DCPS Selective HSs: What to know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What high schools in DCPS offer higher math classes than Walls?

The highest math class offered at the school is Calculus.

No DCPS high school offers any math past Calculus in the whole system which is shocking in this day and age in addition to not offering all the standard AP science classes.

You can do dual enrollment but it is not the same and challenging in regards to coordinating it with full schedule at the school, logistics, etc…

Wait how is dual enrollment not the same? Are you really arguing a high school diff EQ class is better than a dual enrollment diff EQ class at a university? Be serious.

i believe the poster means it's a logistical challenge and a less desirable experience to take it with a bunch of strangers rather than classmates.

This.

First the class is only offered a certain time and day at the college. Then you have to coordinate and fit that into your kids busy school schedule and lots of times it doesn’t work. Then you have to figure out how your kid is going to get to the class and back logistically and in time to the next class at school.

Honestly, most times it won’t work. But let’s not kid ourselves that there are so many kids at Walls who even gets to this advance track. There are not.

Or at any school (other than TJ)! No way there are full classrooms of high school kids taking differential equations (next in sequence after multivariate, right?) all over the DMV. I call bullshit.

We are not talking about all schools in the DMV. But the magnets in the burbs offer more advance math courses than Walls which is the DC equivalent. And all the schools outside DC offer your basic AP science courses.

I’m the poster whose friend’s kid was at Langely, not even a magnet school. They offered multivariable and also linear algebra and differential equations. Yes, all 3 courses so had enough students for these classes.

Of course all those schools offer more classes than Walls -- they are multiple times larger!!!

I grew up in a city of 3-4 million people with a competitive exam system (in Asia) and even in that environment, which no one should want for their child (it was like climbing an ice wall with only your fingernails and watching your peers fall off as you climbed), we’re talking 10-15 kids tops in 4 years who are going past what would be considered calc BC. And even then, we were specializing (we’re known for producing Algebraists and we sent 1-2 kids to Yale a year to work there).

There’s absolutely nothing like it in the states in public education (GOOD) because there’s not enough kids who can hack it. This idea that there are classrooms full of kids in Arlington trying to parse Lang is ridiculous.

And there have never been very many jobs or academic paths which rely on it. If you're going to be an academic mathematician, sure. But I know my high school valedictorian who became a physics professor, and he took BC calculus senior year. I have a friend who was tenured at an Ivy in a very mathy field, and he got the additional math he needed after college but before his PhD. Another one I know started at a top CS PhD program and was coming from a liberal arts college which wouldn't have even had four years of math for kids coming in with linear algebra and multivarable. Another MIT grad who got into robots--also did BC senior year. This idea that you're cutting yourself off from top STEM jobs is not true.

The entire point of this is some people get lucky so relax? That’s ridiculous. My background is not as privileged as yours and I know tons of super smart and hardworking people who went nowhere in their careers. Also these little stories you’re telling are old. College acceptance is not like that anymore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Even BASIS math only goes to multivariate! So calling walls weak on math because it too only offers up to multivariate is ridiculous. (I am not disagreeing that walls has many flaws - but a lack of challenging math courses is not one of them).

Walls just offers the basics for a humanities person. It’s just not competitive for stem. Removing the testing requirements and refusing to look at what courses applicants took just makes me nervous as a parent. I don’t want my kid around someone who is taking regular math and English and not trying. I want my kids around people who are intellectually curious and took the hard electives, who don’t have to worry about dual enrollment because the school doesn’t provide sufficient math and science courses. I don’t want them to attend a school where the parent community thinks math courses are “miserable”. Good for you that you’re happy. To each his own.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What high schools in DCPS offer higher math classes than Walls?

The highest math class offered at the school is Calculus.

No DCPS high school offers any math past Calculus in the whole system which is shocking in this day and age in addition to not offering all the standard AP science classes.

You can do dual enrollment but it is not the same and challenging in regards to coordinating it with full schedule at the school, logistics, etc…

Wait how is dual enrollment not the same? Are you really arguing a high school diff EQ class is better than a dual enrollment diff EQ class at a university? Be serious.

i believe the poster means it's a logistical challenge and a less desirable experience to take it with a bunch of strangers rather than classmates.

This.

First the class is only offered a certain time and day at the college. Then you have to coordinate and fit that into your kids busy school schedule and lots of times it doesn’t work. Then you have to figure out how your kid is going to get to the class and back logistically and in time to the next class at school.

Honestly, most times it won’t work. But let’s not kid ourselves that there are so many kids at Walls who even gets to this advance track. There are not.

