardless of T.V.-watching habits. College Board official Laurence Bunin told the Post that the question had been selected in an attempt to relate to and engage students, and that it had garnered favorable responses in pre-tests.
According to the Daily News, however, only one-third of test-takers got the question.
BIL….
I hope you are feeling better very soon !
” Imprescia insists that the pre-school was not grooming Lucia for the Ivy League but simply letting her play with friends. ”
Outright child abuse…allowing a 4 year old to play with her friends rather than learning calculus!!!
Parents like this should really be required to take some insensive child development training prior to having children. Perhaps then they will be able to understand how children learn during the various stages that they go through in early development. Children at 4 learn through play, and they develop important social skills and confidence through this type of play. It is the building block that prepares them for higher level learning. So many parents push their children to learn beyond what they are cognitivly ready to learn creating poor self confidence, and often causing them to miss certain ” pre ” learning skills.
Thanks to parents like this, I will never have to worrky about being out of work!!!