Talk to me about McKinley

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FWIW I graduated from Tech in 2022 and I could not recommend it enough if your student is interested in engineering. We have an entire building dedicated to the robotics lab and have equipment that I have not even seen much less had access to at my current big 10 college. The sheer depth of hands-on equipment and technology exposure that McKinley has is unrivaled probably at least north to Philly, maybe even NYC. I'm talking laser cutters, waterjets, CNC machines, enterprise manufacturing grade 3D printers, machine shops, the whole works. The engineering department head Kenneth Lesley is the greatest mentor that I have ever had in my entire life. Now this view is fairly narrow to students who already know that they want to do physical engineering (mechanical, electrical, etc) in college, but there is truly no comparison to the tools and resources available to kids who are interested in engineering or making things at McKinley Tech.

Good to hear this. Didn’t Ken Lesley retire? I hope the robotics program does not fall apart after he left. He has been talking about retiring for many years now but I am not sure if he is still there or not

I don’t know, but from what I hear, McKinley prides itself on having experts in their fields in those positions. I highly doubt that the program would fall apart if he left or that they would get someone who can’t run it as it’s expected to run. For McKinley, Robotics is a pretty important program, more so than most schools.

[Anonymous]

If McKinley were half as good as PP's claim, wouldn't the student body be a lot more diverse? Seriously, why is white enrollment in the single digits and Asian enrollment negligible?

[Anonymous]

Because of parents whose behavior looks for the sure thing then notes the collective dynamic that does not lead large numbers of them to engage.

People talk about a lot of sides of segregation and discrimination, I think somebody should look harder at this unwillingness to take a leap of faith away from status group herd behavior. Because in DC I think it’s very real.

My expectation is that the teachers teach the student body they have. If they have students with drive, experience, technical abilities, they can work with that. None of our kids are doing technically jaw dropping STEM work at 14.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FWIW I graduated from Tech in 2022 and I could not recommend it enough if your student is interested in engineering. We have an entire building dedicated to the robotics lab and have equipment that I have not even seen much less had access to at my current big 10 college. The sheer depth of hands-on equipment and technology exposure that McKinley has is unrivaled probably at least north to Philly, maybe even NYC. I'm talking laser cutters, waterjets, CNC machines, enterprise manufacturing grade 3D printers, machine shops, the whole works. The engineering department head Kenneth Lesley is the greatest mentor that I have ever had in my entire life. Now this view is fairly narrow to students who already know that they want to do physical engineering (mechanical, electrical, etc) in college, but there is truly no comparison to the tools and resources available to kids who are interested in engineering or making things at McKinley Tech.

Good to hear this. Didn’t Ken Lesley retire? I hope the robotics program does not fall apart after he left. He has been talking about retiring for many years now but I am not sure if he is still there or not

I don’t know, but from what I hear, McKinley prides itself on having experts in their fields in those positions. I highly doubt that the program would fall apart if he left or that they would get someone who can’t run it as it’s expected to run. For McKinley, Robotics is a pretty important program, more so than most schools.

Mr. Lesley is still at the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If McKinley were half as good as PP's claim, wouldn't the student body be a lot more diverse? Seriously, why is white enrollment in the single digits and Asian enrollment negligible?

This is an interesting comment that suggests you believe that white families care more about school quality than black and Hispanic families.

But the answer it is a Chicken and the egg problem. Too few people look past the current demographics. McKinley makes the white students who attend feel welcome but doesn’t feel any need to go out of its way to lure them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because of parents whose behavior looks for the sure thing then notes the collective dynamic that does not lead large numbers of them to engage.

People talk about a lot of sides of segregation and discrimination, I think somebody should look harder at this unwillingness to take a leap of faith away from status group herd behavior. Because in DC I think it’s very real.

My expectation is that the teachers teach the student body they have. If they have students with drive, experience, technical abilities, they can work with that. None of our kids are doing technically jaw dropping STEM work at 14.

Is your kid at McKinley? My experience so far “taking a leap of faith” at a “diverse” DCPS is that it is in no way academically where it should be, and I’m not willing to continue that into HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If McKinley were half as good as PP's claim, wouldn't the student body be a lot more diverse? Seriously, why is white enrollment in the single digits and Asian enrollment negligible?

This is an interesting comment that suggests you believe that white families care more about school quality than black and Hispanic families.

But the answer it is a Chicken and the egg problem. Too few people look past the current demographics. McKinley makes the white students who attend feel welcome but doesn’t feel any need to go out of its way to lure them.

