Another article about the magnet programs in Washington Post

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

It also makes no sense that the public school system should have special programs to provide enrichment to the students whose parents have already spent thousands prepping them for the admissions test to the very program. Don't make the argument that MCPS should spend more to keep up with what the haves already do privately. Because the simpler solution to that would be take away the magnets that only the wealthy can afford to prep for and let those families find private schools or settle for their home schools.

Actually that's a separate question, which I've been wondering about. Presumably the families who spend lots of money on test prep for magnet admissions think that they're getting value for their money. But are they actually? How many kids who did test prep and got in would have gotten in without the test prep? How many kids who did test prep and got in would not have gotten in without test prep? How many kids did test prep and didn't get in?

For some yes, for others no. It is their money to spend so why do you care?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So the fact that 40% of the program are National Merit Scholars and the average SAT score of the program is 2250 means nothing if kids choose to go to UMD because it has the program they want or is most financially manageable to them.

The middle class/upper middle-class kids would still likely have SAT scores of 2250 and be NMS at their home schools. The lower-income students would still be at the magnet. So, I'm not saying it means nothing, I'm saying it's a wash.

Do you really think that UMD is these kids dream school? (I'm not saying anything bad about the school). If Blair really created amazing students we would see more students going to top schools (both because they would get in and because of merit scholarships).

You must have young kids - certainly not college ready yet.

About 1/2 MCPS high schools have not even 1 NMSF. Not even 1. Out of 130-160 NMSF in MCPS produce every year, about 1/2 comes from two programs - Blair Magnet and RM/IB (about equal number from each). This year each produced slightly over 40 kids. Think about that for a moment - out of 100 kids, 40-some are NMSF. These kids are performing at a very high level. If they mix-in kids just based on color of their skin, it just means either those kids will fail (if they maintain current standard) or water-downing the program (if you want to retain all kids at any cost).

As for UMD comment, a lot of kids in this area with parents making 200k and up, they are not qualified to get FA at top tier schools. So, many take UMD path with merit aid and save money for post-college education - med school, law school, phd...etc. including all of my kids.

We are probably going to end up suggesting ds take this path from magnet MS - UMD for undergrad to save money for grad school. How has it worked out for your kids and their peers?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

You seem to be saying, "We shouldn't work to increase the number of qualified people in a program who are black, brown, or poor, because that just encourages rich white people to believe that the black/brown/poor people don't deserve to be there."

You didn't really mean to say that, did you?

If I think, "I deserved to get into Yale but they didn't let me in because they gave my spot to some girl just because she's black!", it's not her responsibility to fix this racist thinking; it's mine.

Uh... Go fix it then.

I have fixed it, thanks. I don't think that. (I'm a white person.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

You seem to be saying, "We shouldn't work to increase the number of qualified people in a program who are black, brown, or poor, because that just encourages rich white people to believe that the black/brown/poor people don't deserve to be there."

You didn't really mean to say that, did you?

If I think, "I deserved to get into Yale but they didn't let me in because they gave my spot to some girl just because she's black!", it's not her responsibility to fix this racist thinking; it's mine.

Uh... Go fix it then.

I have fixed it, thanks. I don't think that. (I'm a white person.)

Good for you white person.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

It also makes no sense that the public school system should have special programs to provide enrichment to the students whose parents have already spent thousands prepping them for the admissions test to the very program. Don't make the argument that MCPS should spend more to keep up with what the haves already do privately. Because the simpler solution to that would be take away the magnets that only the wealthy can afford to prep for and let those families find private schools or settle for their home schools.

Actually that's a separate question, which I've been wondering about. Presumably the families who spend lots of money on test prep for magnet admissions think that they're getting value for their money. But are they actually? How many kids who did test prep and got in would have gotten in without the test prep? How many kids who did test prep and got in would not have gotten in without test prep? How many kids did test prep and didn't get in?

For some yes, for others no. It is their money to spend so why do you care?

