Reply to MCPS High School Magnet Decisions

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I am one of the posters that defended the TPMS parent with the inbound kid accepted to the magnet program. While I don't think (or rather hope) the "bitterness" from the negative posts are directed at the parent, the real travesty is the sheer incompetence of MCPS. For the amount of money that MCPS has, the fact that enriched curriculum is offered to only a select few makes absolutely no sense.

There is a definite 2 tier system of middle schools - schools that nurture students that need that enrichment and those that completely ignore them. I can totally understand why parents that end up in schools where their high performing kids get ignored are upset when factors like a lottery is  the only way to get into the "other" tier school.

MCPS needs to step up its game badly![/quote]

The problem comes in part from parents who see a value in something being rare and exclusive. It doesn't cost any more money to add more advanced classes, or to expand a program to different schools (as is being done with the IB), but you still have people who think their child's acceptance is proof of some kind of status they don't want just anyone to have. [/quote]

RMIB vs W school- chose home school[/quote]

sure but if you are interested in elite college outcomes you should go with RMIB which does much better [/quote]

It also depends on what your kid wants to get out of high school. Academics aside, RMIB was a way better fit for me socially than my zoned W-school. Granted this was over a decade ago, but I really struggled socially at my feeder middle (bullying, but also just shy/nerdy and awkward), and going to RM made a drastic change in my social life. Being around other nerdy kids/having more classmates with similar interests, and also having a small cohort/getting out of the Potomac bubble were really beneficial for me. The IB academics were just an added bonus. I had great relationships with teachers and had a ton of unique opportunities to explore more niche topics. I loved taking ToK, doing the Extended Essay, etc etc and really enjoyed the structure of IB. I also think it made me a stronger writer; I never felt like I had to put much work into my writing skills after high school. Both in undergrad (small liberal arts) and in grad (Yale) I never found writing-intensive classes particularly challenging, and have heard similar things from classmates who also did IB. The "pressure cooker" thing is real for some kids but I had zero interest in getting into a T10 school and was more into humanities than STEM, so I didn't feel it too much.

My sister (two years younger) had similar issues fitting in but opted for Churchill and had a good small friend group, but didn't "love" school or fit in as well as I did at RM. All her extracurriculars were not at school while I was staying after school for something 5 days a week and was heavily involved in clubs, performing arts, etc.

My college outcomes would have probably been the same either way, but I was definitely a much happier kid than I would have been at Churchill (at least how it was back then, can't say how it is now). [/quote]

Yeah I think this is key. Np. I'm a blair grad, decades ago, but I'm not sure my outcomes would have been that different had I gone to my home school. I still ended up majoring in STEM at UMD on scholarship. But I had a really rough time prior to that socially, and I made a really good friends group at Blair. The destination may be the same, but the experience getting there may be very different, and that's important when young people are developing their own sense of self. It's important to feel comfortable, and that you have people who care about you and want you to succeed. That's also the main reason I'm encouraging my own eighth grader to go to the magnet. [/quote]

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