What are magnet kids like?

[Anonymous]

My middle schoolers have never done much outside of school socializing. I think the school day is long and they are tired from navigating all the social stuff that they don’t usually ask to get together with school friends on the weekend. So I don’t do too much driving, but maybe that’s just my kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They're all super attractive.

Actually, some of them tend to repel others.

Usually, magnet and non-magnet kids don't stick together.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How does the social stuff work if everybody is taking long bus rides to school? How do the kids get together to socialize outside of school? It seems like a lot of kids would just be too geographically spread out. How does it work?

On their phones, just like with the non-magnet kids.

Mines a rising 6th grader and doesn’t have a phone. :-/

You don't need a phone for stuff like Google Hangouts.

Mine did Google Hangouts with friends in elementary magnet because most of them had Chromebooks, now they use group chats in middle school. (Interestingly, the elementary friend group was split up when they went off to middle school, but they still occasionally keep in touch via the old Google Hangout.)

Had a flip phone in 6th, and proved responsible enough to get a smartphone (with some restrictions set) in 7th.

But even if they live next door, most middle school kids don't have time for a lot of in-person socializing during the week. On weekends, parents drive or older magnet kids will take public transportation. Usually they do their casual chatting over text, and only get together in person if there's some specific activity they want to do. I gather this is the case for a lot of tweens/teens, not limited to magnet kids?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some are really mean. Others are nice. Most are just dust in the wind to my son. Also, don't know if it's a 'thing' at other schools but the upperclassmen call the 6th graders 'sixies'. Thought it was really funny!

Is yours at Eastern? I laughed the first time my kid complained about being called a "sixie"!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, congratulation to your DC. Based on your descrition, your DC is a perfect child but he may be too good for the magnet.
My DS went there a few years ago. Let me tell you how bad it could be. Please dont subject your snowflasks to the brutal environment.
A lots of very mean kids who would answer other kids’ questions on homework after 9 pm. Many competitive parents offer to drive kids to math meet. The unintelligent kids could solve rubiks cubes in 8 sec. Some annoying kids announce test score in the classroom. Cold heart kids run around in the computer lab to help other kids to solve the issues in programing. However, some kids who have been cuddled in ES may not get any extra attention from the teachers and may realize that they are the smartest students.
Good luck on finding the best fit for your child.

How is it "cold heart" to be helping other kids? Or "competitive" to carpool to math meets? Or "mean" to help other kids with homework after 9 PM?

And the Rubiks Cube world record is about 5 seconds, so I suspect there's a rather incompetent (and confusing) troll among us...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Great kids, but their competitive parents are a different question.

How do you know their parents are competitive? My kids spent 15 years (MS/HS) in MCPS magnet program. In 15 years, I have never met a so-called competitive parent. All parents seem nice to me. They are concerned about their kids just like all parents are (or should be).

Seriously, I have no idea where this stereotype came from and why it keeps getting perpetuated. As a group, parents are no more competitive or pushy than non-magnet parents. There are all types in both groups.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Great kids, but their competitive parents are a different question.

How do you know their parents are competitive? My kids spent 15 years (MS/HS) in MCPS magnet program. In 15 years, I have never met a so-called competitive parent. All parents seem nice to me. They are concerned about their kids just like all parents are (or should be).

We must be in different clusters, because parents in my MCPS cluster are so ridiculously competitive.

Parents in first grade are rewriting the curriculum and making their DC basically doing double school. Or they accost kids in the parking lots about why they were put into varsity teams instead of their DC.

Of course there are nice people too, but.,,

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Great kids, but their competitive parents are a different question.

How do you know their parents are competitive? My kids spent 15 years (MS/HS) in MCPS magnet program. In 15 years, I have never met a so-called competitive parent. All parents seem nice to me. They are concerned about their kids just like all parents are (or should be).

I'm guessing that you're on the competitive-parent end of the scale yourself.

Competitive parents are a thing in the magnet programs. That doesn't mean that all magnet parents are competitive, or that no non-magnet parents are competitive. But there are definitely competitive magnet parents

[Anonymous]

Magnet kids are kids, first and foremost. You'll find a range of personalities and idiosyncrasies. My daughter went to CES and is now in a MS magnet program. I think it's tough switching schools and peer groups at an early age but most of these kids, even the introverted ones, tend to become really good at being the new kid. I think the introverted ones actually thrive in the magnet program because even with the varied personalities, common interests make themselves evident sooner than later. My daughter has definitely found her tribe... not all of her friends ended up at the same MS but they find ways to get together. Her furthest friend is maybe 30 minutes away, which, honestly isn't that bad. They are funny, goofy, and every one different in their own way. But they are just good kids... I'm very happy my kid has had the opportunity to make these connections.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Great kids, but their competitive parents are a different question.

How do you know their parents are competitive? My kids spent 15 years (MS/HS) in MCPS magnet program. In 15 years, I have never met a so-called competitive parent. All parents seem nice to me. They are concerned about their kids just like all parents are (or should be).

I'm guessing that you're on the competitive-parent end of the scale yourself.

Competitive parents are a thing in the magnet programs. That doesn't mean that all magnet parents are competitive, or that no non-magnet parents are competitive. But there are definitely competitive magnet parents

What does that mean? Do they take the test for kids? Do they poison other kids??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Great kids, but their competitive parents are a different question.

How do you know their parents are competitive? My kids spent 15 years (MS/HS) in MCPS magnet program. In 15 years, I have never met a so-called competitive parent. All parents seem nice to me. They are concerned about their kids just like all parents are (or should be).

I'm guessing that you're on the competitive-parent end of the scale yourself.

Competitive parents are a thing in the magnet programs. That doesn't mean that all magnet parents are competitive, or that no non-magnet parents are competitive. But there are definitely competitive magnet parents

What does that mean? Do they take the test for kids? Do they poison other kids??

It means that they are parents who place a lot of value on their kids getting awards/honors/school placements/high test scores/high grades/admission to competitive colleges, etc. You know that, PP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Great kids, but their competitive parents are a different question.

How do you know their parents are competitive? My kids spent 15 years (MS/HS) in MCPS magnet program. In 15 years, I have never met a so-called competitive parent. All parents seem nice to me. They are concerned about their kids just like all parents are (or should be).

I'm guessing that you're on the competitive-parent end of the scale yourself.

Competitive parents are a thing in the magnet programs. That doesn't mean that all magnet parents are competitive, or that no non-magnet parents are competitive. But there are definitely competitive magnet parents

What does that mean? Do they take the test for kids? Do they poison other kids??

DP. I was picking up my kid from a birthday party and had another parent from the CES just flat out asked me 'which programS are you using to prep for the middle school test?' That was literally the first thing they said to me. Not if, but which ones (plural). Thankfully that hasn't been our experience with most of the parents, but they are out there. We've also met some pretty awesome ones along the way as well.