Because there is the assumption that the kids of affluent parents are overrepresented in the application magnets because the affluent parents spend money on test prep. But maybe the money spent on test prep has little or no effect on magnet admission.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

You seem to be saying, "We shouldn't work to increase the number of qualified people in a program who are black, brown, or poor, because that just encourages rich white people to believe that the black/brown/poor people don't deserve to be there."

You didn't really mean to say that, did you?

If I think, "I deserved to get into Yale but they didn't let me in because they gave my spot to some girl just because she's black!", it's not her responsibility to fix this racist thinking; it's mine.

Uh... Go fix it then.

I have fixed it, thanks. I don't think that. (I'm a white person.)

Good for you white person.

Good for me, why? Because I don't think something that I shouldn't think anyway? I'm happy to accept congratulations wherever I can get them, but that seems to me to be a very minimal accomplishment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

It also makes no sense that the public school system should have special programs to provide enrichment to the students whose parents have already spent thousands prepping them for the admissions test to the very program. Don't make the argument that MCPS should spend more to keep up with what the haves already do privately. Because the simpler solution to that would be take away the magnets that only the wealthy can afford to prep for and let those families find private schools or settle for their home schools.

Actually that's a separate question, which I've been wondering about. Presumably the families who spend lots of money on test prep for magnet admissions think that they're getting value for their money. But are they actually? How many kids who did test prep and got in would have gotten in without the test prep? How many kids who did test prep and got in would not have gotten in without test prep? How many kids did test prep and didn't get in?

For some yes, for others no. It is their money to spend so why do you care?

Because there is the assumption that the kids of affluent parents are overrepresented in the application magnets because the affluent parents spend money on test prep. But maybe the money spent on test prep has little or no effect on magnet admission.

Isn't it just as likely that affluence is tied to academic achievement, and that kids of such parents have both their genes and their attitude toward the value of academic achievement from a young age?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

It also makes no sense that the public school system should have special programs to provide enrichment to the students whose parents have already spent thousands prepping them for the admissions test to the very program. Don't make the argument that MCPS should spend more to keep up with what the haves already do privately. Because the simpler solution to that would be take away the magnets that only the wealthy can afford to prep for and let those families find private schools or settle for their home schools.

Actually that's a separate question, which I've been wondering about. Presumably the families who spend lots of money on test prep for magnet admissions think that they're getting value for their money. But are they actually? How many kids who did test prep and got in would have gotten in without the test prep? How many kids who did test prep and got in would not have gotten in without test prep? How many kids did test prep and didn't get in?

For some yes, for others no. It is their money to spend so why do you care?

Because there is the assumption that the kids of affluent parents are overrepresented in the application magnets because the affluent parents spend money on test prep. But maybe the money spent on test prep has little or no effect on magnet admission.

Most of the magnet families I ran into over the years are not "poor" per se but they are certainly not "affluent" either. They are usually middle/upper middle families (but "poor" for DCUM standard). We didn't spend money on prep but I know some families did. My observation is it's less of wealth issue but more of how "involved" families are. Some families are very involved with school and resources available within MCPS and others, well, not as much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

It also makes no sense that the public school system should have special programs to provide enrichment to the students whose parents have already spent thousands prepping them for the admissions test to the very program. Don't make the argument that MCPS should spend more to keep up with what the haves already do privately. Because the simpler solution to that would be take away the magnets that only the wealthy can afford to prep for and let those families find private schools or settle for their home schools.

Actually that's a separate question, which I've been wondering about. Presumably the families who spend lots of money on test prep for magnet admissions think that they're getting value for their money. But are they actually? How many kids who did test prep and got in would have gotten in without the test prep? How many kids who did test prep and got in would not have gotten in without test prep? How many kids did test prep and didn't get in?

For some yes, for others no. It is their money to spend so why do you care?

Because there is the assumption that the kids of affluent parents are overrepresented in the application magnets because the affluent parents spend money on test prep. But maybe the money spent on test prep has little or no effect on magnet admission.

Isn't it just as likely that affluence is tied to academic achievement, and that kids of such parents have both their genes and their attitude toward the value of academic achievement from a young age?

