So would you still say the public school was just fine?

[Anonymous]

We looked up a local 10 school and my conclusion was that the great student are mostly Asians, tiger moms included that are home schooled after school. Kumon and what not included. The school is not producing the high achievers they are mostly hosting. But to be honest, at our private it looks similar. Kids from intellectual households are doing better than the self made business millionaire who is dyslexic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I live in california and the remedial classes thing is a big problem here. The state universities are telling parents (whose kids took AP classes) that most of the kids are not ready for a 4 yr university and should go to CC first. and the colleges in some cases now have as many sections of remedial math as they have actual college math classes - whereas even 10 yrs ago they only needed a few remedial sections.
I am only speaking about where I am.

Many years ago my dh went to a high school that was really bad, and the valedictorian when she went to college was advised to leave her stem major or drop out of school because she was so unprepared by their high school. I know that this happens.

People want to believe that public schools are great but really they are talking about a few schools that they made a priority to live in their zoned areas. It is really not that different from paying for private schools if you chose your school district so carefully.

It happened to me over 25 years ago at public school in Brooklyn, NY. I didn't take remedial classes because I was fortunate enough to be admitted to a top university that didn't offer them. However, I did struggle well into my Sophomore year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here: I find it interesting that once I identified the county all of my harsh critics and people calling this post boring have gone silent. I wonder why. I intentionally didn't name the county because I didn't want anyone to think I was trashing an entire county's public school system. But the silence of all the other posters speaks volumes. I suspect not one of them still thinks my public school should be an option. It never fails to amaze me the type of people who are on this board.

I for one did make some assumptions on where you were based on the quote that "the schools are fine." I will admit that my impression of the reputation of the schools is that they are not "fine." I have no direct knowledge and no justification for this impression other than a few friends who live there and the fact that their school board recently had no college graduates on it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok so those kids didn't take any AP coursework and got high honors for regular or at least honors classes?
I know people from TJ (that did well and got into fancy colleges) that failed out of MIT and I know people from PG county schools that did brilliantly in engineering and went on to all honors in college. Yes some of it is about the school and the rigor but so much is about the student. Did the parents ever read what and how the students wrote while in hs? College transition is hard for a lot of people no matter how well prepared. The remedial courses seem strange. The student was admitted based on an essay presumably and then it was clear they couldn't write?

I do as well. People fail out for many reasons, not just being under prepared. I haven't asked the parents what they did or didnt do, I only know they where shocked their kids weren't prepared. To provide some context the high school is a PG county school and the college of the remedial course is Bowie State. I'm not sure what Bowie State's admission process looks like. I only know the student had to attend the Bulldog summer program and first semester was all remedial courses. The student is doing OK (i.e., surviving) but it still struggling to keep up with the demands of college level workload.

Is it bladensburg? If the school is mostly a trade school well what do u expect?

I don't want to say which school. While they are (in my opinion) more geared to trade schools they don't specifically say they are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm in a county where some say "the schools are fine" or "the are better than DCPS." I know two students who within the past three years attended our local public school. Both graduated the same year with high honors and a variety of recognition awards in various subjects including Math, English, etc. They each went to separate colleges. One went to a state University and the other went to a small private university in another state. The one who went to a state University was told, after taking some exam to determine the level of courses they would take, that he would have to attend a summer english program to rehabilitate his English coursework and take ALL remedial classes in his first semester. None of that coursework counts towards his Bachelor's degree. The second student failed one class, got 2 D's and a C minus in her first semester, and not because she was partying and skipping class. The student got tutors, went to her professors, etc. but she was so under prepared that they finally recommended she withdraw and enroll in a community college, take some remedial coursework and reapply to re-enroll. The young lady is devestated, depressed and has not enrolled in community college for this semester. Both parents are completely shocked becasue as far as they knew their kids were bright children who were doing well in school and earning ALL A's. They never had a reason to suspect otherwise. Their test scores, as far as I know, didn't show any signs of concerns either.

After hearing this I decided there was no way I would be sending my children to public school as long as we lived in this county. We explored moving but the market sucks and for now it's not a real option. Am I crazy to be completely disgusted with the public schools? I've been told - even after sharing this two recent examples - I'm overreacting and the schools are just fine and most kids who graduate from these schools do fine and get accepted into colleges. Needless to say I am beginning to question what people think "just fine" is. I think is irresponsible to knowingly send kids to college unprepared and I refuse to put my children through that. What am I missing? How could the local school possibly be "just fine?"

