Anonymous
10/06/2013 09:53
Subject: Why doesn't DC have a STEM school like TJ?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:The liberal arts curriculum is strong, and the extra currics are still starting and spurting depending on student interest. I don't know how big my private school senior class was at (choose one of the above) Sidwell, STA, NCS, or GDS, but we all knew each other and our teachers knew all of this. The top performing school had 240 kids. BASIS is offering more spots, and while we may not have enough to be a TJ, we do have a liberal arts AP track, and more than anything BASIS supports student and parent choice. Am I glad BASIS was not my high school? Yes.
Wonder why you're glad Basis was not your high school? I was bowled over by the 8th Grade teachers at Basis at Back to School night, wishing I'd had such teachers at my high SES NJ Middle/High School. Physics, Biology, Chemistry, Algebra II and Economics, serious kick-ass teachers in 8th Grade, please can I go?
Because I had an undiagnosed LD that was math related, and barely got through Algebra II. Perhaps now it would be different, and tutoring etc would have been different, but I still cannot do my dcs math homework. The first private school I went to told my parents I was mentally retarded. They laughed.
Went to an Ivy, have an otherwise great life, but cannot balance a checkbook and always have to have my secretary or my husband do all the calculations related to my profession (not a lot of them). It is a running joke in my family, and although it is funny now, I found myself struggling to help my 2nd grader with graphs of "place numbers" last week and wonder whether I could hack BASIS.
What kind of an LD is just math related? And how did you get into an Ivy if you can't do math? Family money/connections?
Anonymous
10/06/2013 09:47
Subject: Why doesn't DC have a STEM school like TJ?
Because they have WAY bigger fish to fry first?
Anonymous
10/06/2013 08:42
Subject: Why doesn't DC have a STEM school like TJ?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:This has been talked about in hundreds of posts. A true test in school of TJ caliber would skew so heavily white and high SES that it would never fly in DC. To make it appear more equitable, the standards would gave to be lowered for entry and well then you have Banneker, Mckninly and any other DC school.
Why would it skew 'so heavily white'? Most of the kids at TJ are Asian, whites are minorities there now.
BTW whites aren't the only ppl around here with high SES.
Why is this so--high scoring Asians? Why aren't kids from Eastern Europe coming here and achieving this? Similar to Asia, the climate is harsh, competition is keen and materialism is huge. Seems like they would have the additional advantage of being white.
"Coming here?" You think it's like packing a bag, buying a plane ticket and you're here?
Eastern European kids whose parents are in the position of educating them abroad also have the European option and that dilutes the population somewhat. That said, some of them do come and excel. There's just less of us than Chinese and because we're white, we're not as noticeable.
My Eastern European coworker's son just graduated from Princeton, and the daughter is tearing it up in HS. Of course if you just met the kids you would have no way to know they weren't just normal white Americans.
Anonymous
10/06/2013 07:57
Subject: Why doesn't DC have a STEM school like TJ?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:This has been talked about in hundreds of posts. A true test in school of TJ caliber would skew so heavily white and high SES that it would never fly in DC. To make it appear more equitable, the standards would gave to be lowered for entry and well then you have Banneker, Mckninly and any other DC school.
Why would it skew 'so heavily white'? Most of the kids at TJ are Asian, whites are minorities there now.
BTW whites aren't the only ppl around here with high SES.
Why is this so--high scoring Asians? Why aren't kids from Eastern Europe coming here and achieving this? Similar to Asia, the climate is harsh, competition is keen and materialism is huge. Seems like they would have the additional advantage of being white.
"Coming here?" You think it's like packing a bag, buying a plane ticket and you're here?
Eastern European kids whose parents are in the position of educating them abroad also have the European option and that dilutes the population somewhat. That said, some of them do come and excel. There's just less of us than Chinese and because we're white, we're not as noticeable.
Anonymous
10/06/2013 00:50
Subject: Why doesn't DC have a STEM school like TJ?
I think 22:30 was right. The "big boss" is full of s_it.
Anonymous
10/05/2013 23:21
Subject: Why doesn't DC have a STEM school like TJ?
Anonymous wrote:
Whatever. My kid is in DCPS. He has every opportunity I had and I was raised in HoCo, MD. Give me a break. I don't really care if folks on this forum only care about SAT scores. The funny thing is that I did terrible on my SATs, aced the bar exam and am now the big boss and make a ton of money. Boy, those SAT scores really put me on a path to poverty.
This is not about SAT scores, it is about college readiness. Clearly you went to law school, somewhere. Without serious intervention I would bet the majority of the kids from our "top" schools will never get there.
Well I guess the real question is are you going to KEEP your kid in DCPS for middle and high school, while making a ton of money? Wilson or BASIS? Again, SWW #266, 50% college readiness, Banneker #466, 47.whatever, Duke Ellington 1772 27%? McKinley fuggedabout it. And Wilson is not even ranked or I did not get that far.
My dh comes from poverty and managed to pull himelf out through hard work despite an early shitty education. No way would he do that to his kids just because he survived. Are you saying you will? Making them work hard is one thing. Putting them at an obvious disadvantage when you have the money to do otherwise is incomprehensible to me.
Hey Big Boss Man, you gonna man up and answer the question? BTW, acing the bar exam is usually irrelevant - associates have already started at Biglaw, and the scores are never posted (at least I never looked at mine, kind of a pass/fail test). Acing the bar exam usually means nada. Failing it ? Whole other story.
Something may smell here, although you never claimed to be a partner, just "the big boss" who makes "a ton of money". Maybe you don't boss around other lawyers. What does your wife think about the idea of keeping your apparently only child in DCPS as opposed to going private or moving to an area in the suburbs zoned for a clearly better MS and HS?
Since you can obviously afford a multitude of options, and must not have become "the big boss" because of stupidity, I would be really genuinely interested in what your plans are for your son after DCPS elementary school who may be the heir apparent to some kind of business I am not understanding.
Do share what the school of hard knocks taught you about how to educate your only son, please. That only law school and "acing the bar exam" count? And that sucking at the SAT's is fine by you for your son not only yourself? Clearly cost is no factor, so please we are all waiting with baited breath to hear what someone who may have come from poverty and has apparently unlimited financial resources has decided about how to educate his only heir. NB Banneker kids apparently cannot do math, and I assume you can - including statistics, probabilities, possibilities, etc., especially where they involve your child.
NP here. As I read your post, you come across as an idiot. I cannot quite put my finger on it, but just troll like and dumb.