Anonymous
Post 03/02/2024 10:21     Subject: Seems like MCPS is a mess
Anonymous wrote:My child is in 8th and has read multiple novels each year in MS and plays, including Shakespeare and Miller. It’s been a mix of classics like Animal Farm and more recent works


It's foolish to assign Animal Farm to middle-schoolers who have, at BEST, a very superficial understanding of Russian and Soviet history.

-parent of someone who read Animal Farm in 6th grade in the Humanities magnet and who agrees with this opinion
Anonymous
Post 03/02/2024 09:50     Subject: Seems like MCPS is a mess
Nobody thinks OP is a troll just trying to stir up the same old debate?
Anonymous
Post 03/02/2024 09:45     Subject: Seems like MCPS is a mess
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Moving to the area soon and had been thinking MoCo for the schools but this forum paints a bleak picture. Would any of you prefer a VA district to MCPS?


Don't go by DCUM. You will be better off talking to real people.


Agreed. Also, don't move ANYWHERE "for the schools". Find an area you like, with a residence you can afford, with transportation options that work for you.


This. Consider the schools once you narrow it down to what else works. Don't depend on the schools being exactly as advertised, either to the good or the bad. Almost all area school systems end up with better performance in wealthier areas; some of that is peer cohort, both influence on a student and logistics of teaching/administering at a particular school.

Long ago, MCPS was the best in the area, but was eclipsed by FCPS back in the 80s, if not the 70s. It still maintained at a reasonably high level, but demographic and political changes have had impacts, and there's a lot of discontent from the now much greater heterogeneity (coming from all angles). Still considered very good when viewed nationally.

FCPS, itself, has changed, but perhaps not as much. The counties that used to be considered exurban (Loudoun, Howard) have in the past 3 decades attracted much more UMC development than was the case for them earlier, not entirely unlike MoCo in the 50s-70s and Fairfax in the 60s-80s, each corresponding with an unsurprising rise in education standard.

DC, which was a disaster, got better with gentrification over the past 20 years or so, but still isn't where the suburban counties are, as a whole. Arlington, which hollowed out in the 70s/80s from a quality of education perspective, rebounded afterwards with similar gentrification. To some degree, the same goes for Alexandria city. (Note, as a good amount termed Alexandria is in Fairfax County instead of Alexandria City, and there are variations, there.) PG, which was terrible, has improved considerably. I'm not as familiar with Anne Arundel or Frederick, but I would imagine something of the same developing exurban paradigm.

The only one that may not have developed that way is Prince William, and I can't claim familiarity, there, but I would guess the quality of education is still considerably dependent on economic status, and there are UMC communities there, as well.


I’ve got to correct this misinformed version of history.

Arlington didn’t hollow out and the schools were not abandoned due to quality issues. Like most older, inner-ring D.C. suburbs they shrank in size, but no high schools were closed unlike in FCPS and MCPS, which closed a number of them.

By the late 70s/early 80s most young families who didn’t need to be near D.C. preferred the newer, larger, and less expensive housing further out in Fairfax County. The birth rate was also low in the mid to late 70s. Yet, W-L and Yorktown high schools both won Blue Ribbon awards during that era when they were much smaller high schools under 1000 students, so the education itself did not suffer. The schools began to grow again by the early 90s as neighborhoods gentrified and empty nesters moved out. After about 35 years of growth the schools are approaching the size they had in the 1950s and 60s.

There is a certain amount of snobbery on these boards. Some people used to claim that B-CC HS was practically abandoned, was a bad school, etc., in the 80s-90s, which isn’t true. It was in a run down (but historic) building and more ethnically and socio-economically diverse than many MCPS schools at the time, and so not a good school to some. But it punched well above its weight, had good test scores, and had its boosters from the surrounding affluent community. In the 90s some of those parents started a foundation to support the school.

Also, PG schools were not terrible back then. Most people would argue they were stronger overall then (through the mid 90s).

To respond to OP, MCPS schools are fine. I’d look at the closer in neighborhoods in Bethesda and Chevy Chase. The schools there are great, and the neighborhoods are a healthy mix of suburban and urban amenities. Metro subway access is also nice.
Anonymous
Post 03/02/2024 09:36     Subject: Seems like MCPS is a mess
Anonymous wrote:My child is in 8th and has read multiple novels each year in MS and plays, including Shakespeare and Miller. It’s been a mix of classics like Animal Farm and more recent works


Which MS is this? And is it in English class?