What is the great school's rating

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here: I find it interesting that once I identified the county all of my harsh critics and people calling this post boring have gone silent. I wonder why. I intentionally didn't name the county because I didn't want anyone to think I was trashing an entire county's public school system. But the silence of all the other posters speaks volumes. I suspect not one of them still thinks my public school should be an option. It never fails to amaze me the type of people who are on this board.

I wouldn't read that much into it. I expect people who have said the thread is boring, have gone elsewhere. They're not hanging on your every word, with baited breath.

I call pure bullshit! When they assumed I was criticizing one of their White neighborhood public schools they where up in arms. Now that's it's clear I'm speaking about a public school in PG county (with more minorities) all of the harsh critics have squat to say. You can choose to not read into it all you want. I know better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm in a county where some say "the schools are fine" or "the are better than DCPS." I know two students who within the past three years attended our local public school. Both graduated the same year with high honors and a variety of recognition awards in various subjects including Math, English, etc. They each went to separate colleges. One went to a state University and the other went to a small private university in another state. The one who went to a state University was told, after taking some exam to determine the level of courses they would take, that he would have to attend a summer english program to rehabilitate his English coursework and take ALL remedial classes in his first semester. None of that coursework counts towards his Bachelor's degree. The second student failed one class, got 2 D's and a C minus in her first semester, and not because she was partying and skipping class. The student got tutors, went to her professors, etc. but she was so under prepared that they finally recommended she withdraw and enroll in a community college, take some remedial coursework and reapply to re-enroll. The young lady is devestated, depressed and has not enrolled in community college for this semester. Both parents are completely shocked becasue as far as they knew their kids were bright children who were doing well in school and earning ALL A's. They never had a reason to suspect otherwise. Their test scores, as far as I know, didn't show any signs of concerns either.

After hearing this I decided there was no way I would be sending my children to public school as long as we lived in this county. We explored moving but the market sucks and for now it's not a real option. Am I crazy to be completely disgusted with the public schools? I've been told - even after sharing this two recent examples - I'm overreacting and the schools are just fine and most kids who graduate from these schools do fine and get accepted into colleges. Needless to say I am beginning to question what people think "just fine" is. I think is irresponsible to knowingly send kids to college unprepared and I refuse to put my children through that. What am I missing? How could the local school possibly be "just fine?"

What is the great school's rating

6

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here: I find it interesting that once I identified the county all of my harsh critics and people calling this post boring have gone silent. I wonder why. I intentionally didn't name the county because I didn't want anyone to think I was trashing an entire county's public school system. But the silence of all the other posters speaks volumes. I suspect not one of them still thinks my public school should be an option. It never fails to amaze me the type of people who are on this board.

I was a PP, and just returned to this post after an absence ... shoveling. I haven't yet gone back through to see where you identify the school, and I probably won't. But you are reading to much into what you call silence. Sometimes, silence is actually absence.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here: I find it interesting that once I identified the county all of my harsh critics and people calling this post boring have gone silent. I wonder why. I intentionally didn't name the county because I didn't want anyone to think I was trashing an entire county's public school system. But the silence of all the other posters speaks volumes. I suspect not one of them still thinks my public school should be an option. It never fails to amaze me the type of people who are on this board.

I was a PP, and just returned to this post after an absence ... shoveling. I haven't yet gone back through to see where you identify the school, and I probably won't. But you are reading to much into what you call silence. Sometimes, silence is actually absence.

Yeah ok, keep shoveling that BS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here: I find it interesting that once I identified the county all of my harsh critics and people calling this post boring have gone silent. I wonder why. I intentionally didn't name the county because I didn't want anyone to think I was trashing an entire county's public school system. But the silence of all the other posters speaks volumes. I suspect not one of them still thinks my public school should be an option. It never fails to amaze me the type of people who are on this board.

I was a PP, and just returned to this post after an absence ... shoveling. I haven't yet gone back through to see where you identify the school, and I probably won't. But you are reading to much into what you call silence. Sometimes, silence is actually absence.

Yeah ok, keep shoveling that BS.

Wow really? You have issues. I was supportive of you in prior posts. Sheesh. Not everyone is evil.

