magnet schools for Bethesda kids?

[Anonymous]

I know it is unpopular to say so, but there are lots of families that decide with their children not to send their high achieving children to the magnets. We are one. The benefit of keeping a child at a home school (in our case B-CC) is that you can create an individualized program and receive the support that you might not at a magnet. We have a child that is equally (exceptionally) strong in sciences and humanities, so for him it has made more sense to stay at a home school where he could be pushed in all areas.

For our son (after lots of input) we realized that getting our child "ready" for college wasn't really an issue. That there is little chance of him struggling academically even in the most rigorous programs, so if his preference was a school that he can walk to and participate in a variety of clubs and a sport, there wasn't a significant benefit to putting him on a bus for hours and limiting out of school opportunities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know it is unpopular to say so, but there are lots of families that decide with their children not to send their high achieving children to the magnets. We are one. The benefit of keeping a child at a home school (in our case B-CC) is that you can create an individualized program and receive the support that you might not at a magnet. We have a child that is equally (exceptionally) strong in sciences and humanities, so for him it has made more sense to stay at a home school where he could be pushed in all areas.

For our son (after lots of input) we realized that getting our child "ready" for college wasn't really an issue. That there is little chance of him struggling academically even in the most rigorous programs, so if his preference was a school that he can walk to and participate in a variety of clubs and a sport, there wasn't a significant benefit to putting him on a bus for hours and limiting out of school opportunities.

Yes, but....did your child take and pass the entrance exam? I'm not knocking your decision to stay at B-CC, which is a lovely school, but there are a lot of folks on this thread who seem pretty darn sure their child would have passed the test if they had only taken it, and it's unlikely that all of them are correct.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know it is unpopular to say so, but there are lots of families that decide with their children not to send their high achieving children to the magnets. We are one. The benefit of keeping a child at a home school (in our case B-CC) is that you can create an individualized program and receive the support that you might not at a magnet. We have a child that is equally (exceptionally) strong in sciences and humanities, so for him it has made more sense to stay at a home school where he could be pushed in all areas.

For our son (after lots of input) we realized that getting our child "ready" for college wasn't really an issue. That there is little chance of him struggling academically even in the most rigorous programs, so if his preference was a school that he can walk to and participate in a variety of clubs and a sport, there wasn't a significant benefit to putting him on a bus for hours and limiting out of school opportunities.

Yes, but....did your child take and pass the entrance exam? I'm not knocking your decision to stay at B-CC, which is a lovely school, but there are a lot of folks on this thread who seem pretty darn sure their child would have passed the test if they had only taken it, and it's unlikely that all of them are correct.

+1

It is easy to reject a program you haven't been invited to. LOL

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know it is unpopular to say so, but there are lots of families that decide with their children not to send their high achieving children to the magnets. We are one. The benefit of keeping a child at a home school (in our case B-CC) is that you can create an individualized program and receive the support that you might not at a magnet. We have a child that is equally (exceptionally) strong in sciences and humanities, so for him it has made more sense to stay at a home school where he could be pushed in all areas.

For our son (after lots of input) we realized that getting our child "ready" for college wasn't really an issue. That there is little chance of him struggling academically even in the most rigorous programs, so if his preference was a school that he can walk to and participate in a variety of clubs and a sport, there wasn't a significant benefit to putting him on a bus for hours and limiting out of school opportunities.

i

Wondering why you think a. Student is less likely to be supported in a magnet program?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know it is unpopular to say so, but there are lots of families that decide with their children not to send their high achieving children to the magnets. We are one. The benefit of keeping a child at a home school (in our case B-CC) is that you can create an individualized program and receive the support that you might not at a magnet. We have a child that is equally (exceptionally) strong in sciences and humanities, so for him it has made more sense to stay at a home school where he could be pushed in all areas.

For our son (after lots of input) we realized that getting our child "ready" for college wasn't really an issue. That there is little chance of him struggling academically even in the most rigorous programs, so if his preference was a school that he can walk to and participate in a variety of clubs and a sport, there wasn't a significant benefit to putting him on a bus for hours and limiting out of school opportunities.

Yes, but....did your child take and pass the entrance exam? I'm not knocking your decision to stay at B-CC, which is a lovely school, but there are a lot of folks on this thread who seem pretty darn sure their child would have passed the test if they had only taken it, and it's unlikely that all of them are correct.

+1

It is easy to reject a program you haven't been invited to. LOL

Yes, he did. This is exactly what I meant when I said that it is unpopular to say that magnets aren't the best choice for all students. You get attacked because people can't imagine a choice that they didn't make could possibly be the right one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know it is unpopular to say so, but there are lots of families that decide with their children not to send their high achieving children to the magnets. We are one. The benefit of keeping a child at a home school (in our case B-CC) is that you can create an individualized program and receive the support that you might not at a magnet. We have a child that is equally (exceptionally) strong in sciences and humanities, so for him it has made more sense to stay at a home school where he could be pushed in all areas.

For our son (after lots of input) we realized that getting our child "ready" for college wasn't really an issue. That there is little chance of him struggling academically even in the most rigorous programs, so if his preference was a school that he can walk to and participate in a variety of clubs and a sport, there wasn't a significant benefit to putting him on a bus for hours and limiting out of school opportunities.

Yes, but....did your child take and pass the entrance exam? I'm not knocking your decision to stay at B-CC, which is a lovely school, but there are a lot of folks on this thread who seem pretty darn sure their child would have passed the test if they had only taken it, and it's unlikely that all of them are correct.

