Deal kid is floundering in private high school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid just started at a Big3 for 9th and the summer reading was the Autobiography of Malcolm X.

A classic.

Exactly. But PPs insist that only white authors can write classics.

Currently at Deal,
6th graders are reading Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
7th graders are reading Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman
8th graders are reading Raisin in the Sun

They're not reading entire books, just excerpts.

Correct. My current 9th grader was assigned about 1/3 of Raisin in the Sun last year. Her team never finished the book.
She has read more in a week of private high school than in 3 years total at Deal. This is not an exaggeration.

Honest question, why don't you just ask your kids to read the whole books?

I did when I realized it was never assigned. I had him pick it back up and finish it.

Glad you did that. It sucks to have to always have to be pushing back against low expectations. It kind of seeps in no matter what you do. That is one thing that private and magnet schools get you, is that the school/peers/etc provide a certain base level of expected quality. Tough to do it as a parent without that support.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Look, there are only so many hours in the school day. Critical race theory instruction cannot be rushed. If that means other skills and topics receive less attention, that’s just something you need to come to terms with. Not to worry though, your kid will be in the honors program at Wilson.

This is funny, but sad it’s about kids’ education.

+1

+2. It's kind of unbelievable, to tell you the truth. Why do parents put up with this? Honest question.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid just started at a Big3 for 9th and the summer reading was the Autobiography of Malcolm X.

A classic.

Exactly. But PPs insist that only white authors can write classics.

Currently at Deal,
6th graders are reading Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
7th graders are reading Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman
8th graders are reading Raisin in the Sun

They're not reading entire books, just excerpts.

Correct. My current 9th grader was assigned about 1/3 of Raisin in the Sun last year. Her team never finished the book.
She has read more in a week of private high school than in 3 years total at Deal. This is not an exaggeration.

Honest question, why don't you just ask your kids to read the whole books?

I did when I realized it was never assigned. I had him pick it back up and finish it.

Glad you did that. It sucks to have to always have to be pushing back against low expectations. It kind of seeps in no matter what you do. That is one thing that private and magnet schools get you, is that the school/peers/etc provide a certain base level of expected quality. Tough to do it as a parent without that support.

I know last year they cut back reading the full book in distance learning (we also made our kid finish) but are excerpts or full text being taught now that in person? I thought that was just a last year issue given time constraints, virtual structure - although I never really got why reading full books wasn’t an asynchronous expectation

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Look, there are only so many hours in the school day. Critical race theory instruction cannot be rushed. If that means other skills and topics receive less attention, that’s just something you need to come to terms with. Not to worry though, your kid will be in the honors program at Wilson.

This is funny, but sad it’s about kids’ education.

+1

+2. It's kind of unbelievable, to tell you the truth. Why do parents put up with this? Honest question.

I think it’s bc in reality most jobs don’t require the “traditional” high school
Skills (long form writing, specialized science and math). Rather, most jobs are based on your ability to collaborate with heterogeneous groups, critically think through problems, perhaps communicate with vendors/customers. We aren’t burdened by the pathways of the 80s and 90s anymore, unless those professions appeal to you. Which is great!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Look, there are only so many hours in the school day. Critical race theory instruction cannot be rushed. If that means other skills and topics receive less attention, that’s just something you need to come to terms with. Not to worry though, your kid will be in the honors program at Wilson.

This is funny, but sad it’s about kids’ education.

+1

+2. It's kind of unbelievable, to tell you the truth. Why do parents put up with this? Honest question.

I think it’s bc in reality most jobs don’t require the “traditional” high school
Skills (long form writing, specialized science and math). Rather, most jobs are based on your ability to collaborate with heterogeneous groups, critically think through problems, perhaps communicate with vendors/customers. We aren’t burdened by the pathways of the 80s and 90s anymore, unless those professions appeal to you. Which is great!

NP, and while I certainly respect your opinion, I don't think you could possibly be more wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The books they read at Deal are not particularly advanced. And for some reason all the books are about racism or minority groups being oppressed. Like every single book.

The kids at Deal are the ones that need to read these types of books. They’ll have plenty of time in high school and college to read the classics (that will have no major impact on the way they live the lives).

+1

Who needs to how to think, anyway?

Yeah because Huck Finn, Pride and Prejudice, The Hobbit, Little Women, Chronicles of Narnia are all great at teaching our 12 years olds how to think? PS, just because an author is black doesn’t mean your kids can’t find any value in the book. Do you know how you sound? SMH.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The books they read at Deal are not particularly advanced. And for some reason all the books are about racism or minority groups being oppressed. Like every single book.

