Takoma park magnet worth it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I think most schools in the Moco can offer challenging coursework to most kids, and places like TPMS/Blair really make a difference for people who are insanely brilliant OR people who *don't* have a good support system. So I'm actually all for introducing equity systems into the selection process like doing a lottery at 85%. Even back then, the selection sometimes chose a person from an atypical background like a friend of mine - poor, kid of a single mom, black - and what it can do for those kids is invaluable. My friend is now a hotshot academic at a very well known Ivy and I'm not sure it would have gone the same way without Blair because the staff gave the student a lot of encouragement and support.

I am sure there are people who fall under the categories of "insanely brilliant" as well as "people who *don't* have a good support system." But I find the blanket equating of the academic needs of the "insanely brilliant" with the needs of "people who *don't* have a good support system", pardon me, just completely bonkers.

(BTW, may be that person you are referring to was there at Blair with you all those many years ago because they were "insanely brilliant" as well? After all, they went through the same admissions process like you and others in your cohort, right?)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The point isn't that every kid who wants something gets it, it specifically is to put a concentrated high achievers into a environment where there wouldn't be enough to prevent a schools reputation form slipping to the point where middle class flight occurs. Bair and Takoma where chosen because they where the first areas in MoCo to see demographic influxes of poorer minorities into the school system and the white flight era of DC was still fresh on everybody's mind and signs of it happening in Silver Spring/Takoma were present. There simply was no other politically viable way to get richer west county all-stars to self integrate into eastern schools. It was a carrot based based bussing program for the weakest schools and not some showcase for a intellectual nurturing enclave put in the best schools. There is a reason one of the strongest Magnet programs / schools nationally is in the worst school district in NoVa. They took the the school by school approach of MoCo and made it a whole county/whole school strat to give parents hope for all of Alexandria. That enables them to do their cute close in elementary schools and have hope for the later grades even though many go private. But talk to any parent of a young kid in Alexandra or the DCC and the magnet will assuredly come up soon, and that is the whole point.

The plan worked and now middle class take pride in their pocket programs that most will never utilize, the schools test scores are good enough to be middle of the pack and the county has moved on and applied the lessons learned in other areas and to lower grade schools. Integration in DC metro area means sending rich kids to poor schools and typically not vise versa

There are people up in arms over these programs that don't seem to understand this... at all

The funny part is the quest to diversify the program actually runs counter to the mission statement of getting richer kids to opt into poorer schools. The other parents got so sick of the rich kids getting the carrot that they fought for a bite too. Now you will get poorer kids into a programs designed to dilute the local make up of poorer kids. Reminds me of the old question: Are kids graduating from Harvard successful because they went to elite Harvard or is Harvard elite because they only admit successful kids?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The point isn't that every kid who wants something gets it, it specifically is to put a concentrated high achievers into a environment where there wouldn't be enough to prevent a schools reputation form slipping to the point where middle class flight occurs. Bair and Takoma where chosen because they where the first areas in MoCo to see demographic influxes of poorer minorities into the school system and the white flight era of DC was still fresh on everybody's mind and signs of it happening in Silver Spring/Takoma were present. There simply was no other politically viable way to get richer west county all-stars to self integrate into eastern schools. It was a carrot based based bussing program for the weakest schools and not some showcase for a intellectual nurturing enclave put in the best schools. There is a reason one of the strongest Magnet programs / schools nationally is in the worst school district in NoVa. They took the the school by school approach of MoCo and made it a whole county/whole school strat to give parents hope for all of Alexandria. That enables them to do their cute close in elementary schools and have hope for the later grades even though many go private. But talk to any parent of a young kid in Alexandra or the DCC and the magnet will assuredly come up soon, and that is the whole point.

