Anonymous wrote:The magnet program is basically a tool to help upper society pick out a few middle class kids and give them a chance to get into schools where they can then meet the wealthy and make a case for their value.

This quote is particularly amusing knowing that about 1/2 the Blair magnet kids end up at UMCP! I wonder if the parents who think that Whittman is better know that SMAC classes don't take county assessments or the new RQA's. The teachers create their own tests and have flexibility in the classroom. This alone is priceless, IMO.

not all the magnet kids are truly elite academically, just the potential to be so. It is a refining process, that the 100 or so best test takers and add in legit rigor and then skim again. The UMCP either didn't make the net level cut or parents couldn't afford to help with the next step to a private school.

Anonymous wrote:The magnet program is basically a tool to help upper society pick out a few middle class kids and give them a chance to get into schools where they can then meet the wealthy and make a case for their value.

This quote is particularly amusing knowing that about 1/2 the Blair magnet kids end up at UMCP! I wonder if the parents who think that Whittman is better know that SMAC classes don't take county assessments or the new RQA's. The teachers create their own tests and have flexibility in the classroom. This alone is priceless, IMO.

My kid is one of those who ended up at UMCP on a full ride scholarship (but not from Blair, DC is from RMIB). No shame in that.

The magnet program is basically a tool to help upper society pick out a few middle class kids and give them a chance to get into schools where they can then meet the wealthy and make a case for their value.

This quote is particularly amusing knowing that about 1/2 the Blair magnet kids end up at UMCP! I wonder if the parents who think that Whittman is better know that SMAC classes don't take county assessments or the new RQA's. The teachers create their own tests and have flexibility in the classroom. This alone is priceless, IMO.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bottom line: Bethesda kids are too rich and too smart to go to magnet programs.

What role do you think complacency plays here? If you're rich and white, and a double legacy at Harvard, maybe you feel like you'll land on your feet no matter what. Are you really going to do all the extra work to get ready for the exam, to travel across town, to compete with the best and brightest? Or are you going to figure that your safety net will work no matter what, and worst case scenario is that you end up at a "lesser Ivy" or a decent LAC.

I think we need to realistically take note who the best and brightest really are in the equation. Brightest means best test taker or digests complex math the best and in those cases a few of the magnet students are special but not even close to all. If we were to take it as the brightest future and most likely to have solutions to most of life's obstacles figured out with a greased path to the better things in life, then I would say Bethesda kids are much brighter than the magnet as a whole. No kid is rushing form the National Cathedral School to the Blair Magnet or TJ because intelligence isn't even close to being the most important development tool.

The magnet program is basically a tool to help upper society pick out a few middle class kids and give them a chance to get into schools where they can then meet the wealthy and make a case for their value. All "good" suburban school districts are set up to keep the middle class form regressing, city schools keep city kids where they are and elite privates keep the elite on elite tract, There is another layer of privates that equal "good" public schools for people who simply don't have access to "good" public schools but they won't get you on elite track.

Most jocking of schools come down to parents hoping their kids will make a leap at least a half level better, maybe if those magnet kids hit the books enough they can afford private schools for their kids.

I can't believe I am responding to this person but here goes.
Looking at the top ten ranked univ. acceptances for Blair's class of 2016:
Brown: 5
Harvard: 2
Yale: 4
Princeton: 5
Stanford: 3
Columbia: 5
UPenn: 5
Duke: 4
MIT: 5
Uchicago: 3
Duke: 4
Johns Hopkins Univ: 4
That is close to 50 acceptances- without the benefit of the great college counseling services a top private offers.
I think you would be surprised how similar the program is to a top tier private in that they don't confine themselves to an AP curriculum- the program has developed its own curriculum. The teachers encourage the students to stretch themselves, to think outside the box, to be creative and they set very high expectations. They are NOT looking solely for students who test well. The top private schools in DC are excellent and I am not going to say anything negative about them but I think you might not fully understand how a program like Blair works.

Are these numbers represent "acceptances" (i.e., same kids maybe counted multiple times) or "attending" (i.e., single count)??

