Upcounty MLK JR Humanities magnet pgm

[Anonymous]

My DD got accepted into the magnet humanities pgm in Martin Luther king jr. Trying to decide if we should accept it or not?
Any information from current parents of the mlk program would be greatly appreciated. TIA.

[Anonymous]

Getting people to comment has been like pulling teeth. One person wrote a nice long post, though.

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/778558.page

If your dd does attend the magnet, make sure you reply to next year’s prospective parents!

[Anonymous]

My son got in and we have accepted the spot. We have a friend who has a daughter currently in the program. Her daughter has absolutely loved it. My friend described the program as intense but that it encourages a lot of creativity. Her daughter also enjoys the bicycling that is part of the PE program there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Getting people to comment has been like pulling teeth. One person wrote a nice long post, though.

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/778558.page

If your dd does attend the magnet, make sure you reply to next year’s prospective parents!

Thank you for the link. If MY DD decides to go there, I will surely post back here on DCUM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Getting people to comment has been like pulling teeth. One person wrote a nice long post, though.

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/778558.page

If your dd does attend the magnet, make sure you reply to next year’s prospective parents!

Thank you for the link. If MY DD decides to go there, I will surely post back here on DCUM.

I’m the pp. My dd has already accepted, but we don’t know anyone who has participated in the humanities magnet recently or who has attended MLK. I’ll report back next year!

[Anonymous]

How many local students are invited?

[Anonymous]

I generally heard that the number of boys joining is really low
Is that true

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I generally heard that the number of boys joining is really low
Is that true

In my kid's class (at Clemente, not MLK) there were 8 boys and 67 girls. Seems like fewer boys apply, and fewer boys who get admitted decide to go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I generally heard that the number of boys joining is really low
Is that true

In my kid's class (at Clemente, not MLK) there were 8 boys and 67 girls. Seems like fewer boys apply, and fewer boys who get admitted decide to go.

Wow. That is outrageous. And a vicious cycle because the less boys who go, the less boys who will want to go. What boy wants that kind of gender balance in middle school? I have a boy in ES who is really, really strong in ELA and I have consistently felt that his education is skewed “feminine.” Meaning that the books and topics they discuss, the inferences they are expected to make, are the kinds of things that girls (in general) prefer. When he writes, he has strong action words and focuses on plot, dialogue and similes while his teachers frequently ask him to use more hidden emotions and metaphors. He always notices philosophy, scenery and plot in books more than feelings and relationships. Now, I am NOT saying that those aren’t incredibly important things to learn about and understand, but boys are constantly being taught that their perfectly valid observations are somehow “less.” Boys are disengaging from ELA in MCPS and I think it has a lot to do with this heavy emphasis on one side of the coin, so to speak.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I generally heard that the number of boys joining is really low
Is that true

In my kid's class (at Clemente, not MLK) there were 8 boys and 67 girls. Seems like fewer boys apply, and fewer boys who get admitted decide to go.

Wow. That is outrageous. And a vicious cycle because the less boys who go, the less boys who will want to go. What boy wants that kind of gender balance in middle school? I have a boy in ES who is really, really strong in ELA and I have consistently felt that his education is skewed “feminine.” Meaning that the books and topics they discuss, the inferences they are expected to make, are the kinds of things that girls (in general) prefer. When he writes, he has strong action words and focuses on plot, dialogue and similes while his teachers frequently ask him to use more hidden emotions and metaphors. He always notices philosophy, scenery and plot in books more than feelings and relationships. Now, I am NOT saying that those aren’t incredibly important things to learn about and understand, but boys are constantly being taught that their perfectly valid observations are somehow “less.” Boys are disengaging from ELA in MCPS and I think it has a lot to do with this heavy emphasis on one side of the coin, so to speak.

My advice, not that you asked for it, is to expand your thinking. Your post sounds a lot to me like an advanced version of "Girls will read books about boys, but we shouldn't expect boys to read books about girls."

Here are some assigned books in the Humanities program:

The Giver
Animal Farm (which I personally think is ridiculous to assign in middle school)
The Adventures of Odysseus and The Tales of Troy by Padraic Colum
Things Fall Apart (again, ridiculous in middle school)
Red Scarf Girl
Farewell to Manzanar
Call of the Wild

Is there a reason why this list is less appropriate for your child who is a boy than for my child who is a girl?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I generally heard that the number of boys joining is really low
Is that true

In my kid's class (at Clemente, not MLK) there were 8 boys and 67 girls. Seems like fewer boys apply, and fewer boys who get admitted decide to go.

