Martin Luther King Humanities magnet

[Anonymous]

Forgot to clarify, they take media every year, but it’s one class, like Media 6, Media 7, Media 8. It’s a required elective.

Also, the HS counselors said colleges want two years in HS regardless of how much they’d already done, so MLK kids have to go up to Spanish 5 or AP while others could get by with Spanish 2, 3, or 4 and still have two years in HS. Requiring a language all three years is something MLK does because of the IB program. Who knows though, your kid might love Spanish/French 🤷‍♀️ Mine didn’t and felt like it was unfair.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MLK sets kids up well for Humanities at Poolesville (almost like a third of PHS humanities also did MLK humanities), but also for other programs. There are a lot of MLK kids in Global and SMCS at PHS too. They do offer buses to convenient bus stops even if the length of the ride is annoying.

MLK does have the fighting and vaping/drug problem but Humanities is a bit sheltered from that. The academics were great, the media elective every year may suck for kids who are devoted to orchestra/band but it was the highlight of 8th grade.

The main pros are the academics and tight knit friends. Cons would be meh science (math is fine) and fighting.

Thanks!

Is the fighting generally among the non magnet kids? What are the media electives each year? When you say 8th grade was great, did you mean they band/orchestra in 8th grade?

Their presentation also showed some enactments of civilizations. Was that all it is hyped up to be?

At lunch, was there any fighting/bullying of the nerdy kids?

How diverse is the magnet crowd?

There is one media class required each year.
There is fighting and bullying of nerdy kids in every school.

I understand but am just wondering if magnet kids are targeted or anything like that.

MS fighting tends to be among neighborhood kids who bring their neighborhood beefs to school. (Happens at all MS). Kids are very myopic and really only know other kids in their classes. Since the magnet kids are mostly in their own classes, there’s not much mixing of groups except during PE.

Magnet kids are more likely to be bullied or excluded by other magnet kids (which does happen.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MLK sets kids up well for Humanities at Poolesville (almost like a third of PHS humanities also did MLK humanities), but also for other programs. There are a lot of MLK kids in Global and SMCS at PHS too. They do offer buses to convenient bus stops even if the length of the ride is annoying.

MLK does have the fighting and vaping/drug problem but Humanities is a bit sheltered from that. The academics were great, the media elective every year may suck for kids who are devoted to orchestra/band but it was the highlight of 8th grade.

The main pros are the academics and tight knit friends. Cons would be meh science (math is fine) and fighting.

Thanks!

Is the fighting generally among the non magnet kids? What are the media electives each year? When you say 8th grade was great, did you mean they band/orchestra in 8th grade?

Their presentation also showed some enactments of civilizations. Was that all it is hyped up to be?

At lunch, was there any fighting/bullying of the nerdy kids?

How diverse is the magnet crowd?

There is one media class required each year.
There is fighting and bullying of nerdy kids in every school.

I understand but am just wondering if magnet kids are targeted or anything like that.

MS fighting tends to be among neighborhood kids who bring their neighborhood beefs to school. (Happens at all MS). Kids are very myopic and really only know other kids in their classes. Since the magnet kids are mostly in their own classes, there’s not much mixing of groups except during PE.

Magnet kids are more likely to be bullied or excluded by other magnet kids (which does happen.)

Thank you! I'm also surprised that magnet kids would bully their peers. All of them are there because they are gifted in some way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Forgot to clarify, they take media every year, but it’s one class, like Media 6, Media 7, Media 8. It’s a required elective.

Also, the HS counselors said colleges want two years in HS regardless of how much they’d already done, so MLK kids have to go up to Spanish 5 or AP while others could get by with Spanish 2, 3, or 4 and still have two years in HS. Requiring a language all three years is something MLK does because of the IB program. Who knows though, your kid might love Spanish/French 🤷‍♀️ Mine didn’t and felt like it was unfair.

Thank you. That does seem unfair that they have to take 2 years of language in HS too. This makes me lean towards Parkland with the semester system for some electives.

