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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]

Do you have any first-hand experience with MoCo schools vs. private? I do. We spent a total of ten years in MCPS with two kids before giving up and going private. There is FAR more grade inflation in MCPS than at private school, and the work is far more rigorous - lots of writing, creative thinking, project-based work, and NO MULTIPLE CHOICE WORKSHEETS!  Read the article in Bethesda Magazine - very illuminating. Our county officials believe they have to choose between helping the immigrant children who will may not graduate, and the offspring of college-educated affluent people. Sadly, that's not the real choice. They need to do both. Our "good" schools are far behind those of other developed nations. We need to challenge all our kids to excel. [/quote]

Yes I do.  There are tons of 'valedictorians' in private school with mediocre SATs.  That doesn't happen at public schools.  At a MoCo high school there are perfect SATs with an unweighted 3.5.

[b]It's also better for kids in the long run not to be coddled like they are in a private school.  I also see the results of those coddled children at the university -- shocked at their first "B"[/b].  [/quote]

[i]My daughter moved to Holton-Arms with a 4.75 GPA and received two C's, mostly B's and only 3 A's all year her first year and nothing above a 92.  Not final grades, each quarter grades.  She was shocked at the expectations.  But she also went from a Spanish class of 33 to 9 kids.  She moved from a school with maybe 1/3 of the kids wanted to learn to a school where 100% want to learn.   The teachers have so much more time invested in each child.  They meet with them, they chat via email, no one skates by. The parents?  We don't even know the grades unless we email a teacher and ask for an update.  The kids have full autonomy and are required to self-advocate.   There is no one in that school getting easy grades.   The report cards alone are like 3-4 pages with in depth write-ups for each class.  It has been amazing to watch her go from "I am so smart, school is so easy" to becoming humbled around a lot of high achieving teachers and girls and truly having to work hard and earn A's.  I don't care what college she gets into and I honesty don't care if she graduates with a 3.0 in private vs a 4.5 in public.  She is learning and understand more NOW and that is all I care about.  [/quote][/i]
I am responding to the post in italics.  I do not have direct experience with a private school but what you are describing sounds a little similar to my child's experience in the middle school and magnet programs.  The main difference is that they do not get as much individualized attention from the teachers because the class sizes are much larger (25 students per class).  They do however have a challenging and enriched curriculum, complex assignments, group projects etc.  My child has learned to do in depth research, write a ten page paper, present and defend his work.  The teachers have very high expectations and they also expect the students to advocate for themselves.  I would never dream of emailing my child's high school teacher with a question about homework or anything minor.  I would get in touch if my child was struggling in a class and I was sure he had explored options such as asking the teacher for help on his own.  Straight As are hard to come by in these programs.  I think there might have been a half dozen kids who managed this every quarter for three years in his middle school magnet for example.  I have also noticed that there is more of an emphasis on the learning experience in these programs.  In other words, getting good grades or doing well in a test is not what the teachers emphasize- they do not spend any/much time on prepping for standardized tests.  They want the kids to be articulate and critical thinkers, to be strong writers and communicators.[/quote]

So why should selective magnet programs pulled by a lottery be the ONLY kids that get this type of learning?  My child is not in a magnet or IB because I refuse to have 2 hours of their day commuting and we purchased our home to be in a community and go to school with their peers.  I wish he had only 25 kids in his class. The last time that happened was 2nd grade. So you trying to compare a small pool of public school kids as what the norm is in MCPS is a tad narrow-minded.  Not everyone can send their kids to a HGC, magnet or IB halfway across the county and you're how great the school system is. Reading your post makes me realize how awful our school district has become. [/quote]
My kid is not in a magnet program and had the same experience as the poster to whom you are responding. That has been our experience since elementary school. Different schools different experiences, but your experience certainly does not prove that MCPS has gone to hell in a handbasket.[/quote]

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