These are the number of acceptances not the number attending. The program does have a list of college destinations but does not share how many students are going to each university. The most recent list I have seen is from 2015 and all the colleges listed in the above list of top ten ranked universities are on the list of college destinations. Also would agree with the PP who said that many students don't even apply to top universities (less than half do) because they don't typically give merit based aid and the magnet has a lot of upper middle class families who are too rich for need based financial aid and too poor to afford $70K a year. This speaks to the point the previous poster made about how intelligence is not the most important predictor of success. I imagine kids at top privates are typically richer and therefore their families are more easily able to afford to pay tuition at a top univ.
I am slightly uncomfortable having this conversation. I don't think that where you go to college is unimportant but I am not sure if that is the most important consideration when you pick a high school for your child. For us, the college destination list was the least important consideration except insofar that it gave us an indication of the caliber of students in the program. We wanted DS to have a wonderful high school experience and he picked the program (over a "W" high school) after spending a day in each school. He felt that the kids at Blair were excited about what they were doing, he felt a real energy in the classes and he thought the teachers were passionate about what they did. He still feels that way about the program. It is tough but he is excited to go to school everyday. He does not necessarily love every subject area in the program but he even enjoys those classes because of the way they are taught and because of the other students he gets to be with. He also likes the school as a whole and has been very happy with English and Social Studies (not so much with foreign languages which is definitely a weak spot at Blair).
It is not for everyone but I suggest that Bethesda area families who have children who are interested in science and/or math strongly consider the magnet program instead of simply assuming their home high school or top private high school is superior. In my opinion there is no comparison between the Blair magnet and a "W" high school like Whitman or BCC. I am not sure about a top private (such as NCS, Sidwell etc.) I still think the science, math curriculum and the peer group at Blair magnet is better but there may be other advantages to sending your kid to NCS or Sidwell. I am thinking in particular of the strength of their English, Social Studies and Foreign Language offerings which is far better than anything MCPS or the college board (AP) offers.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bottom line: Bethesda kids are too rich and too smart to go to magnet programs.

What role do you think complacency plays here? If you're rich and white, and a double legacy at Harvard, maybe you feel like you'll land on your feet no matter what. Are you really going to do all the extra work to get ready for the exam, to travel across town, to compete with the best and brightest? Or are you going to figure that your safety net will work no matter what, and worst case scenario is that you end up at a "lesser Ivy" or a decent LAC.

I think we need to realistically take note who the best and brightest really are in the equation. Brightest means best test taker or digests complex math the best and in those cases a few of the magnet students are special but not even close to all. If we were to take it as the brightest future and most likely to have solutions to most of life's obstacles figured out with a greased path to the better things in life, then I would say Bethesda kids are much brighter than the magnet as a whole. No kid is rushing form the National Cathedral School to the Blair Magnet or TJ because intelligence isn't even close to being the most important development tool.

The magnet program is basically a tool to help upper society pick out a few middle class kids and give them a chance to get into schools where they can then meet the wealthy and make a case for their value. All "good" suburban school districts are set up to keep the middle class form regressing, city schools keep city kids where they are and elite privates keep the elite on elite tract, There is another layer of privates that equal "good" public schools for people who simply don't have access to "good" public schools but they won't get you on elite track.

Most jocking of schools come down to parents hoping their kids will make a leap at least a half level better, maybe if those magnet kids hit the books enough they can afford private schools for their kids.

I can't believe I am responding to this person but here goes.
Looking at the top ten ranked univ. acceptances for Blair's class of 2016:
Brown: 5
Harvard: 2
Yale: 4
Princeton: 5
Stanford: 3
Columbia: 5
UPenn: 5
Duke: 4
MIT: 5
Uchicago: 3
Duke: 4
Johns Hopkins Univ: 4
That is close to 50 acceptances- without the benefit of the great college counseling services a top private offers.
I think you would be surprised how similar the program is to a top tier private in that they don't confine themselves to an AP curriculum- the program has developed its own curriculum. The teachers encourage the students to stretch themselves, to think outside the box, to be creative and they set very high expectations. They are NOT looking solely for students who test well. The top private schools in DC are excellent and I am not going to say anything negative about them but I think you might not fully understand how a program like Blair works.

Are these numbers represent "acceptances" (i.e., same kids maybe counted multiple times) or "attending" (i.e., single count)??

There is a definite a lack of diversity in the magnets, well, particularly Blair. There is a Blair "type." Consider that for your child as well, and for what that means for learning to work with different types of people, etc.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bottom line: Bethesda kids are too rich and too smart to go to magnet programs.

What role do you think complacency plays here? If you're rich and white, and a double legacy at Harvard, maybe you feel like you'll land on your feet no matter what. Are you really going to do all the extra work to get ready for the exam, to travel across town, to compete with the best and brightest? Or are you going to figure that your safety net will work no matter what, and worst case scenario is that you end up at a "lesser Ivy" or a decent LAC.

I think we need to realistically take note who the best and brightest really are in the equation. Brightest means best test taker or digests complex math the best and in those cases a few of the magnet students are special but not even close to all. If we were to take it as the brightest future and most likely to have solutions to most of life's obstacles figured out with a greased path to the better things in life, then I would say Bethesda kids are much brighter than the magnet as a whole. No kid is rushing form the National Cathedral School to the Blair Magnet or TJ because intelligence isn't even close to being the most important development tool.