[Anonymous]

OP since you're leaning towards Parkland I think if your child goes there they would be eligible to apply for all the DCC magnets for high school. That opens up a huge number of possibilities including the two Wheaton engineering programs if you're looking at stem. you would be in a really rare position to have access to all the DCC offerings plus all the ones up county.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP since you're leaning towards Parkland I think if your child goes there they would be eligible to apply for all the DCC magnets for high school. That opens up a huge number of possibilities including the two Wheaton engineering programs if you're looking at stem. you would be in a really rare position to have access to all the DCC offerings plus all the ones up county.

Agree, but if you live in the Gaithersburg area, that’s a hardcore commitment to 7 years of commuting pretty far, not just for school events, but every time your kid needs to get together with classmates to work on projects or even just to hang out with friends. We live in Gaithersburg DD’s MLK/Poolesville friends mean lots of trips to Germantown and Clarksburg. I guess you’d just make lots of trips to Silver Spring and Bethesda instead, so not that different, but the distance complicates things like doctors appointments too.

The world language issue isn’t that big of a deal if you choose MLK. THE 3 years in middle school don’t have to go on a high school transcript. It’s your choice. Your dc could take French in middle school and sign language in high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP since you're leaning towards Parkland I think if your child goes there they would be eligible to apply for all the DCC magnets for high school. That opens up a huge number of possibilities including the two Wheaton engineering programs if you're looking at stem. you would be in a really rare position to have access to all the DCC offerings plus all the ones up county.

Are there buses from upcounty to the DCC schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP since you're leaning towards Parkland I think if your child goes there they would be eligible to apply for all the DCC magnets for high school. That opens up a huge number of possibilities including the two Wheaton engineering programs if you're looking at stem. you would be in a really rare position to have access to all the DCC offerings plus all the ones up county.

Agree, but if you live in the Gaithersburg area, that’s a hardcore commitment to 7 years of commuting pretty far, not just for school events, but every time your kid needs to get together with classmates to work on projects or even just to hang out with friends. We live in Gaithersburg DD’s MLK/Poolesville friends mean lots of trips to Germantown and Clarksburg. I guess you’d just make lots of trips to Silver Spring and Bethesda instead, so not that different, but the distance complicates things like doctors appointments too.

The world language issue isn’t that big of a deal if you choose MLK. THE 3 years in middle school don’t have to go on a high school transcript. It’s your choice. Your dc could take French in middle school and sign language in high school.

How often do the kids need to meet up? I never considered that. Meet up at Germantown and Clarksburg will definitely be more convenient.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP since you're leaning towards Parkland I think if your child goes there they would be eligible to apply for all the DCC magnets for high school. That opens up a huge number of possibilities including the two Wheaton engineering programs if you're looking at stem. you would be in a really rare position to have access to all the DCC offerings plus all the ones up county.

Are there buses from upcounty to the DCC schools?

Yes there are buses to DCC schools from neighborhood schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There's fighting at Parkland too.

There’s fighting at all of the MS and HS along with other things. DCUM just like to talk about it at specific schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Forgot to clarify, they take media every year, but it’s one class, like Media 6, Media 7, Media 8. It’s a required elective.

Also, the HS counselors said colleges want two years in HS regardless of how much they’d already done, so MLK kids have to go up to Spanish 5 or AP while others could get by with Spanish 2, 3, or 4 and still have two years in HS. Requiring a language all three years is something MLK does because of the IB program. Who knows though, your kid might love Spanish/French 🤷‍♀️ Mine didn’t and felt like it was unfair.

MLK doesn’t require Foreign Language all 3 years anymore. You can switch it for another elective. It would be nice if they upped the science though. It wouldn’t have to overtake the humanities but some kids would enjoy it. MS is too early to be making most kids choose a singular focus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Forgot to clarify, they take media every year, but it’s one class, like Media 6, Media 7, Media 8. It’s a required elective.

