Area high school rankings : 1998 & today (Dallas, Plano: top school, college, subsidized)

[bencronin04]

No, lol. 493 of us went straight into a 4 year university, 1 went into the military.

[ObamneyI]

Pardon my comprehension! :-)

[enjen]

Originally Posted by TX75007

Actually, not true.

Schools have to appropriately challenge kids. A kid with an IQ of 180 in PISD who is reading at a 6th grade level when they are 5 is not going to be challenged by any ISD in the state nor any other private school for that matter. They would be NMSF at age 12 if they could qualify.

The high end kids can get frustrated in poor schools and shut down and focus on other things.

This is why there are lots of high performing IT geeks without college degrees. Nothing held their interest in school so they found an outlet somewhere else.

The same goes for many women who achieve much later in life - my wife is an example - cheer leading and social success - because academics held no challenge.

Maybe in the stark contrast between inner city schools vs. PISD. but the difference in push between PISD to other "mediocre" suburban ISDs i think are neglible. If you're not getting pushed in school, it's up to the parents to recognize and find avenues to push their kids.

Taking the extremes never enhances an argument. If your IQ is 180, you're not going to go a public school or if you're too poor to go private, you're gonna be unchallenged at any public school. My "exceptional" student comment was more in range of 10%ers of a given school district. Most parents won't have mensa kids, i'm just speaking in general terms.

[Johnhw2]

Originally Posted by TX75007

The actual research is:

50% - Peers -What value they place on things.
25% - Expectations - Parents/Teachers/Coaches/Family
25% - Curriculum - Has to be sequenced to present real challenges.

And then together all three have a multiplying effect of something like 3x. And the closer to the mean a student is, the greater the end effect.

An average kid in a high quality setting will go much further than otherwise. Super smart kids will go very far as well, but the net effect is less.

Thanks this makes pretty good sense. Where is the innate intelligence in this analysis or does the research claim that is not a factor? If so I do not agree with that element.

[Tripolar]

I really enjoy how we try to justify our choices.

Mr Z : If private is the shortest ladder then that's what I'll buy.

Mr X : Private schools too expensive ... Kids can do well in good public schools

Mr Y : Good public districts real estate too expensive ... Kids can do good in any school if they try

With same kind of budget some pick economical homes in economical towns and send kids to privates, some buy economical homes in expensive towns with good publics, some buy expensive homes in affordable towns with mediocre schools ... to each its own.

[bencronin04]

And the extremely fortunate buy expensive homes in expensive areas with great school districts and still send their kids to private.

[Tripolar]

:d

[enjen]

Originally Posted by Tripolar

I really enjoy how we try to justify our choices.

Mr Z : If private is the shortest ladder then that's what I'll buy.

Mr X : Private schools too expensive ... Kids can do well in good public schools

Mr Y : Good public districts real estate too expensive ... Kids can do good in any school if they try

With same kind of budget some pick economical homes in economical towns and send kids to privates, some buy economical homes in expensive towns with good publics, some buy expensive homes in affordable towns with mediocre schools ... to each its own.

It's also how we grew up that morphs our perspective. Growing up poor in So Cal ghetto and going to LISD high school and wife growing up through mesquite ISD and we turned out fine lessens our perceived value of a good ISD. But you're right, to each their own.

[Walter Benjamin]

What happened to Schimelpfenig?

The phenomenon of whites being scared off by high-performing Asians is definitely real. I went to HS in CA during a transition period from mostly-white to more Asian. There was a definite culture shift over the years. All of these were much more valued by whites than by Asians: Playing sports; playing music (other than classical violin & piano); being "well-rounded" ; senior prom and other tokens of the classic "high school experience" (and the same with college); literature, art and anything "soft."

Of course I know that I am generalizing and any number of individual people don't fit into these boxes; just talking about overall dominant culture.

Now at least in CA there are definitely high-performing schools that whites avoid for being "too Asian," whether they openly state the reasons or not. There was a very controversial article a few years ago about this. [1] Among all generally good Silicon Valley schools, if you look on other forums, there is a lot of discussion about i.e. Los Gatos (very white) vs. Cupertino (very Asian). And the debate about the impact on NMSF, college admissions, etc., and whether "white vs. Asian" is the new "Gentile vs. Jew" from 100 years ago is very relevant.[2]

How to keep a diverse HS stable and avoid "flight" of one group or another? Maybe tracking is the best bet. It seems to work pretty well at many schools, but of course is politically incorrect so there often has to be some sort of cover story.

Also, whether you look at the top 10%, or top 1%, or top .1%, or top .01%, there is always going to be plenty of stratification. I had the experience of going from suburban HS to elite college and being way, way behind those from Exeter & Andover. Having to struggle builds character. No kid will be prepared for every single opportunity in life, and arguably learning "pick yourself up and get back on the horse" or "you're out of your depth here" at age 25 or 35 is worse than learning it at 15. Plenty of NMSF will arrive as freshmen and be totally out of their depth in a class like Harvard's Math 55. [3]

Personal opinion from observing elite-college classmates a few years out of school: having good values, parentally-inculcated or otherwise, of discipline, thrift, sobriety, patience, etc., is by far a bigger factor in success & happiness than parental wealth or quality of HS attended (or quality of college attended for that matter).


[1]
The New White Flight - WSJ.com
[2]
Steve Sailer: iSteve: National Merit Semifinalists by School and Surname
The Myth of American Meritocracy | The American Conservative
That claim that Harvard admissions discriminate in favor of Jews? After seeing the statistics, I don’t see it. « Statistical Modeling, Causal Inference, and Social Science
[3]
Burden of Proof | The Harvard Crimson

[BigDGeek]

Originally Posted by Walter Benjamin

That claim that Harvard admissions discriminate in favor of Jews? After seeing the statistics, I don’t see it. « Statistical Modeling, Causal Inference, and Social Science

LOL...someone thinks Harvard discriminates in favor of Jews? Pur-leeeze! For a lot of people up there it's still like the move 'School Ties'.