Reply to Racial make up in honors vs. non-honors classes

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Reply to "Racial make up in honors vs. non-honors classes"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]My African American son takes 3 "on level" classes (including PE and an arts class) and 4 "advanced" classes at our local, majority white, middle school.  At back to school night this week, I was pleased to see other AA parents in the halls, and in the lunch room.  His first period class, one of the on level ones, had a number of other black parents.  But when  we went to Advanced English, or History, for example, every face in the room was white.  I came home and asked him, and he confirmed.  In each of his accelerated classes he was either the only, or one of two black kids.  In his on level classes there were between 4 and 6 black kids total.

This same pattern existed last year.  I'm curious whether other parents are noticing the same patterns in their kids' classes and how they talk about it with their children.[/quote]

Stunned that I am the only one that noticed this so far.  You state your son is in middle school in MCPS.  If you think the Advanced English and Advanced World Studies are actually advanced you need to wake up the the MCPS class naming sham.  There are middle schools that only offer the Advanced classes.  Yes,  800 kids and every single kid that happens to live in that area year after year - they are all Advanced.  It's a joke.  I am assuming the other two classes you are claiming as advanced are the math class and the foreign language. As to those talk to people in other states, what is advanced for MCPS is average pace for schools in PA and NY.

Seperately, the issue of not having many AA in his classes it might be one of the following: not many AA in the school, random distribution of kids for scheduling or an effort to balance the diversity among the classrooms.  And yes, I agree all schools need to focus on identifying smart AA kids.  That said, I urge you to meet with the school to discuss how really Advanced the [b]Advanced World Studies and Advanced English classes[/b] actually are as you will find its not a true honors class.[/quote]

They are not meant to be traditional "Honors" classes. They are meant to introduce MS students to advanced academic skills in those subject areas. In other words, the curriculum NOT THE CHILD is advanced in these courses. This is why some schools in the name of equity have decided to only offer the Advanced version of the courses.
--MCPS teacher.[/quote]

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