Quote :

"i did it basically the final result was you were able to make fun of friends of yours in hs when they got their SAT scores and you outscored them in 7th grade"

1/27/2009 7:35:09 PM

I got the highest score out of everyone at my school in 7th grade

w00t

1/27/2009 8:07:14 PM

the book-learning you acquire is not all that useful, but it is cool to be among other smart people for 3 weeks... that was where I met my first girlfriend and the only girl I have ever loved

1/27/2009 9:11:24 PM

Quote :

"yeah, i heard the same thing about Latin - it's "so great" to learn so then you can deconstruct the roots of words on the SAT. So assuming that's true, you spend 2+ years really learning and studying a dead language so you can get an extra, what.... 40 points on the SAT? bah. Just read a lot, do other vocabulary exercises, and use that time to learn a relevant language like Spanish, German, Japanese, whatever."

agreed (at least in most cases, there are very few professions were latin is going to end up being useful to you). heck i didnt even study or do one minute of preparation for the SATs period. I cant imagine learning latin simply to gain a few points.

1/27/2009 9:24:47 PM

Quote :

"i did it"

Just looking through this thread its obvious yall are nothing special, everybody and their mama was in this program / took the SAT in 7th grade.

1/27/2009 10:10:07 PM

yeah, sounds like it.

I guess it's time to take the discussion to the next logical step: who got the highest SAT in 7th grade!?

i'll go first.... 7th grade, 1992, SAT 1080


[Edited on January 27, 2009 at 10:23 PM. Reason : .]

1/27/2009 10:23:21 PM

^ I went to the TIP award ceremony for my math score but my verbal made it so my score was still less than you. I grew up on a farm so I guess somehow my rural schooling ruined my vocab. Similar story in high school got a 660 in reading but only because I got all the reading comprehension questions correct...... good thing I didn't major in English

1/27/2009 10:51:13 PM

I did the summer studies programs for 4 years in middle school to high school.

It was perhaps the most awesome thing I've ever done, in terms of forming the person I am now. I loved it so much I went back and worked for the program for a few years after I came to college.

I HIGHLY recommend this. I can't say enough about how incredible it is.

[Edited on January 28, 2009 at 1:43 AM. Reason : though, the one downside of it is that I have a soft spot for Duke University in my heart ]

1/28/2009 1:42:40 AM

i got invited to do it, but the price was so retardedly high, i did not do it

but I scored a 33 on the ACT and laughed at everyone who went and did shit like this in the 7th grade

[Edited on January 28, 2009 at 1:52 AM. Reason : .]

1/28/2009 1:49:54 AM

Quote :

"i did it basically the final result was you were able to make fun of friends of yours in hs when they got their SAT scores and you outscored them in 7th grade I was sick the day of the exam and my parents never got around to rescheduling it "

Quote :

"yeah, i heard the same thing about Latin - it's "so great" to learn so then you can deconstruct the roots of words on the SAT. So assuming that's true, you spend 2+ years really learning and studying a dead language so you can get an extra, what.... 40 points on the SAT? bah."

I actually use the Latin stuff a lot now at my current job. It makes explaining big words a lot easier to my coworkers and students. And it makes it easier when you start learning other Latin based languages. I wouldn't discount it as completely worthless.

Quote :

"There are tons of academic summer programs in writing and math and science and all sorts of shit. I encourage all parents to get their kids doing at least a camp or two over the summer and a little something extra during the school year."

One of the coolest summer camps I ever did was the NCSU Vet School camp. It's for rising 5th graders and pretty competitive. We got to do all sorts of cool shit like dissect a dog heart, learn how rabies works and watch them do surgery on a cat.

[Edited on January 28, 2009 at 2:45 AM. Reason : .]

1/28/2009 2:37:44 AM

Quote :

"I actually use the Latin stuff a lot now at my current job. It makes explaining big words a lot easier to my coworkers and students. And it makes it easier when you start learning other Latin based languages. I wouldn't discount it as completely worthless."

of course some people will find a use for it, but 99% of the time it is useless.

Quote :

"I guess it's time to take the discussion to the next logical step: who got the highest SAT in 7th grade!? "

i THINK I got an 1150 in 7th grade, but I would probably have to ask my parents and see if they still have those papers to confirm that that is correct.

[Edited on January 28, 2009 at 6:36 AM. Reason : ]

1/28/2009 6:34:38 AM

the primary reason for learning Latin at a young age is to adapt the brain to rapidly assimilate romance languages, so rather than taking Spanish + French + Italian + Portuguese you just take Latin in the classroom and you can pick up the other 4 without much instruction.

most language classes at that age don't really help you learn the language they just help you with textbook portions of them.

you can have her learn german and latin and effectively equip her for 5 languages (plus english) rather than taking 5 different classes and burning her out.

if you just take latin for the SAT you're not getting it.

she won't be using latin for latin she will be using it to understand other languages.

but i digress to fools that immediately latch on to the mentioning of Latin and the SAT together in the same sentence...

