Reply to Banneker HS - College and Score Outcomes

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Reply to "Banneker HS - College and Score Outcomes"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]This. The process clearly isn't designed to identify the most capable or hardest-working 8th grade students who apply to either Walls or Banneker.  If it were, an appropriate entrance exam would obviously be used to screen applicants, like the SSAT in NYC, the Boston Latin entrance exam, or the PSAT 8/9 (common high school magnet entrance exam around the country). It's painfully clear that Banneker and Walls don't favor academic highfliers over weaker students in admissions.  If they did, applicants who work years ahead of grade level in math and English would be admitted over those who don't, period. What a travesty. [/quote]

You clearly do not see that your privilege is a factor here. Did your children grow up in D.C. public schools? If so, then you would know that DC does not value the concept of working ahead of grade level. Most of those "several grade level ahead kids" are supplemented by tutors or are ahead of grade level because their parents' have attained a higher education (can do better on standardized tests due to wider vocabulary, grammar, etc.), eat regular healthy meals vs fast food/snacks so can focus, and do not typically have the same stresses as everyday D.C. public school kids (unavailable parent due to work schedule, gang violence, incarcerated parent, poverty, etc). My child goes to school with several homeless children. DCPS values those kids as much as they value mine. And they want to make it so that those kids have the same opportunities. In fact, I think that if a kid who is food insecure and has no home is able to come to school and make As, they deserve a shot at whatever school they want. The DC system is set up to recognize that[b] all kids are equally capable.[/b] There is no concept of academic competition or getting ahead. It is about growth of all individuals. UMC families want that growth to be accelerated and their kid to be on top, but that is just not the goal of D.C. schools. Parents who know this are usually bought into the idea of "community" and all boats rise with the tide. The questions you are asking and the comments you are making seem foreign to me and most of the people I know with kids in D.C. Public Schools. They sound very elitist. But I understand they are common outside of D.C. Again, which is why I don't think you came up in D.C. Public Schools.
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Of course all kids are not equally capable!  Socio-economic status does not and should not determine capability, and there are all sorts of capabiilities, with individuals having different strengths and weaknesses.

That sort of thinking--that all kids should want and expect the same academic outcomes--is how you end up with fiascos like the Ballou graduation scandal.[/quote]

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