Another wasted day of school at MCPS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Diagramming a sentence is not the only thing in grammar and my child has learned sentence structure without actual diagramming. But she did not learn it in public school. As a matter of fact, she only learned simple spelling there. Most of reading in ES was jut reading/comprehension. Never how to structure a sentence. Types of sentences, types of grammar like: action, linking, helping verbs (regular and irregular), adverbs, nouns, pronouns, adjectives, subjects, predicates, prepositions, conjunctions, etc... She also didn't get vocabulary words (defining a word, putting it correctly in a sentence and knowing the type of word it was) until private school too. The other thing I noticed was difference was actual writing. Knowing how to write a letter, how to start and end a paragraph, when to shift to a new paragraph. Conclusions of a short story, etc... I am telling you, she was absolutely behind after leaving public school. MCPS has too much focus on reading comprehension because they have to handle so many non-English students. Lots of busy work instead of teaching to the class.

That's interesting, because my kids in MCPS have had parts of speech, vocabulary, letter-writing, paragraph-writing, and short-story writing. What MCPS school was your daughter in, and when?

My child went to a Potomac elementary school and starting middle school...considered the best in the county, no? Yet her writing skills are still not where they should be for someone at her grade level despite the consistent A's in English classes. We are moving to a private hopefully next year so that she can get the basic education that is needed to prepare for college. It's not all about math, as MCPS appears to believe. You can be the greatest engineer or scientist, but if you can't communicate effectively, you will not reach the highest success. I am afraid that is what is happening right now in many public schools. Frightening.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I did sentence diagramming in jr high (circa 1980). I don't think it has anything to do with how I write today. I think lots of reading just makes things intuitive. I just know when something sounds wrong..though I can not explain the technical reasons why.

Junior high school? That is really late. I remember doing it in 4/5th grade only.

Don't we have enought to criticize focusing on MoCo rather than my jr high 30+ years ago?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

My child went to a Potomac elementary school and starting middle school...considered the best in the county, no? Yet her writing skills are still not where they should be for someone at her grade level despite the consistent A's in English classes. We are moving to a private hopefully next year so that she can get the basic education that is needed to prepare for college. It's not all about math, as MCPS appears to believe. You can be the greatest engineer or scientist, but if you can't communicate effectively, you will not reach the highest success. I am afraid that is what is happening right now in many public schools. Frightening.

Considered the best in the county? Yes. Actually the best in the county? I have my doubts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I haven't been in a Starbucks in years, and I'm not sure what you are trying to say with that comment, pp. Are you trying to imply that I'm lazy? I assure I am not. I have a demanding job and value education. I attended catholic school and received an excellent education. Sadly, I can't afford private school for my handful of kids. I have a fifth grader who is in the 2.0 guinea pig class, and I'm terrified about making the transition to middle school. Simply put: mcps does not prepare students with the basic skills to be a successful student. Elementary students never have to study to prepare for a test, and yet they are magically expected to do that for multiple subjects once they enter MS. In private school, you learn those skills from the get go. Mcps doesn't formally teach vocabulary, and yet it has it's own category on report cards. Grammar was a subject when I was in school; in mcps, "grammar" is a worksheet completed independently during the reading block when your kid isn't meeting with the teacher for 15 minutes of reading group.

I don't mind helping my kids with homework. But I am beyond annoyed that I have to teach my kids basic foundational skills that should be taught in school.

Amen to that. My sentiments exactly.

[Anonymous]

We have 2 in private and 1 in public and I have to say that the differences are vast and significant. While we have had great teachers in both private and MCPS, the quality of what is being taught is far better at private.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have 2 in private and 1 in public and I have to say that the differences are vast and significant. While we have had great teachers in both private and MCPS, the quality of what is being taught is far better at private.

Which is why people are willing to pay for their kids to attend private. So for all those people who keep asking me why we are spending all that money on private, you now have your answer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have 2 in private and 1 in public and I have to say that the differences are vast and significant. While we have had great teachers in both private and MCPS, the quality of what is being taught is far better at private.

Which is why people are willing to pay for their kids to attend private. So for all those people who keep asking me why we are spending all that money on private, you now have your answer.

If you want to spend all that money on private school, that is your choice, and none of my business.

[Anonymous]

Kids in MoCo aren't being taught how to write. It's a shame. Such useful skill to have, especially if you get very good at it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kids in MoCo aren't being taught how to write. It's a shame. Such useful skill to have, especially if you get very good at it.

They're not? No child in all of MCPS is being taught how to write, in any of the MCPS schools? I wonder how you know that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have 2 in private and 1 in public and I have to say that the differences are vast and significant. While we have had great teachers in both private and MCPS, the quality of what is being taught is far better at private.

Which is why people are willing to pay for their kids to attend private. So for all those people who keep asking me why we are spending all that money on private, you now have your answer.

If you want to spend all that money on private school, that is your choice, and none of my business.

Yes it is my choice...and you seem upset enough about it to respond. That is what I mean!! People with kids in public school get all in a tizzy when they find out someone is leaving to go to private. Some sort of insecurity or perhaps a realization that they should do the same.

[Anonymous]

Are the kids in HGCs and magnets being taught how to write?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have 2 in private and 1 in public and I have to say that the differences are vast and significant. While we have had great teachers in both private and MCPS, the quality of what is being taught is far better at private.

Which is why people are willing to pay for their kids to attend private. So for all those people who keep asking me why we are spending all that money on private, you now have your answer.

If you want to spend all that money on private school, that is your choice, and none of my business.

Yes it is my choice...and you seem upset enough about it to respond. That is what I mean!! People with kids in public school get all in a tizzy when they find out someone is leaving to go to private. Some sort of insecurity or perhaps a realization that they should do the same.

No, I am not in a tizzy. I am validating your right to choose to spend all that money (quoting you) on private school. If you want to do that, and you can do that, you should do that. I really don't know how I can word it any more strongly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are the kids in HGCs and magnets being taught how to write?

In our HGC, and YMMV, our child is definitely being taught how to write, and he's writing beautifully.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kids in MoCo aren't being taught how to write. It's a shame. Such useful skill to have, especially if you get very good at it.

They're not? No child in all of MCPS is being taught how to write, in any of the MCPS schools? I wonder how you know that.

We pulled our daughter from a private. She started public in 4th grade and writes quite a bit - narrative and expository - as does my son who's in K.

no complaints

[Anonymous]

My child went to a Potomac elementary school and starting middle school...considered the best in the county, no? Yet her writing skills are still not where they should be for someone at her grade level despite the consistent A's in English classes. We are moving to a private hopefully next year so that she can get the basic education that is needed to prepare for college. It's not all about math, as MCPS appears to believe. You can be the greatest engineer or scientist, but if you can't communicate effectively, you will not reach the highest success. I am afraid that is what is happening right now in many public schools. Frightening.

Well, MCPS has destroyed math with 2.0 so rest assured PP that math is no longer king in MCPS. It barely exists. The large class sizes are hurting the writing education. Students need good models, feedback and practice to learn how to write. This just isn't possible with the huge class sizes and teacher time spent collecting data that is for the school not the student. In the 2.0 world of anything you do is a P, students are hustled along thing that whatever they did was just great.