Why are most parents obsessed with "good" schools? (Arlington: homes, top schools)

[Samara11]

Someone please explain this to me...... why are most parents here obsessed with getting their kids into schools with good scores and less population of ESL students?

Being a parent myself, all that matters to me is that the school is safe (no gangs, drugs, etc.), my child gets a good "education", learns about co-existing with diverse cultures and finally gets a good score herself so that she can go on to get higher education and build a good career, a good life for herself.

Also, do school scores really show you how good a school's teachers are at what they do? Wouldn't a good teacher be able to effectively teach even ESL students? Wouldn't an intelligent/smart child perform well regardless of the school he/she went to? Would your child's performance be affected by lower-than-average performing students directly?

And I'm genuinely asking these questions, not trying to do criticize people or something as my daughter is only 3 yrs old and I'm totally baffled by the discussions about schools on this forum. Actually, I was not educated in this country hence I'm kind of ignorant about the whole school system here. Someone please enlighten me.

[nwlv]

I think that in the classess with a high percentage of ESL students, the teachers are frustrated and overwhelmed. Even the average kids are kind of forgotten about. The ESL students are sucking resources from the taxpayers at an alarming rate. Many of them are here illegally, and the schools refuse to crack down, because they fear lawsuits. Even though, they know good and well, about the overcrowded, multi-family, residences, many of these students live in.

[ChristineVA]

I have a very "average" child. I did send my daughter to a public high school for one year. This was a mid-rated public high school that had a fair number of ESL students, a very, very diverse population, and it was overcrowded. It is very hard for a run-of-the-mill student to succeed in this environment. So many resources are directed toward ESL and special needs and, naturally, the counselors and teachers who are "the best" and have tenure have their pick of teaching the brightest students in the honors classes. My daughter tended to get put in classes with a lot of the kids who were "acting out" and there were so many disruptions in the classroom.

Because she was so middle of the road, she truly got lost in the shuffle.

And then there were the hallways between classes and the lunch periods. They seemed to be fraught with racial tensions, mild physical and verbal abuse, and then there were the sexual things going on in the bathrooms. Uuugghhh. At the end of 9th grade, my daughter who BEGGED to go to this school, said she might want to go to a private school.

So, she's in a private school that is NOT racially diverse at all, there are no ESL programs, and we haven't had a moment's problem in 3 years. She LOVES school, is still an average student, but I can actually get someone to pay attention to her now.

I don't fault any parent for knowing their individual child and trying to find a school that will allow them to thrive and not feel like combat during the day or that they are being ignored because they aren't a) special needs, b) Spanish, or c) gifted.

I also think that if you have a child that is a "superstar", they will probably succeed in any environment. The rest of us have to think about the other aspects of the school.

[claremarie]

Schools with low test scores generally serve a lower-income student body. In the DC suburbs, these schools tend to have a high number of immigrant students who do not speak English as a first language, and children from single-parent families who often have behavior issues due to dysfunctional situations at home. Such special needs often overwhelm the schools and teachers, who understandably have less time, energy, and resources to devote to the "regular" kids. The focus is often on getting these kids up to speed so that they can pass the standardized tests -- tests which are not particularly challenging to many of the "regular" kids who nevertheless have to sit through endless drills and activities intended for their lower-performing classmates.

[nwlv]

The wealthy parents have a better chance of having their child listed as "gifted." In Manassas, it seemed like they were putting more kids in the GT program, who weren't really gifted. But the program was only a couple of hours per week, and they made a huge deal about it.

We went to a field hockey match at Wakefield HS in The Plains (not the one in Arlington) and it was very country-clubbish nice. Must be super expensive too. I'm gonna have to look that up.

[oneasterisk]

Wow I didn't realize ESL was sucking up so many resources! I went to Potomac Highschool in Dumfries and didn't notice that going on at all. What I noticed mostly was kids misbehaving and not paying attention, or not even showing up to classes. Potomac has a lot of wannabe gang bangers since they pull in kids from Village Gate, Georgetown Village and Williamstown. I think schools in this area are generally fine, it's the student body that will really make or break the school. As long as your kid isn't susceptible to peer pressure, they'll do fine in school.

BTW - English is a second language to me, and I speak and type much better than some people who were born here. It always amazed me the crappy grades the other kids received in English class Or the ones that were Super Seniors. If they didn't like school so much, they should have just spent the 4yrs to get a diploma versus the 6yrs.

[JD984]

Here's an interesting story about one of the PWC schools trying to balance the needs of ESL and non-ESL students in this weekend's New York Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/15/us...g.html?_r=1&em

Some schools balance these competing needs better than others, and I expect it can be particularly difficult in really large schools.

ChristineVA - Glad to hear that your daughter has found the right niche in the right school (even if it does involve a long commute).

[NCyank]

Originally Posted by Samara11

Also, do school scores really show you how good a school's teachers are at what they do? Wouldn't a good teacher be able to effectively teach even ESL students? Wouldn't an intelligent/smart child perform well regardless of the school he/she went to? Would your child's performance be affected by lower-than-average performing students directly?

And I'm genuinely asking these questions, not trying to do criticize people or something as my daughter is only 3 yrs old and I'm totally baffled by the discussions about schools on this forum. Actually, I was not educated in this country hence I'm kind of ignorant about the whole school system here. Someone please enlighten me.

If you haven't figured it out by now I'll let you in a little secret you won't hear at the school board meeting, from most educators or even parents (because most are not aware how bad it really is), the public school standards are ridiculously low even at top schools and worse at struggling schools. The classes are geared toward the average or below average students. Say the average is a C. Is that good enough for you? Can your student perform well in an average atmosphere? Sure, most can. But they won't be academically challenged, they won't have opportunities to excel, they won't be competitive with their peers in schools where the average is an A instead of a C. They'll be stuck in a classroom where the teacher has to teach to the lowest common denominator and if your student can do more there is little option for them to excel. Sure, you can do more at home but after 7 hours at school who wants to have to homeschool as well, just to make sure your child is working to their potential? If your child can do better than the average kid at public school, you'd be better off to homeschool from the start or find a good private school.

[nwlv]

Wakefield High School is 19,500 per year, and this does not include books. It would be quite a commute to The Plains. I would bet that there are more kids with their pants below there asses standing in front of Stonewall (during school hours) than you would see in a lifetime at WHS, not to mention other uncivilized, ghetto rituals.

[kevinm]

To keep me "safe" from being "bussed" or subjected to gangs, my parents sent me to live in West Virgina and go to school from grade 8 -12. I loved it there and was very involved with the marching band.