Those ‘great’ Montgomery County schools? They were once. Maybe they can be again. (Silver Spring: home, elementary schools)

[AeroGuyDC]

Originally Posted by hbosch80

Not surprising. education is really a cultural thing and by that I mean family culture. If a child of any ethnic background is not achieving highly in school, its because the parents arent being active and proactive when it come to their childs education. Many parents leave scholastic achievement up to the child, especially as they get older, not realizing that allowing your child to do well or not at their whim is no different than letting them eat nothing but ice cream, doritos, and candy bars simply because thats what they feel like eating. Youre the adult, youre the parent, so parent.

True. But family culture is not mutually exclusive from the many subcultures that pervade society.

Somewhere along the way, minority cultures devolved into a subculture whereas the family unit became less important and multiple children out of wedlock and fatherless children became accepted. Study after study after study have shown that the demise of the family unit directly corresponds with many, if not most, of society's ills, including children not doing well in school.

Contrary to popular opinion, the baby mama can't do it all. And she doesn't do it all, as shown in many many aspects, including teaching the importance of a good education.

We, as a society, can rightfully point fingers at family culture, but we as a society must not let society itself off the hook for cultivating a culture that allows
(and even encourages) men and women to procreate without taking full responsibility for the spawn he/she generates.

[EdwardA]

Diversity or bust, MoCo council presses school officials to consider changing boundaries to close achievement gap. I guess they're determined to push out the remaining Whites & Asians.


Montgomery schools may explore boundary changes to address achievement gap - The Washington Post

The Montgomery County Council pressed school officials Monday to consider shifting attendance boundaries to make schools more economically and racially diverse — a potential and politically volatile remedy for a persistent achievement gap.

In Montgomery, the question of how students are assigned to neighborhood schools until now has largely been absent from the debate over how to close the troubling achievement gap. Such plans, like the one currently being considered for D.C. schools, inevitably trigger rancorous community debates. Boundary changes in the 151,000-student system have focused on accommodating enrollment increases and the opening of new schools.

But several council members told Superintendent Joshua P. Starr at a meeting of the council’s education committee on Monday that the idea of shifting students to address a gap in academic achievement merits serious consideration.

[TheCaliforniaMarylandPers]

I'm so confused. I thought Montgomery County Public Schools are some of the "best" in the country? I personally don't think there is anything wrong with the MoCo schools. Maybe there's a few that aren't the best, but they're probably not as bad as people make them sound. I'm sure they're all nothing below average. I've taught at both some above average high schools and some high schools that failed to meet the state's standards back in California. And I'm pretty sure California schools have lower standards than Maryland schools do. And let me tell you this, you will find a lot of hard working kids at ANY high school. to me, it looks like Maryland schools have super high standards, and it is blinding them from seeing all the improvements their "bad" schools are making. A school that is rated a 6 in Maryland on greatschools could be rated an 8 or even a 9 if it was in some other states. It is a good thing to have outstanding school's like Walt Whitman, Winston Churchill, etc, but at the same time, those other schools are just as amazing in their own ways. Maybe they don't have test scores as high, but they all strive to accomplish the goal of high school: giving teens their diploma's and sending them to the next chapter in a successful way. You can't just put down the other high schools and make them feel like crap. To me it seems that the rich schools get more attention, so they perform better. Maybe if the lower performing schools got a bit more attention, they would perform better. I agree with them that there needs to be more diversity in the schools, but instead of only noticing the flaws in the school system, take a minute to recognize what each high school has accomplished. I'm pretty sure all of these school's came a long way to be where they are today. A lot of the kids in the lower performing schools have parents that don't care about their education, or some parents that try but struggle economically. Those kids have nobody to go to for help. Instead of focusing on the test scores, they should focus on the kids. they should be there for the kids to make sure they have everything they need to succeed and that they're happy. Maybe if Maryland schools didn't pay too much attention to the bad things about themselves, you'd have better results.

[e30is]

Originally Posted by EdwardA

Diversity or bust, MoCo council presses school officials to consider changing boundaries to close achievement gap. I guess they're determined to push out the remaining Whites & Asians.


Montgomery schools may explore boundary changes to address achievement gap - The Washington Post

So much for "tolerance and diversity".

[e30is]

Seems like the County Council is sound to this idea, some schools officials aren't. I'm kind of betting that this won't happen though because of the affluence in the powerful "W" schools. But liberals are always open to change, right?

Student integration posed as fix to achievement gap -- Gazette.Net

[EdwardA]

Originally Posted by e30is

Seems like the County Council is sound to this idea, some schools officials aren't. I'm kind of betting that this won't happen though because of the affluence in the powerful "W" schools. But liberals are always open to change, right?

Student integration posed as fix to achievement gap -- Gazette.Net

Only if doesn't come at their expense. Then they become conservatives.
If the most liberal county, in one of the most liberal states in the country, doesn't have the will to bus within its own borders why should anyone else do it?

[e30is]

Originally Posted by EdwardA

Only if doesn't come at their expense. Then they become conservatives.
If the most liberal county, in one of the most liberal states in the country, doesn't have the will to bus within its own borders why should anyone else do it?

Too bad their actions won't be imminent. I mean the most important thing is to diversify the schools, not focus on the real problem right?

[Moth]

Originally Posted by e30is

Seems like the County Council is sound to this idea, some schools officials aren't. I'm kind of betting that this won't happen though because of the affluence in the powerful "W" schools. But liberals are always open to change, right?

Student integration posed as fix to achievement gap -- Gazette.Net

The bleeding heart liberals in my neighborhood are universally against this as are most liberals everywhere.

They try this and our counsel reps will be summoned to the gallows.

[TheCaliforniaMarylandPers]

I personally hope the redistricting goes through. It would benefit everyone. Especially since those school boundaries look quite wicked, and some of those kids probably live closer to the "W' schools anyways. It would make their schools more diverse racially, socially, and economically. And those things are very important factors for a well rounded high school. I think this could help the powerful "W" schools and all the other affluent MoCo schools become more aware of people from other backgrounds both racially and economically. It will help unify people from different backgrounds together. I think most affluent MoCo residents in the powerful "W" schools districts are against this because they are too used to the way they are now. I'm pretty sure those schools have been affluent and majority white for a very long time now. They're known for being that way. Another reason they could be against is it because they want their schools to look "nice" in front of outsiders to impress them. They believe that if a school is affluent and majority white, then that must mean their school is prestigious. That is not the case at all. Diversity makes a school look much more beautiful. They represent and acknowledge all the different kinds of teens we have today.

[EdwardA]

Originally Posted by TheCaliforniaMarylandPers

I personally hope the redistricting goes through. It would benefit everyone. Especially since those school boundaries look quite wicked, and some of those kids probably live closer to the "W' schools anyways. It would make their schools more diverse racially, socially, and economically. And those things are very important factors for a well rounded high school. I think this could help the powerful "W" schools and all the other affluent MoCo schools become more aware of people from other backgrounds both racially and economically. It will help unify people from different backgrounds together. I think most affluent MoCo residents in the powerful "W" schools districts are against this because they are too used to the way they are now. I'm pretty sure those schools have been affluent and majority white for a very long time now. They're known for being that way. Another reason they could be against is it because they want their schools to look "nice" in front of outsiders to impress them. They believe that if a school is affluent and majority white, then that must mean their school is prestigious. That is not the case at all. Diversity makes a school look much more beautiful. They represent and acknowledge all the different kinds of teens we have today.

I hope they do this too.