1/28/2009 11:07:43 AM

I think more interesting would be what you got in 7th grade and what your best score in HS was to see how much you improved:
7th grade, 1992 - 1030, 490 M / 540 V
HS best, 1997 - 1560, 760M / 800 V

1/28/2009 11:11:59 AM

took it once in 7th and got 1150
took it once in HS and got 1360

1/28/2009 11:13:28 AM

^^
7th grade (1996) 510 verbal 500 math (1010)
11th grade(2000) 710 verbal 700 math (1410)

gain of 50 points/year/section

1/28/2009 11:11:45 PM

Quote :

"basically the final result was you were able to make fun of friends of yours in hs when they got their SAT scores and you outscored them in 7th grade"

totally

i got into campbell using my TIP SAT scores

1/28/2009 11:19:07 PM

Quote :

"everybody and their mama was in this program / took the SAT in 7th grade."

you're on a college message board, in north carolina, and you think we represent "everyone and their mama"

do you realize the college rates for this state?

1/28/2009 11:20:30 PM

Sorry if there was a mix up about the whole Latin thing. Arab13 was thinking about me. I started latin in a public school in kindgarten, as a test to see if our SAT verbs would be higher (they where). One of the things of having Latin as a second language as a young kid is that we can pretty much pick up any romance language and also are quicker at picking up other languages in general.

I am so definatley teaching my kids latin at a young age!

1/29/2009 8:33:21 AM

Quote :

"Sorry if there was a mix up about the whole Latin thing. Arab13 was thinking about me. I started latin in a public school in kindgarten, as a test to see if our SAT verbs would be higher (they where). One of the things of having Latin as a second language as a young kid is that we can pretty much pick up any romance language and also are quicker at picking up other languages in general. I am so definatley teaching my kids latin at a young age!"

lolz

And while it certainly does help some with other romantic languages, I found that just learning one of the romantic languages at a young age helps with picking up the other ones pretty quickly instead of learning latin and then learning the other languages or learning latin to get a very slight score increase on a test that hardly matters.

[Edited on January 29, 2009 at 9:00 AM. Reason : ]

1/29/2009 8:47:23 AM

They didn't have this in CT (obviously) but I was part of a similar talent search through Johns Hopkins University. I won awards for my 8th grade scores (570 v/490 m) but didn't improve as much as others on here in high school (700 v/590 m).

I was invited to do summer programs but my family just couldn't afford it. Like others have said, I wish I had done it to learn studying and critical thinking skills as college was a rude awakening for me.

1/29/2009 10:27:32 AM

^^
LOLz

I never said it helped spelling or grammer

1/29/2009 10:42:15 AM

i know, just giving you a hard time

1/29/2009 10:43:24 AM

I did it and then moved to another state. I took a week of 8th grade and they skipped me into Pre-IB 9th grade. Guess someone thought it was worth something.

The shittiest part was when I moved back to NC, they didn't have IB.

1/29/2009 4:49:58 PM

took it once in 7th and got 1050
took it once in HS and got 1410

Why do they give t-shirts to everyone who gets over 1000 in high school again?

1/29/2009 5:12:49 PM

Quote :

"Why do they give t-shirts to everyone who gets over 1000 in high school again?"

wat?

1/29/2009 5:37:06 PM

Quote :

"They didn't have this in CT (obviously)"

i thought duke tip was a national program

1/29/2009 6:20:24 PM

Took it once in 7th grade and got 1050
Took it three times in HS and got 1490, 1550, 1600

1/29/2009 6:21:33 PM

I did this in ... '97, I guess? It's a pretty good program. I didn't really go any farther than taking the SAT and going to the ceremony, but I enjoyed it and benefited in the long run, I think.

1110 in 7th grade, as per agentlion's line of questioning.

Quote :

"And while it certainly does help some with other romantic languages, I found that just learning one of the romantic languages at a young age helps with picking up the other ones pretty quickly instead of learning latin and then learning the other languages or learning latin to get a very slight score increase on a test that hardly matters."

I agree with this emphatically. Years of taking Spanish probably gave me the same boost in vocab as Latin would have, and people still, well, speak it.

1/29/2009 7:15:06 PM

woah i read this as:

The Duck Tales Identification Program


lol!

1/29/2009 10:53:10 PM

Yeah, I did it. In 1984. Me and another fella were the only folks from our school (and JoCo in general) that got to sit in Duke Chapel and get our pieces of paper. Us, from Johnston County, before the influx of a modicum of pseudo/para-culture and any kind of decent curricula. I still have the picture they put in the Smithfield Herald.

