** my MS son is preoccupied with social stuff

Anonymous wrote:Do you guys not remember middle school?!

There was real learning in high school. But not middle school. It isn't a race. 14 is just fine to start hard core academics (especially if the student is emotionally and academically ready from a positive middle school experience). I hope my kids read a lot of books in middle school. I hope they do projects and follow their interests. Home schooling middle school would be great for this but I'm not prepared to homeschool, so I am looking at what is happening re charters and considering progressive private schools that end in 8th grade.

My middle school experience was completely different -definitely real learning going especially in math and Language Arts. Elementary school was busy work and high school was sink or swim. Middle school really seemed to establish my classmates' academic paths IMO.

Anonymous wrote:Do you guys not remember middle school?!

There was real learning in high school. But not middle school. It isn't a race. 14 is just fine to start hard core academics (especially if the student is emotionally and academically ready from a positive middle school experience). I hope my kids read a lot of books in middle school. I hope they do projects and follow their interests. Home schooling middle school would be great for this but I'm not prepared to homeschool, so I am looking at what is happening re charters and considering progressive private schools that end in 8th grade.

I'm the "life is fascinating" PP. Yes, I remember middle school (aka, junior high) well. I also have a middle schooler right now, in a DC independent school.

while not denying your point that the social piece is important in MS ... I remember very, very well my advanced math classes (algebra, mostly) and an incredibly inspiring math teacher who stunk to high heaven and spit when he spoke, but was also a math genius who taught us so well.

I remember a bitch of an English teacher who taught me grammar well enough that I went on to edit my high school's newspaper and later become a professional editor.

I remember being so proud that, while in middle school, I tested well enough on an aptitude test that I tested out of "basic Spanish" that everyone else had to take. Instead, I was offered challenge German (?!) with a handful of other students with, again, a bitch of a teacher who taught us so well that I can still read German text 30 years later.

I could go on, but I think you get the my point. Presently, my MS is also preoccupied with the social piece AND learning moderately well. It's uneven, due to uneven teaching ability, I'll give you that. i.e., his history classes are better than science, etc.

Anonymous wrote:Do you guys not remember middle school?!

There was real learning in high school. But not middle school. It isn't a race. 14 is just fine to start hard core academics (especially if the student is emotionally and academically ready from a positive middle school experience). I hope my kids read a lot of books in middle school. I hope they do projects and follow their interests. Home schooling middle school would be great for this but I'm not prepared to homeschool, so I am looking at what is happening re charters and considering progressive private schools that end in 8th grade.

I remember middle school and I learned a lot including French, how to write a persuasive essay in English, the scientific method, algebra/geometry, etc so I was on track to take APs; calculus BC, English, physics, chemistry, etc in high school. Education needs to be built on a solid foundation and middle school was never a waste land but it sounds like some posters and DCPS treat it as a "place holder" for high school. No thanks.

Leaving for private for middle school and we are at a DCI feeder. It'll be sad to go but an elite private with a proven track record vs an unproven middle and high school makes it an easy choice.

Anonymous wrote:Do you guys not remember middle school?!

There was real learning in high school. But not middle school. It isn't a race. 14 is just fine to start hard core academics (especially if the student is emotionally and academically ready from a positive middle school experience). I hope my kids read a lot of books in middle school. I hope they do projects and follow their interests. Home schooling middle school would be great for this but I'm not prepared to homeschool, so I am looking at what is happening re charters and considering progressive private schools that end in 8th grade.

I have to disagree. When I was in middle school, that's when school got really serious. I was in an advanced English class and for the first time in my life I received a D. It was shock and a wake up call. That English teacher did a real favor for me because she taught me how to construct a essay, and that carried with me into undergrad. I will never forget her.

What PP says is really simplistic (I can tell you, I have a middle schooler and a high schooler.) Of course the social emotional piece is just as important, and occasionally more so than the academic one, but what a middle school must be able to accomplish - and that's no small feat - is to foster middle schooler's social-emotional health about academics in a way that sustains them into the teenage and young adult years, and hopefully beyond, into times when you will not be heard and when you will not be able to hover over them. A school's ability to handle that portion of a middle schooler's development is not measured by PARCC scores. You really have to go ask, see, and experience it.

Do you guys not remember middle school?!

There was real learning in high school. But not middle school. It isn't a race. 14 is just fine to start hard core academics (especially if the student is emotionally and academically ready from a positive middle school experience). I hope my kids read a lot of books in middle school. I hope they do projects and follow their interests. Home schooling middle school would be great for this but I'm not prepared to homeschool, so I am looking at what is happening re charters and considering progressive private schools that end in 8th grade.

I was just as shocked as you PP.

Middle school is a time of intense socialization. Not a lot of "learning" happens in MS (surely, you remember this).

I don't expect much academically from middle school. Just keep them safe as they go through that really difficult time and then send them on with a love for learning and a confidence ...

I am astonished and almost speechless to discover that there is an adult out there who has solid writing ability and some critical thinking skills in evidence who also holds this POV.

