How is Richard Montgomery if you're not in IB?
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Anonymous
| "Better" is defined as?? |
Anonymous
Having parents with more education, more money, and less brown skin. (Not the PP.) |
Anonymous
| That is why my kids are happy RM students...I don't subscribe to that definition of better. |
Anonymous
How about "better" as in a peer group where individuals seek to realize their potential by working hard, studying hard and setting goals. There are more students that fit this profile at the W schools. |
Anonymous
| How have you determined the number of students that fit this profile at any of the schools mentioned? |
Anonymous
Kids got attached. They loved it, we saw the problems. |
Anonymous
That may well be true, but a lack of motivated, bright, hard working peers just hasn't been a problem in our experience at RM. I doubt we're unusual in that regard. |
Anonymous
The potential downside to peer groups in the W schools is that there are more entitled students with more expensive drug problems than there would be in the lower socioeconomic high schools. If your kid is an achiever, he will be taking honors and AP classes with other achievers no matter what school they're at. The only difference is money. |
Anonymous
| I don't think wealthy kids are by default hard working..they have access to tutors and SAT prep and lots of hand holding a long the way. I do think the goal of college is pretty strong in wealthy communities since affording it is less of an issue. |
Anonymous
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I went to a "W" school, and I was a standard B student, who took a few honors classes, but mostly regular. I was pretty middle of the pack academically, or maybe a LITTLE above average. I think I GREATLY benefited from going to my high school, because I was immersed in an environment where it was "cool" to do well in school. It was expected that everyone went on to college. If someone didn't go to college, they were basically seen a weird or a loser. Seriously! Since I was never that motivated academically on my own, having this social pressure to succeed really kept me on track. To be fair, my parents were very involved in my life, and they pushed me to succeed as well. If I were at a school where the vast majority of my peers were not held to high academic standards by their parents, I don't know if I would have turned out as well.
If I went to a school where it was common to not go on to college, would I have "followed the pack" and not gone myself? I don't know, but I definitely think its possible. This is the main reason I think its so important to send your kids to a high achieving, academically focused school, where they will be surrounded by peers who are held to high academic standards. Let's be honest -- most kids are not superstars, they are average, and they are very influenced by what their peers are doing. At my high school the average performing student went to college at the University of Maryland, and that is exactly what I did. I went on to go to law school and am now a practicing attorney in DC. If the average student didn't go to college, it is very likely that I would have done the same thing. It's sad to say that I am that influenced by peer pressure, but it is the reality for most kids. |
Anonymous
| Looking at US News and World Report 82% of RM students take AP classes..not exactly a drop out factory... |
Anonymous
| I don't know if PP is serious but that has been my experience at a W school. Granted, as was stated earlier, there are high-achieving, motivated students everywhere but the % of students who fit that profile are higher at the W schools. RMIB and Blair Magnet are similar. To answer OP's question, if you took the IB out of RM, the % of high achieving students would fall considerably. |
Anonymous
I agree with you in general, but this is about Richard Montgomery, not exactly the ghetto, and I doubt that "the pack" there is not college bound. Maybe not Ivy league bound because that would be outside of most people's financial means, but certainly that area has plenty of advanced degree households who expect nothing less than for their kids to go to college. Plus, the expectation of achievement is not something that starts in highschool - most kids who do well in highschool have done well in the lower grades and once they're in highschool, they take classes with similarly minded kids, who also value education. That was my experience coming from a middle tier school (not in this area). |
Anonymous
That makes sense, but if 82% are taking AP classes, then I would say that there is a culture of achievement and the peer pressure would be toward taking AP classes. With the other 12%, it doesn't mean they're bad kids and not worth knowing. |
Anonymous
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MCPS-wide, between 2001 and 2010, 58% of African-American students, 78% of Asian students, 50% of Hispanic students, 79% of white students, 68% of male students, 71% of female students, and 51% of FARMS (in grade 12) students went to college in the fall after high school graduation.
Also, 49% of African-American students, 71% of Asian students, 43% of Hispanic students, 74% of white students, 62% of male students, 72% of female students, and 42% of FARMS (in grade 12) students earned a bachelor's degree or higher within 6 years of high school graduation. So to say that if you don't go to Whitman (or the other W schools), you're not going to a high school where it's common to not go on to college -- no. Most MCPS graduates go on to college. http://montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/sharedaccountability/reports/2012/College%20Enrollment%20Persistence%20and%20Degree%20Attainment%20final.pdf |