Advise about Essex County: Nutley, Verona, the Caldwells, Cedar Grove

[elflord1973]

Originally Posted by tahiti

so then you'd have no problem sending your child to Malcolm X in Newark?

Obviously, there is a concern with sending kids to a school that is so poor academically that there are no peers who are strong academic performers, or worse, an environment where pervasive behavior problems present a continuous stream of in-class distractions.

But this is not likely to be a problem in a school in a middle class neighborhood (even if the SAT scores are lower than those in the schools in more upscale towns)

[tahiti]

Originally Posted by elflord1973

Obviously, there is a concern with sending kids to a school that is so poor academically that there are no peers who are strong academic performers, or worse, an environment where pervasive behavior problems present a continuous stream of in-class distractions.

But this is not likely to be a problem in a school in a middle class neighborhood (even if the SAT scores are lower than those in the schools in more upscale towns)

hey, i'm not the one who said:

"I have relatives in CT that went to arguably one of the worst high schools in the state and they all went on to graduate college and get good jobs - lawyers, engineers, and teachers. It's what you make of it. Rankings mean nothing."

I think it's a fair assumption that the person who posted that would not mind their child going to Malcolm X. Apparently I can't get an answer to that.

[elflord1973]

Originally Posted by tahiti

hey, i'm not the one who said:

"I have relatives in CT that went to arguably one of the worst high schools in the state and they all went on to graduate college and get good jobs - lawyers, engineers, and teachers. It's what you make of it. Rankings mean nothing."

I think it's a fair assumption that the person who posted that would not mind their child going to Malcolm X. Apparently I can't get an answer to that.

I suspect that if you thought about your assumption more, instead of just assuming it, you may come to a different conclusion.

There are plenty of reasons besides low ranking why a parent wouldn't want their children to attend a given school. An obvious one is that their child might be less happy at a school where they didn't fit in. There are several less obvious ones -- that largely boil down to similar reasons why you don't want to live in a dumpy area in the first place -- the school environment itself is likely to inherit whatever social ills prevail in the district that it serves.

I suspect the poster in question, "Ansky", hasn't been confronted with such a choice (to send their kid to a school ranked near the bottom) because they have other reasons for not wanting to live in a place with such a school district, and therefore hasn't thought too deeply about the idea of sending their kid to a failing school.

Perhaps that's why you can't get an answer -- in some sense, the notion that their child might end up going to Malcolm X is a hypothetical based on premises remote from their experience.