Boston Magazine 2020 High School rankings (Newton, Somerville: houses, tech job, community college)

[jayrandom]

Originally Posted by semiurbanite

Which makes the lists unfair.

Yes. The lists are unfair. Just like almost everything in life.

Originally Posted by semiurbanite

Not all parents want to put their kids in a school where all of the kids are smart if it means a lack of diversity, an immense sense of privilege and blatant racism like the recent article on Newton schools.

Those parents probably shouldn't use Boston Magazine's ranking to decide where to live, then.

Originally Posted by semiurbanite

If your child can achieve the same academic results in a more well-rounded, diverse environment they will be better off, less sheltered, without the assumed privilege that seem to inevitable come from these "top" districts.

Yes. The rougher the school district someone comes from, the less likely they are to be an entitled jerk. Just like academics, most of that comes from parents. Living in a diverse district makes you more likely to have a diverse group of friends and better understanding of a large cross-section of other people, but it doesn't guarantee anything.

[bostongymjunkie]

Originally Posted by Lampert

I also don't really agree that parents are the deciding factor in the life of their kids. We all like to think that but kids are very heavily influenced by their peers and by choosing the school you kind of choose their peers.

I think where parents can really have an influence is on qualities such as personal habits and ethics. A kid could be going to the best schools and if the parents are not engaged in teaching the proper life lessons, work habits, personal discipline etc the kid ends up well-educated mess. There needs to be a medium between neglectful parents, and those who think they should be their child's best friend. Being a best friend isn't a parent's job. It amounts to a shirking of responsibility of a different kind. Also, the notion that well-heeled parents raise better children is equally misguided for similar reasons.

[BostonMike7]

Originally Posted by id77

That's what's lost on these types of discussions -- so many parents just hand their kid off to an "elite" school expecting their peers and teachers to do the heavy lifting in forging their child's education.

I think Covid and remote/hybrid learning has shown us that many parents, even outside of an elite school system, want to just hand their kids off to whatever school system they are in and let the teachers do the brunt of the work.

[jayrandom]

Originally Posted by BostonMike7

I think Covid and remote/hybrid learning has shown us that many parents, even outside of an elite school system, want to just hand their kids off to whatever school system they are in and let the teachers do the brunt of the work.

I mean, doesn't that make the most sense? I like eating food, but if you told me that in order to really eat food I had to grow it all AND keep my normal full time job, I might be angling to get farmers back to work. Or pretty much anything. There aren't enough hours in the day for my wife and I to focus on educating our kids, work full-time (which often means > 40 hours/week of work), and do all the upkeep associated with a house.

Even if I had unlimited time (say I was laid off), I wouldn't be my first pick teach elementary-aged kids. I could probably get by teaching high school math or science, but Kindergartners? I'd venture that is a job better left to someone who spent multiple years studying to do exactly that.

The real difference that parents make isn't the actual teaching (except in a few cases), it is the attitude toward learning.

[Lampert]

Originally Posted by jayrandom

The real difference that parents make isn't the actual teaching (except in a few cases), it is the attitude toward learning.

[Shrewsburried]

Originally Posted by jayrandom

The real difference that parents make isn't the actual teaching (except in a few cases), it is the attitude toward learning.

This, plus the means to provide an environment conducive to quality learning (e.g., a stable household, high performing peer groups, diverse and enriching experiences, etc.). Of course, one should stop short of coddling.

[BostonMike7]

Originally Posted by jayrandom

The real difference that parents make isn't the actual teaching (except in a few cases), it is the attitude toward learning.

Your right. The point I should have emphasized was regarding parents that are absent at home in supporting their kids learning as well.

[Idontwanttocheckmymessage]

Originally Posted by MassTech

Some surprises...

https://www.bostonmagazine.com/educa...on-2020-chart/

I find this list so interesting. I’ve had the experience of having one child graduate from the #1 ranked high school on this list and now a second child who will graduate from the #34 high school on the list, just four years later.

I can only offer an opinion on the respective rankings of these two particular schools based on our own experience. And, no, I’m not surprised at where they fall. Boston Magazine is spot on.

[azu612]

Originally Posted by Idontwanttocheckmymessage

I find this list so interesting. I’ve had the experience of having one child graduate from the #1 ranked high school on this list and now a second child who will graduate from the #34 high school on the list, just four years later.

I can only offer an opinion on the respective rankings of these two particular schools based on our own experience. And, no, I’m not surprised at where they fall. Boston Magazine is spot on.

Can you elaborate on this? I would love to hear your experience because this is something that I often think about for my own child. I don't know if it's worth the push into the "elite" school system or not? What is the real difference?

[zoeyjane]

Originally Posted by id77

If given a choice of doubling my mortgage and/or living in an area I'd not enjoy surrounded by people I can't stand or sending my kid to a lower-ranked school and having the additional time and resources to supplement my child's education with my knowledge and time, I'll take the lower-ranked school every day of the week.

That's what's lost on these types of discussions -- so many parents just hand their kid off to an "elite" school expecting their peers and teachers to do the heavy lifting in forging their child's education. A lot of parents wrongly think that schools are the biggest deciding factor in their child's future success, when the real deciding factor is literally under their noses.

There are actually a lot of parents in Boston like id77 making the same choices. I'm a homeowner in Boston and I'm raising my children and managing my finances exactly like id77. They might be "starry-eyed urban pioneers" or whatever label of naivete you want to give them, but some of their postings I have read on Facebook and Tinyhood are some of the sincerest, most sophisticated, and most nuanced *personal* opinions I have read concerning race and class and how to raise good citizens.

My husband and I have already done that rat race called college admissions to get into Harvard or whatever top college those Lexington parents salivate over. Trust me. If you send your kids to the W towns, Newton, or [insert suburban town with insanely valued real estate], and your socioeconomic background is doctor, professor, [insert upper middle class profession], those elite college admission officers will have higher expectations for your child. Your kiddo is going to have to be more than the dime-a-dozen northeast, privileged straight-A student with a 1400+ SAT score if they want to get into one of those schools with single-digit admission rates. You can't expect the schools alone will get your child into the Ivy Leagues. It's not like they hand you an autopilot, parenting cruise button with the deed of the house. You have to be way more pro-active (and maybe even more wily because the other parents are already signing up their kids for Russian Math School by first grade). Of course, NU and BU (perfectly fine universities) will gladly accept your very competent child and your tuition payments anyway. So you just spent 18 years paying the mortgage and property taxes for a $1-$1.5 million dollar house because.....?