How to identify good schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are looking to move within Montgomery County and have two daycare age children. I understand that Great Schools ratings are not actually that informative. How does one figure out the quality of the schools? We hope to end up around North Bethesda / North Potomac / Rockville. I am most concerned about Elementary and Middle given our kids are young.

At the end of the day, high SES areas have the good schools. You can argue until cows come home but it is what it is. I'd focus on Bethesda/Potomac/North Potomac but not Rockville area. Full Disclosure - I am not in those areas.

high SES also have issues that go with too much wealth; low SES areas have issues that go with too much poverty.

Find somewhere in the middle. Rockville is a good one.

I hear that all the time but I don't know what that means. I can only assume you are referring to drug and academic pressure. Drug problem is all over the place - high and low and middle SES schools.

Did you ever go to a rich school, and then a not so rich school? I have seen the difference.

The problem is just more than drugs. Yes, there are drugs in all schools, but the level and amount is different in a lower income school vs a higher income one. Drug issues in wealthy schools get swept under the rug more easily because the parents can hire expensive lawyers (or they are one themselves), whereas in poorer schools, all the ugly is laid out for all the world to see. In the rich schools, the issues are more insidious.

Also, materialism is a big problem in rich schools. We moved from a small but wealthy school district, and the level of materialism was not something I wanted my kids exposed to. Student parking lot full of expensive cars; kids getting expensive cars before they are even 16, etc.. My kid won't get a car until college, if even that, and will be a used normal car.

DP here but this is ridiculous, condes and ignorant.

I myself graduated from a classic “inner city” high school. We had kids, including the star of the basketball team, selling crack at school. Kids were regularly getting jumped at school. Kids still had cars and many kept guns under the seat because they thought they were Ice Cube. You don’t need to be rich to have a car. It was an unsafe environment and I would rather expose my kid to affluenza, lacrosse bros and Potomac house parties than have my kids exposed to any of the things that I’ve experienced.

+1

Wokes have convinced themselves (and try to convince us) that W schools have just as many problems. But just turn on the news and see for yourself how many violent crimes are comitted in east county schools. No thanks.

I'm the ^^PP. You guys need better reading comprehension skills.

Never did I state that a much lower income school was better than a high income school. I stated that wealthy schools have wealthy problems, materialism and high end drug problems being swept under the rug by wealthy parents and their high priced lawyers.

I went to HS out west with real gangs. I saw drug deals go down, too, but as I stated, these were known issues that couldn't be swept under the rug by parents.

Having stated that, I'd rather my kids not go to either very low or wealthy income schools. They both have problems specific to that group.

I did well for myself, and when I had kids, we lived in a well to do area. The materialism was a problem.

This is the PP and no, I absolutely did not have trouble comprehending your point. I also went to school out west with “real gangs” as you refer to it. We had Crips, Bloods and Disciples. You’ll probably need to Google the last one because it’s was a big gang but somehow not as well known. But that’s sort of the beside the point. It’s was about neighborhood crews. I witnessed my first stabbing at school in the 6th grade. In 7th grade, a kid who was trying to pack a gun to be a hoodlum accidentally shot and killed himself.

When you say things are “out in the open”, here’s what that means in practice. My Senior year there was a 16 year old dating a 40 year old car salesman who would pick her up after school in a different new car every day. There was a tradition of Seniors dating Freshmen, which in many cases was actually illegal under the law. There were girls that got “passed around” the gangs. There were a group of kids that skipped class to roll dice in the hallway. There were planned brawls that literally the whole, including teachers and administrators knew about and did nothing to stop, except intervening after the break it up.

All of this stuff happened out in the full open of everyone and with full knowledge of all adults. Principal, Vice Principal, teachers, and security guards were all fully aware of all of this and no one cared. “Out in the open” is actually what I would consider to be a euphemism for neglect.

But to move on to your example of drugs, this is actually the only example where the patterns are flipped. In the “inner city” schools like mine, kids would have to do their drugs out in the open and were frequently caught and severely punished with arrest and criminal records thanks to Nancy Reagan. On the other hand, obviously the kids from the suburban high schools had more opportunities to use drugs in private spaces and when caught maybe faced more lenience.

As a parent and as someone who understand this, I would prefer and have chosen just as you have to not expose my kids to that environment and have to worry about the chaos, violence, sexual assault and neglect I was to exposed to and instead educate my kids about drugs and trust them. The idea that this is somehow more insidious is ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are looking to move within Montgomery County and have two daycare age children. I understand that Great Schools ratings are not actually that informative. How does one figure out the quality of the schools? We hope to end up around North Bethesda / North Potomac / Rockville. I am most concerned about Elementary and Middle given our kids are young.

