Reply to Did the Takoma MS magnet got MORE white this year?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]American public schools are not like the schools some people here experienced in their home countries. Unfortunately this magnet cycle may have been a rude awakening. The mission of the US Department of Education is this: "ED's mission is to promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access." Note the "and ensuring equal access" part, which had to be a goal because this country has a very long history of restricting access to education by race and class. The mission is not to reward the top test-takers or to winnow out the best students for the purpose of plum jobs or college spots, like it may be in some countries. I feel as if we are speaking a different language from one another here.[/quote]

This should be a pinned post. Someone in one of these threads posted about how magnet admissions should be more like uni admissions in Russia or India. Which...leaving aside the issues of corruption in those systems, and leaving aside that we are talking about 8 year-olds, not 18 year-olds, that's not how America works. Social mobility is a core national ideal, and you cannot square that with a system that tracks kids from kindergarten onward and then subjects them to high-stakes testing at 16 that determines their college major and life trajectory. [/quote]
MSers are not 8 yrs olds (I believe this thread is about MS magnet).

Equitable access means -- it doesn't matter where you live, too.

I thought merit was also an American value.

If MCPS doesn't care about test scores then why are they trying to close the achievement gap and publish test score stats?[/quote]

MSer are closer to 8-year-olds than 18-year-olds.  At this level potential is more important than merit.  Potential is a need that a school system can meet.  [b]Merit is someone who is already thriving where they are[/b], whether that is because their home school is exceptional or they are doing something outside of school.[/quote]
I have never heard this as a definition of merit. Would dictionary are you using?

A public school should provide equitable admission criteria to a county wide test in program regardless of where you live in the county or who your neighbors are, just as it should do so regardless of your skin color.[/quote]

Sorry, but[b] if there's a school where everyone is already exceptional, they clearly don't need a magnet[/b].  If there's a student who stands out among peers, they do need a magnet, even if those peers aren't anywhere near as good.  The magnet is a scarce county-wide resource and access should be distributed across ms clusters.[/quote]
what? no.   Students who are very high achievers need the magnet programs. They are the ones who need the challenge more.

Many MSers are languishing in non magnets all over the county due to unchallenging curriculum.  My 7th grader complains about how slow the classes are.[/quote]

[b]No they are thriving.  Their peers are thriving.  If they really are all bored at school they should participate in class.  Your 7th grader is complaining, because that's what they do.  They already have all the pieces in place and this is why the new classes are being piloted at the home schools.[/b][/quote]
This has to be a MCPS administrator posting!  [/quote]

Nope, just an MS parent who finds your reasoning repugnant.  I'm unsympathetic to your whining because I've got my own kids and adding enrichment classes to local schools is more likely to serve both our needs and I have an older child so I do see this as an improvement even if it's partly too late for my family.  I think spreading the admissions more evenly through the county is more equitable.  It makes no sense to take a large cohort from one school, when clearly something is already going well at that school.[/quote]

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