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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][b]These pathways are so bogus.[/b] IB?  Really?  How many kids will get to transfer to TJ for that pathway. This is just stupid. And if kids want to take spots at WL for OB, they have to do the full diploma. With the long waitlist they need to start sending kids back to their home schools when they are clearly only doing partial IB. [/quote]

Agreed!
1. distinct pathways beginning in 6th grade is dumb. We shouldn't be pigeon-holing 11 year olds into specific paths.
2. if you're going to do something like this, every middle school should have its "pathway" and that focus be for the entire school. Immersion is clearly not taking up an entire middle school; but IB does at Jefferson. 
3. These "enticements" DO NOT WORK for balancing enrollment.
4. Only 4 pathways are indicated. We have 6 middle schools. So what are the other 2 middle schools going to offer?
5. HBW's "program" description is absolutely awful. Especially the caring community part - implying care and community are not part of any other middle school.
6. How about just a good ol' fashioned emphasis on a rigorous well-rounded education for every student, allowing every student to develop and learn their special interests and talents and giving them opportunities to explore them via extracurriculars and electives in high school.[/quote]

+100

I can't even believe this.  
Immersion is a dying program that has to beg native speakers to attend, and English speakers are largely there only because they are not happy with their elementary and then often don't continue it. 
Neither group would continue, if the option was or is in any way inconvenient.
HB is only popular because of its size - it's not a pathway description anyone would choose otherwise, let's be real.  
Do you really want to decide if an 11 yr old is going to a STEM or Arts focused program through graduating from HS?

I thought they'd focus on the "honors" or "advanced" classes all middle schools are supposed to be offering soon from grade 6?  I thought this was going to be a challenge for them already to fully implement.[/quote]

Wow, showing your upper class bias much? You've totally missed the point that APS is trying to bring pathways and options to families whose students will go straight from HS to workforce, or roughly equivalent. They are not needing to expand more advanced/honors for families like you who wish or are trying to get into TJ HS and Ivies. Those other families - and there are MANY - deserve pathways and options too, and folks like you and me are already well served. [/quote]

What?  That’s inane. Half my graduating class didn’t go to college, and they would be best served going to the Career Center for high school. Arts focus? Spanish language ?  How the F does that get them a job? Are they going to teach Spanish?

We need to ready kids for college or a career, not pathways. [/quote]

Wait are you questioning about speaking Spanish could help someone with a job if they don't go to college? How about the ability to speak a HUGE unskilled population who they could be working with? Don't you think Spanish will be helpful for working in construction or trades? Spanish is also helpful for going into the service industry. Talking to customers, talking to fellow employees, etc. Spanish is helpful going into healthcare.

I could 100% see the benefits to Spanish if someone is going into unskilled or semi-skilled work. Actually, folks in those industries probably have more of a chance to use spanish than someone who is going into highly skilled work. Now I also think that there should be more non college pathways but spanish is 100% useful in that regard. [/quote]

There are a TON of native Spanish speakers that are learning English here. Having immersion level Spanish will get you laughed at by the crew for claiming you know Spanish.  [/quote]

That is simply not true. As a Spanish speaker I would never laugh at anyone trying to communicate with me in my native language. That is ridiculous. No one is saying that immersion kids are 100% fluent but they are certainly fluent enough to communicate with someone who speaks Spanish better than if they only spoke English. That is just a ridiculous comment [/quote]

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