+1

It is easy to reject a program you haven't been invited to. LOL

Yes, he did. This is exactly what I meant when I said that it is unpopular to say that magnets aren't the best choice for all students. You get attacked because people can't imagine a choice that they didn't make could possibly be the right one.

I am not sure about the "unpopular" part but I agree the magnets aren't the best choice for all students. That's kind of obvious thing to say thou.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know it is unpopular to say so, but there are lots of families that decide with their children not to send their high achieving children to the magnets. We are one. The benefit of keeping a child at a home school (in our case B-CC) is that you can create an individualized program and receive the support that you might not at a magnet. We have a child that is equally (exceptionally) strong in sciences and humanities, so for him it has made more sense to stay at a home school where he could be pushed in all areas.

For our son (after lots of input) we realized that getting our child "ready" for college wasn't really an issue. That there is little chance of him struggling academically even in the most rigorous programs, so if his preference was a school that he can walk to and participate in a variety of clubs and a sport, there wasn't a significant benefit to putting him on a bus for hours and limiting out of school opportunities.

i

Wondering why you think a. Student is less likely to be supported in a magnet program?

My son, and he isn't alone in this, gets a lot of individualized attention. Teachers bring books just for him, send him links to articles, provide specialized assignments, etc. With the great number of classes he has been able to take high level stem and humanities courses from his freshman year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know it is unpopular to say so, but there are lots of families that decide with their children not to send their high achieving children to the magnets. We are one. The benefit of keeping a child at a home school (in our case B-CC) is that you can create an individualized program and receive the support that you might not at a magnet. We have a child that is equally (exceptionally) strong in sciences and humanities, so for him it has made more sense to stay at a home school where he could be pushed in all areas.

For our son (after lots of input) we realized that getting our child "ready" for college wasn't really an issue. That there is little chance of him struggling academically even in the most rigorous programs, so if his preference was a school that he can walk to and participate in a variety of clubs and a sport, there wasn't a significant benefit to putting him on a bus for hours and limiting out of school opportunities.

Yes, but....did your child take and pass the entrance exam? I'm not knocking your decision to stay at B-CC, which is a lovely school, but there are a lot of folks on this thread who seem pretty darn sure their child would have passed the test if they had only taken it, and it's unlikely that all of them are correct.

+1

It is easy to reject a program you haven't been invited to. LOL

Yes, he did. This is exactly what I meant when I said that it is unpopular to say that magnets aren't the best choice for all students. You get attacked because people can't imagine a choice that they didn't make could possibly be the right one.

I am not sure about the "unpopular" part but I agree the magnets aren't the best choice for all students. That's kind of obvious thing to say thou.

I think it's obvious. You think it's obvious. But there are a lot of people on this thread that seem to think that anyone who thinks their neighborhood school is more competitive or a better match for their own child is just bitter that their child could not get in. Pretty narrow world view. I know of several science and math minded kids who turned down Blair after going to visit. It was the commute for some but for others they found that they didn't mesh well with the type of kid in the program. DD went to visit recent and found many to be brilliant but quite intense and her impression was that they were less well rounded than the top kids at neighborhood schools.

[Anonymous]

It is fine to choose not to apply to the magnet programs. There is no need to put down kids who go to magnets though.

[Anonymous]

I don't think it was meant as a criticism. The point is it's not the right place for every smart child especially those that have strengths that aren't all about the sciences and math.

[Anonymous]

I think that there is a lot of stereotypes on this and other threads, as well as in real life, about kids in the HGCs and middle and high school magnet programs.

[Anonymous]

I'm the original poster about not all accepted or qualified kids going to the magnets. I definitely did not intend to criticize the programs.

I was reacting to the overall opinion of this board which seems to be that every kid that gets in definitely goes to the magnets and that these programs necessarily give students an advantage in college courses. I don't think either of these things are true.

The other thing that tends to be forgotten is that there are a lot of new students coming in every year. Remember that a child has to be in district in 8th grade to attend the magnets. There are many qualified students that enter the district every year that only have the option of their home schools.

Again, I apologize if anyone thought I was criticizing the magnet programs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm the original poster about not all accepted or qualified kids going to the magnets. I definitely did not intend to criticize the programs.

I was reacting to the overall opinion of this board which seems to be that every kid that gets in definitely goes to the magnets and that these programs necessarily give students an advantage in college courses. I don't think either of these things are true.

The other thing that tends to be forgotten is that there are a lot of new students coming in every year. Remember that a child has to be in district in 8th grade to attend the magnets. There are many qualified students that enter the district every year that only have the option of their home schools.

Again, I apologize if anyone thought I was criticizing the magnet programs.

Your first point is true - not every kid that gets in attend for various reasons.
Your second point partially true. Magnet kids are better prepared for colleges. Generally speaking, their performance level is higher than non-magnet kids.
Your third point... Well, there are many students that enter the district every year after the 8th grade entrance exam. I don't know how you can say there are "many qualified students". I doubt that but no one really knows.

[Anonymous]

Bottom line: Bethesda kids are too rich and too smart to go to magnet programs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bottom line: Bethesda kids are too rich and too smart to go to magnet programs.

What role do you think complacency plays here? If you're rich and white, and a double legacy at Harvard, maybe you feel like you'll land on your feet no matter what. Are you really going to do all the extra work to get ready for the exam, to travel across town, to compete with the best and brightest? Or are you going to figure that your safety net will work no matter what, and worst case scenario is that you end up at a "lesser Ivy" or a decent LAC.