Time for a mutiny yet? MCPS = crummy math, no grammar, poor writing

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OK, folks we all know It's Academic or Quizbowl is already about memorizing tons of facts and random facts. Great.

Re: K-12 education
For us it's more about the PATH than the end result. Frankly for a lot of kids in the DC area, they would end of at the same good school or legacy school regardless of private or public high school. Same for standardized test scores (AP, IB, SAT, ACT).

However, their experience the last 13 years might be vastly different. Maybe, in addition to good test scores and college acceptance, you want your children to learn good values, how to listen/speak/discuss, find his or her passions, try out different sports or clubs, develop close relationships to teacher mentors, develop a growth mindset and love of learning. Parents have to instill that in spite of MCPS, not because of MCPS. Maybe it's different at private school, I don't know, but we are constantly trying to help our children be well-rounded despite a frantic math/reading/english curricula K-5, a total mash-up 6-8, and then pressure cooker 9-12 focused on AP tests.

Some things we don’t like about MCPS

1) too much time spent on standardized testing
2) reading and writing skills aren’t emphasized/good
3) kid wanted to do robotics at school but there was only space for some kids and many were left out.
4) grade inflation
5) math acceleration at all costs - pushed too much too soon
6) if a kid wants to do a magnet program from a W cluster they are bused away to a low socioeconomic school for all magnets.

On the plus side there are many foreign languages offered in high school. It would be great if they could start in elementary school though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Yeah, I wish my daughter would learn about talking snakes in her public elementary school! How about splitting the waters, so that the chosen people could cross it by walking at the bottom of the sea? That would be a nice science topic! How about the ark where animals were peacefully coexisting while the angry bearded old man flooded the earth? Forget evolution, there are more magical things to learn in life!

PP, as far as I know, parochial schools in this area do not teach creationism. And the Catholic Church is neither anti-evolution nor pro-literal reading of the Catholic Bible. Some nuance would be appropriate here, I think.

-not a Catholic

You mean they teach religion while ignoring the magic in the bible? That's cute. Really useful stuff, and added bonus.

PP, if you want to discuss religion, there's a religion forum right here on DCUM.

A private school parent brought the religion in the discussion as an added bonus for the private school education. This is not a general discussion about religion, it is religion as part of school curriculum. For some is an added bonus, for others is an indoctrination method.

But the subject is MCPS- no private versus public & not ‘quiz bowl’.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OK, folks we all know It's Academic or Quizbowl is already about memorizing tons of facts and random facts. Great.

Re: K-12 education
For us it's more about the PATH than the end result. Frankly for a lot of kids in the DC area, they would end of at the same good school or legacy school regardless of private or public high school. Same for standardized test scores (AP, IB, SAT, ACT).

However, their experience the last 13 years might be vastly different. Maybe, in addition to good test scores and college acceptance, you want your children to learn good values, how to listen/speak/discuss, find his or her passions, try out different sports or clubs, develop close relationships to teacher mentors, develop a growth mindset and love of learning. Parents have to instill that in spite of MCPS, not because of MCPS. Maybe it's different at private school, I don't know, but we are constantly trying to help our children be well-rounded despite a frantic math/reading/english curricula K-5, a total mash-up 6-8, and then pressure cooker 9-12 focused on AP tests.

Laudable goals, for sure, but there is no possible way you can generalize about how to achieve those goals. The path will depend on the kid. I went to both strong public schools and strong private schools. I can say with complete confidence that you can achieve those goals at a strong public (and, yes, MCPS remains strong, despite all the bashing here) or not. Same for a strong private. Certain private schools *might* have a higher percentage of kids with intellectual curiosity and smaller class sizes can *sometimes* make it easier to foster mentorship relationships with teachers, but all of that remains situation-dependent.

At the end of the day, if you have a decently strong foundation (and most MCPS schools will give you that), whether your kid ends up being well-rounded, passionate, and possessive of good values depends in large part on what you, and the other adults in his/her life, do to foster that. No school is going to be a magic pill that will solidify a crappy or amazing life for your kid.

