I am actually astonished that this is the first time something like this is tried in the US. And I also don't understand the negative comments here in HN
Specialized high schools are moderately common in the United States, some organized as general public schools, and some organized as "charter" schools (a form of regulation in the United States with public funding, but less public funding than most schools, and some variation in regulations that apply to general public schools). In my part of the United States, Minnesota, there is public school open enrollment (any student can enroll in any public school district, anywhere in the state) and quite a few charter schools (Minnesota was the first state to have any charter schools). My public school district receives students from forty-one public school districts, the farthest one more than 100 miles away. (I've heard that the child stays with relatives during the school week and goes back to his parents' home on weekends. That is perfectly legal here in Minnesota.) There is another charter school, far across the metropolitan area from where I live, that purports to be a Math and Science Academy.
But as I think any European or east Asian reader of the school's website will soon recognize, the Math and Science Academy charter school in Minnesota does not have a credible academic program in mathematics or science up to international standards. (One of my good friends had a child in that school, and she is bitterly disappointed by how much the school killed her daughter's interest in mathematics and science with its underchallenging curriculum.) A regular public school in Minnesota is permitted to have an internal program that is academically selective, for example a "school within a school" for gifted students, as my local school district does
By contrast, charter schools in Minnesota cannot be academically selective in any way, but must accept all applicants (which is also the plan for the New York City school in the submitted article), allocating spaces by lottery if the number of applicants exceeds the number of spaces. That is one of several ways in which regulations on charter schools are more restrictive than the regulations on regular public school districts.
Minnesota has a specialized program for mathematics only
that draws in students from all over the Twin Cities metropolitan area for classes at the University of Minnesota. I like that program a lot. My oldest son is an alumnus, and I will have two other children take that program's qualifying test in a few months, for two different entry points into that program.
In general, the cultural attitude in the United States is highly hostile to advanced programs for bright learners, as you can see in some of the comments here. Many programs for "gifted" students may not even have added value for academic growth,
So I'm glad to see the New York City experiment in offering a software engineering high school, and will be curious to see if that example is imitated in other parts of the United States.
Wow... it's been ages since I thought of UMTYMP. I went through two years of UMTYMP, and it was the most amazing program. In those two years we covered four years of high school math. It taught me math quick, and also how to work hard.
A side benefit is that because I was taking math at the University of Minnesota outside school hours, I had a free period at school when I would normally take math. (Along with two friends.) We had free reign over our Macintosh computer lab for nearly an hour a day for two years and it was AWESOME. I programmed some pretty wicked stuff in Hypercard, messed around with ripping audio from TV shows onto the computer, fked around on the school's network, and loved it all. (I'm dating myself a bit; this was around 1990-1992 or so.)
Programs like this are amazingly awesome, and they should spread far more than they do.
> the United States especially lags behind in teaching mathematics to its most advanced students.
When I was in 8th grade at the best private day school I could find that would bus me (just under an hour away, but I lived in the sticks and accepted that), I was one of the few kids in "advanced math and science." This was 1 year accelerated, nothing special: we just went to class with the 9th graders. I was taught "Math A" out of this bad boy: http://www.amazon.com/Lets-Review-Lawrence-S-Leff/dp/0764122...
In my first year of the 1.5-year-long Math A, I was never once introduced to the quadratic formula. We were taught to factor quadratic equations by guessing the roots. Not kidding. The Math A test guaranteed integer roots, so... we learned to factor quadratic equations by guessing roots. I actually wrote a TI-83+ program to solve quadratic equations by guessing the roots (somewhat intelligently).
I still look back on that in astonishment - that's all you had to know for algebra 1! Integer roots and guessing! I'm sure schools in new york state - and schools in my region - taught the quadratic formula... but by the book, they didn't have to.
Thankfully, I was fortunate enough to be able to go to high school in connecticut where I could get a decent education. So my story ended up just dandy. Not sure about the rest of NYS.
Specialized high schools are moderately common in the United States, some organized as general public schools, and some organized as "charter" schools (a form of regulation in the United States with public funding, but less public funding than most schools, and some variation in regulations that apply to general public schools). In my part of the United States, Minnesota, there is public school open enrollment (any student can enroll in any public school district, anywhere in the state) and quite a few charter schools (Minnesota was the first state to have any charter schools). My public school district receives students from forty-one public school districts, the farthest one more than 100 miles away. (I've heard that the child stays with relatives during the school week and goes back to his parents' home on weekends. That is perfectly legal here in Minnesota.) There is another charter school, far across the metropolitan area from where I live, that purports to be a Math and Science Academy.
http://www.mnmsa.org/
But as I think any European or east Asian reader of the school's website will soon recognize, the Math and Science Academy charter school in Minnesota does not have a credible academic program in mathematics or science up to international standards. (One of my good friends had a child in that school, and she is bitterly disappointed by how much the school killed her daughter's interest in mathematics and science with its underchallenging curriculum.) A regular public school in Minnesota is permitted to have an internal program that is academically selective, for example a "school within a school" for gifted students, as my local school district does
http://www.minnetonka.k12.mn.us/ACADEMICS/NAVIGATORPROGRAM/P...
and as other Minnesota public school districts had first.
http://www.invergrove.k12.mn.us/atheneum.html
http://www.springlakeparkschools.org/schools/la/la_lighthous...
http://department.services.bloomington.k12.mn.us/modules/cms...
By contrast, charter schools in Minnesota cannot be academically selective in any way, but must accept all applicants (which is also the plan for the New York City school in the submitted article), allocating spaces by lottery if the number of applicants exceeds the number of spaces. That is one of several ways in which regulations on charter schools are more restrictive than the regulations on regular public school districts.
Minnesota has a specialized program for mathematics only
http://www.mathcep.umn.edu/umtymp/
that draws in students from all over the Twin Cities metropolitan area for classes at the University of Minnesota. I like that program a lot. My oldest son is an alumnus, and I will have two other children take that program's qualifying test in a few months, for two different entry points into that program.
In general, the cultural attitude in the United States is highly hostile to advanced programs for bright learners, as you can see in some of the comments here. Many programs for "gifted" students may not even have added value for academic growth,
http://educationnext.org/poor-results-for-high-achievers/
academic achievement even in wealthy school districts is often below the standards achieved in poorer countries,
http://globalreportcard.org/
and the United States especially lags behind in teaching mathematics to its most advanced students.
http://www.hks.harvard.edu/pepg/PDF/Papers/PEPG10-19_Hanushe...
So I'm glad to see the New York City experiment in offering a software engineering high school, and will be curious to see if that example is imitated in other parts of the United States.