Reply to Einstein vs. Northwood, and how does school choice in the DCC work?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP, I'm sorry that I misread your previous statement about 9th grade classes.  My worry for a student taking Algebra 1 and Foreign Language 1 in 9th grade in MCPS would be that your student may be in classes with a lot of students who are academic strugglers, troublemakers, or very new to the English language.  This might be non-PC of me to say.  My DC started a new language in 9th grade and was really disappointed.  It's not like Foreign Language 1 in any private school I know of.  The strong MCPS students already took Foreign Language 1 in 6th or 7th grade.  The weaker students wait to take it in 9th.  Some older students are retaking Foreign Language 1 for the 2nd or 3rd time in order to pass.  I am not making this up.  The exception would be Japanese 1, which will have motivated 9th graders who haven't studied it before.

It will likely be a similar situation in Algebra 1, which is not available as an honors class.  The worst math students in the entire high school are going to be in Algebra 1.  Likely, some are retaking it in order to pass.

I have known students who were behind in math, with other academic strengths.  I have known students who were behind in foreign language (often with learning disabilities), who had other academic strengths.  I would worry about a former private school student who has to take the lower level offerings in both.

Have you considered Duke Ellington in DC (costs less than a private) or DeMatha in Hyattsville?  At both schools, there should be a strong work ethic demanded of academically average students while providing an excellent music education.

I'd love to see the Einstein band gain your son, but I would want to make sure that he is going to get the academic atmosphere that you are looking for.[/quote]

I think it's odd that, without knowing anything about my kid other than that his parent thinks he's fantastic and he plays an instrument you assume that other kids on his level are terrible, but he's not and should be rescued from them.  [/quote]

This person is just giving you a heads up that your child's peers (we are assuming college bound students) will likely be in APUSH, Geometry or higher, and World Language 2 or higher. You also want to put your kid in Pre-IB English. On level and honors classes (because MCPS mixes honors and on level at most schools) are going to be filled with kids who are not college bound (maybe you don't care, I get it), and there are more likely to be disruptive kids (you should care, teachers have no ability to discipline kids under current mcps disciplinary policies, it's a problem).[/quote]

I still don’t get why you assume that my kid must be “peers” with kids in APUSH.  You clearly have this view of the kids in Algebra 1, but I don’t understand why, since you clearly don’t give them any benefit of the doubt, I am not sure why my kid gets it.  Because he plays an instrument?  Because the fact that I managed to pay for Catholic school means I must be middle class and therefore my kid must be somehow superior?

I really don’t mean to be obtuse.  Clearly, my kid hasn’t moved fast academically.  There are reasons, but lots of low income kids have the same reasons apply to them.  And others have some better reasons, like the fact that their whole life got turned upside down by the need to flee to a new country.  Why do you assume my kid’s reasons are legit?[/quote]

Maybe the question is, OP, who do you want your kids' peers to be?  Maybe you think that being in public school will be a great wakeup call for him.  There are wonderful immigrant students at Einstein.  My DC has friends among them.  There are also the kids who get in fights in hallways.  In my time at Einstein, there has been a stabbing in the woods, a kid who brought had a stolen gun in a stolen car, and another child who decided to brandish a gun on Zoom.  I honestly would prefer for my child not to be in class with these kids.  I would probably be even more careful if I had a son.[/quote]

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