Irvine schools

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Are Irvine schools really that intense? My son hasn't yet reached kindergarten, but I'm worried that when he does, will Irvine schools be too competitive? I've heard some scary anecdotal stories about Irvine schools, and the levels of competition and insanity, and it's not something I want for my child. I don't believe that academic competition is healthy or beneficial in the early grades. Are Irvine schools as crazy as people say? A friend of my husband's even moved out of IUSD so his kids wouldn't have to deal with it.
 
Having attended Uni High back in the '90s, I didn't think it was.  Granted, having a 3.8GPA (with Honor & AP points) only landed me smack in the middle of the list, but I was accepted to most UC campuses.  I don't know what it's like now, but I can't imagine it to be much different.
 
That's why we bought in Tustin. My unborn kids will already be at a disadvantage due to being half Mexican (me). By attending Tustin schools hopefully they can get full scholarships to Harvard.  :)
 
I have a 3rd and 5th grader and they go to one of the supposedly better-ranked elementary schools.  I too was told how intense it is- I honestly haven't experienced the intensity so far. 
 
Depends on the kid Trace. My older one went to TUSD's Peter's Canyon, and she loved the laid back non-competitive environment, transitioned well into Pioneer. But the younger one goes to Hicks- a wannabe Irvine school and at times I feel I should transfer her to Peter's Canyon. She loves it though, will wait for a signal from her before moving..

But every Irvine parent that I know tells me there isn't enough time for the kid to be a kid between homework and extra curricular activities. No clue if it's the kid who is into 'strategic learning' classes (I hear their homework is intense compared to the honors students), or it's the school.

Here is an example of how intense things get as soon as kid goes to a school with Irvine address: ALL of the kids I know go to Kumon, write 3-4 pages every day to better their hand writing, finish those Costco workbooks on monthly basis. Mind you, this is not even an IUSD school ;-)
 
Cubic Zirconia said:
But every Irvine parent that I know tells me there isn't enough time for the kid to be a kid between homework and extra curricular activities. No clue if it's the kid who is into 'strategic learning' classes (I hear their homework is intense compared to the honors students), or it's the school.
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No offense to anyone, but you as the parent can control this. Outside of the homework, you can control the extracurricular activities. Now if your kid is asking to be in them that is one thing, if the parent is making them do these, which is what I suspect (no kid is going to want to do kumon and write 3-4 pages a day) is what is happening.
 
so what do irvine teachers and do differently that makes the schools themselves that much better? arent the curriculum's the same in all CA public schools?  the reason i ask is because i think there is a difference from a school being good do to the effectiveness of the teachers, which elevate the students vs the schools being good due to serving a more affluent community with students smarter gene pool that elevate the school.
 
qwerty said:
Cubic Zirconia said:
But every Irvine parent that I know tells me there isn't enough time for the kid to be a kid between homework and extra curricular activities. No clue if it's the kid who is into 'strategic learning' classes (I hear their homework is intense compared to the honors students), or it's the school.
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No offense to anyone, but you as the parent can control this. Outside of the homework, you can control the extracurricular activities. Now if your kid is asking to be in them that is one thing, if the parent is making them do these, which is what I suspect (no kid is going to want to do kumon and write 3-4 pages a day) is what is happening.
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Every kid I have talked to hates Kumon, I hate it too. One kid told me that's why Kumon has a sad face on it's logo..
Parents need to/can control it, but lot of parents take pride in keeping the kids busy. I don't know if it gives them a sense of satisfaction that they can afford all that financially/ physically (pickup/drop off), or it is something they couldn't do it as kids.

