http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/18/nyregion/new-york-city-schools-struggle-to-separate-the-gifted-from-the-just-well-prepared.html
Compared to my getting into college and graduate school, getting into a selective New York City kindergarten seems like a pretty high-stakes, stressful process. And like elsewhere, parents and students are finding ways to game the system, usually with the help of test-prep companies who are more than eager to sell their services to privileged parents who want what's best for their kids. I'm not against talented and gifted education (I was a TAG kid myself), but I'm not sure it belongs in kindergarten, and I'm not sure it should serve a sorting and segregating function within the public school system.
Compared to my getting into college and graduate school, getting into a selective New York City kindergarten seems like a pretty high-stakes, stressful process. And like elsewhere, parents and students are finding ways to game the system, usually with the help of test-prep companies who are more than eager to sell their services to privileged parents who want what's best for their kids. I'm not against talented and gifted education (I was a TAG kid myself), but I'm not sure it belongs in kindergarten, and I'm not sure it should serve a sorting and segregating function within the public school system.