Um OK, so you both agree that parents have to instill and foster that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Yeah, I wish my daughter would learn about talking snakes in her public elementary school! How about splitting the waters, so that the chosen people could cross it by walking at the bottom of the sea? That would be a nice science topic! How about the ark where animals were peacefully coexisting while the angry bearded old man flooded the earth? Forget evolution, there are more magical things to learn in life!

PP, as far as I know, parochial schools in this area do not teach creationism. And the Catholic Church is neither anti-evolution nor pro-literal reading of the Catholic Bible. Some nuance would be appropriate here, I think.

-not a Catholic

You mean they teach religion while ignoring the magic in the bible? That's cute. Really useful stuff, and added bonus.

PP, if you want to discuss religion, there's a religion forum right here on DCUM.

A private school parent brought the religion in the discussion as an added bonus for the private school education. This is not a general discussion about religion, it is religion as part of school curriculum. For some is an added bonus, for others is an indoctrination method.

But the subject is MCPS- no private versus public & not ‘quiz bowl’.

Who appointed you thread topic observer? Only people who bash MCPS curriculum and practices are allowed to post? Why don't you complain when private school parents bash MCPS? Is it because the thread is dedicated to bashing public education?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:5) math acceleration at all costs - pushed too much too soon

This isn't really something being pushed by MCPS; it's MCPS responding to all the tiger parents out there who insist on their kid taking calculus in 11th because they mistakenly think it's going to help with college placement or be necessary to enter a STEM field (which it isn't).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think my child is getting a 'crappy education' (while we're at it, I'm wondering if GDS, Sidwell, Holton, etc students are getting 42K a year worth of education. Do they, really?), my child at her ES is getting an okay education. Our school is excellent, the principal is stellar and the PTA and parents are involved; the peer group is of a high caliber, also. Yes, I'm not crazy about the curriculum, since my child is academically advanced, yes, I think she would benefit from more challenge. That's why we supplement. Do I wish MCPS cater more to its brightest? Yes, of course.

In MS and HS we would reevaluate, but, for now, MCPS it is. And yes, it is superior to Howard and PG (don't know much about Fairfax, but I believe it's comparable).

So you agree with me then. You say your kid is getting an "okay" education, which means mediocre vs. excellent. You have to supplement. Nice that you are surrounded by excellent administration and parents, but they can only do so much with a curriculum which is lacking. AND it's not just the brightest that are suffering...it's all the kids who never really learn basic skills that young children are learning in some of the wonderful private schools in the area. My 4th grade DC is not in a $40K school. We are in a Catholic parochial and paying less than $10K. And she is getting formal instruction in things like grammar, spelling, vocabulary, cursive, science, social studies, and Spanish in a class of 21 kids. Religion is an added bonus. Her text books, work books, field trips, and all school supplies included with tuition. Not bad for less than $10K a year. How much do you spend on supplementing?

Yeah, I wish my daughter would learn about talking snakes in her public elementary school! How about splitting the waters, so that the chosen people could cross it by walking at the bottom of the sea? That would be a nice science topic! How about the ark where animals were peacefully coexisting while the angry bearded old man flooded the earth? Forget evolution, there are more magical things to learn in life!

Original PP here. We are not Catholic, or religious, for that matter, so I would only consider secular schools. You can enjoy your 'added bonus' but I don't want my children taught religion at school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think my child is getting a 'crappy education' (while we're at it, I'm wondering if GDS, Sidwell, Holton, etc students are getting 42K a year worth of education. Do they, really?), my child at her ES is getting an okay education. Our school is excellent, the principal is stellar and the PTA and parents are involved; the peer group is of a high caliber, also. Yes, I'm not crazy about the curriculum, since my child is academically advanced, yes, I think she would benefit from more challenge. That's why we supplement. Do I wish MCPS cater more to its brightest? Yes, of course.

In MS and HS we would reevaluate, but, for now, MCPS it is. And yes, it is superior to Howard and PG (don't know much about Fairfax, but I believe it's comparable).

