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Hello everybody
I went to Putnam City Schools, and unfortunately, I also had to attend OKC schools for awhile. The difference was and probably still is like night and day.
If you are interested in my observations from attending both, here goes......
I grew up over on NW 27th, in Bethany. So I went to Overholser, Western Oaks, then Putnam City West. For a couple years I moved in with my mom, instead of my dad and stepmom, and she lived in the OKC district, so I had to transfer to NorthWest Classen.
Northwest was full of minorities(hold on, before you guys go berserk, I myself am half Mexican and half white, but if you saw me you would think I was 95% Mexican, very dark, so I'm not a white guy bashing on minorities), mostly blacks, but also, mexicans, indians, chinese, like a melting pot. I actually liked the school, NW that is, it was way wilder than my old school, PCW. There were fights in the hallways almost everyday, and if the teachers or vice principals would jump in, they sometimes would get hit as well, and the security guards there were just for looks it seemed. Also, there was a heavy drug supply within the school, whatever you needed you could get, and do on school grounds, really, no exaggeration. One time during some sort of assembly, when all the students were in the auditorium, a girl got raped in one of the bathrooms, a bathroom far away from the auditorium, where everyone was. Also, many students would be walking around campus during classtime, and no one would tell you anything, maybe a get back to class youngster, and that was all. The discipline was lacking. When I would go to my new friends houses, they were almost always lower income neighborhoods and houses, there parents may have not had good jobs, or some didnt even have jobs. Some of my friends lived with their grandparents and stuff like that. So the socioeconomic conditions were entirely different from back in Bethany where most of my classmates had very nice homes and or mansions. Another thing, learning and doing well in school didnt seem to be as big a priority, sure there were great students, a few who did very well. But for the most part, students seemed to lack that drive to be great. One guy in my history class couldnt even read, like a 1st grade level reader, and he was in 11th grade, no joke. It was very eye opening for me, cuz I had just seen that sort of thing in movies prior to this. It wasnt a fault of the teachers, my teachers were very good, maybe even better. Its just the culture, and style of the students there at NW Classen seemed to prevail over the insistences of the Principal to the Janitors. Kind of hard to explain, something you just felt, like the students were in control, partially at least.
My friends at PCW mostly had parents with good to great jobs, and most had both the dad and the mom at home, attended church regulary, that sort of thing.
PCW was an almost all white school, and almost all of my friends and classmates were well to do. The school hardly ever had fights, we would schedule them after school, off campus, because we didnt want to get in trouble at school. There were drugs there also, probably just as much, but it was more secret, more looked down upon. A lot of the teachers there were alumni from PCW, so they cared a lot about the school and the students, they may have been friends with your older brothers or parents. At PCW, there were a lot of "serious" students, ones who were trying to great in high school in order to attend a "prestigious" university. Yea, there were many who didnt give a rats behind, but for the most part, the studies were taken seriously. We knew at PCW, that the faculty was in control, you would get in big trouble for the smallest things. Pretty strict when comparing it to NW Classen.
I could ramble on even more, but I think I have made my point. I just had to put it out there for those who might benefit from this, or would like to dwelve more into the truth of the matter regarding, the "Reputation" of OKC schools. I also knew many friends who went to US Grant, Northeast, Douglass, John Marshall from the OKC schools, and the culture was the same there. I also had many friends from other school districts just outside of the OKC district, like Putnam City(Original), Putnam City North, Mustang, Yukon, Moore, Norman, Edmond, Bethany, Midwest City/Del City, and it was similar to Putnam City West.
Any one of you can say whatever, however; my experiences at these 2 districts were real, and not fantasized. If I still lived there, I would not send my students to OKC high schools, no way. Why would I? Especially knowing what I know, better to send your kids to a better place.
Now if your kid doesnt care much about education, and just wants to party, fight, and hang loose, then I recommend going to OKC high schools above any suburb schools mentioned.
No offense to those of you who attended or now attend OKC high schools. Like I said, there were some excellent students there also, and great teachers.........but a few bad apples kind of makes you want to put that bag back, and look for a better bag.
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