At the end of the day, high SES areas have the good schools. You can argue until cows come home but it is what it is. I'd focus on Bethesda/Potomac/North Potomac but not Rockville area. Full Disclosure - I am not in those areas.

high SES also have issues that go with too much wealth; low SES areas have issues that go with too much poverty.

Find somewhere in the middle. Rockville is a good one.

I hear that all the time but I don't know what that means. I can only assume you are referring to drug and academic pressure. Drug problem is all over the place - high and low and middle SES schools.

Did you ever go to a rich school, and then a not so rich school? I have seen the difference.

The problem is just more than drugs. Yes, there are drugs in all schools, but the level and amount is different in a lower income school vs a higher income one. Drug issues in wealthy schools get swept under the rug more easily because the parents can hire expensive lawyers (or they are one themselves), whereas in poorer schools, all the ugly is laid out for all the world to see. In the rich schools, the issues are more insidious.

Also, materialism is a big problem in rich schools. We moved from a small but wealthy school district, and the level of materialism was not something I wanted my kids exposed to. Student parking lot full of expensive cars; kids getting expensive cars before they are even 16, etc.. My kid won't get a car until college, if even that, and will be a used normal car.

DP here but this is ridiculous, condes and ignorant.

I myself graduated from a classic “inner city” high school. We had kids, including the star of the basketball team, selling crack at school. Kids were regularly getting jumped at school. Kids still had cars and many kept guns under the seat because they thought they were Ice Cube. You don’t need to be rich to have a car. It was an unsafe environment and I would rather expose my kid to affluenza, lacrosse bros and Potomac house parties than have my kids exposed to any of the things that I’ve experienced.

+1

Wokes have convinced themselves (and try to convince us) that W schools have just as many problems. But just turn on the news and see for yourself how many violent crimes are comitted in east county schools. No thanks.

I'm the ^^PP. You guys need better reading comprehension skills.

Never did I state that a much lower income school was better than a high income school. I stated that wealthy schools have wealthy problems, materialism and high end drug problems being swept under the rug by wealthy parents and their high priced lawyers.

I went to HS out west with real gangs. I saw drug deals go down, too, but as I stated, these were known issues that couldn't be swept under the rug by parents.

Having stated that, I'd rather my kids not go to either very low or wealthy income schools. They both have problems specific to that group.

I did well for myself, and when I had kids, we lived in a well to do area. The materialism was a problem.

This is the PP and no, I absolutely did not have trouble comprehending your point. I also went to school out west with “real gangs” as you refer to it. We had Crips, Bloods and Disciples. You’ll probably need to Google the last one because it’s was a big gang but somehow not as well known. But that’s sort of the beside the point. It’s was about neighborhood crews. I witnessed my first stabbing at school in the 6th grade. In 7th grade, a kid who was trying to pack a gun to be a hoodlum accidentally shot and killed himself.

When you say things are “out in the open”, here’s what that means in practice. My Senior year there was a 16 year old dating a 40 year old car salesman who would pick her up after school in a different new car every day. There was a tradition of Seniors dating Freshmen, which in many cases was actually illegal under the law. There were girls that got “passed around” the gangs. There were a group of kids that skipped class to roll dice in the hallway. There were planned brawls that literally the whole, including teachers and administrators knew about and did nothing to stop, except intervening after the break it up.

All of this stuff happened out in the full open of everyone and with full knowledge of all adults. Principal, Vice Principal, teachers, and security guards were all fully aware of all of this and no one cared. “Out in the open” is actually what I would consider to be a euphemism for neglect.

But to move on to your example of drugs, this is actually the only example where the patterns are flipped. In the “inner city” schools like mine, kids would have to do their drugs out in the open and were frequently caught and severely punished with arrest and criminal records thanks to Nancy Reagan. On the other hand, obviously the kids from the suburban high schools had more opportunities to use drugs in private spaces and when caught maybe faced more lenience.

As a parent and as someone who understand this, I would prefer and have chosen just as you have to not expose my kids to that environment and have to worry about the chaos, violence, sexual assault and neglect I was to exposed to and instead educate my kids about drugs and trust them. The idea that this is somehow more insidious is ridiculous.

Well, I also went to school with Crips, Bloods, and I do know what the Disciples were. Hey, maybe we went to the same school

In any case, as I stated, I wouldn't do either type of school. But, I'm glad you realize that in the rich schools, drug use and other issues are indeed hidden and swept under the rug, which is what I was saying. When issues like drug problems are hidden they do become insidious. Unfortunately, there are so many problems in low income schools that admins/staff can't address everything, so yes, bad things can go unchecked. As stated, neither situation is ideal.

My post was to explain to a PP what "rich school problems" were, not to argue how low income schools with a lot of violence was better than rich schools. I never stated that. I think you are the only one who thought I said that.