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Curious as to why they are so bad. Just to the South, Horry County, SC has extremely highly rated schools, while Brunswick County, NC schools are horrendously rated.
Brunswick Co was a fairly poor, rural ENC county for a long time. It is filled with small communities. Leland was basically a mobile home park. That is its history...cheap land...even the beach communities were cheaper (than New Hanover or Horry). Keep in mind that I-40 wasn't finished to Wilmington until about 1989. ENC was a remote area.
As Myrtle continued to expand and North Myrtle became "hot", the "plantation" style communities started being built in Brunswick. They appealed to retiree's from the Northeast...who don't have children. They are now being built in the Leland area...which has seen its population go from 2K to over 14K in about 15 years. They were built (St James) in the Southport area. Most of these nice communities dont have many children in them....hence why Brunswick Co schools are still fairly low performing.
That being said, they are getting better. The influx of homes has brought in some kids and the economy continues to expand in Brunswick Co. I actually think the high schools being in the same conference with the Wilmington schools will help....it is exposing more New Hanover Co residents (who don't even think about moving to Brunswick Co) by forcing them across the bridge to go watch their kids play. Brunswick Co has never been "bought in" by the residents of Wilmington....so no one in Wilmington moves there. It may change, but it will be a slow change. Brunswick's biggest obstacle is the lack of industry...it has more of a poor man's Grand Strand feel. Not sure if that will ever really change with Myrtle and Wilmington on either side.
1. Many people that live at coast have returned to the one place they had a pleasant memory of (the beach) growing up. Lots of these folks are NOT education centric
2. To much other stuff for parents to do beside focus on their children's academics
I vividly remember one high school game in Wilmington ( I only helped coach, but I did have a coaching shirt). We had 32 fans in our side of the bleachers, about one fan per every 1.4 players. Pitiful.
3. Their remains a HUGE chasm amongst the haves and have nots in Brunswick County. In a middle school setting this is a toxic mix
4. High teacher turnover. Lots of young teachers want to teach "at the beach" and after only a year or two, come to their senses and leave teaching, or realize vacationing at coast and living at coast are about 180 out.
I am not an expert, and am somewhat dated, but that is why we had issues in the past, and I don't see a lot has really changed.
Curious as to why they are so bad. Just to the South, Horry County, SC has extremely highly rated schools, while Brunswick County, NC schools are horrendously rated.
If you are looking at the Greatschools.org ratings, I think they are based on the states' standards. So, if SC had lower standards than NC, then the SC kids would look better.
Based on one relative's account of teaching in the Horry County schools, I don't think the kids there are well-motivated or smarter than average. Thus, I just don't trust the relatively high ratings of the Horry County Schools. I also think that LLN and HP91 give accurate accounts of the social history of Brunswick County. I suspect that Horry County is not that much different.
Great point, GA...I hadn't even thought about the differing standards between NC and SC schools. And its highly likely that SC has lower standards, but that Myrtle Beach would be higher performing within the context of SC (as would Charleston or Columbia...the more urban areas).
Curious as to why they are so bad. Just to the South, Horry County, SC has extremely highly rated schools, while Brunswick County, NC schools are horrendously rated.
Noting your title, "What are Brunswick schools sooooo bad?", you should NOT complain about other counties.
What county did you live in when you went to school?
The better question is, what are schools that are sooooo good? What makes a school good? Is it funding? Teachers? Parents who make their kids do their homework? Parents who supplement the education their child is receiving? What do we learn in school? Fundamentals of reading, writing, and basic math? The curriculum is out there, I think it falls heavily on the student to put forth the effort to learn the material. You can have the best teacher in the world standing at the front of the room, but no student is going to learn through osmosis.
Sorry, I am fairly new to the United States (about 12 years). Originally, I am from Münstermaifeld, Germany. I see my mistake now. Thank you.
Let me apologize for my comment. There are a lot of people who ask questions just to start drama. I see your was genuine.
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