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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Perhaps they considered it an interview for you, not them. After all, they don't really need to sell the school to you at this point.[/quote] Yeah, pretty much this. As interviewers, while we took questions, it was mostly to look at the students and parents to see whether we thought they would fit in. For example: the school didn't want to base it completely off exam scores, but also look at the personality of the student and whether they would fit in. There were definitely some students with amazing exam scores and grades that me (and the rest in my room) gave lower scores to then those who didn't do so well, simply because they  came off as being too full of themselves, or like they wouldn't fit well with the school.

I remember on who had all As, but was telling us how he was a good student and to get all those As he often worked 3-4 hours of studying and would stay up extremely late. We didn't think he would be able to handle the work load at walls (which is condsiderably greater then most schools in the city, especially middle schools) if he was working for 3-4 hours a night to succeed at middle school, how much would he be working to succeed at high school? [/quote]

Is anyone else troubled by the idea that students are empowered to at least influence such decisions? Especially if this is the kind of discretion and professionalism candidates can expect...

Having high school students make judgements about whether another child will "fit in" sounds like such a nightmare! [/quote]

I know the high school transition was extremely hard for me- the last thing I would want is to set up a kid who would not be able to succeed at this school to fail. The middle school involved was one a sibling of mine went to, so I knew that the work load wasn't as hard or extensive at SWW. Both of the teachers who were in the room with me were also worried about the ability of the student to succeed here, it wasn't just me.

Discretion and professionalism: I didn't say any names, or any describing details, nor did I say anything else that could be used to describe the person in question... I was trying to give you an idea that the point of this interview was to look at the student's personality and ability to achieve success at our school, and look beyond the grades the student might be getting. Maybe to you me even giving an example is wrong, if so, I can see your point, but also see mine: I gave an anonymous example of one student.

And as for allowing students to interview: her is something that will probably scare you out of your mind: there were 3-4 students per room, with 2 teachers. All of us had equal weight in the decision. The reason they did this was because as students we know the school, and we know how to succeed at the school. I would like to point out that only issue with my example was not that he spent so much time with homework.

As for the 'ungrounded' view that he wouldn't be able to succeed, its a fact that high school, especially at an academically challenging high school such as walls, is harder then most middle schools. If he has to spend that long with homework at middle school, it likely will just increase during his high school career... And he might get swamped. If you are arguing that everyone who can get all As should just be automatically accepted, then I would like to see your reasoning. zI've seen kids who got all As in middle school come to walls and then end up failing, often because they thought they could scrape by with the same effort as they did in middle school and still get the same good grades. Is seeing a kid spending 3+ hours working on homework during middle school send up a big red flag? At least to this panel it certainly does. Maybe to you it seems like nothing, go ahead... Start interviewing students yourself. At this point I am going off to college, I'm almost done with school, I don't need to argue about this shit with you.[/quote]

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