So you agree with me then. You say your kid is getting an "okay" education, which means mediocre vs. excellent. You have to supplement. Nice that you are surrounded by excellent administration and parents, but they can only do so much with a curriculum which is lacking. AND it's not just the brightest that are suffering...it's all the kids who never really learn basic skills that young children are learning in some of the wonderful private schools in the area. My 4th grade DC is not in a $40K school. We are in a Catholic parochial and paying less than $10K. And she is getting formal instruction in things like grammar, spelling, vocabulary, cursive, science, social studies, and Spanish in a class of 21 kids. Religion is an added bonus. Her text books, work books, field trips, and all school supplies included with tuition. Not bad for less than $10K a year. How much do you spend on supplementing?

Yeah, I wish my daughter would learn about talking snakes in her public elementary school! How about splitting the waters, so that the chosen people could cross it by walking at the bottom of the sea? That would be a nice science topic! How about the ark where animals were peacefully coexisting while the angry bearded old man flooded the earth? Forget evolution, there are more magical things to learn in life!

Original PP here. We are not Catholic, or religious, for that matter, so I would only consider secular schools. You can enjoy your 'added bonus' but I don't want my children taught religion at school.

Hi everyone, I am the PP who mentioned religion as an added bonus. If you don’t want religion, find a secular school. That is the beauty of private school. If we don’t like something about it, we can take our tuition dollars to another school. Guess you don’t have that option in public, unless you sell your house of course. Sad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OK, folks we all know It's Academic or Quizbowl is already about memorizing tons of facts and random facts. Great.

Re: K-12 education
For us it's more about the PATH than the end result. Frankly for a lot of kids in the DC area, they would end of at the same good school or legacy school regardless of private or public high school. Same for standardized test scores (AP, IB, SAT, ACT).

However, their experience the last 13 years might be vastly different. Maybe, in addition to good test scores and college acceptance, you want your children to learn good values, how to listen/speak/discuss, find his or her passions, try out different sports or clubs, develop close relationships to teacher mentors, develop a growth mindset and love of learning. Parents have to instill that in spite of MCPS, not because of MCPS. Maybe it's different at private school, I don't know, but we are constantly trying to help our children be well-rounded despite a frantic math/reading/english curricula K-5, a total mash-up 6-8, and then pressure cooker 9-12 focused on AP tests.

Laudable goals, for sure, but there is no possible way you can generalize about how to achieve those goals. The path will depend on the kid. I went to both strong public schools and strong private schools. I can say with complete confidence that you can achieve those goals at a strong public (and, yes, MCPS remains strong, despite all the bashing here) or not. Same for a strong private. Certain private schools *might* have a higher percentage of kids with intellectual curiosity and smaller class sizes can *sometimes* make it easier to foster mentorship relationships with teachers, but all of that remains situation-dependent.

At the end of the day, if you have a decently strong foundation (and most MCPS schools will give you that), whether your kid ends up being well-rounded, passionate, and possessive of good values depends in large part on what you, and the other adults in his/her life, do to foster that. No school is going to be a magic pill that will solidify a crappy or amazing life for your kid.

Um OK, so you both agree that parents have to instill and foster that.

umm, no. the PP said parents have to instill all of those things "in spite of MCPS," as though MCPS definitely wouldn't contribute to that goal. i'm saying whether public or private school adds to or detracts from a kid's childhood is very much dependent on the kid and the parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Hi everyone, I am the PP who mentioned religion as an added bonus. If you don’t want religion, find a secular school. That is the beauty of private school. If we don’t like something about it, we can take our tuition dollars to another school. Guess you don’t have that option in public, unless you sell your house of course. Sad.

And yet people often seem not to do that -- or at least that's what I read on the private school forum. Maybe you could go to the private school forum and discuss the topic there?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OK, folks we all know It's Academic or Quizbowl is already about memorizing tons of facts and random facts. Great.

Re: K-12 education
For us it's more about the PATH than the end result. Frankly for a lot of kids in the DC area, they would end of at the same good school or legacy school regardless of private or public high school. Same for standardized test scores (AP, IB, SAT, ACT).