[Anonymous]

Op, I think you said your children's grandparents were willing to pay for private. If so, great, not sure what feedback you're looking for. I would probably send my kid to private too if it were 'free'.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here: I find it interesting that once I identified the county all of my harsh critics and people calling this post boring have gone silent. I wonder why. I intentionally didn't name the county because I didn't want anyone to think I was trashing an entire county's public school system. But the silence of all the other posters speaks volumes. I suspect not one of them still thinks my public school should be an option. It never fails to amaze me the type of people who are on this board.

I wouldn't read that much into it. I expect people who have said the thread is boring, have gone elsewhere. They're not hanging on your every word, with baited breath.

I call pure bullshit! When they assumed I was criticizing one of their White neighborhood public schools they where up in arms. Now that's it's clear I'm speaking about a public school in PG county (with more minorities) all of the harsh critics have squat to say. You can choose to not read into it all you want. I know better.

Not sarcastic here, really I'd like you to make this a teachable moment for me. Many of us in other counties are under the impression that PG schools are not that good, and would not be surprised if private school options were better. This is a very different calculus in Montgomery and Fairfax and NW DC, for example, where schools rank higher and generally can serve students as well as local privates. Am I being racist for saying PG schools aren't that great? I'm really not kidding -- I want to not be a jerk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here: I find it interesting that once I identified the county all of my harsh critics and people calling this post boring have gone silent. I wonder why. I intentionally didn't name the county because I didn't want anyone to think I was trashing an entire county's public school system. But the silence of all the other posters speaks volumes. I suspect not one of them still thinks my public school should be an option. It never fails to amaze me the type of people who are on this board.

I was a PP, and just returned to this post after an absence ... shoveling. I haven't yet gone back through to see where you identify the school, and I probably won't. But you are reading to much into what you call silence. Sometimes, silence is actually absence.

Yeah ok, keep shoveling that BS.

Wow really? You have issues. I was supportive of you in prior posts. Sheesh. Not everyone is evil.

Then common sense should have told you that YOU weren't one of the PP my comment was directed towards.
The people it was directed towards are silent for a reason and it's not because they moved on (this is DCUM no one really moves on).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op, I think you said your children's grandparents were willing to pay for private. If so, great, not sure what feedback you're looking for. I would probably send my kid to private too if it were 'free'.

I wasn't looking for feedback on "what should I do...." It was simply a post about whether saying a school is "fine" when there are examples that maybe it's not so fine after all. I wasn't nor I'm a looking for anyone to validate my decisions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here: I find it interesting that once I identified the county all of my harsh critics and people calling this post boring have gone silent. I wonder why. I intentionally didn't name the county because I didn't want anyone to think I was trashing an entire county's public school system. But the silence of all the other posters speaks volumes. I suspect not one of them still thinks my public school should be an option. It never fails to amaze me the type of people who are on this board.

I wouldn't read that much into it. I expect people who have said the thread is boring, have gone elsewhere. They're not hanging on your every word, with baited breath.

I call pure bullshit! When they assumed I was criticizing one of their White neighborhood public schools they where up in arms. Now that's it's clear I'm speaking about a public school in PG county (with more minorities) all of the harsh critics have squat to say. You can choose to not read into it all you want. I know better.

Not sarcastic here, really I'd like you to make this a teachable moment for me. Many of us in other counties are under the impression that PG schools are not that good, and would not be surprised if private school options were better. This is a very different calculus in Montgomery and Fairfax and NW DC, for example, where schools rank higher and generally can serve students as well as local privates. Am I being racist for saying PG schools aren't that great? I'm really not kidding -- I want to not be a jerk.

Racist? Not necessarily. Presumptuous? Yes. There are some good schools in PG with excellent programs. I have many friends who have graduated from PG schools and have gone to top colleges and did well. To assume they ALL are bad is a gross misperception by those that live in the wealthier counties and it does feel like the county is so quickly dismissed because it's a majority Black county. My frustration with the earlier responses was the benefit of doubt posters where willing to give the public school when they thought it might be a public school in their area. If you will, check the responses -- not ONE criticism since I identified the county. So yeah it reads like "don't dare judge our public schools in the predominately White county" but if it's PG "well geez of course anything is better than a PG county school" and that's not true. I wasn't sure what route we would go before hearing of my two friends situation even with being in PG County, because again I know many successful graduates of PG schools.