Reply to Langley Pyramid vs. everybody else.

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Being in a great high school is just as important if not more important than college. Folks seem to have this mindset that nothing matters till you get to those 4 years.

If you’re surrounded by mediocre students in a high school struggling to learn English then they will bring you down. You are a product of your environment. This concept of being a big fish just to game the admissions process is unfortunate. [/quote]
My kids will not attend a mediocre school (their HS is good/middle of the road so not Langley either) but I would think in FFX County—even the mediocre schools have a group of kids who do well academically and hang out together.  And studies do show you are a product of your environment when it comes to academics—that is, home environment.  Parental SES, educational attainment, and attitude towards education. [/quote]

Our Title I school is not "mediocre" but you are right that, like any school, there are groups of kids who excel academically and hang out together. It is inaccurate to imply that a privileged and segregated school will automatically lead to better outcomes for white, upper-middle-class students.

I compared the college admissions of Justice and Langley students from their Instagram decision pages. I found that Langley students are attending a broader range of schools across the country. However, this isn't necessarily because Justice students aren't admitted to those schools. Instead, it often reflects the financial capabilities (and personal connections) of Langley parents, who can afford out-of-state and private school tuition. Justice parents may find this more cost-prohibitive. I personally know of several students at Justice who were accepted into more “elite” schools but could not afford the tuition and stayed in-state. Based on our experience and my friends with kids in less diverse/wealthier schools, I don't believe my child would have fared better academically in those other schools.

I understand some parents’ hesitation when considering sending their white children to a majority-minority school. This shift can initially be uncomfortable, but in our case, it has been genuinely good for my children. They are at ease with diversity and have a diverse circle of friends encompassing various cultural, racial, religious, LGBTQIA, and socio-economic backgrounds.

Finally, I feel like many people in this forum mistakenly think that Black/Brown children and their parents don’t care about getting a good education. Many of these parents (and sometimes just the kids) have gone through hell to get them to our school. Their experiences and educational outcomes are just as important. This is something that is complicated, and Justice is working on it, but I have never felt like it is at the expense of my child’s education. Desegregated schools benefit children of all races, including mine.

(I know these pages don’t represent all the seniors in each class, but I used what was shared and focused on VA and T-20 schools.)

[b]2023[/b]

https://www.instagram.com/langleycommits2023 - 6 UVAs, 10 VTs (0 college of engineering), 5 W&M, Rice, Berkeley, Duke, UCLA, Washington & Lee, University of Michigan, Columbia, Northwestern, Penn, Cornell, University of Chicago, Brown

https://www.instagram.com/justice23decisions - 11 UVAs, 7 VTs (3 college of engineering), Duke, UCLA, Middlebury, Smith, Washington & Lee, Georgetown

[b]2022[/b]

https://www.instagram.com/langleycommits2022 - 10 UVAs, 12 VTs (2 college of engineering), 7 W&M, Stanford, Berkeley, UCLA, University of Michigan, Dartmouth, Georgetown, Davidson, University of Chicago, Notre Dame, Johns Hopkins, Vanderbilt

https://www.instagram.com/justice22decisions - 19 UVAs, 5 VTs (3 college of engineering), 4 W&M, Yale, Princeton, CalTech, Wesleyan, Washington & Lee, Notre Dame, University of Michigan
[/quote]
I should have put mediocre in quotes as I was responding to another poster who implied that lower rated schools are mediocre. I agree with you that the “results” seen are a reflection more of SES than anything else. [/quote]

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