Magnet High Schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The magnet kids go back home and tell stories about how ghetto the local kids are and the crazy stuff they have seen. Don’t believe me? Take a Blair kids word for it. Blair is so proud of the program but it was given to them because the school was consider a lost cause other wise
https://medium.com/@samanthaxcody/magnet-programs-segregation-and-the-anti-blackness-of-the-asian-model-minority-myth-7790df0fb00a" target="_new" rel="nofollow"> https://medium.com/@samanthaxcody/magnet-programs-segregation-and-the-anti-blackness-of-the-asian-model-minority-myth-7790df0fb00a

Your links show how much the well-spoken magnet student (likely due to her instruction at Eastern) has benefitted from her years at Blair. She can see through the wall of privilege that most MC and UMC kids cannot and speaks eloquently about the SES divisions in that school and our society. That's on top of the top notch education she's receiving at Blair magnet. I wish more of our leaders had such experience to draw from.

[Anonymous]

I know we've moved on, but I wanted to talk about the sports vs. academics question.

The difference between the two comes down to why sports teams exist vs. why magnet programs exist.

Sports teams exist to win games. For that reason, it makes sense to assemble a team made up of the best prepared players, regardless of whether they are relying on natural talent, or expensive private coaching, or both.

The point of a public school magnet program is not to "win games." It is to nurture talent. That's actually a fundamentally different goal. If you are looking for raw talent, particularly raw talent that might otherwise be missed, then extensive coaching not only undermines the endeavor, but is something the district should rigorously try to guard against. The point is the uncover kids who might otherwise not see their talent realized, and to help them grow into their potential.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know we've moved on, but I wanted to talk about the sports vs. academics question.

The difference between the two comes down to why sports teams exist vs. why magnet programs exist.

Sports teams exist to win games. For that reason, it makes sense to assemble a team made up of the best prepared players, regardless of whether they are relying on natural talent, or expensive private coaching, or both.

The point of a public school magnet program is not to "win games." It is to nurture talent. That's actually a fundamentally different goal. If you are looking for raw talent, particularly raw talent that might otherwise be missed, then extensive coaching not only undermines the endeavor, but is something the district should rigorously try to guard against. The point is the uncover kids who might otherwise not see their talent realized, and to help them grow into their potential.

what's to say that kids who get tutored aren't having their "natural" talent cultivated, but just outside of school?

My kid has natural musical talent. Should I only just rely on the school to cultivate the kid's musical ability? Is it unfair that the 1st chair in the school orchestra also gets a lot of outside private music instruction? How will a kid who has natural talent but doesn't get outside tutoring ever be 1st chair with this unfair competition?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know we've moved on, but I wanted to talk about the sports vs. academics question.

The difference between the two comes down to why sports teams exist vs. why magnet programs exist.

Sports teams exist to win games. For that reason, it makes sense to assemble a team made up of the best prepared players, regardless of whether they are relying on natural talent, or expensive private coaching, or both.

The point of a public school magnet program is not to "win games." It is to nurture talent. That's actually a fundamentally different goal. If you are looking for raw talent, particularly raw talent that might otherwise be missed, then extensive coaching not only undermines the endeavor, but is something the district should rigorously try to guard against. The point is the uncover kids who might otherwise not see their talent realized, and to help them grow into their potential.

Not kid sports. Or, maybe they do, but there's no reason why they would have to, other than that people want it to be that way. The competition model is as inappropriate for kid sports as it is for kid education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know we've moved on, but I wanted to talk about the sports vs. academics question.

The difference between the two comes down to why sports teams exist vs. why magnet programs exist.

Sports teams exist to win games. For that reason, it makes sense to assemble a team made up of the best prepared players, regardless of whether they are relying on natural talent, or expensive private coaching, or both.

The point of a public school magnet program is not to "win games." It is to nurture talent. That's actually a fundamentally different goal. If you are looking for raw talent, particularly raw talent that might otherwise be missed, then extensive coaching not only undermines the endeavor, but is something the district should rigorously try to guard against. The point is the uncover kids who might otherwise not see their talent realized, and to help them grow into their potential.

what's to say that kids who get tutored aren't having their "natural" talent cultivated, but just outside of school?

My kid has natural musical talent. Should I only just rely on the school to cultivate the kid's musical ability? Is it unfair that the 1st chair in the school orchestra also gets a lot of outside private music instruction? How will a kid who has natural talent but doesn't get outside tutoring ever be 1st chair with this unfair competition?

Yes, of course it is. Public school systems used to provide music instruction beyond just the rudiments in elementary school. In fact, public school systems used to provide the area youth orchestras, whereas now you have to pay MCYO lots of money for them to tell you how selective and elite they are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know we've moved on, but I wanted to talk about the sports vs. academics question.

The difference between the two comes down to why sports teams exist vs. why magnet programs exist.