It would make me very sad to look at a kid sit down and do homework in the evenings, skipping valuable 'motorcourt' play time.
 
qwerty said:
so what do irvine teachers and do differently that makes the schools themselves that much better? arent the curriculum's the same in all CA public schools?  the reason i ask is because i think there is a difference from a school being good do to the effectiveness of the teachers, which elevate the students vs the schools being good due to serving a more affluent community with students smarter gene pool that elevate the school.
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Irvine schools don't do much different (compared to TUSD's Irvine schools, or other 'good schools') except send a guideline to parents on the first day of school to clear their schedule and make kids No.1 priority in life ;-) We lived in Arcadia for a brief time, and wondered why that ugly building with disinterested teachers one of the API 10 school with excellent test scores- gene pool + private tutors was the answer.

The level of tension that I see in the Indian/ Asian kids in IUSD is almost at the same level at the bay area Indian/ Asian "Challenger" kids.
The pressure to perform.. the pressure to be the best. In the end it all comes down to bragging rights of the parents I guess.

 
Cubic Zirconia said:
Every kid I have talked to hates Kumon, I hate it too. One kid told me that's why Kumon has a sad face on it's logo..
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This is funny... I was planning to start a thread on it because we went to a Kumon orientation. My kid doesn't want to do it but she needs help with math.

The thing is we understand what the Kumon method is... it's not tutoring or some new way of learning... it's basically practice (Allen Iverson cue?)... just like music or sports... if you're not naturally good at math or reading, the other way to help is repetition. This is the old school way... practice makes perfect.

Some of the parents at the orientation did not understand, they were expecting the "assistants" to "teach" the kids. They thought it was a tutoring session, not just them finishing worksheets so they were disappointed in it. They also weren't happy that there was daily homework and they had to help with it. They were questioning why they had to pay for something that they still had to be active in... hilarious.

And yes... I do think the "thinking kid" logo looks more like a sad, frustrated or disappointed face. I would have re-did that if I were them.

We do want to try it out... but I do think our kid is going to look like the logo too.
 
Disagree IHO :-) The kid just needs a different medium of instruction. Some understand it with a smart board, some with visual aids and some need a whole new method- but they don't need to rote learn it. They won't learn it that way. They will only master it for that grade..

Thinking kid? haha! Never knew :-) They should seriously reconsider that logo.
 
As others have mentioned, how intense the school is probably depends on how intense you want it to be.  If you have a need for your kid to be the top student, then it'll probably be intense.  I gave my kids MY GENES  :'( so I have tempered my expectations.  My kids are only in elementary school so I'm sure it gets more intense in middle and high school.  A lot more depending on which one your kids goes to right?  :P

My kids have gone to two different IUSD elementary schools.  This new school has about 50% asian population (lot more than the other school and also highly rated) so I thought it would be much more intense but we haven't found that to be the case so far.  I would say this school gives out less homework than the other one.  The teachers mentioned in the conference that they don't want the kids spending more than xxx number of minutes a day.  I would guess the average student can finish the homework in about 15 minutes or less so we were a little disappointed.

As parents, we all want our kids to do well.  I understand...but once in a while step back and think it over.
 
I really believe the importance of the actual school and school district is vastly overrated.  Yes, we all want our kids in a nurturing, safe environment that challenges them intellectually and provides a nice gateway to a good college.  I use to drink the IUSD kool-aid, but I finally came to my senses.  It's the kid's innate ability and motivation that matters not the actual school.  If you took the entire student body from Uni & some low api high school in Santa Ana and switched them, the Uni kids would still succeed even though they were handicapped by the "inferior" teachers and school district.  Same thing goes the other way, the Santa Ana students won't magically do better at Uni.  All students want to do well in school, but not everyone does...why?  Because ppl have different levels of intelligence, period, end of story.  Not everyone will become a succesful CEO, doctor, lawyer, politician, etc...and that's ok.  There can be only one true validictorian.  Irvine schools are highly rated cuz the parents are involved and students "have" to do well.  It also helps to be friends with same type of motivated students.  But, let's not delude ourselves into thinking that IUSD has some magic powder that they sprinkle on their students to make them smarter.  I also think Kumon is retarded and a complete waste of money.  Some Irvine parents are so unbelievably neurotic, will their kids ever have a chance at real success if they're so afraid to fail?  Apologies in advance if I offended anyone.
 