Or at any school (other than TJ)! No way there are full classrooms of high school kids taking differential equations (next in sequence after multivariate, right?) all over the DMV. I call bullshit.

We are not talking about all schools in the DMV. But the magnets in the burbs offer more advance math courses than Walls which is the DC equivalent. And all the schools outside DC offer your basic AP science courses.

I’m the poster whose friend’s kid was at Langely, not even a magnet school. They offered multivariable and also linear algebra and differential equations. Yes, all 3 courses so had enough students for these classes.

Of course all those schools offer more classes than Walls -- they are multiple times larger!!!

I grew up in a city of 3-4 million people with a competitive exam system (in Asia) and even in that environment, which no one should want for their child (it was like climbing an ice wall with only your fingernails and watching your peers fall off as you climbed), we’re talking 10-15 kids tops in 4 years who are going past what would be considered calc BC. And even then, we were specializing (we’re known for producing Algebraists and we sent 1-2 kids to Yale a year to work there).

There’s absolutely nothing like it in the states in public education (GOOD) because there’s not enough kids who can hack it. This idea that there are classrooms full of kids in Arlington trying to parse Lang is ridiculous.

And there have never been very many jobs or academic paths which rely on it. If you're going to be an academic mathematician, sure. But I know my high school valedictorian who became a physics professor, and he took BC calculus senior year. I have a friend who was tenured at an Ivy in a very mathy field, and he got the additional math he needed after college but before his PhD. Another one I know started at a top CS PhD program and was coming from a liberal arts college which wouldn't have even had four years of math for kids coming in with linear algebra and multivarable. Another MIT grad who got into robots--also did BC senior year. This idea that you're cutting yourself off from top STEM jobs is not true.

No one is saying anyone is cutting themselves off from STEM jobs or whatever.

But college admissions now is nothing like it was 20 years ago, nothing.

The reality is that majority of kids going into STEM majors at competitive colleges have taken math past Calculus.

NAEP stats are that less than 1% of students go past calculus. What you’re proposing is mechanically impossible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Even BASIS math only goes to multivariate! So calling walls weak on math because it too only offers up to multivariate is ridiculous. (I am not disagreeing that walls has many flaws - but a lack of challenging math courses is not one of them).

Walls just offers the basics for a humanities person. It’s just not competitive for stem. Removing the testing requirements and refusing to look at what courses applicants took just makes me nervous as a parent. I don’t want my kid around someone who is taking regular math and English and not trying. I want my kids around people who are intellectually curious and took the hard electives, who don’t have to worry about dual enrollment because the school doesn’t provide sufficient math and science courses. I don’t want them to attend a school where the parent community thinks math courses are “miserable”. Good for you that you’re happy. To each his own.

Yes, good job understanding the thread, DCI or BASIS is best for you. Even better, take a time machine, do better in your career/ life choices, afford private for your kid where they’ll offer a 1-on-1 tailored course in algebraic geometry. Leave the rest of us to wallow in the mud of Walls, Banneker, McKinley etc and be really, really sad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Even BASIS math only goes to multivariate! So calling walls weak on math because it too only offers up to multivariate is ridiculous. (I am not disagreeing that walls has many flaws - but a lack of challenging math courses is not one of them).

Walls just offers the basics for a humanities person. It’s just not competitive for stem. Removing the testing requirements and refusing to look at what courses applicants took just makes me nervous as a parent. I don’t want my kid around someone who is taking regular math and English and not trying. I want my kids around people who are intellectually curious and took the hard electives, who don’t have to worry about dual enrollment because the school doesn’t provide sufficient math and science courses. I don’t want them to attend a school where the parent community thinks math courses are “miserable”. Good for you that you’re happy. To each his own.

There is so much privilege in this narrative and is so removed from the rest of the DC middle school experiences. Yes to each their own.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Even BASIS math only goes to multivariate! So calling walls weak on math because it too only offers up to multivariate is ridiculous. (I am not disagreeing that walls has many flaws - but a lack of challenging math courses is not one of them).

Walls just offers the basics for a humanities person. It’s just not competitive for stem. Removing the testing requirements and refusing to look at what courses applicants took just makes me nervous as a parent. I don’t want my kid around someone who is taking regular math and English and not trying. I want my kids around people who are intellectually curious and took the hard electives, who don’t have to worry about dual enrollment because the school doesn’t provide sufficient math and science courses. I don’t want them to attend a school where the parent community thinks math courses are “miserable”. Good for you that you’re happy. To each his own.

