Why are most parents obsessed with "good" schools? (condo, neighborhood)

[fumanchu41]

Originally Posted by Samara11

Someone please explain this to me...... why are most parents here obsessed with getting their kids into schools with good scores and less population of ESL students?

Being a parent myself, all that matters to me is that the school is safe (no gangs, drugs, etc.), my child gets a good "education", learns about co-existing with diverse cultures and finally gets a good score herself so that she can go on to get higher education and build a good career, a good life for herself.

Also, do school scores really show you how good a school's teachers are at what they do? Wouldn't a good teacher be able to effectively teach even ESL students? Wouldn't an intelligent/smart child perform well regardless of the school he/she went to? Would your child's performance be affected by lower-than-average performing students directly?

And I'm genuinely asking these questions, not trying to do criticize people or something as my daughter is only 3 yrs old and I'm totally baffled by the discussions about schools on this forum. Actually, I was not educated in this country hence I'm kind of ignorant about the whole school system here. Someone please enlighten me.

The fact that you weren't schooled here, answers your own question. Our school system is one of the worst in the civilized world. I recommend sending your children to be schooled in Europe where they actually teach reading/writing/Arithmetic/history/biology/literature, instead of sex education.

[KennyClark]

Originally Posted by Samara11

Someone please explain this to me...... why are most parents here obsessed with getting their kids into schools with good scores and less population of ESL students?

Being a parent myself, all that matters to me is that the school is safe (no gangs, drugs, etc.), my child gets a good "education", learns about co-existing with diverse cultures and finally gets a good score herself so that she can go on to get higher education and build a good career, a good life for herself.

Also, do school scores really show you how good a school's teachers are at what they do? Wouldn't a good teacher be able to effectively teach even ESL students? Wouldn't an intelligent/smart child perform well regardless of the school he/she went to? Would your child's performance be affected by lower-than-average performing students directly?

And I'm genuinely asking these questions, not trying to do criticize people or something as my daughter is only 3 yrs old and I'm totally baffled by the discussions about schools on this forum. Actually, I was not educated in this country hence I'm kind of ignorant about the whole school system here. Someone please enlighten me.

Less ESL student is pseudo-polite suburban code for not wanting their kids in school with hispanics/indians/pakistanis and other minorities.

I am quite the opposite, I want my son to go to school with kids from other cultures so he can learn more.

[Boompa]

Originally Posted by Samara11

Someone please explain this to me...... why are most parents here obsessed with getting their kids into schools with good scores and less population of ESL students?

Being a parent myself, all that matters to me is that the school is safe (no gangs, drugs, etc.), my child gets a good "education", learns about co-existing with diverse cultures and finally gets a good score herself so that she can go on to get higher education and build a good career, a good life for herself.

Also, do school scores really show you how good a school's teachers are at what they do? Wouldn't a good teacher be able to effectively teach even ESL students? Wouldn't an intelligent/smart child perform well regardless of the school he/she went to? Would your child's performance be affected by lower-than-average performing students directly?

And I'm genuinely asking these questions, not trying to do criticize people or something as my daughter is only 3 yrs old and I'm totally baffled by the discussions about schools on this forum. Actually, I was not educated in this country hence I'm kind of ignorant about the whole school system here. Someone please enlighten me.

Many think "good" schools will make up for their own shortcomings

[athousandlogins]

Originally Posted by fumanchu41

I recommend sending your children to be schooled in Europe where they actually teach reading/writing/Arithmetic/history/biology/literature, instead of sex education.

Hahahahahahahahaha....

Hahahahahahahaha.....

Seriously, this is the best laugh I had all week. Yeah, FCPS test scores took a huge dip once they switched to that all sex-ed format a few years back. Nobody can figure out why. On the plus side, the kids seem to have tons of energy for their extracurricular activities. And you should see some of their senior projects.

[leighland]

Originally Posted by KennyClark

Less ESL student is pseudo-polite suburban code for not wanting their kids in school with hispanics/indians/pakistanis and other minorities..

Very true, and especially on this forum

[leighland]

Originally Posted by shahid09

Sorry to bear my english, I couldn't get complete attention because of non-ESL students. Thanks

Hilarious!

[JD984]

Originally Posted by leighland

Hilarious!

Maybe it was a guest post from Remy ("my school in the hood was written up in US News")?

[TheseGoTo11]

Originally Posted by fumanchu41

I recommend sending your children to be schooled in Europe where they actually teach reading/writing/Arithmetic/history/biology/literature, instead of sex education.

And where the goal is to turn each kid into a civil servant, because their Socialist governments have killed off every other job.

[Denton56]

Originally Posted by KennyClark

Less ESL student is pseudo-polite suburban code for not wanting their kids in school with hispanics/indians/pakistanis and other minorities.

I am quite the opposite, I want my son to go to school with kids from other cultures so he can learn more.

How does that help your son learn more? What do the teachers do differently when there are more foreign kids in a class and how does that help your son to learn? What's the best race child for son to sit next to so that he will learn the most?

[Denton56]

Originally Posted by fumanchu41

The fact that you weren't schooled here, answers your own question. Our school system is one of the worst in the civilized world. I recommend sending your children to be schooled in Europe where they actually teach reading/writing/Arithmetic/history/biology/literature, instead of sex education.

Amen. That might explain why our students are ranked so low in international competitions. Americans tolerate our schools teaching self esteem, sex ed, and cut and paste art, rather than real math, real history, real science, and real English.