The plan worked and now middle class take pride in their pocket programs that most will never utilize, the schools test scores are good enough to be middle of the pack and the county has moved on and applied the lessons learned in other areas and to lower grade schools. Integration in DC metro area means sending rich kids to poor schools and typically not vise versa

There are people up in arms over these programs that don't seem to understand this... at all

The funny part is the quest to diversify the program actually runs counter to the mission statement of getting richer kids to opt into poorer schools. The other parents got so sick of the rich kids getting the carrot that they fought for a bite too. Now you will get poorer kids into a programs designed to dilute the local make up of poorer kids. Reminds me of the old question: Are kids graduating from Harvard successful because they went to elite Harvard or is Harvard elite because they only admit successful kids?

The quest was never to diversify a program - it was to slow down, prevent, reverse white flight from those neighborhoods/schools.

That was many, many school years ago and now, as far as I can tell, not many of those families are all that worried about the "diversity" of magnet programs housed in otherwise blah schools.

At this point the programs are being used to rescue a handful of better students from schools where the cohort of high achievers is just too small. Noble enough I suppose

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The point isn't that every kid who wants something gets it, it specifically is to put a concentrated high achievers into a environment where there wouldn't be enough to prevent a schools reputation form slipping to the point where middle class flight occurs. Bair and Takoma where chosen because they where the first areas in MoCo to see demographic influxes of poorer minorities into the school system and the white flight era of DC was still fresh on everybody's mind and signs of it happening in Silver Spring/Takoma were present. There simply was no other politically viable way to get richer west county all-stars to self integrate into eastern schools. It was a carrot based based bussing program for the weakest schools and not some showcase for a intellectual nurturing enclave put in the best schools. There is a reason one of the strongest Magnet programs / schools nationally is in the worst school district in NoVa. They took the the school by school approach of MoCo and made it a whole county/whole school strat to give parents hope for all of Alexandria. That enables them to do their cute close in elementary schools and have hope for the later grades even though many go private. But talk to any parent of a young kid in Alexandra or the DCC and the magnet will assuredly come up soon, and that is the whole point.

The plan worked and now middle class take pride in their pocket programs that most will never utilize, the schools test scores are good enough to be middle of the pack and the county has moved on and applied the lessons learned in other areas and to lower grade schools. Integration in DC metro area means sending rich kids to poor schools and typically not vise versa

There are people up in arms over these programs that don't seem to understand this... at all

The funny part is the quest to diversify the program actually runs counter to the mission statement of getting richer kids to opt into poorer schools. The other parents got so sick of the rich kids getting the carrot that they fought for a bite too. Now you will get poorer kids into a programs designed to dilute the local make up of poorer kids. Reminds me of the old question: Are kids graduating from Harvard successful because they went to elite Harvard or is Harvard elite because they only admit successful kids?

The quest was never to diversify a program - it was to slow down, prevent, reverse white flight from those neighborhoods/schools.

That was many, many school years ago and now, as far as I can tell, not many of those families are all that worried about the "diversity" of magnet programs housed in otherwise blah schools.

At this point the programs are being used to rescue a handful of better students from schools where the cohort of high achievers is just too small. Noble enough I suppose

That's odd as a parent whose kids both went there I was really impressed by the quality of not just the magnet courses but everything. In fact, the English and social studies teachers were among DC's favorites!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The point isn't that every kid who wants something gets it, it specifically is to put a concentrated high achievers into a environment where there wouldn't be enough to prevent a schools reputation form slipping to the point where middle class flight occurs. Bair and Takoma where chosen because they where the first areas in MoCo to see demographic influxes of poorer minorities into the school system and the white flight era of DC was still fresh on everybody's mind and signs of it happening in Silver Spring/Takoma were present. There simply was no other politically viable way to get richer west county all-stars to self integrate into eastern schools. It was a carrot based based bussing program for the weakest schools and not some showcase for a intellectual nurturing enclave put in the best schools. There is a reason one of the strongest Magnet programs / schools nationally is in the worst school district in NoVa. They took the the school by school approach of MoCo and made it a whole county/whole school strat to give parents hope for all of Alexandria. That enables them to do their cute close in elementary schools and have hope for the later grades even though many go private. But talk to any parent of a young kid in Alexandra or the DCC and the magnet will assuredly come up soon, and that is the whole point.