OCgasman said:
I really believe the importance of the actual school and school district is vastly overrated.  Yes, we all want our kids in a nurturing, safe environment that challenges them intellectually and provides a nice gateway to a good college.  I use to drink the IUSD kool-aid, but I finally came to my senses.  It's the kid's innate ability and motivation that matters not the actual school.  If you took the entire student body from Uni & some low api high school in Santa Ana and switched them, the Uni kids would still succeed even though they were handicapped by the "inferior" teachers and school district.  Same thing goes the other way, the Santa Ana students won't magically do better at Uni.  All students want to do well in school, but not everyone does...why?  Because ppl have different levels of intelligence, period, end of story.  Not everyone will become a succesful CEO, doctor, lawyer, politician, etc...and that's ok.  There can be only one true validictorian.  Irvine schools are highly rated cuz the parents are involved and students "have" to do well.  It also helps to be friends with same type of motivated students.  But, let's not delude ourselves into thinking that IUSD has some magic powder that they sprinkle on their students to make them smarter.  I also think Kumon is retarded and a complete waste of money.  Some Irvine parents are so unbelievably neurotic, will their kids ever have a chance at real success if they're so afraid to fail?  Apologies in advance if I offended anyone.
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The IUSD thing is more about home value for me.  It is important that my daughter goes to a good and safe school but I realize that the importance of a "great" high school becomes less and less.  College is like high school 25 years ago...if you don't have a college degree, you have no chance of getting a decent white collar job.  Grad school is what matters now.  I just want my daughter go to a pretty good high school and a decent college
 
CZ and IHO are both right. I am not a teacher but I am a certified tutor. Our training covered this topic. One popular model says learners predominantly fall into one of three camps:
1. Auditory
2. Visual
3. Tactile

Bingo, CZ. She is right there.

If you guys want to know which one you are, I can give you a quiz, which you score to discover which one you are. I think it's fun.

Repetition is important, too. In fact, there is significance in the number three. It takes three times to sink in. For example, when I tutor an ESL student, I would get a new item like a pen, motion with it and say it three times: "Pen. Pen. Pen." Then they say it. You'll notice when you hear a radio commercial, they spout the name of the company or the phone number 3x. That is for a reason.

Bingo, IHO.


 
SoCal said:
Repetition is important, too. In fact, there is significance in the number three. It takes three times to sink in. For example, when I tutor an ESL student, I would get a new item like a pen, motion with it and say it three times: "Pen. Pen. Pen." Then they say it. You'll notice when you hear a radio commercial, they spout the name of the company or the phone number 3x. That is for a reason.

Bingo, IHO.
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Take away the pen and just say "pen pen pen"- eventually they will know how to say pen, and how to spell pen, and may be write it too- but what's the use if they don't know what a pen is.. that is Kumon in my understanding :-)

2+4=6, but how do 2 and 4 make 6? If they understand the concept, they don't need a thousand worksheets to master that equation.. they might need to work a little harder than the rest..
 
Irvinecommuter said:
I just want my daughter go to a pretty good high school and a decent college
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>> Me too- and a few other things.. I want her to go to a decent school, then a decent college, and then have a decent career, and marry a decent guy, and then have a decent family :-) If all that happens, I will be a happy parent- I don't ask for more!
 
@CZ:

I'm not saying the Kumon method is for everyone... but I think you are looking at it from the wrong perspective.

School teaches you the concepts... the hows... the whys... Kumon just helps you practice it. My kid knows how 2+4 makes 6... but it's not automatic unless she "practices" it. Sure, she can count on her fingers or in her head... but more advanced math gets easier if you just "know" these answers.

There are pros and cons to any system... and I've read the critiques of many... but the simple idea of practice is fundamental to me. My other kid has a much better memory... so he probably won't need Kumon... so we do what we can based on what their abilities are.

I should go spawn this off to another thread.
 
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