Sports teams exist to win games. For that reason, it makes sense to assemble a team made up of the best prepared players, regardless of whether they are relying on natural talent, or expensive private coaching, or both.

The point of a public school magnet program is not to "win games." It is to nurture talent. That's actually a fundamentally different goal. If you are looking for raw talent, particularly raw talent that might otherwise be missed, then extensive coaching not only undermines the endeavor, but is something the district should rigorously try to guard against. The point is the uncover kids who might otherwise not see their talent realized, and to help them grow into their potential.

what's to say that kids who get tutored aren't having their "natural" talent cultivated, but just outside of school?

My kid has natural musical talent. Should I only just rely on the school to cultivate the kid's musical ability? Is it unfair that the 1st chair in the school orchestra also gets a lot of outside private music instruction? How will a kid who has natural talent but doesn't get outside tutoring ever be 1st chair with this unfair competition?

I think the point is that your kid with natural talent + tutoring is going to present differently than a kid with the exact same amount of natural talent and no tutoring. Since the goal is to find all of the kids with that kind of talent, I think we should all be supportive of efforts by MCPS to identify kids from the second group, even if they don't "walk onto the field" with the same skills as the kid lucky enough to have been receiving outside support.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Does MCPS have a school similar to TJ in Virginia? What school would that be?

No. They have magnet programs embedded in different schools. The top three in demand are Blair, Richard Montgomery, and Poolesville. But there are many more.
https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/specialprograms/high/

Are they any good? Is it a difficult process to get in? I had a foster child this year who went to an engineering magnet middle school and I was shocked at how easy her classes were and how bad her teachers were.

Blair magnet is a rough equivalent of TJ. Probably, slightly less rigorous but equally difficult to get in. RM magnet is humanities so can't be compared to TJ.
Don't know much about Poolesville.

No, Blair is definitely more difficult to get in and is honestly a bit more rigorous than TJ

Although smaller Blair has a higher SAT average, Intel scholars, NMSF, members of USA Math & Physics Olympiads and beats the stuffing out of TJ on It's Academic just for fun.

The smaller is the key part. Blair picks the roughly 100 great students out of a similar sized county and TJ picks hundreds every year. They get to dip a lower in the pool due to being lager. That will always dilute your scores. The same effect why Blair has one of the lower SAT scores in the county despite having the program embedded to boost scores and perceptions. The larger school simply drowns out the statistics but one can speculate how low they would rank without importing those almost 100 kids assuming a few make it in form the IB naturally. While Takoma middle puts more kids in the program than any other middle, most of those kids are out of bounds too in the middle magnet except for the 25 set aside seats which were created because local kids were getting squeezed out of the local program by higher testing W kids.

This is where all the prepping accusations come from (because how dare a kids read a book prior to a test, cheaters) and why the East county wants to consider local peer group for admissions to tip the scales in the local favor. Funny part it is a quiet self own to all people who claim to have bought cheaper houses to get a more “better” peer group but turn around and want considerations for not having better peers for their kids.

Wrong, idiot.

Delusional striver. Blair is a joke to everyone outside the DCC. It is the cheap side of town, anyone can go there, most don’t want to.

Is that the reason why y'all fighting so hard to get your kids into Blair?
I can smell envy and jealousy coming from you. Your kids didn't get in.

[Anonymous]

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DP.. and so what if they do study extra harder to get into a competitive magnet?

I used to think like you, but I realized that when a parent hires a coach for a kid to get better in athletics, no one bats an eye, but if they do this for academics, then it's considered terrible. Why? IMO, academics is more important than athletics.

And before you think I hired a tutor for my kids, I have never done so. My DC is in a test in magnet.

Plenty of people bat an eye.

really? How many posts are there on this forum about people making negative comments about hiring private coaches for some sport vs about people hiring tutors for kids who aren't behind academically?

This isn't a sports forum.

so, if you go into the sports forum, how many people do you think make negative comments about parents hiring private coaches for their kids?

Vs the school forum, and how many people like the PP you cut out of the thread who make negative comments about kids who study hard to get into a magnet?

It’s not just studying hard if only a small group of students have access to an expert at getting students into magnets. It’s like saying the group of people building a house without the blueprints don’t want to work as hard as the other group that was given the plans.

^^ This, all the way. It's not based upon natural ability. There are a lot of people especially in specific ethnic communities that spend tons on tutors and then act like their kids are just naturally smarter than everyone else. Far from the truth.

[Anonymous]

My kid in this "specific ethnic communities" is not smarter than anyone else, and he is most at average.

However, his work ethic is at the top ! He has never been in any class outside MCPS, and he has a a lot free tutors from the internet, they are free and accessible to anyone.

Before Covid, his summers were all about volunteer work, this summer he started to work as a lifeguard working over 40 hours a week !

