[FoRK] to skip or not to skip

[Corinna Schultz]

On Jan 14, 2008 6:26 PM, Ken Meltsner <meltsner at alum.mit.edu> wrote:
> Skipping, even radically (several grades), is a lot less damaging than
> being stuck with a  bunch of stupid classmates.

This is in line with my experience. I *despised* attending middle
school in south Texas for this reason. (and my parents moved me back
there for my senior year, too. I couldn't wait to leave, especially
once I knew I was going to California.)

Ironically, I was skipped by an elementary school in south Texas. I
wonder how that happened?

[In case anyone is confused, I lived in or near Harlingen off and on
as a kid because my grandparents are there, and my father was in the
air force, so when he had to go off by himself somewhere, we went to
live with my grandparents.]

>Warning:  the educational establishment views acceleration/skipping
as evil and to
> be avoided at almost all costs.

Yeah, that's the vibe I'm getting from our elementary school. I don't
want to alienate them by pushing really hard, but I do feel it would
be in the best interests of my kid down the line to be skipped. She's
not profoundly gifted, just smarter than her peers. We're still doing
lessons now and again at home, especially during vacation days, just
to make sure our kids are learning *something*.

My son is in a similar position intellectually, but he has definite
social problems, and his WISC scores were all over the place. The
school thinks he might have Asperger's, and he qualifies for special
ed services and an IEP. He's getting some good attention that I think
is helping him, but I think academically he is only challenged in
writing composition. I'm happy with where he is at school for the time
being, since the social problems really need to be nailed down as much
as possible before he enters middle school.