Reply to Changes to the HGC for next year (and to middle/high school magnet application in the future)

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Reply to "Changes to the HGC for next year (and to middle/high school magnet application in the future)"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Is there any change on selection transparency? MCPS seems to withhold more information regarding how the decisions were made this year than previous years. [/quote]

By "selection transparency", do you mean that MCPS should explain their criteria and processes for deciding who gets admitted? If so, then I think that the goal of increasing selection transparency conflicts with the goal of increasing participation of qualified students from poor and/or non-hooked-in families. The more detail MCPS provides about the selection criteria and processes, the more affluent, hooked-in families will figure out ways to game the system.[/quote]

[b]Everyone of these programs is affluent families gaming the system. That will never end unless the programs end. [/b][/quote]

This is an ignorant and offensive statement.  You would never make such a statement about a child who needs disability or learning difficulties services or a child who needs additional help with English, why do you feel it is alright in this instance to attack an entire group of children.  These kids are by and large very intelligent and thirsting to learn and so yes many of them (and their parents) are highly motivated to secure admission to these programs.  In addition for many kids it is so important to be with other kids who are like them and who understand and accept their academic inclinations.  I know my child would have been miserable in a regular school setting.  
I don't think I "gamed" the system but here is what I did do: I went to lots of information meetings, researched the programs, helped my child put his application together and made sure he was rested on the day of the exam.  I made sure he did not miss any deadlines.  I did not pay for a prep course, or write his essays or anything like that.  Most of the parents I know who have seen kids through HGCs,and middle school and high school magnets will tell you something similar.  We are indeed mostly solidly middle class and in some cases upper middle class but this is largely by virtue of the fact that most of us have graduate or terminal degrees.  This does make it more likely that our children are also predisposed to doing well in school and seek academic challenge.  This is the most important reason why you see so many UMC families in the magnet programs. [/quote]

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