The kids at Deal are the ones that need to read these types of books. They’ll have plenty of time in high school and college to read the classics (that will have no major impact on the way they live the lives).

+1

Who needs to how to think, anyway?

You can learn to think about many kinds of books. I say this as someone who has a degree in literature and a degree in education. If the only literature you can have thoughts about are the classics, then I would suggest you have a marginal understanding of literature in general.

Who said “only?”
Anyway, your degrees in literature and education make any further discussion moot.
Down with the classics and carry on!

The implicit argument that was made was that these children will not learn to think by reading books about racism or oppression and that instead they would learn more from reading the "classics." I agree the training in interpretation could be improved, but you can usefully explicate basically any text. QED.

A facetious rejoinder to an asinine statement argued no such thing. “When you assume…” and all that.

what do you think they wer saying?

[Anonymous]

I went from one of the worst public school districts in the country (we moved to DC from a rural area) to a big three in ninth grade. It took me all of freshman year but I eventually did and I got into HYP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid just started at a Big3 for 9th and the summer reading was the Autobiography of Malcolm X.

A classic.

Exactly. But PPs insist that only white authors can write classics.

Currently at Deal,
6th graders are reading Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
7th graders are reading Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman
8th graders are reading Raisin in the Sun

Who insisted upon that?!
No one, that’s who.

The first PP that said “The books they read at Deal are not particularly advanced. And for some reason all the books are about racism or minority groups being oppressed. Like every single book”.

I’m sure they think Malcom X and Raisin in the Sun falls into the not advanced category.

I think the point is that these books don’t foster critical thinking. There is nothing to debate. There’s only one correct viewpoint. When the kids finish the book about segregated schools, they start a book about the Japanese internment camps. And when they finish that, they read about about the trail of tears. And then they learn about Jackie Robinson for the seventh consecutive year.

Nothing to debate??
Have you read any of these books? Maybe it's you that lacks critical thinking skills.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid just started at a Big3 for 9th and the summer reading was the Autobiography of Malcolm X.

A classic.

Exactly. But PPs insist that only white authors can write classics.

Currently at Deal,
6th graders are reading Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
7th graders are reading Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman
8th graders are reading Raisin in the Sun

Who insisted upon that?!
No one, that’s who.

The first PP that said “The books they read at Deal are not particularly advanced. And for some reason all the books are about racism or minority groups being oppressed. Like every single book”.

I’m sure they think Malcom X and Raisin in the Sun falls into the not advanced category.

I think the point is that these books don’t foster critical thinking. There is nothing to debate. There’s only one correct viewpoint. When the kids finish the book about segregated schools, they start a book about the Japanese internment camps. And when they finish that, they read about about the trail of tears. And then they learn about Jackie Robinson for the seventh consecutive year.

Nothing to debate??
Have you read any of these books? Maybe it's you that lacks critical thinking skills.

Like I said earlier, you can critically think and debate ANY text. It's pure elitism that says you can't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid just started at a Big3 for 9th and the summer reading was the Autobiography of Malcolm X.

A classic.

Exactly. But PPs insist that only white authors can write classics.

Currently at Deal,
6th graders are reading Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
7th graders are reading Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman
8th graders are reading Raisin in the Sun

Who insisted upon that?!
No one, that’s who.

The first PP that said “The books they read at Deal are not particularly advanced. And for some reason all the books are about racism or minority groups being oppressed. Like every single book”.

I’m sure they think Malcom X and Raisin in the Sun falls into the not advanced category.

I think the point is that these books don’t foster critical thinking. There is nothing to debate. There’s only one correct viewpoint. When the kids finish the book about segregated schools, they start a book about the Japanese internment camps. And when they finish that, they read about about the trail of tears. And then they learn about Jackie Robinson for the seventh consecutive year.

Nothing to debate??
Have you read any of these books? Maybe it's you that lacks critical thinking skills.

How many DCPS kids went to Ivys last year? Even with the quotas. Maybe you lack the thinking skills. I know it hurts.

[Anonymous]

Are these pps actually DCPS parents? Because, yikes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went from one of the worst public school districts in the country (we moved to DC from a rural area) to a big three in ninth grade. It took me all of freshman year but I eventually did and I got into HYP.

What does that have to do with this thread about Deal?

[Anonymous]

Do you people really think reading Raisin in the Sun is Critical Race Theory???!??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you people really think reading Raisin in the Sun is Critical Race Theory???!??

.

They have no idea. Most schools do not teach any critical lenses. These people have mostly undergrad degrees and have never encountered a real theory course.