Wow. That is outrageous. And a vicious cycle because the less boys who go, the less boys who will want to go. What boy wants that kind of gender balance in middle school? I have a boy in ES who is really, really strong in ELA and I have consistently felt that his education is skewed “feminine.” Meaning that the books and topics they discuss, the inferences they are expected to make, are the kinds of things that girls (in general) prefer. When he writes, he has strong action words and focuses on plot, dialogue and similes while his teachers frequently ask him to use more hidden emotions and metaphors. He always notices philosophy, scenery and plot in books more than feelings and relationships. Now, I am NOT saying that those aren’t incredibly important things to learn about and understand, but boys are constantly being taught that their perfectly valid observations are somehow “less.” Boys are disengaging from ELA in MCPS and I think it has a lot to do with this heavy emphasis on one side of the coin, so to speak.

My advice, not that you asked for it, is to expand your thinking. Your post sounds a lot to me like an advanced version of "Girls will read books about boys, but we shouldn't expect boys to read books about girls."

Here are some assigned books in the Humanities program:

The Giver
Animal Farm (which I personally think is ridiculous to assign in middle school)
The Adventures of Odysseus and The Tales of Troy by Padraic Colum
Things Fall Apart (again, ridiculous in middle school)
Red Scarf Girl
Farewell to Manzanar
Call of the Wild

Is there a reason why this list is less appropriate for your child who is a boy than for my child who is a girl?

So that is a great list, although I do agree with you about some middle school choices, there. But I’ll betcha that when they discuss the books, the teachers are more likely to reward what I can only call a certain kind of more empathetic and introspective thinking. I have a girl, too, and I’m not trying to make this against girls. Just that ELA, at least so far in ES, isn’t super “boy friendly.” Do you think boys are just less interested in ELA innately? Because I do not. My boy absolutely loves language and has a passion for a well turned phrase. But he would probably not want to attend MLK with those numbers, and that makes me really sad. 8 boys and 67 girls tells you that there is SOMETHING going on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

So that is a great list, although I do agree with you about some middle school choices, there. But I’ll betcha that when they discuss the books, the teachers are more likely to reward what I can only call a certain kind of more empathetic and introspective thinking. I have a girl, too, and I’m not trying to make this against girls. Just that ELA, at least so far in ES, isn’t super “boy friendly.” Do you think boys are just less interested in ELA innately? Because I do not. My boy absolutely loves language and has a passion for a well turned phrase. But he would probably not want to attend MLK with those numbers, and that makes me really sad. 8 boys and 67 girls tells you that there is SOMETHING going on.

Oh good grief.

Do I think that boys are less interested in English and language arts innately? No. Do I think that there is a strong cultural pressure against boys being interested in reading and writing, talking about reading and writing. and being introspective and having feelings? You betcha. Which is why fewer boys apply to ELA, and fewer boys who are accepted to ELA actually go.

On the other hand, from what I can tell from my own observations and my daughter's reports, the boys who do go to the Humanities program and do well are boys who can get along and work with girls. That's a useful skill to have.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

So that is a great list, although I do agree with you about some middle school choices, there. But I’ll betcha that when they discuss the books, the teachers are more likely to reward what I can only call a certain kind of more empathetic and introspective thinking. I have a girl, too, and I’m not trying to make this against girls. Just that ELA, at least so far in ES, isn’t super “boy friendly.” Do you think boys are just less interested in ELA innately? Because I do not. My boy absolutely loves language and has a passion for a well turned phrase. But he would probably not want to attend MLK with those numbers, and that makes me really sad. 8 boys and 67 girls tells you that there is SOMETHING going on.

Oh good grief.

Do I think that boys are less interested in English and language arts innately? No. Do I think that there is a strong cultural pressure against boys being interested in reading and writing, talking about reading and writing. and being introspective and having feelings? You betcha. Which is why fewer boys apply to ELA, and fewer boys who are accepted to ELA actually go.

On the other hand, from what I can tell from my own observations and my daughter's reports, the boys who do go to the Humanities program and do well are boys who can get along and work with girls. That's a useful skill to have.

Ok, enjoy your girl-heavy humanities magnet. I’m not sure where your eye$rolling impatience with me is coming from. If I were you, I’d be really concerned about that kind of gender balance in a public magnet in our modern age. I don’t want my girl with only girls and I don’t want my boy with only boys. I want them to have friends and schoolmates of all types. When there are these numbers in STEM classes, people don’t ask what the girls are doing wrong or tell them they have to change to get along better with boys. They ask what society and schools could be doing to encourage girls to achieve and participate in those areas. You are right, asking boys to get along with girls, to be introspective and emotive is fine - critical, in fact - but the heavy emphasis on emotions and relationships over plot and language in ES is driving them away from ELA. Third grade boys and girls are simply not the same. There’s of course a spectrum of behavior, but in general, you can easily see the recurring differences in the way they interact with the world. It is partly how they are trained and largely and indisputably how they are born.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

So that is a great list, although I do agree with you about some middle school choices, there. But I’ll betcha that when they discuss the books, the teachers are more likely to reward what I can only call a certain kind of more empathetic and introspective thinking. I have a girl, too, and I’m not trying to make this against girls. Just that ELA, at least so far in ES, isn’t super “boy friendly.” Do you think boys are just less interested in ELA innately? Because I do not. My boy absolutely loves language and has a passion for a well turned phrase. But he would probably not want to attend MLK with those numbers, and that makes me really sad. 8 boys and 67 girls tells you that there is SOMETHING going on.