It’s not about race, it’s about academics. So it’s not the flex you think it is to say that McKinley feels no obligation to “lure”
parents who understand what a rigorous high school education should look like.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because of parents whose behavior looks for the sure thing then notes the collective dynamic that does not lead large numbers of them to engage.

People talk about a lot of sides of segregation and discrimination, I think somebody should look harder at this unwillingness to take a leap of faith away from status group herd behavior. Because in DC I think it’s very real.

My expectation is that the teachers teach the student body they have. If they have students with drive, experience, technical abilities, they can work with that. None of our kids are doing technically jaw dropping STEM work at 14.

Is your kid at McKinley? My experience so far “taking a leap of faith” at a “diverse” DCPS is that it is in no way academically where it should be, and I’m not willing to continue that into HS.

So you are at the school currently. You are a white family. You are not impressed and will be leaving? Please share more specifics about what about the school has not been good enough for your child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because of parents whose behavior looks for the sure thing then notes the collective dynamic that does not lead large numbers of them to engage.

People talk about a lot of sides of segregation and discrimination, I think somebody should look harder at this unwillingness to take a leap of faith away from status group herd behavior. Because in DC I think it’s very real.

My expectation is that the teachers teach the student body they have. If they have students with drive, experience, technical abilities, they can work with that. None of our kids are doing technically jaw dropping STEM work at 14.

Is your kid at McKinley? My experience so far “taking a leap of faith” at a “diverse” DCPS is that it is in no way academically where it should be, and I’m not willing to continue that into HS.

So you are at the school currently. You are a white family. You are not impressed and will be leaving? Please share more specifics about what about the school has not been good enough for your child.

Simply put the teachers feel no responsibility to prepare the kids for selective HS and college because 90% of the kids are not taking that route. Because of this the level of instruction is set much lower than at a school where more is expected. Kids permitted not to do work in class, to turn in 1-sentence answers. Teachers who just take the day off and let kids be on screens all class if they feel like it. Some teacher very good but overall little effort. A few teachers VERY bad in a way that would not be tolerated at a more affluent school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because of parents whose behavior looks for the sure thing then notes the collective dynamic that does not lead large numbers of them to engage.

People talk about a lot of sides of segregation and discrimination, I think somebody should look harder at this unwillingness to take a leap of faith away from status group herd behavior. Because in DC I think it’s very real.

My expectation is that the teachers teach the student body they have. If they have students with drive, experience, technical abilities, they can work with that. None of our kids are doing technically jaw dropping STEM work at 14.

Is your kid at McKinley? My experience so far “taking a leap of faith” at a “diverse” DCPS is that it is in no way academically where it should be, and I’m not willing to continue that into HS.

So you are at the school currently. You are a white family. You are not impressed and will be leaving? Please share more specifics about what about the school has not been good enough for your child.

Simply put the teachers feel no responsibility to prepare the kids for selective HS and college because 90% of the kids are not taking that route. Because of this the level of instruction is set much lower than at a school where more is expected. Kids permitted not to do work in class, to turn in 1-sentence answers. Teachers who just take the day off and let kids be on screens all class if they feel like it. Some teacher very good but overall little effort. A few teachers VERY bad in a way that would not be tolerated at a more affluent school.

Just to clarify. The poster a few comments back said they took the leap of faith and was unwilling to continue for HS. That suggests this comment is referring to their middle school and not McKinley Tech HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because of parents whose behavior looks for the sure thing then notes the collective dynamic that does not lead large numbers of them to engage.

People talk about a lot of sides of segregation and discrimination, I think somebody should look harder at this unwillingness to take a leap of faith away from status group herd behavior. Because in DC I think it’s very real.

My expectation is that the teachers teach the student body they have. If they have students with drive, experience, technical abilities, they can work with that. None of our kids are doing technically jaw dropping STEM work at 14.

Is your kid at McKinley? My experience so far “taking a leap of faith” at a “diverse” DCPS is that it is in no way academically where it should be, and I’m not willing to continue that into HS.

So you are at the school currently. You are a white family. You are not impressed and will be leaving? Please share more specifics about what about the school has not been good enough for your child.

Simply put the teachers feel no responsibility to prepare the kids for selective HS and college because 90% of the kids are not taking that route. Because of this the level of instruction is set much lower than at a school where more is expected. Kids permitted not to do work in class, to turn in 1-sentence answers. Teachers who just take the day off and let kids be on screens all class if they feel like it. Some teacher very good but overall little effort. A few teachers VERY bad in a way that would not be tolerated at a more affluent school.

