Reply to ISO recent experience with Eastern MS communications magnet

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Non-quirky kids sometimes have a harder time with friendships because so many kids are quirky. Many kids bond through drama productions, D&D, and if your child is not in to that it will be more difficult socially. DC continued to mostly socialize with friends from their old school.[/quote]

This description of kids was not at all our experience.  My DC did not do any theater at Eastern nor did DC every play or know anyone who played D & D.

DC reads a lot, watches a ton of movies, likes history, played soccer and was welcoming of diverse races, incomes and gender/sexuality preferences.  This described DC’s peers as well - male and female.  Not a “quirky” kid in DC’s peer group, unless you count reading at an adult level “quirky”. [/quote]

You are kidding yourself if you think your child's friend group is not quirky. [/quote]

PP, TBH, you seem a little insecure. I’m not sure why you insist on calling smart kids “quirky”.  Were you one of those bullies in ES who believed smart kids couldn’t be cool?

I absolutely love my kid’s friends at Eastern.  They were kind, smart and supportive of each other and 10 years later they are all still BFFs even though they are scattered around the world.

But, OK, they’re “quirky”.  Hope. that makes you feel better about yourself. [/quote]
I wouldn’t consider this a “recent experience” at Eastern. So much changed in MCPS since COVID and particularly magnet selections. [/quote]
+1. Basically OP needs advice of people who have kids in the school right now. Any pre-Covid experience may not be that relevant. Definitely not 10 years ago.[/quote]

I’m confused - what exactly has changed so much about the kinds of kids who are selected for the magnet?  As I understand it, the process is now more open to all students because all are tested and submit to the candidate pool instead of having to opt in.  But selection to the candidate pool still depends on having very high test scores, as it did before.  What specific elements of the admission process have created what kind of specific changes in the candidate pool?

How on earth could the change in the selection process result in more “quirky” kids now than before?  How could the selection process change created a pool of students that are less able to make friends than the pre-pandemic pool?

[/quote]

No one is saying that the change in selection process has resulted in kids who are less "quirky" than before - but the opposite.  Previously, the magnets were an "opt-in."  Since the change to universal review, any student with the requisite grades and test scores (which are locally normed, so might not be "very high" depending on how you define it) is placed into a pool and selection is made at random.  This has undoubtedly resulted in kids being offered admission who might not have specifically sought it out and may not meet the "quirky" stereotype that at least one PP seems to be pushing.

In terms of feedback about the student body in particular, it would seem that the only relevant information for the OP would really be from parents of kids who attended in-person post-COVID following the universal review/lottery selection process.  [/quote]

You still opt-in to go. It's still a very self selected group. I'm not the quirky poster but of the kids we know who attended a high percentage are quirky and I use that word in a really positive sense. They are putting on plays for fun and they are writing novels in their spare time. IMO quirky equals kids who are cool enough to have a passion for those kinds of interests and pursue them. There are some kids who are quirky in the way some others use the word. They might choose to leave their neighborhood school because they don't quite fit in and feel like they might fit in better in the Eastern program.[/quote]

I'm glad you are using "quirky" in a positive way (at least one PP was not), but as the parent of an incoming 6th grader I can tell that of the dozen or so kids we know going in, only a couple fit that stereotype.  Most of them are just are all-around bright kids who were also in the lottery pool for TPMS, got offered a spot at Eastern, and accepted the spot figuring that a magnet was better than no magnet.  As others have pointed out, there is at least some differentiation in math in the non-magnet MS curriculum, but the Humanities magnet is the only alternative to "Advanced English for all."    [/quote]

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