Not doing competitions, am I doing a disservice?

[Space station]

What do you think? Are competitions expected of advanced math students? Do colleges expect to see them? My dd10 is just not the competitive sort. She just likes to do her thing and doesn't care one wit what others are doing, so I haven't looked into them at all. Am I doing her a disservice? Should I be looking into them, but pitch them to her as just another chance to do challenging math rather than as competitions? (Dd13 on the other hand is entirely driven by competition, and the desire to stay ahead of her sister.)

[Kathy in Richmond]

No, you don't have to do them at all. They're one way to demonstrate ability above & beyond SAT type math tests. Other ways are taking university level math classes further down the line (Stanford online or local university dual enrollment) or getting involved in math camps, extended projects, etc, in high school.

 

For what it's worth, both of mine did math competitions, but I wouldn't characterize either one of them as the competitive, "I'm out to beat everyone else" sort of kid.

 

My son in particular is the antithesis of that type. He still participated in MathCounts starting at age 13 and later in AMC testing. He did not invest extensive (honestly, very little!) time prepping for contests as he preferred studying whatever math topic interested him instead. He did enjoy trying to solve hard problems, and so he sat for the tests: 1.5 hours for the AMC 10 or 12, and then, if qualified, a morning for AIME & two afternoons for USAMO. Fairly painless, & he did super well, and I'm sure that had a lot to do with his getting noticed by colleges later on.

 

My daughter, on the other hand, is an extreme extrovert and enjoyed the social aspects of math team very much. She and I looked high and low to find team and summer opportunities, and as a result, she ended up with a huge list of contest math results, many more than her brother & from an earlier age. Again, she didn't care at all about winning, but she did like studying competition math a lot. The fun and enjoyment it brought to her teen years made it worthwhile. :001_smile:

 

You have to do what's right for your kid.

[quark]

The math profs I've spoken to (including Paul Zeitz) all agree that competitions are not necessary for dedicated math students to stand out. My son is not interested in them at all. We are looking into other ways to help him stand out e.g. taking several strands of math at the same time, developing good spoken and written math reasoning skills, and taking college classes to show that he craves challenge.

[Gil]

I'm not sold on competitions either for my math advanced boys. Good topic.

[quark]

I wanted to add that I think it pays to really stay playful and be willing to experiment with math. Let the enthusiasm shine in whatever way your child wants it to. One of the profs we approached when son was thinking of auditing a uni class spent an hour and a half with him posing playful, puzzle-type math questions that really required willingness to think through the questions and also take lots of risk coming up with potential solutions. The take-away for me was to never box up his thinking skills where he would only need to solve math one way or be rigid about the way he was thinking or only focus on being neat and tidy when showing his work etc. I credit our time with living math and other alternative materials for keeping this playfulness fresh. After the session, their papers were filled with doodles and equations for various approaches. Very fun to watch although I couldn't contribute much myself. :)

[Kathy in Richmond]

I wanted to add that I think it pays to really stay playful and be willing to experiment with math. Let the enthusiasm shine in whatever way your child wants it to. One of the profs we approached when son was thinking of auditing a uni class spent an hour and a half with him posing playful, puzzle-type math questions that really required willingness to think through the questions and also take lots of risk coming up with potential solutions. The take-away for me was to never box up his thinking skills where he would only need to solve math one way or be rigid about the way he was thinking or only focus on being neat and tidy when showing his work etc. I credit our time with living math and other alternative materials for keeping this playfulness fresh. After the session, their papers were filled with doodles and equations for various approaches. Very fun to watch although I couldn't contribute much myself. :)

 

Absolutely! Like, like, like!

 

And isn't Prof Zeitz super nice? :001_smile:

[quark]

Absolutely! Like, like, like!

 

And isn't Prof Zeitz super nice? :001_smile:

 

Very Kathy! I love his smile too. :001_wub: And he has such soulful eyes... :blush:

 

[Dmmetler]

FWIW, DD loved competitions a couple of years ago because they filled an affiliative need for her-they showed her that she wasn't the only smart kid in the world who liked academics, and she really, really worked hard on prepping for them. Last year, she still wanted to do them, but didn't prep much-she was more focused on science and research. This year, she's much more interested in things like e-mailing some of the grad students she met at the herp conference and the upcoming TN herpetology conference, and the idea of doing a math test a month just really isn't on her radar.  I suspect she'd LOVE a Math Counts team, if I can find/create one next year when she's eligible, and if the local private school lets homeschoolers join them for the AMC 8, I'll at least encourage her to try, but she doesn't seem to have as much of a need for it to feel like she belongs anymore-she's getting the level of science challenge she needs through her research and communicating with others about their projects, so she's much more ready for it to be "one and done" with math.

 

Having said that, she has big plans of winning a medal in science at the next World Education Games in 2015 ;).

 

 

[Space station]

Thank you all so much for your responses!  You really put my mind to rest that I certainly don't have to push them now by any means, and that she has plenty of time for it later if she shows an interest.  I love just letting her explore math right now, but maybe someday she will look for that camaraderie from other math lovers.  Maybe she will find other ways to do that, too (AOPS classes in the future?)  Thanks for sharing the positives of the experience too, because if/when I do present the idea to her, she would want to know all the details before committing.  She is a very deliberate person in everything she does! 

[Crimson Wife]

Everybody I know who has done math circles absolutely raves about them. So if that's an option for you logistically and financially, I would encourage you to consider enrolling your DD. FYI, girls often have an easier time getting into math circles than boys because many circles are trying to get as close to a gender balance as they can.

[mum]

I think that a child could be encouraged to try something outside of their comfort zone, they may learn that they like that sort of thing, or it may confirm what they already thought. But new experiences can be a good thing and either way, they learn more about themselves. The experience may come in handy later.

[madteaparty]

We are in a rural area and frankly I don't want another place to drive to. I am also not equipped to coach a mathcounts team or whatever. I may be good for National History day though ;)

[Grover]

 

 

Having said that, she has big plans of winning a medal in science at the next World Education Games in 2015 ;).

 

hah, my DS is GUTTED that they didn't run this year so he would finally be at the oldest age for his group.  He wants some more shiny medals I think!

[NittanyJen]

DS13 is funny. He did Science Olympiad one year for his public school... We had been on sabbatical, then his teacher got sick, so he strolled in having had just one practice and no interaction with his team and walked out with a medal in each thing he tried, including a couple of golds. He is even better in math than he is in science. Yet when I ask him if he wants to try a math Olympiad, he says no way, no how. He hates the feel of competition, end of story. Competition just isn't for every kid, no matter how capable.