Downsides of Blair SMAC
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Anonymous
| Everyone is raving about their experiences which is a valid perspective but can you also weigh in on the bad parts? What are the sacrifices your children have had to make? What annoys you or your child most about the experience? What do you think they are missing as compared to the home school? |
Anonymous
| The only downside is friends can be spaced out. My children have not regretted it for a minute. |
Anonymous
|
It can make for a long intense day. But, it's ok to take a study if desired.
There can be a competitive "magnet bro" culture. It bothered my kid. Admin is trying to foster more collaboration and inclusion. The STEM equity class was a good stat. Sometimes scheduling is a bear if your kid is in multiple classes with only 1 slot. Music lost out one year. There is 1 math teacher who is not very effective and draws complaints each year (group complaints last year). But, there are some truly amazing math teachers to balance him out. Otherwise, teachers are fantastic. Magnet and school admin are great. Class variety is excellent. Non mag AP classes are good. Nice school community. |
Anonymous
| I'd assume commute can be a factor depending on where you live. |
Anonymous
| Stem equity class? What's that? |
Anonymous
It explores racial, gender bias and equity issues in stem. |
Anonymous
Oh my... how much of this stuff does MCPS need to push. The kid are constantly bombarded with it. |
Anonymous
this isnt MCPS, its a class a teacher created. |
Anonymous
| We are seeing some Magnet Bro culture at TPMS and I can see how that could be a problem. This is really only negative for your child if they are smart but not one of the smartest. |
Anonymous
| Poolesville here but my son feels he missed nothing. It was a long day, but my kid loved it. I don't think it's possible to do SMACS and the highest level of some sports and still sleep and have a life. Competition from other students for college spots might be an issue but the college process is such a mess right now its hard to tell. |
Anonymous
|
My DC graduated a few years ago and loved the program academics but not so much the social scene. DC was and is an excellent student, but has other interests and found the one-dimensional focus of many of the magnet students off-putting.
DC did find a great group of friends from outside the magnet for socializing (mostly CAP kids, but not all) but got desired the classes and content. Overall, it was a wonderful high school experience. |
Anonymous
It came out of the students, actually. There can be a lot of bias from the dominant groups in the magnet. |
Anonymous
That kind of attitude fosters the bro-ism. Competitive and/or enriched does not equal smartest. Sigh. |
Anonymous
Mine was Capt of a 2 season sport at Blair. And, she was competitive on her instrument, but instrument practice was definitely uneven during sports season and other activities were very limited. She had a few late nights but not too bad. |
Anonymous
| Some factors to consider: If you are not coming from TPMS or a feeder middle school it can be hard to make friends, especially for introverts. No one else from DS’s middle school went to the magnet program and he hasn’t really connected with any of the kids— he feels like they all knew each other ahead of time and already had friend groups, and we live far from Blair. Also the caliber of student is very high and DS does not like competing, so has really withdrawn from trying to be a “top” student. DS regrets going to Blair magnet and wishes he’d stayed with his middle school friends at our local HS. The long commute to Blair does not feel worth it to him, but he’s sticking with it because he does like the electives at Blair and it would be a hassle to try to come back to our local school. So I think that if your kid will be coming from across the county and won’t know anyone, have them self-reflect about their ability to make friends and handle the long commute. |