However, their experience the last 13 years might be vastly different. Maybe, in addition to good test scores and college acceptance, you want your children to learn good values, how to listen/speak/discuss, find his or her passions, try out different sports or clubs, develop close relationships to teacher mentors, develop a growth mindset and love of learning. Parents have to instill that in spite of MCPS, not because of MCPS. Maybe it's different at private school, I don't know, but we are constantly trying to help our children be well-rounded despite a frantic math/reading/english curricula K-5, a total mash-up 6-8, and then pressure cooker 9-12 focused on AP tests.

Laudable goals, for sure, but there is no possible way you can generalize about how to achieve those goals. The path will depend on the kid. I went to both strong public schools and strong private schools. I can say with complete confidence that you can achieve those goals at a strong public (and, yes, MCPS remains strong, despite all the bashing here) or not. Same for a strong private. Certain private schools *might* have a higher percentage of kids with intellectual curiosity and smaller class sizes can *sometimes* make it easier to foster mentorship relationships with teachers, but all of that remains situation-dependent.

At the end of the day, if you have a decently strong foundation (and most MCPS schools will give you that), whether your kid ends up being well-rounded, passionate, and possessive of good values depends in large part on what you, and the other adults in his/her life, do to foster that. No school is going to be a magic pill that will solidify a crappy or amazing life for your kid.

Um OK, so you both agree that parents have to instill and foster that.

umm, no. the PP said parents have to instill all of those things "in spite of MCPS," as though MCPS definitely wouldn't contribute to that goal. i'm saying whether public or private school adds to or detracts from a kid's childhood is very much dependent on the kid and the parents.

Sure, a kid coming out of MCPS can have all of those things, but there’s no getting around the fact that each of those items on the OP’s list is addressed and directly attempted to be instilled in each student on a near-daily basis in many private schools in this area. That’s in addition to whatever parents are doing to help their children with those items too. It’s certainly a difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Sure, a kid coming out of MCPS can have all of those things, but there’s no getting around the fact that each of those items on the OP’s list is addressed and directly attempted to be instilled in each student on a near-daily basis in many private schools in this area. That’s in addition to whatever parents are doing to help their children with those items too. It’s certainly a difference.

And in MCPS schools too! Yay for all schools where students learn good values, how to listen/speak/discuss, find their passions, try out different sports or clubs, develop close relationships to teacher mentors, and develop a growth mindset and love of learning!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Sure, a kid coming out of MCPS can have all of those things, but there’s no getting around the fact that each of those items on the OP’s list is addressed and directly attempted to be instilled in each student on a near-daily basis in many private schools in this area. That’s in addition to whatever parents are doing to help their children with those items too. It’s certainly a difference.

And in MCPS schools too! Yay for all schools where students learn good values, how to listen/speak/discuss, find their passions, try out different sports or clubs, develop close relationships to teacher mentors, and develop a growth mindset and love of learning!

Yeah no kidding. I know it's news to a lot of people, but private schools are not a panacea.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Sure, a kid coming out of MCPS can have all of those things, but there’s no getting around the fact that each of those items on the OP’s list is addressed and directly attempted to be instilled in each student on a near-daily basis in many private schools in this area. That’s in addition to whatever parents are doing to help their children with those items too. It’s certainly a difference.

And in MCPS schools too! Yay for all schools where students learn good values, how to listen/speak/discuss, find their passions, try out different sports or clubs, develop close relationships to teacher mentors, and develop a growth mindset and love of learning!

+1

I'm an MCPS basher. I think their academic curriculum stinks. However, even I think they offer the types of intangibles described above.

[Anonymous]

The poster who said that it was mostly private parents bashing MCPS on this thread was actually right.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The poster who said that it was mostly private parents bashing MCPS on this thread was actually right.

While there are some private parents on this thread, as evidenced by the whole It's Academic debate, I think the early bashers were mostly MCPS parents.

Personally, my kids attended MCPS K-12. I'm a basher because I think the basic curriculum is terrible, especially in elementary. (It does get better in higher grades with AP/IB classes. Textbooks help a lot.) I do think the magnet classes are great.