Just to clarify. The poster a few comments back said they took the leap of faith and was unwilling to continue for HS. That suggests this comment is referring to their middle school and not McKinley Tech HS.

Yup, and the MS does not move up to the HS. The HS is entirely a selective process.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If McKinley were half as good as PP's claim, wouldn't the student body be a lot more diverse? Seriously, why is white enrollment in the single digits and Asian enrollment negligible?

This is an interesting comment that suggests you believe that white families care more about school quality than black and Hispanic families.

But the answer it is a Chicken and the egg problem. Too few people look past the current demographics. McKinley makes the white students who attend feel welcome but doesn’t feel any need to go out of its way to lure them.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because of parents whose behavior looks for the sure thing then notes the collective dynamic that does not lead large numbers of them to engage.

People talk about a lot of sides of segregation and discrimination, I think somebody should look harder at this unwillingness to take a leap of faith away from status group herd behavior. Because in DC I think it’s very real.

My expectation is that the teachers teach the student body they have. If they have students with drive, experience, technical abilities, they can work with that. None of our kids are doing technically jaw dropping STEM work at 14.

Is your kid at McKinley? My experience so far “taking a leap of faith” at a “diverse” DCPS is that it is in no way academically where it should be, and I’m not willing to continue that into HS.

So you are at the school currently. You are a white family. You are not impressed and will be leaving? Please share more specifics about what about the school has not been good enough for your child.

Simply put the teachers feel no responsibility to prepare the kids for selective HS and college because 90% of the kids are not taking that route. Because of this the level of instruction is set much lower than at a school where more is expected. Kids permitted not to do work in class, to turn in 1-sentence answers. Teachers who just take the day off and let kids be on screens all class if they feel like it. Some teacher very good but overall little effort. A few teachers VERY bad in a way that would not be tolerated at a more affluent school.

Just to clarify. The poster a few comments back said they took the leap of faith and was unwilling to continue for HS. That suggests this comment is referring to their middle school and not McKinley Tech HS.

Yes I am PP and discussing MS. Which I think bears a lot more resemblance to HS than people’s experience in T1 elementary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If McKinley were half as good as PP's claim, wouldn't the student body be a lot more diverse? Seriously, why is white enrollment in the single digits and Asian enrollment negligible?

So a school can’t be good if white people and Asian people aren’t there? What about Banneker? It’s always been majority African American, and it’s an excellent school. What about Howard U? If McKinley were in Chevy Chase or Georgetown but still the exact same school, same programs, same level of academics, same teachers, etc., it would be flooded with white parents. Non-families of color who don’t even know anything McKinley still trash talk it. And they see the student body make up and the location and say no way before even learning about the school. So please do stay away. Keep thinking it’s trash so that you don’t send your kid there, and then the school won’t have to deal with you. Also, why does every discussion of Banneker and McKinley have to go this route? This is not just racist—it’s boring and trite. Do better. Think more critically. And get over yourself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because of parents whose behavior looks for the sure thing then notes the collective dynamic that does not lead large numbers of them to engage.

People talk about a lot of sides of segregation and discrimination, I think somebody should look harder at this unwillingness to take a leap of faith away from status group herd behavior. Because in DC I think it’s very real.

My expectation is that the teachers teach the student body they have. If they have students with drive, experience, technical abilities, they can work with that. None of our kids are doing technically jaw dropping STEM work at 14.

Is your kid at McKinley? My experience so far “taking a leap of faith” at a “diverse” DCPS is that it is in no way academically where it should be, and I’m not willing to continue that into HS.

So you are at the school currently. You are a white family. You are not impressed and will be leaving? Please share more specifics about what about the school has not been good enough for your child.

Simply put the teachers feel no responsibility to prepare the kids for selective HS and college because 90% of the kids are not taking that route. Because of this the level of instruction is set much lower than at a school where more is expected. Kids permitted not to do work in class, to turn in 1-sentence answers. Teachers who just take the day off and let kids be on screens all class if they feel like it. Some teacher very good but overall little effort. A few teachers VERY bad in a way that would not be tolerated at a more affluent school.

Just to clarify. The poster a few comments back said they took the leap of faith and was unwilling to continue for HS. That suggests this comment is referring to their middle school and not McKinley Tech HS.

Yes I am PP and discussing MS. Which I think bears a lot more resemblance to HS than people’s experience in T1 elementary.

This thread is about the HS, which is entirely selective. Kids who cause trouble and have low grades will not get in to McKinley.