My 7th grader has only read excerpts of books so far in English. He has read novels in HIGH.
Anonymous
Post 03/02/2024 09:10     Subject: Seems like MCPS is a mess
My child is in 8th and has read multiple novels each year in MS and plays, including Shakespeare and Miller. It’s been a mix of classics like Animal Farm and more recent works
Anonymous
Post 03/02/2024 07:38     Subject: Seems like MCPS is a mess
I read at least four books a year in HS English but that’s because we had to read at home and do assignments there. If the book is being read aloud to the students like it often is, there won’t be any at home reading expectations and it will take forever.
Anonymous
Post 03/02/2024 07:11     Subject: Seems like MCPS is a mess
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I've tried very hard to not Sh@t on MCPS for the past 15 years in which I have had kids attend MCPS schools. But I am going to start.
I can handle the many issues that a big a diverse school system and individual schools have. Do I love fighting and drug dealing in schools? No, but my HSer avoids it and has still had a good experience socially.
What is now getting me down is the academics. I don't think my kids will leave being well-educated. They have been taught the basics but not much beyond that. My 11th grader has read ONE book in English class this year and it makes my head explode. To date, for school, she's read one Shakespeare play. No To Kill A Mockingbird, no Anne Frank, and none of the classics. I realize that times have changed but still I am very very disappointed.


Meanwhile my sophomore has done a Shakespeare play, Catcher in the Rye, and who knows what for short focus snippets. Two things can be true at once. I really don’t think that you or others have accepted that things change include millions of others books being published in the last 50+ years. My kids are certainly getting a more complete, diverse, and honest understanding of history than I received in HS in a Private. Kids can read books at home or on their own. Reading Beowulf in HS wasn’t life changing.


Do you think it's acceptable that PP's child has read one book in 11th grade English class this year?


Depends on the book. Depends on what they did with that book? Depends on what else has been done during the year.

If PP’s child had read four books, I’m not more impressed just because it’s four books. What skills has the class been working to attain, improve, demonstrate? How? If all that mattered was the quantity of books read, then English class could become book club with a monthly read and 2 classes of discussion. Said discussion likely isn’t that lively if half the class hates the book selected. Class is made worse because they are being forced to slog through the book for a grade

People have idyllic views of what it’s like to assign a book to 150 teenagers. I myself am more realistic and can remember what English class is really like in HS.
Anonymous
Post 03/02/2024 00:52     Subject: Seems like MCPS is a mess
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:OP also said that this was a short term posting (a few years). In that case, buying in VA wouldn't make sense and overpaying in rent for a potential marginal difference is schools also does not make sense.


OP. We’re absolutely not buying the DC area. Will rent for a few years and go.


do you want to commute via metro or car?


Planning to commute by metro.
Anonymous
Post 03/01/2024 20:33     Subject: Seems like MCPS is a mess
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:OP also said that this was a short term posting (a few years). In that case, buying in VA wouldn't make sense and overpaying in rent for a potential marginal difference is schools also does not make sense.


OP. We’re absolutely not buying the DC area. Will rent for a few years and go.


do you want to commute via metro or car?
Anonymous
Post 03/01/2024 20:21     Subject: Seems like MCPS is a mess
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Moving to the area soon and had been thinking MoCo for the schools but this forum paints a bleak picture. Would any of you prefer a VA district to MCPS?


Don't go by DCUM. You will be better off talking to real people.


Half the people who post here are right-wing agitators who don't even live in the area. They're whole game is to play up negative stories and create fear and doubt. My kids are in MCPS and doing great. As long as you are an involved parent your children can do well, but if you expect the county to raise them for you probably not.


What are you talking about? What is your evidence that "right-wing agitators" post here, and honestly, what would be the point? Are you the one who posts about how your children in a W cluster are receiving a better education than you did 30 years ago? The fact that some kids are "doing fine" in a mediocre school system is a pretty low bar.


DP. Because they say the same things, using the same words, anonymously on DCUM, as non-anonymously or semi-anonymously on social media. You would have to ask them what's the point.


They totally post here. Back in the Obama era the Daily Wire and Tucker were pretty much only race-baiting here and doing breathless "exposes" about DC residence fraud. How do I know? Because I read the posts here, which led me to their site, which echoed the posts here, ad nauseum. They're not even smart abour it... as we learned later during their covid coverage.

