所幸的是，兒子上的都是提高班(honor class)，班上的同學基本上比較固定，加上他和幾個朋友都是管弦樂隊的成員，這樣他上初中後，朋友倒多了起來。今年他開始對AMV感興趣，花了很多時間編輯下載的動畫片，配音樂，然後貼到YouTube上。 這個新的愛好讓很多同學覺得他很酷(他的同學在七年級的年級同學冊上寫道："You are the coolest Chinese kid I know"! "You rock!”)。他看了可真開心。上了八年級以後，他被選入Advance Honor Math 班，班上囊括了這個年級最好的學生。兒子很快和他們年級數學第一名，一個波蘭孩子Konrad 成了好朋友。Konrad 的父母是我認識的非中國人中對孩子的教育最上心的(他們也是第一代移民，十幾年前從波蘭來美國讀書的 ，所以和在這裡的波蘭人對孩子教育的理念很不一樣)。他在業餘時間經常去西北大學的Center for Talent Development 上提高班，今年暑假裡還上了一門算學分的幾何課，打算上高中時幾何免掉。兒子幾次考試都比他略少幾分，於是開始把他作為追趕的目標,經常跟我們說起他和Konrad 之間的競爭。在他的影響下，兒子主動要求明年去西北大學考SAT，還要求也去西北上統計和幾何課。
Konrad 和兒子一樣，對機器人也很感興趣，今年九月他和他弟弟，我兒子和另外一 個朋友組織了一個團隊，參加First Lego League 的比賽。每周末這四個孩子在我家聚集，設計機器人，研究圖書館的能源利用效率等等，非常開心。離比賽還有一個月，他們已經成功地完成了十四個mission 的一大半。我作為他們這個團隊的“教練”，當然也得陪着他們，給他們出主意，幫他們找資料，聯繫去圖書館現場勘察訪問，雖然很花時間，有時也很累，看到他們信心十足地憧憬過關斬將進入“World Festival”的樣子，我心裡非常慶幸兒子找到了和他興趣相投，對他有積極的正面影響的朋友！希望他們的友誼能夠長久！
Thanks for all the kind suggestions! But I will never send my daughter to a boarding school! Never! I only have this one daughter, and I want to see her growth with me. In fact, we live in a very good community, but there is only one best public high school in the downtown area (number 3 nationally based on some criteria evaluation). But most of the time the students are competing with Asians (Chinese, Indians, Kareans). I hate that and I don't want her to do that. She is always number one in her school but I don't want her to be that competitive. Being number 1 or going to Harvard does not necessarily make you happy, especially for a girl. I always told her if you get a "B" in your class, it is OK. She also has very good social skills. She was selected as the most outstanding student (student of the year when she was in 6th grade) and she was selected as the President of the model UN program when she was in 7th grade. My point is: Happiness and have a better life are more important than all of the above I mentioned.
We have a very close friend whose daughter just went to Harvard last year and that girl is definitely a genius. Now her parents are worrying about her too.Their worry is: who would want to be her husband in the future? You may laugh at me for saying that! But here is her simple life list:
Smart, tall (5.7 feet) and pretty,and so good at everything (She got accepted by all 8 colleges in the US last year including Harvard, Yale, Prinston, Standford, U-Pen....). She can speak 4 languages, number 1 in 2 consecutive Olympic chemisty games, number one in essay competition state level and got $10,000 for that, number two in piano competition state level, Captain of school debate team, selected as one of the delegations visiting China this summer (3 weeks free for evertying and visited Hong Kong, Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hongzhou, and Xi'an). During the whole trip, two CCTV reporters were following them and my friend's daughter was always the most outstanding, because she is the only one that can speak Chinese very fluently and she hosted two big celebration parties for this delegation. And she is only 19!
My point here is: if your child is a genius, let her be. But my daughter is not. Her IQ may be the top 20% or 10%, but definitely not top 1% like that girl (that girl was already selected as the editor of Harvard press, a press where JFK was the chief editor!). If she is not that smart, I don't want her to work that hard to keep the number 1. It is too hard and definitely not good for her future life.
So good that I could share with you guys about that genius girl I know! Sorry Zhao Jun for the long comments here:)!
If you school district in Florida is not good enough, don’t sale your home and move out! Move your child out to a boarding school! They study, they play, and they work and dine together. They learn from each others social behaviors. We know that 90% of an academic excellence is not a guarantee to break glass ceiling late on in their job. We have to let our child to learn how to merge into main stream of the American Society!
The best place for that to happen is when they are young and lives together.
My experience tells me that when my daughters achieved a straight-A'status ever since her elementary school to junior high school, (our school district HS API is about 825) then how would you compare your daughters achievement with other school district or to let her improves more? Not only in an academic field but most important in social skill as well. Answer is very obvious indeed.
I am not saying boarding school is the only choice, but it is an excellent one. Remember, boarding school students usually have a lot more better family background as well. They talks differently.
Boarding school may not be as expensive as you may think of, some schools offers up to 41% of students body with financial aid package (see: http://www.andover.edu/admission/financial_aid.asp.). A family income of $70,000 is considered as low income family and qualifies for aid.
You may consider enrolling in a boarding school to improve your child’s social skill.
I have two daughters; both are graduated from boarding schools, one in Boston area, and other in Pebble Beach area. They had shown themselves excellent social skills besides academic achievements. One was selected to be a class secretary in a class of more than 300, which more or less polished for their adult life later on. I believed that education is not free; you have to make an investment on it.
lucky your sons! My daughter also has 3 very good friends: an American girl, an Indian girl, and a Korean girl. But we want to move to another county next year for her high school, which is less competitive than the one she wants to go.
The school system in Florida is very bad compared to the Northern part schools. My daughter is already very strict with herself and always wants to do her best, which is not very good for a girl from my perspective. I always tell her you don't need to be the best, just try 90% of your efforts. Happy is more important than being number one.
