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Northwestern is not a good school. It is a little more diverse than many of the schools in PG because of all the hispanic kids that attend there now. Still, it's a rough school all around. Rates as a 3 out of 10 for test scores. I understand that you are a little close to that particular school to be objective, but that school sucks.
I love all the personal insults you throw at me. I'm sure you know white people that went through the PG county school system in the 80's or even early 90's that were happy. I know plenty too. It was a different time and place up until the late 80's. Black kids jumping white kids in and out of school was fairly common in Fort Washington in the late 80's and early 90's. Maybe it lasted longer but almost all the white kids were gone after that. So, in essence, there was no one left to jump. Of course, the majority of black students did not take part in this. I had white friends at other PG county schools who were going through the same thing at the same time. This was something that was pretty well known around the county at that time. Why else would white people have packed up and left so quickly? Why did they all sell their beautiful suburban homes and move further away from their jobs in DC? To recall this time does not make me racist. This actually happened.
Stop saying that you are not racist, because it makes you sound more racist dude.
To answer your question, I do believe there is some truth to what you said, but I don't think that was the main reason for white people leaving. Let's be honest, we live in a society that people have certain comfort levels. It's difficult to live around people you can't relate to. Some white people just don't like black people, some saw cultural differences and didn't want to have their children influenced by it, some had bad experiences once blacks started moving in, etc. There are a number of reasons. It wasn't all because a majority of black people can't behave. Some people just are racist, simply put, and some people just don't want to adjust to be around people with different backgrounds regardless of race.
Quote:
Originally Posted by fortwashingtonkid
Lots of unruly wanna be thug kids at schools like NW. Lots of offspring of unruly thugs there too. Do you want your kid going to a school with such low performers? With kids that can't even score close to average on standardized testing? Yeah, NW is a bad school and that IS a fact. It's not downright awful like Friendly but it's certainly less than stellar. Just a quick look at the numbers tells you this. I'm sure it's got some good kids sprinkled throughout but by and large it's a thug factory.
Yes there are a lot of kids that don't know how to act, but let's not act like that is all of it too. The school system has bad administration and has had it for decades. Some of these kids are productive of apathetic administrators, as well as bad parenting.
Actually, I am talking about all the way up to '95. My family still lives there so I do go back often. I have witnessed the decay with my own eyes. I also read this forum quite a bit and I can clearly see that the county has gotten worse. Driving through my old neighborhood is a sad experience. The place looks like crap now. It used to be beautiful.
It's much worse now than it was then. It's been a steady decay of the school system since I left.
Mandatory uniforms in public schools pretty much sums up what kind of place you are living in and what kind of students you are dealing with.
Just do the wise thing and send your child to an AA county school. Montgomery County and NOVA are far better options as well.
Northwestern is not a good school. It is a little more diverse than many of the schools in PG because of all the hispanic kids that attend there now. Still, it's a rough school all around. Rates as a 3 out of 10 for test scores. I understand that you are a little close to that particular school to be objective, but that school sucks.
I love all the personal insults you throw at me. I'm sure you know white people that went through the PG county school system in the 80's or even early 90's that were happy. I know plenty too. It was a different time and place up until the late 80's. Black kids jumping white kids in and out of school was fairly common in Fort Washington in the late 80's and early 90's. Maybe it lasted longer but almost all the white kids were gone after that. So, in essence, there was no one left to jump. Of course, the majority of black students did not take part in this. I had white friends at other PG county schools who were going through the same thing at the same time. This was something that was pretty well known around the county at that time. Why else would white people have packed up and left so quickly? Why did they all sell their beautiful suburban homes and move further away from their jobs in DC? To recall this time does not make me racist. This actually happened.
Lots of unruly wanna be thug kids at schools like NW. Lots of offspring of unruly thugs there too. Do you want your kid going to a school with such low performers? With kids that can't even score close to average on standardized testing? Yeah, NW is a bad school and that IS a fact. It's not downright awful like Friendly but it's certainly less than stellar. Just a quick look at the numbers tells you this. I'm sure it's got some good kids sprinkled throughout but by and large it's a thug factory.
