<p>@proud_mom: I got that notion over in the financial aid forum. It was people who were upset that their EFC was too high, and their insistence that their younger children’s private school tuition wasn’t a lifestyle choice, but a necessity because of the condition of FL public schools. It was more of the elitist nonsense that pops up on CC. I hear it in real life sometimes, at church or at swim team. There is one mother who has told me in all seriousness (several times) that an A in public school would be a B at Catholic school, which would be equivalent to a C at her kids’ prep school. I think she clings to that idea because her daughter is a solid C student. I’m very pleased with my children’s K-12 experience in FL public schools.</p>
<p>My S attends a urban HS with close to equal amount of Hispanic and Caucasian students, somewhat less for African Americans. I worry about public education budget cuts and am glad he is graduating this year.</p>
<p>Both my kids attended an urban public high school with substantial low-ses population, and public schools all the way up from kinder. Both attended a top private research U for college, and did/are doing just fine.</p>
<p>My students from private schools are no more academically advanced than my students who have been in public schools their entire lives. (Many times they are behind because some private schools can not offer the variety of courses public schools can or the kids have been spoon fed.) </p>
<p>It always boils down to parental involvement, maturity and dedication on the part of the student and natural ability. I agree that a really bad school environment can stagnate brighter kids, but I really think those schools are fewer in number than the public thinks they are. Dedicated and bright students flourish most anywhere.</p>
<p>Why are posters automatically equating the word “urban” with low SES or racial diversity? I ask because my son attended a suburban high school, very close to our home, and his high school was definitely farther down the socio-economic scale and had more students from lower performing ethnic groups than my daughter’s high school in the city. </p>
<p>I think both of my kids went to public high schools that were excellent fits for them and I am thankful that they both had such great opportunities – but in our case the “suburban” one clearly was the lower-performing, lower-resources school than the “urban” one. (FWIW, we moved to the suburbs when the kids were small because we couldn’t afford to live in the city - so on the economic scale the suburb was a step down, though since I like seeing trees and sky outside my window, it never really seemed that way to me).</p>
<p>Thank you all for sharing your experiences! It sounds like we feel that our kids benefited from their urban public schools (definition loose; some inner ring suburbs have characteristics of urban schools). If we made a sub-topic on urban public school issues, would you participate in this discussion?
For example, some urban issues: achievement gap, parental involvement, financial barriers to participation in extracurriculars, continual quality improvement efforts, NCLB issues, mixing of neighborhoods and groups of kids, magnet programs, school choice, media relations, and many more. Brainstorming about what works with parents across the country and/or world…could be interesting.
Or - does anyone know of a forum that discusses these issues in a positive manner (lotsofquests, some parents and former parents from your school have a group and a blog, but I am proposing an alternative sort of discussion here.)</p>
<p>Calmom:</p>
<p>good question. There are some suburban districts that have lower income families and lower performing schools than ours, definitely. And they are far less well-funded than our school system.</p>
<p>My daughter attends an urban high school in Pennsylvania. About 3700 students - 52% hispanic, 29% white and 19% African American. About 63% of the students receive free lunch and it’s a Title I school. That said, they have excellent AP courses and recent graduates have gone on to Cornell, Brown, Penn, Stanford, Penn State Honors, Yale, Princeton. My daughter has already been accepted into Pitt’s Honors College. We’re waiting on the ivies at the end of March. My daughter has enjoyed being at this school with all the diversity.</p>
<p>I would absolutely participate in such a thread/forum levrim. I’m currently serving on a task force on grading criteria in our school district and I’m extremely involved at our local school. I’ve often said that our urban high school represents both the best and worst that public education can be. I also (mentioned before) have a daughter who has now worked in two inner-city schools and I’ve very interested in what works to close the achievement gap, etc. Please let me know if you start something.</p>
<p>NY Public high schoool parent here.</p>
<p>All my kids attended the same public high school that I attended. When I went there it was 95% white and Jewish. When my youngest recently graduated she was in the minority. LOTS of kids ESL (Farsi, Russian, Spanish, Korean etc.). All races and religions attended as well. The number of kids on reduced/free lunches was not publicized. All my kids classmates ranged from the children of housekeepers to the captains of industry.
We couldn’t keep administrators to save our lives.</p>
<p>So this begs the questions: Is this an “urban” school? Yes. Was it safe? Absolutely. At least one third went to community college instead of the stats when I was there when more than 80% went to four year colleges and universities. Must the district change back to what it was academically? Yes. Will I name the school district? No.</p>
<p>My daughter graduated from the college prep magnet in our city and my son is a sophomore there. The majority is in the minority at that school. Most of the kids are from a low socioeconomic background. Because it is the college prep magnet it takes a certain score level on the state tests to get in, and any student who doesn’t maintain a 2.5 gpa for two semesters is “demitted.” It doesn’t have money for things like a theater department or art supplies. My kids have gotten fine educations. The new superintendent has proposed closing 30 of 60 schools next year. For the first time in 20 years I’m not attending meetings or writing letters in protest. My son’s school is not on the list and we have only two years left.</p>
<p>“I would absolutely participate in such a thread/forum” (to discuss issues affecting urban school districts)
Thanks, mimk6!
Anyone else?</p>