You can have any hypothesis you like. The question was, why is it anybody's business if people want to spend lots of money on test prep that might be useless? The answer is, because of the assumption that spending lots of money on test prep helps you get in, and so you're at a disadvantage if your family doesn't spend lots of money on test prep.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

It also makes no sense that the public school system should have special programs to provide enrichment to the students whose parents have already spent thousands prepping them for the admissions test to the very program. Don't make the argument that MCPS should spend more to keep up with what the haves already do privately. Because the simpler solution to that would be take away the magnets that only the wealthy can afford to prep for and let those families find private schools or settle for their home schools.

Actually that's a separate question, which I've been wondering about. Presumably the families who spend lots of money on test prep for magnet admissions think that they're getting value for their money. But are they actually? How many kids who did test prep and got in would have gotten in without the test prep? How many kids who did test prep and got in would not have gotten in without test prep? How many kids did test prep and didn't get in?

For some yes, for others no. It is their money to spend so why do you care?

Because there is the assumption that the kids of affluent parents are overrepresented in the application magnets because the affluent parents spend money on test prep. But maybe the money spent on test prep has little or no effect on magnet admission.

If the bar is raised ever higher because a sizeable percentage of applicants are spending money on test prep, and then those same parents say the school system should just provide test prep to others it's probably time to care. There's no reason for this system to ratchet out of control to keep up with private tutoring. I do believe there are many kids who get into these programs without tutoring, but at some point the system isn't fair to anyone and there's just no requirement that public schools provide ever more enrichment to over-enriched kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

And, let me tell you, kids are not stupid. That non-minority student will remember and resent the fact his/her seat was taken away for a long time. Now you know why Trump is so popular.

Nobody is taking spots from deserving white kids and giving them to undeserving brown kids, regardless of what some white people (I am a white person) might think.

Though arguably selective colleges and universities are passing over Asian-heritage kids with higher test scores and grades in favor of white kids with lower test scores and grades. Speaking of resentment.

Yes, it's outrageous that some schools "cap" Asian populations.

You don't hear white people complaining about that do you? Nope, because it benefits them.

[Anonymous]

We are probably going to end up suggesting ds take this path from magnet MS - UMD for undergrad to save money for grad school. How has it worked out for your kids and their peers?

it is working out well for our two kids - both received full ride scholarships from umd. DC1 is getting his engineering phd (fully funded) @ "top 5" engineering school and DC2 wants to go to med school so we are saving 529 money for that purpose. DC2 will be able to come out of med school without debt/loan. i am 100% sure they couldn't do it without mcps magnet programs.

so, yeah, it's fine. kids always have to deal with "you worked that hard for umd?" or "you settled with umd?" comments but other than that it's all good. coming out of umd with high gpa is much harder than people think.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

We are probably going to end up suggesting ds take this path from magnet MS - UMD for undergrad to save money for grad school. How has it worked out for your kids and their peers?

it is working out well for our two kids - both received full ride scholarships from umd. DC1 is getting his engineering phd (fully funded) @ "top 5" engineering school and DC2 wants to go to med school so we are saving 529 money for that purpose. DC2 will be able to come out of med school without debt/loan. i am 100% sure they couldn't do it without mcps magnet programs.

so, yeah, it's fine. kids always have to deal with "you worked that hard for umd?" or "you settled with umd?" comments but other than that it's all good. coming out of umd with high gpa is much harder than people think.

Thanks - this is really heartening. Congrats to your kids - they have worked really hard for their success and they sound very pragmatic.
I know the Engineering program has an excellent rep. How are the pre-med majors? Has dc2 been able to do the research or internships that would help him/her apply to med school?

[Anonymous]

news flash no employer cares if you went to GT in elementary or a magnet in high school

quit helicoptering your special snowflake will be just fine

idiots on this board

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:news flash no employer cares if you went to GT in elementary or a magnet in high school

quit helicoptering your special snowflake will be just fine

idiots on this board

Quit helicopt'ring
Your snowflake will be just fine
Idjits on this board