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And yes, many of the high schools in PG are god awful. Most of them except a very average Roosevelt, which is aided by separate gifted programs located within their walls.
Again, I'm not wasting keystrokes debating on someone who doesn't have a formidable argument, to begin with. You are posturing in a vain attempt to prove a point you don't even have to begin with... a point that is stuck in the 80s with your mentality and has little to no relevance on current day affairs. GreatSchools is not the say all to end all. I'm quite sure more (knowledgeable) peopele use U.S. News and World Report statistics, to measure the successes of failures of schools. According to the data provided, Northwestern is by no means a stellar school, but it isn't bad. I'm not going to entertain someone who's using grossly outdated information from three decades ago, as a basis for a current day argument that's rife with errors. Good day.
To the OP, while Roosevelt is best HS in the County (mainly because of the Sci-Tech magnet program), Bowie HS is another option. It is ok, and it has the college prep-oriented Summit Program (which your son would have to test into). Flowers HS and Oxon Hill HS also sci-tech magnets.
I live fairly close to Bowie HS and have seen the students at dismissal. Many of them are white. In fact, the neighborhoods immediately surrounding Bowie HS are heavily if not mostly white. I daresay that many students at Roosevelt are white as well. I have not heard stories about white children getting jumped in these high schools. I don't want to be presumptuous about the OP's race. But the racial divisiveness being spewed here needs to stop.
I am probably one of the most critical posters against PG County and it's school system, but even I think this post is an albatross. You are making some really out there generalizations. First, there have been plenty of white kids who have gone to PG schools and not been bullied. Every case is different, I don't think you can say with certainty that it will happen or if it did, it was because a kid is white. According to schooldigger.com (which is more reliable in my opinion than greatschools.com), there were 436 white students at Roosevelt. Not nearly as many as decades ago, but still a large amount that a white kid going there wouldn't "stand out". Bowie High School had 549 in 2011, so whites are a minority but not necessarily an anomaly. I will mention however that I wouldn't recommend white kids go to any school in the county, but those two are probably the ones where they would be least likely to stand out.
I also think as far as the other schools it depends on what you are looking for. Even though ERHS is the best, there are some good programs within certain schools like Oxon Hill and Flowers, which both have Science and Tech programs like Roosevelt. These are programs that I believe you also have to test in, but these programs are like schools within schools. The overall schools are generally bad though, I can admit that.
But just curious, when have you seen bullying of white kids? I've seen bullying period. I think it's an issue in schools regardless of race. It has gotten out of hand.
I grew up in Ft. Washington. Black kids bullying white kids was pretty normal. It got worse as the black population increased and the white population dwindled. I don't want to sound like I didn't love
my childhood in Fort Washington. I absolutely did. I had great friends representing several different races.
To be clear, I myself was never really bullied but I was jumped a couple of times. Again, this kind of thing was common knowledge back in the day. There was no attempt to hide this behavior in the years that I'm speaking of. It was quite common. As a matter of fact I still remember that nasty little chant while I was fighting off the first attacker. It went like this..... "Its a fight, a fight, n----- and a white! If the n----- don't win we ALL jump in! And they did exactly that. Yeah there was no hiding this stuff back then. It was pretty much just another day. I think you asked me if I was jumped because I was white. The answer is I'm not sure. Perhaps the initial conflict was for a reason outside of my skin color but I always felt like the "pile on" was because I was white. Again, this didn't happen to just me. This was pretty normal.
To keep in line with the OP's original purpose of this thread, please don't send your child to PG schools.
To the OP, while Roosevelt is best HS in the County (mainly because of the Sci-Tech magnet program), Bowie HS is another option. It is ok, and it has the college prep-oriented Summit Program (which your son would have to test into). Flowers HS and Oxon Hill HS also sci-tech magnets.
I live fairly close to Bowie HS and have seen the students at dismissal. Many of them are white. In fact, the neighborhoods immediately surrounding Bowie HS are heavily if not mostly white. I daresay that many students at Roosevelt are white as well. I have not heard stories about white children getting jumped in these high schools. I don't want to be presumptuous about the OP's race. But the racial divisiveness being spewed here needs to stop.
