Word: maths
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...honors track, that is. Bismarck, aptly called Bizzy by friends, was valedictorian at his middle school, and is contending for that honor next June at Science High School, one of Newark's "magnet" schools. He is a star player on the school's math and chemistry teams, and is so computer-savvy that the union pension and benefit fund where his mother works pays him $15 an hour after school to solve technical problems. He may not need the money for college, though. Even before he had thought about applying, he won a $40,000 scholarship to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute...
Teachers call Bismarck one of the best students they have ever seen. "He's in the top 1%, not just in terms of ability but in terms of positive attitude, initiative and motivation," says Susan Rocco, who has been teaching math for 24 years. More surprising is that Bismarck is not regarded by schoolmates as a hopeless nerd who hangs only with fellow brainiacs. "He's not a teacher's pet," attests his buddy Ruben Ramirez, a self-described jock. "You'd think with all that work, he'd be boring and uptight, but he's loose...
...second language classes. She knew they became a way of life for many foreign-born students. Her guidance counselor and teachers warned that she might fail, but the tenacious Huan proved them wrong. Now a senior, she maintains perfect grades in honors classes, competes in debates, is on the math team and serves as vice president of the school choir. "I don't want to sound pompous," she says in her accented but perfect English, "but I just had to fight...
Another rule on homework: be involved, but not too much. Math-homework sessions at Mike Terry's house used to end in tears. "I would lose patience with him," admits Tom Terry, who excelled in math as a youth. "Comparing him to the ways I might have done things at his age didn't work." He had to learn to be less overbearing and to see things from his son's point of view. "We care passionately about how he's doing, but we're just calmer on the outside." Says Mike's mother Karen: "Kids are not vending machines...
There is a reasonable argument for why stellar undergraduates should be allowed to grade objective work in elementary math or science courses, where a single answer key exists: they can probably do the job as well as any graduate student, and there is a shortage of available graduate students. Less defensible is the argument that these undergraduates should be allowed to teach courses in sections to other undergraduates; nevertheless, this practice is widely accepted in the computer science department, and it occurs in the natural sciences...