Westland - Please share your experience

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:FWIW, the view from the student trenches is that Westland is uber boring and very clique-y. Lots of mindless worksheets and very shallow classwork. Good in the sense that it's not much work, but bad in the sense that being bored all day is no fun.

Exactly. MCPS should do better. I hope the new super makes meeting ALL kids' needs a priority.There is no reason, with the taxes we pay, and the resources at our disposal here in the Capital region, that these kids should be bored.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FWIW, the view from the student trenches is that Westland is uber boring and very clique-y. Lots of mindless worksheets and very shallow classwork. Good in the sense that it's not much work, but bad in the sense that being bored all day is no fun.

Exactly. MCPS should do better. I hope the new super makes meeting ALL kids' needs a priority.There is no reason, with the taxes we pay, and the resources at our disposal here in the Capital region, that these kids should be bored.

Agree with this, and it's what I've heard from several neighbors.

[Anonymous]

Why would you have your kid take French? There is almost no real world need to have a grasp of that language.

[Anonymous]

Ever heard of French speaking Africa?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A large proportion of kids got all A's (see the honor roll) at Westland (though not nearly the percentage of kids at Pyle who got all A's) - so if your child is bright, they should be fine academically (though how engaged and challenged they are depends on whether they end up with the better teachers or not). But as everybody says - middle school is a tough time and there is a lot more to it than just academics. The social piece is critical. Has your child expressed worry? Do they have some good friends to ride the bus with and hopefully be assigned to lunch with?

NP here (Westland parent). I was curious how hard it was to get on the honor roll because my son doesn't seem to work particularly hard on homework in after-school hours, and yet he's on the honor roll. (Also he's allowed to re-take some tests if needed, as allowed by the guidelines.) So I'm curious to know if the teachers are too willing to give A's?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why would you have your kid take French? There is almost no real world need to have a grasp of that language.

This is a narrow-minded view is ever there was one. There is "almost no real word need" for all sorts of subjects to study. If that's the only criterion, then why study art, music, drama, any language other than Spanish, literature, etc., etc.?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why would you have your kid take French? There is almost no real world need to have a grasp of that language.

It's the language of diplomacy and it develops vocabulary since some words used commonly in English are from French. If you travel to a French speaking country, it's nice to know basic French. I don't see the downside to it or to the study of any language. We should start it earlier and not reserve it for a handful of kids in immersion classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A large proportion of kids got all A's (see the honor roll) at Westland (though not nearly the percentage of kids at Pyle who got all A's) - so if your child is bright, they should be fine academically (though how engaged and challenged they are depends on whether they end up with the better teachers or not). But as everybody says - middle school is a tough time and there is a lot more to it than just academics. The social piece is critical. Has your child expressed worry? Do they have some good friends to ride the bus with and hopefully be assigned to lunch with?

NP here (Westland parent). I was curious how hard it was to get on the honor roll because my son doesn't seem to work particularly hard on homework in after-school hours, and yet he's on the honor roll. (Also he's allowed to re-take some tests if needed, as allowed by the guidelines.) So I'm curious to know if the teachers are too willing to give A's?

That will be change from our ES, where everybody gets straight Ps. I'm told they don't give "ES options" in lots of classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A large proportion of kids got all A's (see the honor roll) at Westland (though not nearly the percentage of kids at Pyle who got all A's) - so if your child is bright, they should be fine academically (though how engaged and challenged they are depends on whether they end up with the better teachers or not). But as everybody says - middle school is a tough time and there is a lot more to it than just academics. The social piece is critical. Has your child expressed worry? Do they have some good friends to ride the bus with and hopefully be assigned to lunch with?

NP here (Westland parent). I was curious how hard it was to get on the honor roll because my son doesn't seem to work particularly hard on homework in after-school hours, and yet he's on the honor roll. (Also he's allowed to re-take some tests if needed, as allowed by the guidelines.) So I'm curious to know if the teachers are too willing to give A's?

That was our experience at a Westland feeder elementary. We were particularly concerned about our child's writing skills, but the school was unconcerned as DC was making good grades in advanced English. At a private middle school, DC is earning @ 60% to 70% on writing assignments and bringing grade up to a C through class participation. Much happier that DC is learning to write rather than simply being passed along in MCPS. I did hear from neighbors that there is an excellent English teacher at Westland who really works on writing, but I can't imagine my DC getting anywhere near the level of individual writing instruction DC is receiving now at the private middle school. We had planned to return to BCC for HS, but the experience has been so positive, we hope to send DC to private for HS as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why would you have your kid take French? There is almost no real world need to have a grasp of that language.

It's the language of diplomacy and it develops vocabulary since some words used commonly in English are from French. If you travel to a French speaking country, it's nice to know basic French. I don't see the downside to it or to the study of any language. We should start it earlier and not reserve it for a handful of kids in immersion classes.

Also, lots of legal history in French. Plus, French is one of the 6 UN countries and one of the major European Union countries. I grew up learning French and believing the same as a PP -- that Spanish is the more "useful" language. But, really, it helped me so much in my jobs in international, legal and diplomatic fields. It also helps a bit with spelling in English, perhaps not as much as Latin, though. And, if you know one Romance language it is easier to learn or decipher a bit of others (like Spanish and Italian) since the grammar, structure and many of the words/roots are similar.

[Anonymous]

Westland parents: what would you say to a parent of a child who was in private through 5th or 6th? Have you seen kids transitioning well at from private schools? This is what we planned to do next year.

[Anonymous]

I'm an academic and have kids in Westland feeder elementaries. SO no direct experience, but fwiw all the families I know from our current elementary as well as at my university seem to love Westland. I was a bit surprised, having heard the "weak link" theory and just because it's middle school. But there are at least some demanding but happy parents with kids there now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:FWIW, the view from the student trenches is that Westland is uber boring and very clique-y. Lots of mindless worksheets and very shallow classwork. Good in the sense that it's not much work, but bad in the sense that being bored all day is no fun.

Good to know. I think that will fit my student reasonably well, she will like that less work gives her more time available in her schedule for a multitude of outside activities, and we supplement academics anyway. Thanks for the info, it's nice to know what to expect.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FWIW, the view from the student trenches is that Westland is uber boring and very clique-y. Lots of mindless worksheets and very shallow classwork. Good in the sense that it's not much work, but bad in the sense that being bored all day is no fun.

Good to know. I think that will fit my student reasonably well, she will like that less work gives her more time available in her schedule for a multitude of outside activities, and we supplement academics anyway. Thanks for the info, it's nice to know what to expect.

This is such an odd stance to take. THe middle school curriculum in MCPS is county wide. Westland's teachers are generally very good and the student body is, for the most part, highly capable, so there's no "teaching down" to struggling kids.

If people have a problem with middle school being boring, criticise MCPS! But to single out Westland as being more boring than its sister schools is just weird. People on this board seem to think that each school has its own curriculum.

[Anonymous]

Maybe your kids are well educated and are meeting the benchmarks for A's?