REAL authentic characterizations of Cleveland's affluent suburbs? (Lakewood, Euclid: middle-class, 2014)

[syeNorthwestern]

WRnative: Is using National Merit Semi-Finalists a thing? I am pretty sure the ACT reigns supreme across the Midwest. I checked out Michigan's National Merit Semi-Finalists and the two leading towns personify cookie cutter middle class suburbs (Novi and Troy). Further, most of the surnames seem far east, so in ACT country, it might simply indicate the presence of a lot of first-gen families?

[WRnative]

Originally Posted by syeNorthwestern

WRnative: Is using National Merit Semi-Finalists a thing? I am pretty sure the ACT reigns supreme across the Midwest. I checked out Michigan's National Merit Semi-Finalists and the two leading towns personify cookie cutter middle class suburbs (Novi and Troy). Further, most of the surnames seem far east, so in ACT country, it might simply indicate the presence of a lot of first-gen families?

I've never heard of a similar program using ACT scores.

What is significant about the number of National Merit semi-finalists in any school, is it indicates the level of competitiveness in the AP classes. Someone who excels in such a setting will be deemed to be more academically worthy by university admission departments.

Many universities, even in the Big Ten, actively recruit National Merit semi-finalists under the assumption that their high scores will be reflected later on SAT/ACT tests and in their subsequent academic achievement.

National Merit Scholarship Program - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I don't know anything about Michigan, but there are few public high schools in Ohio with the annual number of National Merit semi-finalists produced by Shaker Hts.

The ultimate test of excellence may be admissions to selective universities. Why? Just as corporations don't recruit from schools that produce duds, neither do selective universities. I don't know if the following article still is true, but if you can find data for selective school admissions for any high school, that may be a good indicator of the quality of the education offered. Keep in mind that especially some private schools, such as University School, may have "legacy" (alumni) admissions. Certainly, also consider programs of instruction.

http://shakeronline.com/about/world-class-education

[L2DB]

The thing about using the number of National Merit Semi-finalists is that it doesn't take into account the size of the school. SH has 10 (or whatever) national merit semi-finalists (in a vacuum) doesn't mean anything.

[Cleverfield]

Shaker is a great school district, but it's not great for people who don't want to expose their kids to the realities of life for a diverse group of people, including some who come from poverty. In other words, if you're a helicopter mom, don't send your kids to Shaker. But if you're pretty liberal, open-minded, and think that, besides strong academics and extracurricular activities, exposing your kids to wide variety of people is valuable, then there's no better school district than Shaker in the Cleveland area.

[L2DB]

Disclaimer - I am not saying this about Shaker Schools. I am making broad generalizations to make a point. /Disclaimer

Do I need to expose my kids to racists to teach them how to treat people?
Do I need to expose my kids to heroin to teach them not to do drugs?
Do I need to expose my kids to violence to teach them how to behave?

[5Lakes]

Originally Posted by syeNorthwestern

We've lived in River North and Streeterville highrises for six years. In Michigan I grew up in Bloomfield Hills, he in Birmingham. We love both of those towns, which are still undeniably in the top 3 premier, affluent, stable towns in the state of Michigan.

I don't think there is any upscale, yuppie suburb in Cleveland as built up as those areas; however, if you're looking for a more upscale area with an older walkable core than I think you should look into Chagrin Falls or Hudson on the east side or Rocky River on the west side.

There has been a lot of discussion about Shaker as well. Like I said, it's similar to Oak Park in Chicago (i.e. wealthy liberal suburb that borders an urban ghetto). Parts of it contain probably the most opulent neighborhoods in Ohio, but it's not uniformly wealthy.

[Cleverfield]

Originally Posted by L2DB

Disclaimer - I am not saying this about Shaker Schools. I am making broad generalizations to make a point. /Disclaimer

Do I need to expose my kids to racists to teach them how to treat people?
Do I need to expose my kids to heroin to teach them not to do drugs?
Do I need to expose my kids to violence to teach them how to behave?

You can't teach kids how to deal with other people's cultures without exposing them to those cultures. That's why liberal arts colleges always tout how diverse their student body is. It adds to the learning experience, the same way that international traveling does. It broadens your horizons, and takes you out of the bubble you grew up in, which for many people, especially kids and teenagers, is all they've ever known.

[syeNorthwestern]

Originally Posted by WRnative

I've never heard of a similar program using ACT scores.

What is significant about the number of National Merit semi-finalists in any school, is it indicates the level of competitiveness in the AP classes. Someone who excels in such a setting will be deemed to be more academically worthy by university admission departments.

Many universities, even in the Big Ten, actively recruit National Merit semi-finalists under the assumption that their high scores will be reflected later on SAT/ACT tests and in their subsequent academic achievement.

National Merit Scholarship Program - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I don't know anything about Michigan, but there are few public high schools in Ohio with the annual number of National Merit semi-finalists produced by Shaker Hts.

The ultimate test of excellence may be admissions to selective universities. Why? Just as corporations don't recruit from schools that produce duds, neither do selective universities. I don't know if the following article still is true, but if you can find data for selective school admissions for any high school, that may be a good indicator of the quality of the education offered. Keep in mind that especially some private schools, such as University School, may have "legacy" (alumni) admissions. Certainly, also consider programs of instruction.

City of Shaker Heights - World Class Education

I thought National Merit semifinalists was a PSAT/SAT thing, I don't believe it has anything to do with AP course exams? My point was SAT isn't taken by many students in the Midwest, with the ACT (the SAT's competitor) taken by almost all 11th graders in Ohio. So, it's an interesting thing to bring up when talking about Ohio schools.

[syeNorthwestern]

Originally Posted by Cleverfield

You can't teach kids how to deal with other people's cultures without exposing them to those cultures. That's why liberal arts colleges always tout how diverse their student body is. It adds to the learning experience, the same way that international traveling does. It broadens your horizons, and takes you out of the bubble you grew up in, which for many people, especially kids and teenagers, is all they've ever known.

Balancing Act - A special report. - Shaker Heights' 30-Year Crusade for Integration - NYTimes:

"But even though the students are in the same building, the high school in particular is more like two schools in one. Advanced placement and honors classes are overwhelmingly white. Regular college preparatory classes are overwhelmingly black.

White students in Yale and Dartmouth sweatshirts walk the hallways with whites to their honors classes and black students in Howard and Spelman sweatshirts walk with blacks to their classes. Separation at Lunch

In the cafeteria, with only a few exceptions, blacks sit with blacks and whites with whites. They are generally segregated by sex as well. There is no pushing, no shoving, rarely a cross word or rolling of eyes, just peaceful, mutual, voluntary segregation.

The students say they have nothing against any other group and have friends of other races who they have known since elementary school. They say that they know they should not segregate themselves, but that once you get to high school, the rules seem to change.

"There's a lot of pressure," said Bill Kuendig, a freshman, who follows the script, too, and sits with other whites at lunch. "If you sit with blacks, your friends would say, "Why are you hanging out with those other people?' I know it's not good. But people tend to go where they're comfortable."

[Cleverfield]

Research shows that's very common throughout high schools across the country. It's part of identity formation. But that doesn't mean that being in that environment doesn't teach kids the value of tolerating different cultures.