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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote]You're correct that I've not had a child at TC. But I've known several (as in 8 or 9) who went. I know them personally through churches, babysitting, in the neighborhood. So, I *am* qualified. And I'm also certaintly qualified to comment on my own interactions with the inept board and malevolent superintendent.

I'm happy your dd is surviving though.[/quote]

I've met many, many more through my daughter and her, and my, involvement in all sorts of activities at TC.  I think what has colored your view, more than any thoughtful conversations you've had with actual students at TC, is some sort of dispute you had with the ACPS board/superintendent.  I'm sorry you had this bad experience with the central office, but I can assure you that these people don't have a lot of hands-on, day-to-day interaction with, or effect on, the students. How many TC teachers have you spoken to?  What happened to the 8 or 9 students that you know -- are they miserable at TC?  Why?  I'm honestly interested, because that response to TC is jarringly different from my daughter's experience. Perhaps if you can identify why they are merely "surviving" instead of thriving, I can recommend something to Suzanne Maxey, the principal. She is a very involved, caring leader at TC.

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I have never argued that there aren't quality teachers or individuals at TC. And I've acknowledged that if you're tracked into the "white and bright" bubble, you'll do just fine and get an excellent education. You can even leverage the stigma of attending a poor urban school into a great college placement. But they are very much in a bubble.

I have argued that the environment in totality is not a positive one or conducive to learning -- education simply isn't valued by a large segment of the student body. With a dropout rate of around 30%, a teen pregnancy clinic in the building, gang-related fights on a daily basis (at least that was the case two years ago -- Sherman says it's basically the same five or six families every time -- a Hatfield and McCoys thing, but whatever) and a chaotic culture where kids roamed the hallways freely between classes, I decided it wasn't the right environment for my kids. I prefered they be in an environment where college was a universal goal, rather than one for just a small cohort of elite students. And based on people I meet now, I'm hardly alone in that thought process, nor will I apologize for it.

Again, I'm glad your daughter is having a good experience. Maybe the conversation you need to have with Suzanne Maxley is how to remove the "jail" part from TC's "Yale or Jail" rep. That's more than test scores. That's changing the culture. Maybe she's doing that -- more power to her. But I think given the school's very real challenges in recent years, skeptics have a right to reserve judgment and people like OP need to know what they're getting into.[/quote]

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