Yes, good job understanding the thread, DCI or BASIS is best for you. Even better, take a time machine, do better in your career/ life choices, afford private for your kid where they’ll offer a 1-on-1 tailored course in algebraic geometry. Leave the rest of us to wallow in the mud of Walls, Banneker, McKinley etc and be really, really sad.

Thanks for this helpful input. /s

[Anonymous]

My favorite part of this thread is that no one could acknowledge any room for improvement and instead just went for personal attacks.

Either you have someone who is hell bent on having people validate their choices or there is a defensive administrator working overtime.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My favorite part of this thread is that no one could acknowledge any room for improvement and instead just went for personal attacks.

Either you have someone who is hell bent on having people validate their choices or there is a defensive administrator working overtime.

What I don’t get that is Walls is known as a humanities school and not strong in STEM. This is a known and widely accepted fact.

Yet so many Walls families on here just can’t just acknowledge that and keep arguing that it is not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What high schools in DCPS offer higher math classes than Walls?

The highest math class offered at the school is Calculus.

No DCPS high school offers any math past Calculus in the whole system which is shocking in this day and age in addition to not offering all the standard AP science classes.

You can do dual enrollment but it is not the same and challenging in regards to coordinating it with full schedule at the school, logistics, etc…

Wait how is dual enrollment not the same? Are you really arguing a high school diff EQ class is better than a dual enrollment diff EQ class at a university? Be serious.

i believe the poster means it's a logistical challenge and a less desirable experience to take it with a bunch of strangers rather than classmates.

This.

First the class is only offered a certain time and day at the college. Then you have to coordinate and fit that into your kids busy school schedule and lots of times it doesn’t work. Then you have to figure out how your kid is going to get to the class and back logistically and in time to the next class at school.

Honestly, most times it won’t work. But let’s not kid ourselves that there are so many kids at Walls who even gets to this advance track. There are not.

Or at any school (other than TJ)! No way there are full classrooms of high school kids taking differential equations (next in sequence after multivariate, right?) all over the DMV. I call bullshit.

We are not talking about all schools in the DMV. But the magnets in the burbs offer more advance math courses than Walls which is the DC equivalent. And all the schools outside DC offer your basic AP science courses.

I’m the poster whose friend’s kid was at Langely, not even a magnet school. They offered multivariable and also linear algebra and differential equations. Yes, all 3 courses so had enough students for these classes.

Of course all those schools offer more classes than Walls -- they are multiple times larger!!!

I grew up in a city of 3-4 million people with a competitive exam system (in Asia) and even in that environment, which no one should want for their child (it was like climbing an ice wall with only your fingernails and watching your peers fall off as you climbed), we’re talking 10-15 kids tops in 4 years who are going past what would be considered calc BC. And even then, we were specializing (we’re known for producing Algebraists and we sent 1-2 kids to Yale a year to work there).

There’s absolutely nothing like it in the states in public education (GOOD) because there’s not enough kids who can hack it. This idea that there are classrooms full of kids in Arlington trying to parse Lang is ridiculous.

And there have never been very many jobs or academic paths which rely on it. If you're going to be an academic mathematician, sure. But I know my high school valedictorian who became a physics professor, and he took BC calculus senior year. I have a friend who was tenured at an Ivy in a very mathy field, and he got the additional math he needed after college but before his PhD. Another one I know started at a top CS PhD program and was coming from a liberal arts college which wouldn't have even had four years of math for kids coming in with linear algebra and multivarable. Another MIT grad who got into robots--also did BC senior year. This idea that you're cutting yourself off from top STEM jobs is not true.

No one is saying anyone is cutting themselves off from STEM jobs or whatever.

But college admissions now is nothing like it was 20 years ago, nothing.

The reality is that majority of kids going into STEM majors at competitive colleges have taken math past Calculus.

NAEP stats are that less than 1% of students go past calculus. What you’re proposing is mechanically impossible.

Sorry but not relevant. Go ask schools like MIT, VA tech and other competitive schools in math and engineering and ask how much math those kids in these majors took. That will tell you the real story

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My favorite part of this thread is that no one could acknowledge any room for improvement and instead just went for personal attacks.

Either you have someone who is hell bent on having people validate their choices or there is a defensive administrator working overtime.

Some people explained what Walls offers, what it doesn’t and why, who it’s good for. The “but muh DCI” crowd has no interest in an honest discussion outside boosterism, so why bother?

The school is fine, gets >1300 applicants for 150 spots, has good outcomes for engaged kids, seems to have happy kids on average. I didn’t want a TJ for my kid. There are enough like me to fill the school. If you do, there’s TJ.