Thanks Bowian did not intend to start such a devicive and emotional discussion. I am shocked by the polarized responses to what I thought would be a cut and dry issue. Rethinking options
Again, I'm not wasting keystrokes debating on someone who doesn't have a formidable argument, to begin with. You are posturing in a vain attempt to prove a point you don't even have to begin with... a point that is stuck in the 80s with your mentality and has little to no relevance on current day affairs. GreatSchools is not the say all to end all. I'm quite sure more (knowledgeable) peopele use U.S. News and World Report statistics, to measure the successes of failures of schools. According to the data provided, Northwestern is by no means a stellar school, but it isn't bad. I'm not going to entertain someone who's using grossly outdated information from three decades ago, as a basis for a current day argument that's rife with errors. Good day.
Is 1995 three decades ago?
comprehend what you read. And quit pulling your outdated race card. It's funny how all I have done is recall exactly what I have seen and lived through in my own life in PG, as well as present the indisputable facts that PG county schools are garbage and I get called ignorant. I'm just telling the truth people. YOU HAVE TO WEAR UNIFORMS SO KIDS DON'T FLY COLORS!!!! (yes I am well aware that there are other reasons like kids being cruel if you don't have the nicest stuff and/or causing distractions and/or clothes getting stolen.) All I am saying is that if you think PG has good schools you need to get around more. Perhaps white kids aren't in much danger at Bowie or Roosevelt. I do believe they are unsafe at most PG high schools. Perhaps I'm wrong about that too. I will never put my kids in one to find out though. I base this on my own personal experience growing up in PG county, when the schools were still at least average.
I am not saying I wouldn't send my kid to a majority black school. Just not in PG county. Why? Because there is just too much riff raff to be concerned about in those schools. They are not run well at all.
While I think the poster went over the top. I don't see how citing various examples of success by some students at PG negates his overall negative view of the system.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Khemistry
This is the most grossly ignorant comment I have read in bloody fortnight, on so many levels, and this is coming from someone who has nearly zero faith or confidence in the PGCPS system.
First, addressing the original topic starter... Eleanor Roosevelt is indeed the best high school in Prince George's County, but that's only based on one fact: it has a specialized Science and Technology Center program. While all students can benefit in some way from the S/T Program, students not enrolled in S/T are pretty much going to any other high school in the land. And, FYI, you have to test to get into Science & Tech.
Now, to the simpleton who mashed out the drivel on their keyboard that "every other high school in PG is simply awful," did nothing more than to show how ignorant they really are. You must be a product of one of those simply awful high schools. I have MANY friends of all races — white, black, African, Latino, Asian, and Indian... who graduated with me from PGCPS schools (and specifically Northwestern High School) and these are people who went on to go to ivy league and public ivy schools, and ten years later, are now working in very successful careers and living really good lives. I'm still heavily involved in Northwestern, which is slated to become the areas second Center for the Visual and Performing Arts magnet school, due to how outstanding their fine and performance arts programs are. Just using two of the voice majors in the performing arts department, one girl got accepted into the Shenandoah Conservatory of Music (highly prestigious) and this same student sang with the Metropolitan Washingon Opera and was featured in the Washington Post. Another young lady was accepted into BOTH the Catholic University of America and New York University (NYU) with a $35,000 voice scholarship. Another former NHS student is now a highly accomplished band director in one of the schools in PGCPS, and has a resume that would put you to even more shame than you already are. They have traveled the world and raked up many prestigious honors.
Who the hell are you to make some broad and sweeping statements? Some poorly hidden closet racist who can't even formulate a tangible thought? Your rant sounds like something from some inbred hick. What are all of these "problems" white people will have in PGCPS? Looking at my Facebook friends list, I have white friend after white friend who all graduated with me from PGCPS, and who are all successful and still really good friends. They are married and working in really great careers. Not once have I heard any of them express how miserable they were while in PGCPS. I know MANY white families who are at Northwestern right now, and just had a meeting with three of those families last night. They are all highly involved in the education and while they do not like PGCPS—as a whole—they are extremely happy to have their kids enrolled in the arts program at Northwestern, as it's one of the best not in the county, but in the entire state.
