Reply to I'm an old mom who attended the Center and magnets for MS and HS-- AMA

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Reply to "I'm an old mom who attended the Center and magnets for MS and HS-- AMA"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP, do you have some kind of personality disorder? I can't imagine why you think anybody would be interested at your experience at an MCPS magnet 30 years ago.[/quote]

Oh, bless your heart. Don't worry, I won't force you to read the rest of this comment, which is not directed at you.

What actually inspired this was the fact that I've read so much misinformation and conjecture on DCUM about how the Magnets and Center "used to be" or what they were founded upon (~35 years ago)... I thought I might be able to give some perspective. And of course, you always learn something new when you are explaining things to others, so win-win.

Well, that and the fact that my kid is in 3rd grade and just took her MAP tests, so it's time to consider whether I would send her to the CES if she were to get in. I've just been thinking a lot about my experiences, which were mostly positive, but also the fact that what I'd REALLY like to see are these sorts of programs and educational methods available to all students, everywhere.

To the poster that warned me about MCPS and my long road ahead... I never said I had it all figured out? And I do know lots of people with HS-aged kids, so besides my husband and I having attended MCPS schools, I understand the challenges-- though only in part. As I said, there are always challenges-- I'm not trying to paint a rosy picture of MCPS. Though my perspective at this time is still close to "The USA is the worst country in the world, except for all the others." Not literally-- I'm not saying MCPS is better than all the others. Just that I don't think it's uniquely awful. But like I said-- this was true in the 80s/90s, too.

I think I had an overall very good experience, especially relative to alternatives at the time. But if you imagine I'm being unrealistic about MCPS's greatness because I had some idyllic experience? Ah... no. When I went there, Blair was falling apart, overcrowded and even then, we had to stage massive protests to get the new building built (I've never actually been inside the New Blair). I was sexually harassed by and/or subjected to blatant sexism by a couple of teachers-- Magnet teachers. (At least one of which was the subject of a WaPo article a few years ago.) One teacher whom I thought was awesome and never harassed me... ended up being jailed recently for horrible crimes committed against some of his students. I had some crummy (non-gendered) experiences with admin, too-- and so did my parents-- including early on, when they had to fight to get me enrichment. And certainly no one knew what to do with me and my now-glaringly-obvious-in-hindsight ADHD. Girls, especially ones who weren't bouncing off the walls, just were nearly-never diagnosed back then.

I mean, that doesn't sound idyllic, does it? No. But on the other hand, I got such a great education overall-- and I really mean overall. I went out into the world and was especially amazed at how much more fully I was prepared for it than most people I met, even those who had attended "great" public and private schools in other parts of the country. And then how much more prepared for life I was by having attended a truly diverse school with generally good values.

That's my experience of it, anyway. Just thought I'd share.

-OP [/quote]

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