The plan worked and now middle class take pride in their pocket programs that most will never utilize, the schools test scores are good enough to be middle of the pack and the county has moved on and applied the lessons learned in other areas and to lower grade schools. Integration in DC metro area means sending rich kids to poor schools and typically not vise versa

There are people up in arms over these programs that don't seem to understand this... at all

The funny part is the quest to diversify the program actually runs counter to the mission statement of getting richer kids to opt into poorer schools. The other parents got so sick of the rich kids getting the carrot that they fought for a bite too. Now you will get poorer kids into a programs designed to dilute the local make up of poorer kids. Reminds me of the old question: Are kids graduating from Harvard successful because they went to elite Harvard or is Harvard elite because they only admit successful kids?

The quest was never to diversify a program - it was to slow down, prevent, reverse white flight from those neighborhoods/schools.

That was many, many school years ago and now, as far as I can tell, not many of those families are all that worried about the "diversity" of magnet programs housed in otherwise blah schools.

At this point the programs are being used to rescue a handful of better students from schools where the cohort of high achievers is just too small. Noble enough I suppose

That's odd as a parent whose kids both went there I was really impressed by the quality of not just the magnet courses but everything. In fact, the English and social studies teachers were among DC's favorites!

Curriculum for HIGH is good. The 7th grade NHD project is a blast. Curriculum for advanced English is such a lame. We are not impressed by the English teachers there either, but thought it's mainly the issue with curriculum. They don't have much room but to stay bored with every magnet student together.
But still it's worth the long drive. The peer is superb (my son is in 7th grade, pre-lottery). The STEM teachers are professional, dedicated, and couldn't be appreciated more. Although the java teacher was retired, the newly hired CS teacher has mechanical engineering background, and hence taught Arduino circuit in his class.

For STEM oriented kids, I'd say if you are luckily to get selected from the lottery, go for the program. 3-year of programing preparation will give your kid a big leg-up for USACO, google coding competition, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I think most schools in the Moco can offer challenging coursework to most kids, and places like TPMS/Blair really make a difference for people who are insanely brilliant OR people who *don't* have a good support system. So I'm actually all for introducing equity systems into the selection process like doing a lottery at 85%. Even back then, the selection sometimes chose a person from an atypical background like a friend of mine - poor, kid of a single mom, black - and what it can do for those kids is invaluable. My friend is now a hotshot academic at a very well known Ivy and I'm not sure it would have gone the same way without Blair because the staff gave the student a lot of encouragement and support.

I am sure there are people who fall under the categories of "insanely brilliant" as well as "people who *don't* have a good support system." But I find the blanket equating of the academic needs of the "insanely brilliant" with the needs of "people who *don't* have a good support system", pardon me, just completely bonkers.

(BTW, may be that person you are referring to was there at Blair with you all those many years ago because they were "insanely brilliant" as well? After all, they went through the same admissions process like you and others in your cohort, right?)

Stop being difficult. I'm sure that PP did not mean to say there was not overlap between those categories. You sound really rigid and nitpickiy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:TPMS and Blair alum here - now with kids at MCPS elem schools. If my kids get into a magnet, it will be their choice entirely to attend. They should go because they are interested in the classes. Under no circumstances will I sell them horse$hit about it being the only way to be successful or get into the college of their choice, or that it's validation of their brilliance. Because none of that is true. Smart, hard-working students will do well anywhere, and any school in MCPS can offer them challenging coursework, even places like Einstein and Seneca Valley. The only exception to that are kids destined for Math Olympiad or whatnot - the Jacob Lurie level math kids, but it's not most of your kids (or my kids). Your kids are 2 or 3 standard deviations from the mean, not 4, and regular AP MCPS will be just fine, though that may be a hard pill to swallow.

If your kid gets in (esp to Blair or RM which is not lottery), it's because they did well on standardized tests. If they did well on standardized tests, its likely because you, their parents, are higher SES and they were probably encouraged and supported by you as well in their schoolwork. Higher income and supportive educated parents are highly correlated with magnet acceptance. And with or without Blair, your kids are still expected to have much better educational/life outcomes than someone without those things.

AMEN

[Anonymous]

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