Standing in line waiting with our kid who has a ticket to take the test to get into NEST+m, one of the most selective public schools in all of New York City.
Thousands will take the test.
60 or maybe 80 or, at the very outside–100 students AT MOST will be invited to enter 6th grade class at this school.
And yet…
Here we are.
Even if My Kid’s test scores are in the top 1 percent of all the kids who apply to get into this school she might not get in.
There might be 200 or even 300 kids who test in the top 99.9 percent of all the kids who take the test.
That won’t increase the number of seats available in this school at this time.
I can’t believe we are even participating in this charade.
One chid from my daughter’s elementary school got in last year.
His mother was taken by surprise when he came out of the test and said of the (IQ) test saying “That was fun!”
They invited him in!
I hear it was a hard 3-month-long adjustment to the new culture!
That’s where he goes now!
I don’t think that will happen for my child.
She’s a bit more layered and complex, not easily quantified in a one-hour test…
I don’t think she’ll get in…
She might…
I don’t know what we would do if she does get in…
My Kid said she doesn’t want to go to that school.
The 7th graders do 11th grade math. Do I even care or want My Kid to do that?
It seems impressive. But, do I want to actually live in the same apartment as a 12-year-old who stays up nights to keep up with high school math?
Do I???
Back when I was looking for a Kindergarten for My Kid, I knew did not want her to have so much homework that we wouldn’t be able to continue to enjoy New York City as a family…
So it doesn’t make any sense for me to make her apply to that school now!
Does it????
Back then, I knew my kid…
Back then, I never even tried…
Back then, one of my mommy-friends paid cash-up-front for an appointment to have her kid tested to see if her 4-year-old was eligible for a gifted and talented seat…
Back then, my friend’s 4-year-old lay on the floor crying and my mommy-friend had to reschedule the test…
Back then, I knew my street-smart Brooklyn toddler would not be willing to go into a room alone with a complete stranger.
(She didn’t even like the idea that a man named Santa Clause may have come into our apartment and changed things around while we were asleep!)
So why are we were this morning standing in line just because we have a ticket?!
My Kid doesn’t even want to go to this school!
But, it’s a good school!
That’s the argument!
It’s not like it’s 1969 and we’re standing to see the Rolling Stones at Altamont!
It’s not like we were in line to audition for American Idol or So You Think You Can Dance!
There’s no plane ticket to Las Vegas for the winners.
There’s no recording contract for the winners.
At the end of the test the best you can hope for is a seat in a middle school…
…which, as we well know, never goes well for anyone…
My Mommy-friend who has already gotten her offspring through college puts it all in perspective for me”
“It’s middle school. You just want he her to survive–with her virginity intact.”
Aghhhhhhh!