He is a straight A student at Blair Magnet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:
DP.. and so what if they do study extra harder to get into a competitive magnet?

I used to think like you, but I realized that when a parent hires a coach for a kid to get better in athletics, no one bats an eye, but if they do this for academics, then it's considered terrible. Why? IMO, academics is more important than athletics.

And before you think I hired a tutor for my kids, I have never done so. My DC is in a test in magnet.

Plenty of people bat an eye.

really? How many posts are there on this forum about people making negative comments about hiring private coaches for some sport vs about people hiring tutors for kids who aren't behind academically?

This isn't a sports forum.

so, if you go into the sports forum, how many people do you think make negative comments about parents hiring private coaches for their kids?

Vs the school forum, and how many people like the PP you cut out of the thread who make negative comments about kids who study hard to get into a magnet?

It’s not just studying hard if only a small group of students have access to an expert at getting students into magnets. It’s like saying the group of people building a house without the blueprints don’t want to work as hard as the other group that was given the plans.

^^ This, all the way. It's not based upon natural ability. There are a lot of people especially in specific ethnic communities that spend tons on tutors and then act like their kids are just naturally smarter than everyone else. Far from the truth.

Those "ethnic parents" don't hide the fact that their kids go to after school tutoring. They openly discuss it. They don't tout being "naturally smart". They tout "working hard".

You are very judgey. Maybe you should have your kids work harder.

FWIW, my kids have ever gone to an after school tutor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid in this "specific ethnic communities" is not smarter than anyone else, and he is most at average.

However, his work ethic is at the top ! He has never been in any class outside MCPS, and he has a a lot free tutors from the internet, they are free and accessible to anyone.

Before Covid, his summers were all about volunteer work, this summer he started to work as a lifeguard working over 40 hours a week !

He is a straight A student at Blair Magnet.

My kid at RMIB has never had a tutor other than Khan Academy free online. I wish I could say DS has spent 40 hours per week working, but alas, he's spent a lot of time playing on his computer, with some other activities thrown in here and there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid in this "specific ethnic communities" is not smarter than anyone else, and he is most at average.

However, his work ethic is at the top ! He has never been in any class outside MCPS, and he has a a lot free tutors from the internet, they are free and accessible to anyone.

Before Covid, his summers were all about volunteer work, this summer he started to work as a lifeguard working over 40 hours a week !

He is a straight A student at Blair Magnet.

Congratulations. Success over time comes from a hard work ethic. The single most important factor. Wish I had the same work ethic as your kid.
I was considered above average when I was a kid. Things came easy to me. I was top of class and all that without much effort in high school. The hardworking kids just did so much better than me over time...took me a while to figure out I was not just unlucky. People who make fun of hard working kids are just trying to hide their own insecurities.

[Anonymous]

My kid who is at Poolesville SMACS program never had a tutor, is organized but does not study a ton, never had a B, and only takes Khan Academy free online classes because of being bored. She completed her own application, aced the test on her own, and wrote her entrance essays. I think she is truly gifted as she experiments with creating new algebraic equations and finds trends in parabola plottings and their equations. The kids who learn to a test get weeded out and eliminated pretty quickly. The kids that stay really thrive and want to be there and are naturally very bright.

[Anonymous]

Remarkably, everyone who responds to this has a straight A student with a natural work ethic who gets straight A's at a magnet program, and it's nothing they did, their children are just superior. Don't believe me? You don't have to ask them, they will tell you again.

I have a bright, lazy kid who squeaked into a magnet program off the wait list and has straight... B's. With the occasional A and C. You probably think my kid is just there to make yours look good. I don't care, I just want them to have classes that are hard and engaging. It has occurred to me more than once, watching my kid and others like them, that engaging underachievers is not easy. I wonder how many other kids didn't make the cut but would enjoy the challenge.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Remarkably, everyone who responds to this has a straight A student with a natural work ethic who gets straight A's at a magnet program, and it's nothing they did, their children are just superior. Don't believe me? You don't have to ask them, they will tell you again.

I have a bright, lazy kid who squeaked into a magnet program off the wait list and has straight... B's. With the occasional A and C. You probably think my kid is just there to make yours look good. I don't care, I just want them to have classes that are hard and engaging. It has occurred to me more than once, watching my kid and others like them, that engaging underachievers is not easy. I wonder how many other kids didn't make the cut but would enjoy the challenge.

Well, they are responding to posters stereotyping the kids who get admitted to this program. And, I don't see anyone claiming that every student who gets admitted will get all As, etc. If these posts touched a raw nerve, that is on you.

For what it is worth, I have a DC in a magnet; doing pretty OK, but not all straight As, but wouldn't dream of leaving the magnet. In his circle, most kids seem to be doing fine, but only a couple get straight As. (The problem in this case seems to be not taking humanities seriously and they end up with Bs.) But they definitely enjoy the program ...