What did it get me? Not a damned thing; we were uber poor back then, and my folks had more important things to worry about, like trying to get another 10,000 miles out of a 1972 AMC Hornet station wagon. Or finding a farmer who'd let us cut free firewood.

1/30/2009 11:13:03 AM

Quote :

"The Duck Tales Identification Program"

my best way to identify other duck tales fans is by yelling "A SEA MONSTA' ATE MY ICE CREAM!" and seeing who knows whats up

1/30/2009 11:15:48 AM

Quote :

"I found that just learning one of the romantic languages at a young age helps with picking up the other ones pretty quickly instead of learning Latin and then learning the other languages or learning latin to get a very slight score increase on a test that hardly matters."

so the sat hardly matters? right... also were did you find "that just learning one of the romantic languages at a young age helps with picking up the other ones pretty quickly instead of learning Latin and then learning the other languages" ? since Latin is the root of all of them (Italian most obviously) i would think it would make learning all of them faster than having to shift bases for each. plus i don't think Spanish relates to english as well as Latin does in terms of vocabulary through out life (not just SAT bullshit obvious).

please tell me at least 10 english words with Spanish roots that don't come from Latin?

[Edited on January 30, 2009 at 11:29 AM. Reason : s]

1/30/2009 11:25:04 AM

in the grand scheme of your life? yes the SAT is a tiny blip on your academic&professional radar, especially if you are the least bit intelligent anyways - ie that tiny boost you get from latin isnt going to do anything was my point. Obviously if someone is trying to get into MIT or something then yes it will matter some, but for the most part you can get into plenty of decent colleges with barely mediocre SAT scores for anyone who isnt half retarded.

and for your second question simply look at europe. I have some friends from greece that learned spanish at a very young age and picked up french and italian extremely easily. The one girl's reasoning was "well they are all really close to each other - it wasnt that hard" haha. I also have a friend from france who learned spanish at a young age and said it wasnt that hard for him to do compared to someone learning spanish who is a native english speaker since their languages were more similar. He also said just by knowing spanish that he can understand 90% of what anyone says in italian even though he cant speak it. Neither of them took latin. On top of that my fiance and I know a couple older than us that has kids that are 6 and 8 who they have been teaching spanish too at the same time as english as they are growing up. The girl who is 8 just started taking french in school last year and seems to understand some of the basics better than I remember people in middle school understanding it and I personally relate that back to her learning more than one language including one being another romance language.

And, im not saying Latin wouldnt help, but the little boost it gives people to me doesnt seem like its that much greater over someone simply learning spanish or italian and then applying that to other languages..at which point youve actually learned a useful language as well.


[Edited on January 30, 2009 at 11:40 AM. Reason : ]

1/30/2009 11:38:06 AM

taco

1/30/2009 11:38:19 AM

and not to mention, about Latin - even if you spend years learning it, there is still no direct, practical use, unless you're an Other on the Lost island or you plan on becoming Pope later. Yes, it helps learning other languages, and it might get you a few points on the SAT. But if those are your goals, just cut out the middle-man - all the time spent learning Latin could easily go towards learning other practical languages, or practicing vocabulary or reading books.

1/30/2009 11:44:06 AM

^^lol.

^exactly!

[Edited on January 30, 2009 at 11:44 AM. Reason : ]

1/30/2009 11:44:24 AM

you guys still missed part of my point.

as for latin, they don't really teach you to say it very much in terms of conversation pieces.

i suppose the real point is get your kids learning another language early. my base point was that learning latin gives you a good bit of english boost on top of the boosts for the other 5 romance languages leaving you more time for another language that's un-related japanese/german/chinese etc as well as more time for the other things that you guys were mentioning.

spanish does not really give you much of a english boost.

Quote :

"At least 60% of words in the English language are derived from Latin, often through middle French (1066AD and all that), 30% of English words are of Anglo-Saxon origin, and 10% from Greek and other languages.) Most, if not all, of the 206 bones in your body are Latin. "

Quote :

"You must learn the grammar of a foreign language in order to learn it well. This is especially true of Latin because the word order won't help you. Latin is a highly inflected language--has lots of endings to learn--and can put words almost anywhere in the sentence. (Greek and Russian are also highly inflected.) What is the proper way to use "I" and "me" in English? How about "who" and "whom"? "We" and "us"? Latin will show you. What's a relative clause or pronoun? What is the subjunctive mood? Hey, what's a "mood" anyway? Imperative? Infinitive? Direct object? Indirect object? Participle? Gerund? "I will say at once, quite firmly, that the best grounding for education is the Latin grammar. I say this, not because Latin is traditional and mediaeval, but simply because even a rudimentary knowledge of Latin cuts down the labor and pains of learning almost any other subject by at least 50 percent. It is the key to the vocabulary and structure of all Romance languages and to the structure of all Teutonic languages, as well as to the technical vocabulary of all the sciences and to the literature of the entire Mediterranean civilization, together with all its historical documents." "

