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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Glad you're happy with Washington Latin, but Boston Latin it isn't. I'm a difficult person to vilify for my snobbery, racism and elitism being brown, having been born in a housing project, and having attended an Ivy League school on a Pell Grant. But go for it if you it makes you feel better.  If your kid was in a position to take advantage of excellent, unlimited free tutoring at city "exam school" test prep centers like Bostonian youth can, would they be worse off?  If not, maybe think twice about championing a system actively shortchanging the city's best and brightest in the public school system.  At a recent Washington Latin open house, I wasn't remotely impressed to learn that 6th graders reading at a 3rd grade level are shoved into the very same English classes as those reading at the high school level. Same for math and other subjects. My children are not instructional tools DC public schools can harness to raise standards for the poorly prepped and/or none too academic. Pass.[/quote]

We have similar backgrounds and I am also unimpressed with Latin. My test in ultra academic high school saved my life. I'm happy to give you examples of real racism.  Test-in magnet schools are not.

I just wish I could explain how it changed my life and that of my family as well. My sisters went to community college when they saw me go to my top school. They have careers now. God knows where they would be. If I was bored in my terrible inbounds school, I can't help but think I'd still be there. [/quote]

Boston Latin pp here. I find that most of the DC parents and charter admins who are most staunchly anti test-in MS programs are whites who grew up in leafy suburbs. They aren't in favor of these programs because they don't have experience with them being lifesavers for poor minority students. They say, well, our program really doesn't have many students who are behind academically, so we don't need merit-based academic tracking.  From where I sit, the experience of having been part of entire classes of nose-to the-grindstone, academically advanced students for six straight years (7th-12th grades) made all the difference in my life. It put me on a path to an Ivy League school, and a top law school. Several elementary school classmates I remember as being bright and motivated are in prison, for life, for murder.  The main difference between us?  They didn't spend evenings at the city exam school test prep center working with tutors in 6th grade like I did.  It was too late for them - by that stage, they were already more interested in hanging out by the corner store, in watching TV, and in playing video games.  DC could do much better by its brightest and most disciplined kids of all backgrounds.

[/quote]

I'm the PP who explained that my test in magnet changed the lives of my whole family.

I agree with you that it's usually white people claiming that they are racist.

The reality is that I don't think my family knew what the SAT was. I wouldn't even know if I wasn't around some high ses Asian and white kids who taught me the importance of test prep and guidance counsellors who helped me get application fee waivers and paid for Princeton review. I would never have graduated from my top 14 law school without my test in high school.

Just my two cents. But what do I know?  [/quote]

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