I dislike the smug liberal side of the DMV too .. they manage to be elitist AND sanctimonious .. but at they're real people. The Cato and Bannon shills are so obviously scripted I'm not even sure they're human.

Didn't some actually admit to Jeff how they trolled this site, especially the MCPS forum. Jeff talked about it some while ago on the website feedback.
Anonymous
Post 03/01/2024 20:15     Subject: Seems like MCPS is a mess
OP, as you can see, everybody (the private schools parents, the NoVa schools, Howard, AA, FredCo etc...) loves to hate on MCPS because they cannot academically compete with MCPS.
Private schools parents in particular, need to hate/trash on MCPS because it make them feel better for paying for an inferior product.
Anonymous
Post 03/01/2024 19:46     Subject: Seems like MCPS is a mess
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Hilarious that people think there is some right-wing conspiracy against MCPS. As if.

MCPS is a mess. But I do agree that most public school systems in the US are a mess right now.

I have posted here about various issues like the bathroom problems at my kid’s school. To the PP who thinks I am a right-wing agitator (lol), would you deny that some schools are having issues with their bathrooms? I mean, it’s a well-known problem.

Lack of discipline in public schools? Pretty well-documented if you simply look through the posts here or on the news, over the past 3 years.

Are you just denying that there are issues?


By the bathroom problem, do you mean the toilets getting clogged on a regular basis? That's been an issue at my child's school and it was due to kids flushing items down the toilet for fun. My kid said it stopped in the last couple of months so maybe they found the child(ren) doing this.


Nah. Clogged toilets are not the main issue.

Check out this article discussing some issues at RM regarding bathrooms. Written by students, who are unlikely pushing any kind of right-wing agenda, but I could be wrong.

https://thermtide.com/22414/popular/perspective-bathroom-policy-poses-additional-issues/

My kid is at another HS and faces similar issues.
Anonymous
Post 03/01/2024 18:01     Subject: Seems like MCPS is a mess
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I've tried very hard to not Sh@t on MCPS for the past 15 years in which I have had kids attend MCPS schools. But I am going to start.
I can handle the many issues that a big a diverse school system and individual schools have. Do I love fighting and drug dealing in schools? No, but my HSer avoids it and has still had a good experience socially.
What is now getting me down is the academics. I don't think my kids will leave being well-educated. They have been taught the basics but not much beyond that. My 11th grader has read ONE book in English class this year and it makes my head explode. To date, for school, she's read one Shakespeare play. No To Kill A Mockingbird, no Anne Frank, and none of the classics. I realize that times have changed but still I am very very disappointed.


Meanwhile my sophomore has done a Shakespeare play, Catcher in the Rye, and who knows what for short focus snippets. Two things can be true at once. I really don’t think that you or others have accepted that things change include millions of others books being published in the last 50+ years. My kids are certainly getting a more complete, diverse, and honest understanding of history than I received in HS in a Private. Kids can read books at home or on their own. Reading Beowulf in HS wasn’t life changing.


Do you think it's acceptable that PP's child has read one book in 11th grade English class this year?
Anonymous
Post 03/01/2024 17:56     Subject: Re:Seems like MCPS is a mess
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:OP here. Sorry, I wasn’t clear. I have to be in DC for work for the next few years and was thinking MoCo, of the available close-in choices, for the schools.


This is a perfectly good choice, and one that many, many people make every year. Don't let the DCUM trolls dissuade you. There are of course differences from school to school, and they are unfortunately largely dependent on your housing budget.


Just because people dislike MCPS does not make them a troll.
Anonymous
Post 03/01/2024 17:15     Subject: Seems like MCPS is a mess
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Moving to the area soon and had been thinking MoCo for the schools but this forum paints a bleak picture. Would any of you prefer a VA district to MCPS?


Don't go by DCUM. You will be better off talking to real people.


Half the people who post here are right-wing agitators who don't even live in the area. They're whole game is to play up negative stories and create fear and doubt. My kids are in MCPS and doing great. As long as you are an involved parent your children can do well, but if you expect the county to raise them for you probably not.


What are you talking about? What is your evidence that "right-wing agitators" post here, and honestly, what would be the point? Are you the one who posts about how your children in a W cluster are receiving a better education than you did 30 years ago? The fact that some kids are "doing fine" in a mediocre school system is a pretty low bar.


If you think MCPS is a mediocre school system you’ve lost the plot. It’s some kids and families that would race to trade places with you.


Just ask the many families who live out of bounds and lie to have their kids attend MCPS schools.