The magnet program is basically a tool to help upper society pick out a few middle class kids and give them a chance to get into schools where they can then meet the wealthy and make a case for their value. All "good" suburban school districts are set up to keep the middle class form regressing, city schools keep city kids where they are and elite privates keep the elite on elite tract, There is another layer of privates that equal "good" public schools for people who simply don't have access to "good" public schools but they won't get you on elite track.

Most jocking of schools come down to parents hoping their kids will make a leap at least a half level better, maybe if those magnet kids hit the books enough they can afford private schools for their kids.

I can't believe I am responding to this person but here goes.
Looking at the top ten ranked univ. acceptances for Blair's class of 2016:
Brown: 5
Harvard: 2
Yale: 4
Princeton: 5
Stanford: 3
Columbia: 5
UPenn: 5
Duke: 4
MIT: 5
Uchicago: 3
Duke: 4
Johns Hopkins Univ: 4
That is close to 50 acceptances- without the benefit of the great college counseling services a top private offers.
I think you would be surprised how similar the program is to a top tier private in that they don't confine themselves to an AP curriculum- the program has developed its own curriculum. The teachers encourage the students to stretch themselves, to think outside the box, to be creative and they set very high expectations. They are NOT looking solely for students who test well. The top private schools in DC are excellent and I am not going to say anything negative about them but I think you might not fully understand how a program like Blair works.

I would add that many of the Blair magnet students, however high-performing, do not apply to top ranked private colleges and universities because their families cannot afford them.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bottom line: Bethesda kids are too rich and too smart to go to magnet programs.

What role do you think complacency plays here? If you're rich and white, and a double legacy at Harvard, maybe you feel like you'll land on your feet no matter what. Are you really going to do all the extra work to get ready for the exam, to travel across town, to compete with the best and brightest? Or are you going to figure that your safety net will work no matter what, and worst case scenario is that you end up at a "lesser Ivy" or a decent LAC.

I think we need to realistically take note who the best and brightest really are in the equation. Brightest means best test taker or digests complex math the best and in those cases a few of the magnet students are special but not even close to all. If we were to take it as the brightest future and most likely to have solutions to most of life's obstacles figured out with a greased path to the better things in life, then I would say Bethesda kids are much brighter than the magnet as a whole. No kid is rushing form the National Cathedral School to the Blair Magnet or TJ because intelligence isn't even close to being the most important development tool.

The magnet program is basically a tool to help upper society pick out a few middle class kids and give them a chance to get into schools where they can then meet the wealthy and make a case for their value. All "good" suburban school districts are set up to keep the middle class form regressing, city schools keep city kids where they are and elite privates keep the elite on elite tract, There is another layer of privates that equal "good" public schools for people who simply don't have access to "good" public schools but they won't get you on elite track.

Most jocking of schools come down to parents hoping their kids will make a leap at least a half level better, maybe if those magnet kids hit the books enough they can afford private schools for their kids.

I can't believe I am responding to this person but here goes.
Looking at the top ten ranked univ. acceptances for Blair's class of 2016:
Brown: 5
Harvard: 2
Yale: 4
Princeton: 5
Stanford: 3
Columbia: 5
UPenn: 5
Duke: 4
MIT: 5
Uchicago: 3
Duke: 4
Johns Hopkins Univ: 4
That is close to 50 acceptances- without the benefit of the great college counseling services a top private offers.
I think you would be surprised how similar the program is to a top tier private in that they don't confine themselves to an AP curriculum- the program has developed its own curriculum. The teachers encourage the students to stretch themselves, to think outside the box, to be creative and they set very high expectations. They are NOT looking solely for students who test well. The top private schools in DC are excellent and I am not going to say anything negative about them but I think you might not fully understand how a program like Blair works.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bottom line: Bethesda kids are too rich and too smart to go to magnet programs.

That's just about the dumbest thing I read.

This was a sarcastic summary of the comments made by Bethesda parents on this thread.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bottom line: Bethesda kids are too rich and too smart to go to magnet programs.

What role do you think complacency plays here? If you're rich and white, and a double legacy at Harvard, maybe you feel like you'll land on your feet no matter what. Are you really going to do all the extra work to get ready for the exam, to travel across town, to compete with the best and brightest? Or are you going to figure that your safety net will work no matter what, and worst case scenario is that you end up at a "lesser Ivy" or a decent LAC.

