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Old 07-06-2010, 01:44 AM
 
5 posts, read 33,776 times
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It's pretty clear here that some people are quite fanatical over their former high school.

For the record AP tests are not difficult to pass. 50% of the people who took the AP Chemistry test in my room last year didn't take the class.

And my school has a perfect passing record.

Measuring based on IB or AP is stupid; both are irrelevant. I am a full IB Diploma Candidate and let me tell you, there are some people that pass the tests but get D's or even fail the class. Taking a class means nothing, even passing a class means nothing.

That list is B.S.

but the again so is any list attempting to compare high schools

but continue to let your personal attachment to your own alumni shine through when arguing. It's quite satisfying to see adults argue over something so trivial instead of teenagers.
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Old 07-06-2010, 09:44 AM
 
1,807 posts, read 3,085,881 times
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Originally Posted by Kid Cann View Post
Yeah right, Mounds View is 1224? That school is extremely exceptional. It truely is a great High School.
Well, top 1600 in the country probably is 'truly exceptional.' At least statistically. 1600 schools divided by 50 would be, what? 30 schools by state if every state were equal in population? I'd say that by that gauge, we're doing pretty well schools wise...

Of course, we already knew that. And if this study really is just based on AP/IB scores, then it's probably bogus...
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Old 07-06-2010, 09:51 AM
 
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Originally Posted by Kid Cann View Post
hmm Kind of like when colleges use "Top half of your class" or "top 50% of your class"

Such a BS statistic. I was 110/219 graduates (but 25 kids did not graduate)

I went to an exurban High School, where there was less of a "Suburban Mentality"
Meaning, less students had White Collar, professional parents, as it was a blue-collar, working class community. So, with it being a blue-collar, working class, rural-like community, Acadamia wasn't emphasized as much as it would have been in a more suburban, white collar type school

So what that meant, is there were a large number of not only boys, but girls as well who had no determination to go to post-secondary schooling after high school, and this was apparent in early as 10th grade. So, when you have girls taking classes like foods III, and Ceramics III, and guys taking Welding III and Woods III, and Weight Lifting III, because they know they are going to go to a Tech or Community College and NOT going to a University, that really screws over people like me, who knew I wanted to go to a four-year University. So, while I'm taking 'Literature of our Nation's Wars', writing 10 page technical papers as an 11th grader, and my peers are taking "Outdoor Lifestyles II", getting A's while I struggled to get anything higher than B's.

This resulted in me looking like some slacker student, while Joe Johnson gets a 3.58 GPA because his schedule this quarter is "Outdoors II", "Sports Science", "Greeks and Romans" and "Woods III". Getting A's in Outdoors, SS, and Woods, while struggling to get a C in G&R because that class actually requires work
Believe me, the "top half" of your class criterion ends up screwing over a whole lot more people in those "white-collar suburban" high schools than it did in your high school. Grade inflation is a notorious problem in those schools, for a variety of reasons.
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Old 07-06-2010, 09:57 AM
 
1,807 posts, read 3,085,881 times
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Originally Posted by uptown_urbanist View Post

I don't understand why you are insisting that is in no way a representation of the entire school. Every student has access to many of those courses and tests. Not every single student is taking advantage of them, but that's true of any school -- and that is one of the factors incorporated into these rankings.
I'd be careful with this. Sure, anybody can take an AP test-- for a nominal fee. But many schools have an admissions process for the courses. Usually, students don't even know that AP is an option unless a Middle School teacher turns them on to the idea of applying, and I've heard it from the horse's mouth at my old high school that there were students who definately should have applied, but were overlooked by teachers. Of course, my high-school dealt with more than it's fair-share of institutionalized racism....
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Old 07-06-2010, 10:02 AM
 
1,807 posts, read 3,085,881 times
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Originally Posted by golfgal View Post
People that are "dising' the list are doing so because it is not accurate in any way, shape or form and those that think their school is good because of that are just fooling themselves. When you have a school where less than 70% of your students go on to a 4 year college compared to 94+%, then we will talk about "good schools". The difference between a Minneapolis school ranking and Edina's ranking it Edina takes into consideration their entire school, not just a small, small portion of their top students only.
Well, I wouldn't use the rate of students attending four-year institutions, either, because there is so much income disparity-- not just between the inner-city and the suburbs, but between suburbs and other suburbs-- that that can't possibly be trusted as a reliable gauge.

Hate to say it, but maybe Bush was on to something with setting a nation-wide standard. Even if the implementation sucked....