Quote :

"Trains your mind. Trains your memory. Unraveling a Latin sentence is an excellent exercise in thought, a real intellectual puzzle, and a good introduction to logical thinking. Latin involves a similar process to that used in Euclid's geometric proofs, (Q.E.D., Quod Erat Demonstrandum=That which was to be demonstrated) or, to the thought process involved in trying to fix your car. You have to be able to SEE things and the connections between words and concepts."

[Edited on January 30, 2009 at 12:06 PM. Reason : to each their own]

1/30/2009 12:01:18 PM

/shrug, my english boost is reading.

1/30/2009 12:51:46 PM

Quote :

"my english boost is reading"

true dat. For acing the verbal section, there is no substitute for a lifetime of reading English.

1/30/2009 2:16:07 PM

Quote :

"i did it basically the final result was you were able to make fun of friends of yours in hs when they got their SAT scores and you outscored them in 7th grade"

Except I don't think my scores were too awesome. No four digit scores or anything.

But I always wanted to do the events, just couldn't ever afford it. I think the events sound pretty cool, and your daughter sounds like she's looking for something different and more challenging. Worth the money if you have it.

1/31/2009 3:38:51 AM

I did it. I don't remember actually gaining anything from it.

1/31/2009 6:23:09 AM

i did it and remember laughing that my sat score was high enough to get into ncsu at the time. well it was above the average. 1020 and then i improved by 300 pts in hs. I would suggest doing it just for something to do some of the programs were kinda cool if i remember right and got your brain thinking in different ways. it could get expensive though

1/31/2009 10:22:36 AM

Quote :

"i did it basically the final result was you were able to make fun of friends of yours in hs when they got their SAT scores and you outscored them in 7th grade"

2/1/2009 2:17:48 AM

Quote :

"Arab13: so the sat hardly matters? right... also were did you find "that just learning one of the romantic languages at a young age helps with picking up the other ones pretty quickly instead of learning Latin and then learning the other languages" ? since Latin is the root of all of them (Italian most obviously) i would think it would make learning all of them faster than having to shift bases for each. plus i don't think Spanish relates to english as well as Latin does in terms of vocabulary through out life (not just SAT bullshit obvious). please tell me at least 10 english words with Spanish roots that don't come from Latin?"

To be clear, I was the first person to contradict your advice about teaching kids Latin.

I believe you claimed kids could benefit from Latin because it 1) improved their SAT scores and 2) helped them learn languages.

My points were that 1) kids should be learning languages early on anyway and 2) only overcompetitive douches study Latin to boost their SAT scores.

Kids only have so much time and so much brain. To me, it seems foolish to waste either on learning a dead language...when you can achieve shit tons more by learning shit you're actually interested in.

I touched on all the awesome options there are out there for kids, and wolfpackgrrr talked about the vet school camp she attended. But I wanna reemphasize, there are camps out there for everything. There are cool people with different interests all over the world tryna sustain themselves on hip, topical summer camps.

[Edited on February 1, 2009 at 4:05 AM. Reason : ]

2/1/2009 4:04:32 AM

I did the TIP program when I was young

it was a good experience

I took the SAT and it helped me prepare for college

2/1/2009 10:20:11 AM

i did it

basically the final result was you were able to make fun of friends of yours in hs when they got their SAT scores and you outscored them in 7th grade

2/1/2009 11:04:18 AM

^ Basically, yeah.

Except I didn't go to the camp. We couldn't afford it.

2/1/2009 11:09:41 AM

Quote :

"i did it basically the final result was you were able to make fun of friends of yours in hs when they got their SAT scores and you outscored them in 7th grade"

[Edited on February 1, 2009 at 11:49 AM. Reason : ,]

2/1/2009 11:49:13 AM

I remember that I did this but not exactly what it was... oh is this the thing where you take the SATs in middle school? Did it, thought it was pretty cool

and i agree with pilgrimshoes, about outscoring people with your 7th grade scores

2/2/2009 12:47:34 AM

I also took part in TIP when I was in 7th grade

At the time I thought it was cool to be taking the SAT so early

Then I go take it in HS and I only do slightly better than when i was 12-13

I still have the letter with my score but I dunno where it is right now

I think I scored around 1000ish back then, and I got in the 1200s when I took it for real

2/2/2009 12:58:57 PM