Problem is pretty much that. But I am not sure why Tilden deteriorated more than others. Distribution curve of parents should look similar everywhere. That's why I am not convinced that school is not playing a part here. |
For many years, there was a principal who indulged parents whose children were engaging in horrible behavior including racist, sexist, ableist, homophobic, anti-immigrant, and anti-Muslim rhetoric allegedly “just for the LOLZ.” A slap on the wrist then is why the community is where it is now. |
Sad to hear this. We are not in Tilden. How long ago principal was changed? Admin generally sets the tone. |
This is the first year with new principal. |
Hopefully, in few years situation should get better. As far as I know, Tilden is home of a large number of Indians, Arabs and Jewish immigrants. I am surprised to hear such problems there. |
The 8th grade girls at Tilden are as just as mean and backstabbing as Regina George in Mean Girls. They are so toxic and nothing ever happens to them |
As a former 8th girl and current mother of an 8th grade girl, this is not unique to Tilden. Same can be said for small populations of girls at any middle school in the country. |
Mine didn’t have social media either. You don’t need it to see what is all around you at Tilden- toxic awful behavior. |
No one is disputing that middle school in general is a difficult time for a lot of people. However, there was something specifically broken at Tilden the last few years that should not be dismissed and that hopefully will be improved. |
Good point. Especially since the elementary feeders and WJ are generally excellent. Same parents there. It isn’t just “middle school is awful” or “parent failures”. The school and its culture are a contributing factor. |
Leadership? Staff burnout? Is NB bad? It might be better than Tilden. No first hand experience with NB but people there seem more satisfied. Some of it is kids mature by high school but there is something uniquely bad at Tilden. Plus WJ has so much that Tilden lacks: more challenging academics, huge range of electives, huge range of activities, affinity groups, sports, music, newspaper, arts, stem, pretty much a club for every interest and ability to form one that isn’t already there, hour long lunch with time to go outside and meet friends from all classes plus attend clubs or get help from a teacher and more. Sure there are problems like at every high school but it is very different than Tilden |
Which will be a better MS in MCPS? |
There was a concerted effort to get more clubs into place a few years back, but that sort of ended with COVID. In addition to Tilden drama, Best Buddies and National Junior Honor Society are really nice groups at Tilden plus Day of Caring. Chorus, band and orchestra are also nice.
What the schools don’t seem to get is that the more positive things are going on at a school, the less negative behavior you have. When you end the clubs etc, behavior spirals downward. Then it’s a loop — teachers don’t want to sponsor the clubs because of bad behavior, behavior gets worse because of the lack of positive engagement. I can point to one specific issue at Tilden - a huge reduction in the number of kids in band/orchestra. The school recently eliminated a music teacher position, leaving only one teacher for chorus and all else. The band and orchestra are still there and lovely, but used to be huge, wonderful, inclusive groups for kids to feel they are a part of something positive. I’ll never understand why they eliminated that position. Why eliminate these roles that create positive engagement? MCPS often misses the bigger picture. |
Everyone knows that middle school is a weaker link in all cluster, but all problems at Tilden can't be attributed to this. Other middle schools also have some problems which comes due to age of kids, but Tilden has bigger problems. Also, kids are 7-8 hours in school and less time with their parents if we exclude sleeping hours. Given everything , we can't simply say that it's just the age. Sure, age is factor everywhere, but Tilden is surely doing something to make it even worse. It takes a community to raise kids. Schools are big part of that community. Some families can correct their kids and some can't. That will happen everywhere. But if inside school, which is majority of hours for kids, kids are never corrected then schools are doing a very poor job and part of the problem. That's what some many posters are pointing out. |
+1 Great point raised here. |