Sell you crazy and biggoted B.S. some place else. PGCPS has more faults than can be presented in a few keystrokes, but don't paint every school and every program in PGCPS as some giant failure. It would take too much of my time to provide proof to negate your erroneous claims that you clearly pulled out of your loose poop shoot, and frankly, you aren't worth the effort. You clearly are a Ft. Washington KID. Stay down down in the boonies and look go listen to some Taylor Swift or something. Peace out, homie. (Catch the sarcasm).
comprehend what you read. And quit pulling your outdated race card. It's funny how all I have done is recall exactly what I have seen and lived through in my own life in PG, as well as present the indisputable facts that PG county schools are garbage and I get called ignorant. I'm just telling the truth people. YOU HAVE TO WEAR UNIFORMS SO KIDS DON'T FLY COLORS!!!! (yes I am well aware that there are other reasons like kids being cruel if you don't have the nicest stuff and/or causing distractions and/or clothes getting stolen.) All I am saying is that if you think PG has good schools you need to get around more. Perhaps white kids aren't in much danger at Bowie or Roosevelt. I do believe they are unsafe at most PG high schools. Perhaps I'm wrong about that too. I will never put my kids in one to find out though. I base this on my own personal experience growing up in PG county, when the schools were still at least average.
I am not saying I wouldn't send my kid to a majority black school. Just not in PG county. Why? Because there is just too much riff raff to be concerned about in those schools. They are not run well at all.
If you ain't sending them to PG you ain't going to send them to any majority Black setting. I can't think of any system in the country that is majority Black that is significantly better than PG.
I think your negativity is based on where in PG you're from, the Southern part. I know when my sister went to Crossland back in the 90s she commented on how the White kids were picked on. In fact since she was also picked on she befriended many of them. Now there are virtually no Whites at Crossland so I guess there is no problem in that regard. I wonder how the Hispanics are faring though?
I grew up in Ft. Washington. Black kids bullying white kids was pretty normal. It got worse as the black population increased and the white population dwindled. I don't want to sound like I didn't love
my childhood in Fort Washington. I absolutely did. I had great friends representing several different races.
To be clear, I myself was never really bullied but I was jumped a couple of times. Again, this kind of thing was common knowledge back in the day. There was no attempt to hide this behavior in the years that I'm speaking of. It was quite common. As a matter of fact I still remember that nasty little chant while I was fighting off the first attacker. It went like this..... "Its a fight, a fight, n----- and a white! If the n----- don't win we ALL jump in! And they did exactly that. Yeah there was no hiding this stuff back then. It was pretty much just another day. I think you asked me if I was jumped because I was white. The answer is I'm not sure. Perhaps the initial conflict was for a reason outside of my skin color but I always felt like the "pile on" was because I was white. Again, this didn't happen to just me. This was pretty normal.
To keep in line with the OP's original purpose of this thread, please don't send your child to PG schools.
My family and I lived in Fort Washington until 1991, I am not familiar with this being common knowledge. I later moved to Accokeek but by then, the area was already starting to change. Fort Washington was becoming the Mitchellville of south PG and finding white people in Fort Washington was few and far between.
I will say that given your anecdote, it appears that you have a very jaded perspective of your experience and you are over exaggerating. Don't get me wrong I don't doubt that there were white kids being attacked and they were being attacked because of their race, but to suggest that this is common knowledge and make this seem like this happened all the time everywhere is ridiculous. When my family moved to Accokeek, a majority of the kids I went to elementary and middle school with were white. There were white kids in my neighborhood and I had a few white friends, and none of them experienced the type of attacks that you explained because there were so many of them. Maybe those attacks happened in certain neighborhoods, but the way that you make it sound, you make it seem as though it happened EVERYWHERE. I mean Bowie, as was mentioned, had and still has a lot of white kids. If these kids were being attacked as you stated because of their race, I would imagine there would be a mutiny up there.
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