Current feedback on Clark and Plano Senior (Houston, Jasper: school district, university)

[UnfairPark]

Originally Posted by BigDGeek

I don't think it helps young people to be given a leg up into college; by then the damage is done and it's infinitely harder for a disadvantaged kid to catch up. Disadvantaged minorities, particularly those who are the first members of their family to attend college, drop out at much higher rates than other students.


I agree with you that the focus really needs to be on equalizing educational opportunities from a very young age. But it's easier to give a few "deserving minorities" a slightly easier path to college admission than it is to really acknowledge that we waste a tremendous amount of human capital in this country...and then to actually DO something about it.

It is perplexing. Why can’t we plan better and do more good using existing resources in a more effective manner. There is nothing America needs more than educating our children to become competitive and compassionate adults.

[mastershake575]

Originally Posted by UnfairPark

Teen age behavioral issues happen everywhere, no community is completely immune. If you know of any ongoing issue in any school, send written complaint to the teacher, CC school’s guidance counselor, principle, superintendent of the district and president of the school board. You’ll get prompt attention.

Agreed. Teen age (especially middle school) is a weird time and it's hard to fully escape it.

I went to a top 1% elementary school that fed into a top 3% highschool at the time (Pearce) and the middle school still had alot of shenanigans like fights (especially after school), kids bringing drugs to school, had 2 kids offering to sell handguns to minors, kids getting handcuffed during school hours. Even had one kid who threatened to do a drive by shooting during a planned fight but he speed away because the principal found out about it and broke it up (the fight was across the street at some church parking lot).

Like you said no one is immune. The one thing I will say is when you have classes with hundreds of kids, you can have 95% of them angels but it's the 5% that causes all the noise and issues. I had over 200 kids in my class that where model students but the 15-20 rough around the edges kids was just enough to give it a bad stigma when really that's not that much.

I took all pre-ap in Junior high (along with electives that gave highschool credits) so I never had to personally have a class with any of these delinquents. Class selection can pretty much determine your student make-up

Originally Posted by BayTexan

Any more current feedback on Clark and Plano Senior? Heard some stories about fights and discipline issues at Clark especially.

Problem is the 90%+ that show up, do there work, and don't cause trouble you never hear about, you only hear about the few that cause ruckus even though there a very small percentage of the student body

[PriscillaVanilla]

Originally Posted by Soccernerd

I don’t know anything about those high schools.

What I do know is that they’re probably not good enough to warrant your friend moving to a new school when their child is halfway through high school.

This. I live in Plano, the schools are good, but not good enough for someone to relocate. Unless the schools where they currently live are just horrible.

[Taub201]

Originally Posted by BigDGeek

I don't think it helps young people to be given a leg up into college; by then the damage is done and it's infinitely harder for a disadvantaged kid to catch up. Disadvantaged minorities, particularly those who are the first members of their family to attend college, drop out at much higher rates than other students.


I agree with you that the focus really needs to be on equalizing educational opportunities from a very young age. But it's easier to give a few "deserving minorities" a slightly easier path to college admission than it is to really acknowledge that we waste a tremendous amount of human capital in this country...and then to actually DO something about it.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/...ve-action.html


White students at top colleges have declined as Asian students have increased. Hispanic and African-American students are a smaller proportion of the student bodies relative to their population mix. 44% of UT students are white. The Asian ratio is over 10% at the following top public colleges: UT, UVa, UWash, UNC and Michigan and of course UC schools.


It's a wild phenomenon.

[BigDGeek]

Originally Posted by UnfairPark

It is perplexing. Why can’t we plan better and do more good using existing resources in a more effective manner. There is nothing America needs more than educating our children to become competitive and compassionate adults.

We've only been scratching our heads over this one for the past several decades. I can only come to the conclusion that inequality of opportunity in primary & secondary schools is deliberate and is specifically designed to create & maintain a permanent underclass.

Originally Posted by Taub201

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/...ve-action.html


White students at top colleges have declined as Asian students have increased. Hispanic and African-American students are a smaller proportion of the student bodies relative to their population mix. 44% of UT students are white. The Asian ratio is over 10% at the following top public colleges: UT, UVa, UWash, UNC and Michigan and of course UC schools.


It's a wild phenomenon.

Smart white kids are still going to the same schools they always went to. The only difference is that Texas's Asian population has exploded in the last 10 years and those kids are now funneling into our universities. UT doesn't have a limit on how many students they'll accept under the 10% rule so while the ratio of whites to Asians has changed, there probably aren't fewer white kids at UT. When I went to UT the student body was about 9-10% Asian.


A bigger problem is that the state's university system is strained by the massive influx of people into the state. That's another topic for another thread.

[UnfairPark]

Asian-Americans are already at disadvantage in elite college admission due to different quotas under holistic veil, anti standardized testing and merit is a myth movements are thinly disguised anti-racial attempts to cap their numbers everywhere else. It’s easier for international Asians to get in top US colleges than it is for middle class Americans of Asian descent.

[BigDGeek]

Originally Posted by UnfairPark

Asian-Americans are already at disadvantage in elite college admission due to different quotas under holistic veil, anti standardized testing and merit is a myth movements are thinly disguised anti-racial attempts to cap their numbers everywhere else. It’s easier for international Asians to get in top US colleges than it is for middle class Americans of Asian descent.

I think you and I will have to agree to disagree on that. There is value in an ethnically diverse student body and that's a lot of what's behind this.

[UnfairPark]

Originally Posted by BigDGeek

I think you and I will have to agree to disagree on that. There is value in an ethnically diverse student body and that's a lot of what's behind this.

There is no disagreement about need of diversity and equality, just on how to achieve it. I hope we get to see those days in our life times.

[calgirlinnc]

As part of my son's part time job, he has been to many of the major districts for HS events (not sports related). It is really interesting to hear his observations about the different high school administrations and students. He has been at schools that were not highly regarded where he saw a lot of questionable student behavior. He has been to a top Plano school and said it was very strict and uptight, coming from the administration. His favorite school's are what you'd call "second tier" school's (example, some of the Lewisville ISD HS's).

[UnfairPark]

To OP, if you are in Plano Senior cluster and for some unforeseen reason unhappy with your assigned school, Plano ISD is open to intra-district transfers within your own cluster or to other clusters. For high school you already have choice to attend Plano STEAM Academy or IB World Academy instead of Clark/Plano Senior. It’s a bit tougher to get into west cluster schools but if they have a spot available, they’ll let you attend.