I think we need to realistically take note who the best and brightest really are in the equation. Brightest means best test taker or digests complex math the best and in those cases a few of the magnet students are special but not even close to all. If we were to take it as the brightest future and most likely to have solutions to most of life's obstacles figured out with a greased path to the better things in life, then I would say Bethesda kids are much brighter than the magnet as a whole. No kid is rushing form the National Cathedral School to the Blair Magnet or TJ because intelligence isn't even close to being the most important development tool.

The magnet program is basically a tool to help upper society pick out a few middle class kids and give them a chance to get into schools where they can then meet the wealthy and make a case for their value. All "good" suburban school districts are set up to keep the middle class form regressing, city schools keep city kids where they are and elite privates keep the elite on elite tract, There is another layer of privates that equal "good" public schools for people who simply don't have access to "good" public schools but they won't get you on elite track.

Most jocking of schools come down to parents hoping their kids will make a leap at least a half level better, maybe if those magnet kids hit the books enough they can afford private schools for their kids.

You stopped me there. Shows you know nothing about what you are talking about.

+1, right?

Made me laugh out loud. Clue-free, that PP.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bottom line: Bethesda kids are too rich and too smart to go to magnet programs.

What role do you think complacency plays here? If you're rich and white, and a double legacy at Harvard, maybe you feel like you'll land on your feet no matter what. Are you really going to do all the extra work to get ready for the exam, to travel across town, to compete with the best and brightest? Or are you going to figure that your safety net will work no matter what, and worst case scenario is that you end up at a "lesser Ivy" or a decent LAC.

I think we need to realistically take note who the best and brightest really are in the equation. Brightest means best test taker or digests complex math the best and in those cases a few of the magnet students are special but not even close to all. If we were to take it as the brightest future and most likely to have solutions to most of life's obstacles figured out with a greased path to the better things in life, then I would say Bethesda kids are much brighter than the magnet as a whole. No kid is rushing form the National Cathedral School to the Blair Magnet or TJ because intelligence isn't even close to being the most important development tool.

The magnet program is basically a tool to help upper society pick out a few middle class kids and give them a chance to get into schools where they can then meet the wealthy and make a case for their value. All "good" suburban school districts are set up to keep the middle class form regressing, city schools keep city kids where they are and elite privates keep the elite on elite tract, There is another layer of privates that equal "good" public schools for people who simply don't have access to "good" public schools but they won't get you on elite track.

Most jocking of schools come down to parents hoping their kids will make a leap at least a half level better, maybe if those magnet kids hit the books enough they can afford private schools for their kids.

You stopped me there. Shows you know nothing about what you are talking about.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bottom line: Bethesda kids are too rich and too smart to go to magnet programs.

What role do you think complacency plays here? If you're rich and white, and a double legacy at Harvard, maybe you feel like you'll land on your feet no matter what. Are you really going to do all the extra work to get ready for the exam, to travel across town, to compete with the best and brightest? Or are you going to figure that your safety net will work no matter what, and worst case scenario is that you end up at a "lesser Ivy" or a decent LAC.

I think we need to realistically take note who the best and brightest really are in the equation. Brightest means best test taker or digests complex math the best and in those cases a few of the magnet students are special but not even close to all. If we were to take it as the brightest future and most likely to have solutions to most of life's obstacles figured out with a greased path to the better things in life, then I would say Bethesda kids are much brighter than the magnet as a whole. No kid is rushing form the National Cathedral School to the Blair Magnet or TJ because intelligence isn't even close to being the most important development tool.

The magnet program is basically a tool to help upper society pick out a few middle class kids and give them a chance to get into schools where they can then meet the wealthy and make a case for their value. All "good" suburban school districts are set up to keep the middle class form regressing, city schools keep city kids where they are and elite privates keep the elite on elite tract, There is another layer of privates that equal "good" public schools for people who simply don't have access to "good" public schools but they won't get you on elite track.

Most jocking of schools come down to parents hoping their kids will make a leap at least a half level better, maybe if those magnet kids hit the books enough they can afford private schools for their kids.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bottom line: Bethesda kids are too rich and too smart to go to magnet programs.

That's just about the dumbest thing I read.

It is dumb, ignorant, lazy and crazy.

Anonymous wrote:Bottom line: Bethesda kids are too rich and too smart to go to magnet programs.

That's just about the dumbest thing I read.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bottom line: Bethesda kids are too rich and too smart to go to magnet programs.

What role do you think complacency plays here? If you're rich and white, and a double legacy at Harvard, maybe you feel like you'll land on your feet no matter what. Are you really going to do all the extra work to get ready for the exam, to travel across town, to compete with the best and brightest? Or are you going to figure that your safety net will work no matter what, and worst case scenario is that you end up at a "lesser Ivy" or a decent LAC.

Yep. Too rich and smart.