I say all this as someone who grew up hardo striver and went to the “best schools”.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What high schools in DCPS offer higher math classes than Walls?

The highest math class offered at the school is Calculus.

No DCPS high school offers any math past Calculus in the whole system which is shocking in this day and age in addition to not offering all the standard AP science classes.

You can do dual enrollment but it is not the same and challenging in regards to coordinating it with full schedule at the school, logistics, etc…

Wait how is dual enrollment not the same? Are you really arguing a high school diff EQ class is better than a dual enrollment diff EQ class at a university? Be serious.

i believe the poster means it's a logistical challenge and a less desirable experience to take it with a bunch of strangers rather than classmates.

This.

First the class is only offered a certain time and day at the college. Then you have to coordinate and fit that into your kids busy school schedule and lots of times it doesn’t work. Then you have to figure out how your kid is going to get to the class and back logistically and in time to the next class at school.

Honestly, most times it won’t work. But let’s not kid ourselves that there are so many kids at Walls who even gets to this advance track. There are not.

Or at any school (other than TJ)! No way there are full classrooms of high school kids taking differential equations (next in sequence after multivariate, right?) all over the DMV. I call bullshit.

We are not talking about all schools in the DMV. But the magnets in the burbs offer more advance math courses than Walls which is the DC equivalent. And all the schools outside DC offer your basic AP science courses.

I’m the poster whose friend’s kid was at Langely, not even a magnet school. They offered multivariable and also linear algebra and differential equations. Yes, all 3 courses so had enough students for these classes.

DC should be aiming to create a school competitive with TJ. We have the student talent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What high schools in DCPS offer higher math classes than Walls?

The highest math class offered at the school is Calculus.

No DCPS high school offers any math past Calculus in the whole system which is shocking in this day and age in addition to not offering all the standard AP science classes.

You can do dual enrollment but it is not the same and challenging in regards to coordinating it with full schedule at the school, logistics, etc…

Wait how is dual enrollment not the same? Are you really arguing a high school diff EQ class is better than a dual enrollment diff EQ class at a university? Be serious.

i believe the poster means it's a logistical challenge and a less desirable experience to take it with a bunch of strangers rather than classmates.

This.

First the class is only offered a certain time and day at the college. Then you have to coordinate and fit that into your kids busy school schedule and lots of times it doesn’t work. Then you have to figure out how your kid is going to get to the class and back logistically and in time to the next class at school.

Honestly, most times it won’t work. But let’s not kid ourselves that there are so many kids at Walls who even gets to this advance track. There are not.

Or at any school (other than TJ)! No way there are full classrooms of high school kids taking differential equations (next in sequence after multivariate, right?) all over the DMV. I call bullshit.

We are not talking about all schools in the DMV. But the magnets in the burbs offer more advance math courses than Walls which is the DC equivalent. And all the schools outside DC offer your basic AP science courses.

I’m the poster whose friend’s kid was at Langely, not even a magnet school. They offered multivariable and also linear algebra and differential equations. Yes, all 3 courses so had enough students for these classes.

DC should be aiming to create a school competitive with TJ. We have the student talent.

I agree. But I also think there are a lot of brilliant kids here that don’t do well in a standard, conservative school model. I wish we had something really dynamic for 2E kids with really high IQs and passions they can’t explore in school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My favorite part of this thread is that no one could acknowledge any room for improvement and instead just went for personal attacks.

Either you have someone who is hell bent on having people validate their choices or there is a defensive administrator working overtime.

Some people explained what Walls offers, what it doesn’t and why, who it’s good for. The “but muh DCI” crowd has no interest in an honest discussion outside boosterism, so why bother?

The school is fine, gets >1300 applicants for 150 spots, has good outcomes for engaged kids, seems to have happy kids on average. I didn’t want a TJ for my kid. There are enough like me to fill the school. If you do, there’s TJ.

I say all this as someone who grew up hardo striver and went to the “best schools”.

What?? I don’t see any DCI crowd boosterism. Where is that??

It’s just pages of Walls families trying to justify the schools weak STEM offereings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What high schools in DCPS offer higher math classes than Walls?

The highest math class offered at the school is Calculus.

No DCPS high school offers any math past Calculus in the whole system which is shocking in this day and age in addition to not offering all the standard AP science classes.

You can do dual enrollment but it is not the same and challenging in regards to coordinating it with full schedule at the school, logistics, etc…

Wait how is dual enrollment not the same? Are you really arguing a high school diff EQ class is better than a dual enrollment diff EQ class at a university? Be serious.

i believe the poster means it's a logistical challenge and a less desirable experience to take it with a bunch of strangers rather than classmates.

