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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]09:57 You get ahead of yourself.  Teach these kids how to read, write, speak in proper English and perform basic math tasks and then get back to me with Latin, geography, art and music. [/quote]

Actually, teaching "these kids" how to read has a lot to do with background knowledge and vocabulary, which comes from knowledge and exposure to history, geography, science, literature, art, music, etc.  I have actually taught this type of curriculum to DCPS students in SE, NE and even Upper Northwest.  All students benefit from an enriched curriculum.  Struggling students make gains in reading while high achieving and gifted students thrive on this type of program.  The idea that low-performing students should be put on a strict diet of skill/drill basics while high achieving student should get the good stuff is not only inequitable, but also self-defeating.  It simply doesn't work.  How do we know?  Because that's what we've been doing in DCPS for years.[/quote]

Yes, I agree.  In preparing students for careers and in teaching them to think critically as citizens, we should not take a narrow view in gauging  what they need.   I imagine that music and art would enhance creativity, so important in all professional contexts.   I've read (no reference to cite, sorry) that music is helpful in giving children mathematical sense and in helping them think logically.  My daughter had a wonderful art teacher last year who focused on media and materials; next thing I know, my daughter was examining her sandal, trying to figure out how to build one just like it.  Given our increasingly global economy, and challenges posed by environmental degradation, some notion of geography is essential.  Even Latin -- I would hate to subject anyone to that!  But when I was growing up, it was considered  crucial in learning and remembering English vocabulary words.

I graduated from a NYC magnet.  But somehow DC's charter model appeals to me,  providing we can develop more quality charters that meet the needs of DC's diverse student population.  Yu Ying, IT and 2 Rivers are not exam schools. They offer enriched curricula to a(n at least somewhat) mixed-ability student body.  That said, I'm also impressed by the environmental science program at a DCPS elementary school not far from where we live (not jklm), as well as by the student-centered pedagogical approach of another nearby DCPS.  I do not think we should do away with magnets, but is there more we could do to foster  academic programs that would engage students in neighborhood  DCPS at the middle and high school level?  Is it a matter of money?  Of getting past our focus on testing?  Do we need more inspired principals?  Or do we simply lack inspiration regarding what information/experiences our middle schoolers would find interesting and useful to prepare for the future?

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