Oh good grief.

Do I think that boys are less interested in English and language arts innately? No. Do I think that there is a strong cultural pressure against boys being interested in reading and writing, talking about reading and writing. and being introspective and having feelings? You betcha. Which is why fewer boys apply to ELA, and fewer boys who are accepted to ELA actually go.

On the other hand, from what I can tell from my own observations and my daughter's reports, the boys who do go to the Humanities program and do well are boys who can get along and work with girls. That's a useful skill to have.

Ok, enjoy your girl-heavy humanities magnet. I’m not sure where your eye$rolling impatience with me is coming from. If I were you, I’d be really concerned about that kind of gender balance in a public magnet in our modern age. I don’t want my girl with only girls and I don’t want my boy with only boys. I want them to have friends and schoolmates of all types. When there are these numbers in STEM classes, people don’t ask what the girls are doing wrong or tell them they have to change to get along better with boys. They ask what society and schools could be doing to encourage girls to achieve and participate in those areas. You are right, asking boys to get along with girls, to be introspective and emotive is fine - critical, in fact - but the heavy emphasis on emotions and relationships over plot and language in ES is driving them away from ELA. Third grade boys and girls are simply not the same. There’s of course a spectrum of behavior, but in general, you can easily see the recurring differences in the way they interact with the world. It is partly how they are trained and largely and indisputably how they are born.

I am rolling my eyes at your ideas that there is a heavy emphasis on emotions and relationships over plot and language in ES, that this favors girls because of some innate girl thing, and that the humanities magnet program is biased against boys.

It's not good that humanities magnet is disproportionately girls (or that math/sci magnet is disproportionately boys, though less disproportionately). Strike a blow against gender segregation by advising your boy to apply to the humanities magnet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

So that is a great list, although I do agree with you about some middle school choices, there. But I’ll betcha that when they discuss the books, the teachers are more likely to reward what I can only call a certain kind of more empathetic and introspective thinking. I have a girl, too, and I’m not trying to make this against girls. Just that ELA, at least so far in ES, isn’t super “boy friendly.” Do you think boys are just less interested in ELA innately? Because I do not. My boy absolutely loves language and has a passion for a well turned phrase. But he would probably not want to attend MLK with those numbers, and that makes me really sad. 8 boys and 67 girls tells you that there is SOMETHING going on.

Oh good grief.

Do I think that boys are less interested in English and language arts innately? No. Do I think that there is a strong cultural pressure against boys being interested in reading and writing, talking about reading and writing. and being introspective and having feelings? You betcha. Which is why fewer boys apply to ELA, and fewer boys who are accepted to ELA actually go.

On the other hand, from what I can tell from my own observations and my daughter's reports, the boys who do go to the Humanities program and do well are boys who can get along and work with girls. That's a useful skill to have.

Ok, enjoy your girl-heavy humanities magnet. I’m not sure where your eye$rolling impatience with me is coming from. If I were you, I’d be really concerned about that kind of gender balance in a public magnet in our modern age. I don’t want my girl with only girls and I don’t want my boy with only boys. I want them to have friends and schoolmates of all types. When there are these numbers in STEM classes, people don’t ask what the girls are doing wrong or tell them they have to change to get along better with boys. They ask what society and schools could be doing to encourage girls to achieve and participate in those areas. You are right, asking boys to get along with girls, to be introspective and emotive is fine - critical, in fact - but the heavy emphasis on emotions and relationships over plot and language in ES is driving them away from ELA. Third grade boys and girls are simply not the same. There’s of course a spectrum of behavior, but in general, you can easily see the recurring differences in the way they interact with the world. It is partly how they are trained and largely and indisputably how they are born.

I am rolling my eyes at your ideas that there is a heavy emphasis on emotions and relationships over plot and language in ES, that this favors girls because of some innate girl thing, and that the humanities magnet program is biased against boys.

It's not good that humanities magnet is disproportionately girls (or that math/sci magnet is disproportionately boys, though less disproportionately). Strike a blow against gender segregation by advising your boy to apply to the humanities magnet.

I suggest you talk to some friends with boys in MCPS and ask them how they have felt about their ELA experience, especially in ES. Ask them if they think talking about emotions and relationships in books is “some innate girl thing.” And I certainly will have my son apply to the magnet when it is time, with the sincere hope that the gender balance will be mightily improved.