Also, the HS counselors said colleges want two years in HS regardless of how much they’d already done, so MLK kids have to go up to Spanish 5 or AP while others could get by with Spanish 2, 3, or 4 and still have two years in HS. Requiring a language all three years is something MLK does because of the IB program. Who knows though, your kid might love Spanish/French 🤷‍♀️ Mine didn’t and felt like it was unfair.

MLK doesn’t require Foreign Language all 3 years anymore. You can switch it for another elective. It would be nice if they upped the science though. It wouldn’t have to overtake the humanities but some kids would enjoy it. MS is too early to be making most kids choose a singular focus.

What are the electives? If Science is crappy there, how difficult is it to get into a Stem magnet track in high school? Can the Upcounty magnet kids apply to down county magnet schools for high school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Forgot to clarify, they take media every year, but it’s one class, like Media 6, Media 7, Media 8. It’s a required elective.

Also, the HS counselors said colleges want two years in HS regardless of how much they’d already done, so MLK kids have to go up to Spanish 5 or AP while others could get by with Spanish 2, 3, or 4 and still have two years in HS. Requiring a language all three years is something MLK does because of the IB program. Who knows though, your kid might love Spanish/French 🤷‍♀️ Mine didn’t and felt like it was unfair.

We are at an IB school and were told this too, and that there is no option to stretch out French/Spanish 1A/B over two years. I can't imagine the IB organization gets so specific to require three full years of high school language over middle school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP since you're leaning towards Parkland I think if your child goes there they would be eligible to apply for all the DCC magnets for high school. That opens up a huge number of possibilities including the two Wheaton engineering programs if you're looking at stem. you would be in a really rare position to have access to all the DCC offerings plus all the ones up county.

Agree, but if you live in the Gaithersburg area, that’s a hardcore commitment to 7 years of commuting pretty far, not just for school events, but every time your kid needs to get together with classmates to work on projects or even just to hang out with friends. We live in Gaithersburg DD’s MLK/Poolesville friends mean lots of trips to Germantown and Clarksburg. I guess you’d just make lots of trips to Silver Spring and Bethesda instead, so not that different, but the distance complicates things like doctors appointments too.

The world language issue isn’t that big of a deal if you choose MLK. THE 3 years in middle school don’t have to go on a high school transcript. It’s your choice. Your dc could take French in middle school and sign language in high school.

How often do the kids need to meet up? I never considered that. Meet up at Germantown and Clarksburg will definitely be more convenient.

It definitely depends on the friend group, but maybe like a few times a month? It sucks to live far away from friends, so that in addition to convenience would be another reason to choose the closer option.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP since you're leaning towards Parkland I think if your child goes there they would be eligible to apply for all the DCC magnets for high school. That opens up a huge number of possibilities including the two Wheaton engineering programs if you're looking at stem. you would be in a really rare position to have access to all the DCC offerings plus all the ones up county.

Agree, but if you live in the Gaithersburg area, that’s a hardcore commitment to 7 years of commuting pretty far, not just for school events, but every time your kid needs to get together with classmates to work on projects or even just to hang out with friends. We live in Gaithersburg DD’s MLK/Poolesville friends mean lots of trips to Germantown and Clarksburg. I guess you’d just make lots of trips to Silver Spring and Bethesda instead, so not that different, but the distance complicates things like doctors appointments too.

The world language issue isn’t that big of a deal if you choose MLK. THE 3 years in middle school don’t have to go on a high school transcript. It’s your choice. Your dc could take French in middle school and sign language in high school.

How often do the kids need to meet up? I never considered that. Meet up at Germantown and Clarksburg will definitely be more convenient.

It definitely depends on the friend group, but maybe like a few times a month? It sucks to live far away from friends, so that in addition to convenience would be another reason to choose the closer option.

Thank you! These meetups are for classwork or just socialization with friends? I asked around and no one from our school is going to either of these schools so making friends would be important too for my kid.