Life is endlessly fascinating.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I still want my kid to go to a strong school even though I know DC will not get into an Ivy. Why would I want to send my kid to a school where most kids are below grade level? There are three MS which have majority of kids at or above grade level: Deal, Latin and Basis.

Yes, true for hs, but I just was a socially safe place for ms. would take latin and have my fingers crossed for the middle school options ahead at cmi and its (and lee - we are Montessori now so that is an option too)

What does socially safe mean?

No teasing or bullying - school is small and has 0 tolerance of mean behavior. Teachers are respectful of students. Middle school is a time of intense socialization. Not a lot of "learning" happens in MS (surely, you remember this). So I want my kids at a place where they are moving forward academically, sure, but mostly where they are in a socially space place. I'd do private (again, a small, kind school) or home school for middle and then a good big public for hs. Academics do matter much more in HS.

Actually, MS is a time of intense academic connections and is often the first time a student is challenged and starts to realize his strengths and weaknesses. A challenged student is less likely to be a troublemaker. The school can only do so much about mean behavior, since much of it occurs outside of school hours/space.

That is why I want a small school that can address the whole social world of its students. My child is in elementary school and being challenged because the curriculum is individualized, BTW. I don't expect much academically from middle school. Just keep them safe as they go through that really difficult time and then send them on with a love for learning and a confidence that they can do tough things in hs if they work hard and ask for help when needed.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I still want my kid to go to a strong school even though I know DC will not get into an Ivy. Why would I want to send my kid to a school where most kids are below grade level? There are three MS which have majority of kids at or above grade level: Deal, Latin and Basis.

Yes, true for hs, but I just was a socially safe place for ms. would take latin and have my fingers crossed for the middle school options ahead at cmi and its (and lee - we are Montessori now so that is an option too)

What does socially safe mean?

No teasing or bullying - school is small and has 0 tolerance of mean behavior. Teachers are respectful of students. Middle school is a time of intense socialization. Not a lot of "learning" happens in MS (surely, you remember this). So I want my kids at a place where they are moving forward academically, sure, but mostly where they are in a socially space place. I'd do private (again, a small, kind school) or home school for middle and then a good big public for hs. Academics do matter much more in HS.

Actually, MS is a time of intense academic connections and is often the first time a student is challenged and starts to realize his strengths and weaknesses. A challenged student is less likely to be a troublemaker. The school can only do so much about mean behavior, since much of it occurs outside of school hours/space.

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Anonymous wrote:

I do not think this is true anymore, sadly enough.

I feel sorry for you. I really do.

But if you're right, then your own little HYP overachievers will just be the first up under the guillotine at some point. Do you really want to live in a world that polarized? That's where you want to put your kids? What a way to live.

Well, I was a HYP overachiever and will like to give my kids the same opportunities. In DC, it does not look possible (for high SES, not underrepresented minority kid) unless you go private. Good bye.

You can't make your kid a HYP overachiever or even buy them into it. Lots of kids from expensive prep schools go on to what you would consider mediocre colleges. And kids from what you would consider mediocre public schools go on to very prestigious schools. Sure, peer influences matter. But at some point, your kid has to be the driver.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And part of the problem with middle schools is that the high schools in DC (except perhaps Wilson) are a non-starter. So if you don't get into, e.g., Latin or BASIS and you live on the Hill, you're probably not going to try Stuart Hobson because where do you go from there? Pray for SWW? You're sure as hell not going to send your kid to Eastern.

It's a shame. We toured Eastern and it is a stunning facility. Just gorgeous. it was a 71 million dollar renovation, LEED certified.

I'm not that worried about HS. At least there are test-in options, even for the performing arts if my DC is so inclined. Really prefer not to do charter, but I may have to go there. Maybe DC won't be cut out for test-in schools. Who knows but at the options are still available. There is NOTHING in the area of MS. It is big black hole void. So yeah, I would go to MS that didn't have a great HS that it fed into.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I still want my kid to go to a strong school even though I know DC will not get into an Ivy. Why would I want to send my kid to a school where most kids are below grade level? There are three MS which have majority of kids at or above grade level: Deal, Latin and Basis.

Yes, true for hs, but I just was a socially safe place for ms. would take latin and have my fingers crossed for the middle school options ahead at cmi and its (and lee - we are Montessori now so that is an option too)

What does socially safe mean?

No teasing or bullying - school is small and has 0 tolerance of mean behavior. Teachers are respectful of students. Middle school is a time of intense socialization. Not a lot of "learning" happens in MS (surely, you remember this). So I want my kids at a place where they are moving forward academically, sure, but mostly where they are in a socially space place. I'd do private (again, a small, kind school) or home school for middle and then a good big public for hs. Academics do matter much more in HS.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I still want my kid to go to a strong school even though I know DC will not get into an Ivy. Why would I want to send my kid to a school where most kids are below grade level? There are three MS which have majority of kids at or above grade level: Deal, Latin and Basis.

Yes, true for hs, but I just was a socially safe place for ms. would take latin and have my fingers crossed for the middle school options ahead at cmi and its (and lee - we are Montessori now so that is an option too)

What does socially safe mean?