This.

First the class is only offered a certain time and day at the college. Then you have to coordinate and fit that into your kids busy school schedule and lots of times it doesn’t work. Then you have to figure out how your kid is going to get to the class and back logistically and in time to the next class at school.

Honestly, most times it won’t work. But let’s not kid ourselves that there are so many kids at Walls who even gets to this advance track. There are not.

Or at any school (other than TJ)! No way there are full classrooms of high school kids taking differential equations (next in sequence after multivariate, right?) all over the DMV. I call bullshit.

We are not talking about all schools in the DMV. But the magnets in the burbs offer more advance math courses than Walls which is the DC equivalent. And all the schools outside DC offer your basic AP science courses.

I’m the poster whose friend’s kid was at Langely, not even a magnet school. They offered multivariable and also linear algebra and differential equations. Yes, all 3 courses so had enough students for these classes.

Of course all those schools offer more classes than Walls -- they are multiple times larger!!!

I grew up in a city of 3-4 million people with a competitive exam system (in Asia) and even in that environment, which no one should want for their child (it was like climbing an ice wall with only your fingernails and watching your peers fall off as you climbed), we’re talking 10-15 kids tops in 4 years who are going past what would be considered calc BC. And even then, we were specializing (we’re known for producing Algebraists and we sent 1-2 kids to Yale a year to work there).

There’s absolutely nothing like it in the states in public education (GOOD) because there’s not enough kids who can hack it. This idea that there are classrooms full of kids in Arlington trying to parse Lang is ridiculous.

And there have never been very many jobs or academic paths which rely on it. If you're going to be an academic mathematician, sure. But I know my high school valedictorian who became a physics professor, and he took BC calculus senior year. I have a friend who was tenured at an Ivy in a very mathy field, and he got the additional math he needed after college but before his PhD. Another one I know started at a top CS PhD program and was coming from a liberal arts college which wouldn't have even had four years of math for kids coming in with linear algebra and multivarable. Another MIT grad who got into robots--also did BC senior year. This idea that you're cutting yourself off from top STEM jobs is not true.

No one is saying anyone is cutting themselves off from STEM jobs or whatever.

But college admissions now is nothing like it was 20 years ago, nothing.

The reality is that majority of kids going into STEM majors at competitive colleges have taken math past Calculus.

NAEP stats are that less than 1% of students go past calculus. What you’re proposing is mechanically impossible.

Sorry but not relevant. Go ask schools like MIT, VA tech and other competitive schools in math and engineering and ask how much math those kids in these majors took. That will tell you the real story

That’s totally relevant, the top 50 USNWR couldn’t fill their freshman classes with all the kids that went past Calc AB. It’s a mechanical reality, it’s like 30k kids in the entire country per year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My favorite part of this thread is that no one could acknowledge any room for improvement and instead just went for personal attacks.

Either you have someone who is hell bent on having people validate their choices or there is a defensive administrator working overtime.

Some people explained what Walls offers, what it doesn’t and why, who it’s good for. The “but muh DCI” crowd has no interest in an honest discussion outside boosterism, so why bother?

The school is fine, gets >1300 applicants for 150 spots, has good outcomes for engaged kids, seems to have happy kids on average. I didn’t want a TJ for my kid. There are enough like me to fill the school. If you do, there’s TJ.

I say all this as someone who grew up hardo striver and went to the “best schools”.

What?? I don’t see any DCI crowd boosterism. Where is that??

It’s just pages of Walls families trying to justify the schools weak STEM offereings.

Er, no. Several posters said their STEM kids at Walls were happy and doing well.

Other posters said that can't possibly be true, that those posters are "delusional" about their kids happiness and progress.

Furthermore, the Walls posters are in denial for not understanding that Walls STEM offerings could and should be better.

Walls parents said, yes, it would be nice if Walls had more STEM offerings, though fortunately the offerings are decent, and the STEM kids are happy and learning, and, besides, it's not like there are other options that are inarguably better.

Oh yes! said the other posters. With 100% certainty, Basis and DCI are better for all students with any interest in STEM. Thus is absolutely true, even though no kid has free choice among all those schools and even though few schools in the DMV have the perfect menu of courses such that a STEM kid can do college before repeating college at college, which any kid with any interest in STEM must do.

Walls parents said that the Walls STEM kids are getting a good, broad education (including in science and math), and they feel comfortable that the Walls high school education will serve the kids well in college and in life.

Other posters said, "Why do the Walls patents have such low standards?!" and "Why are the Walls parents so defensive?!"

- dp, who is thankful for voice to text