Also, aren't Edina and Minneapolis's high school being ranked the same way in this study?
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Old 07-06-2010, 10:19 AM
 
Location: MINNESOTA
1,178 posts, read 2,700,634 times
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Originally Posted by srsmn View Post
Believe me, the "top half" of your class criterion ends up screwing over a whole lot more people in those "white-collar suburban" high schools than it did in your high school. Grade inflation is a notorious problem in those schools, for a variety of reasons.
I think I know some places where people graduated with 4.8 gpas. Seriously.
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Old 07-06-2010, 10:20 AM
 
Location: MINNESOTA
1,178 posts, read 2,700,634 times
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Originally Posted by srsmn View Post
Well, I wouldn't use the rate of students attending four-year institutions, either, because there is so much income disparity-- not just between the inner-city and the suburbs, but between suburbs and other suburbs-- that that can't possibly be trusted as a reliable gauge.

Hate to say it, but maybe Bush was on to something with setting a nation-wide standard. Even if the implementation sucked....

Also, aren't Edina and Minneapolis's high school being ranked the same way in this study?
I was just saying that I've seen Mounds View HS as the #1 High School in Minnesota on many different lists in the past, but then rounds up at #1222 overall in the USA?
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Old 07-06-2010, 11:56 AM
 
10,629 posts, read 26,681,323 times
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I agree that no list can really be accurate or perfect, but for those of you who think I'm "fanatical" about my former school, or that things like this are trivial, neither is true. You'd be irritated, too, if people with absolutely no experience with your school or district constantly repeated the mantra that it was difficult or impossible to get a good education in a school in the district when you know full well that's not the case. And it's not trivial when it impacts the way people see your city, neighborhood, school degree, etc; there are people out there who literally think that you step into city limits and it's like one big dangerous place where the kids are all illiterate and dealing drugs on the corner. If you have kids or ever look into buying property you'll see this at work; people will write off (or seek out) locations based strictly on schools. And if you're a parent (or just a community member concerned about education) you obviously want to figure out if your kid is going to be able to get a good education. Looking at schools, especially if you're new to an area, can be really complicated. Parents shouldn't be afraid that if they move to Minneapolis that their kids are going to receive a subpar education. Given the large numbers of excellent schools in the Twin Cities -- in both suburbs and city -- I think parents can base their home decisions on other issues besides school district. That's quite a bit different from many other cities. It's part of the reason there are still a lot of middle class families living within city limits. In some cities it's mostly the wealthy and the poor; the middle class can't afford private and don't want to risk public, so they move to the suburbs. Ask any of those parents if education and -- and, PERCEPTION of education -- is trivial and see what they say.

I don't think this list is by any means perfect, but it's just as good as any other. It's just one more place to find information about a school and its performance and opportunities. I don't think there is any one "best" school in Minnesota, or even top five or ten; so much of what makes a school a good one is so specific to the individual student. Southwest is a good school if you're academically motivated and college-bound. I don't know how good it is or isn't if you're struggling with school and need more help. But yes, I do find it offensive that there are people who are seemingly dedicated to attacking any suggestion that a school -- a good school by most people's standards, whatever those may be -- is not so. That's not to say that Southwest is the best for everyone, or even good for everyone, but it's certainly a decent school, and most kids will get a solid education if they go there. That's true of many other schools as well, of course. It's just that people on these forums don't dedicate as much time and energy attacking other schools as they do the city schools. It's not like acknowledging that one school is good means that your own neighborhood's school is somehow not good. The Twin Cities has many good schools, and we should be proud of that. And, of course, there are many kids (including at the "good" schools, and in both city and suburbs) who are not succeeding, and we certainly shouldn't forget about their needs and work together as a society to make sure that ALL of our kids graduate and receive a good education. But once in awhile it's nice to focus on the success stories, too.
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Old 07-06-2010, 01:10 PM
 
1,807 posts, read 3,085,881 times
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Originally Posted by Kid Cann View Post
I was just saying that I've seen Mounds View HS as the #1 High School in Minnesota on many different lists in the past, but then rounds up at #1222 overall in the USA?
I don't know. I know Mounds View has a great reputation. I usually see SLP at the top of the lists for high schools in Minnesota. But then again, these lists tend to be pretty arbitrary, so who really knows?
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Old 07-06-2010, 01:11 PM
 
1,807 posts, read 3,085,881 times
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Originally Posted by Kid Cann View Post
I think I know some places where people graduated with 4.8 gpas. Seriously.
Yup, a lot of schools inflate grades by putting honors/ap courses on a 5gpa scale. It is a silly and detrimental system...
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