The smart kids weren't picked on because they were the school leaders and to me, that is the point. I think that the selective schools in JCPS are very good schools, but the flip side of it is that for every good school there is also one that is awful. Would those schools be better if they had the leadership of some of the strong students that are concentrated into a few schools? If you have 400 kids per grade, that means you are going to have about 16 freshman, sophmore etc english classes. Four, five or six levels doesn't seem too hard. Out of 400, you should be able to find enough kids for a Calculus A/B section and a Calculus B/C section. Same for a pretty wide selection of AP courses. Finding enough teachers for all of those AP classes might be the bigger problem. As I said in an earlier post. The high schools in Jefferson County are large enough for all levels to be taught at all schools.

No they would be the nerds and get marginalized like they were in middle school and elementary school, public schools are a different beast than Catholic Schools, there exist a portion of the population that has kids but doesn't care about them or their education, and those kids are angry little kids.

No they would be the nerds and get marginalized like they were in middle school and elementary school, public schools are a different beast than Catholic Schools, there exist a portion of the population that has kids but doesn't care about them or their education, and those kids are angry little kids.

:thumb:

 

Haven't we covered the myriad and hideous public school dysfunctions of discipline on this site?

 

Like Todd Snider says in the Ballad of the Kingsmen: "And like a lot of skinny, long haired public high school kids, he was sick of getting beaten up by the pulling guard all week, only to go out on the weekends and watch the quarterback get all the girls."

But Male and Manuals Academic success is because they get to pick and choose students. They don't have to take kids like the rest of Jefferson County. You can't compare yestedays cats scores against other louisville schools. a school like Fern Creek will never have scores like male or manual, never. Because they don't get to pick anyone and kick anyone out.

Manual does have advantage in academics, because Manual has the best programs and does turn away students that can't cut it. But they aren't recruiting the best and brightest, the best and brightest are applying and getting in there is a difference. If Manual wasn't an option, the majority of those Manual kids that could afford it would go to Catholic or other private schools, not Moore and Fern Creek, I mean I visited Eastern, I was not going to Eastern, even if Manual didn't take me I would have done whatever I could to get into St. X if Manual wasn't an option. So take that story somewhere else, Manual and Male are great because they allow people to go to public schools and still get an education instead of getting beat up or being bored in class while the teacher is taking kids to the office for fighting or explaining things to the slow kids.

Yeah and JCPS allows them to have that unfair advantage. Manual and Male are public privates.

There are hundreds of students at Manual that take classes at U of L each year, on top of their normal AP classes at Manual.

 

There are so many National Merit kids each year, that they make up a double digit percentage of the Senior Class.

 

On top of that, Manual is its own region in Science Fair, and owns a disproportionate percentage of the St. James Art Fair and Gold Key Scholarships for art.

 

So those kids at Manual wouldn't be mational merit students if they went to a real public school? These kids would still be great kids without Manual.

So those kids at Manual wouldn't be mational merit students if they went to a real public school? These kids would still be great kids without Manual.

Manual is a real public school, Moore is just a poorer acheiving public school. That is the difference. Look around, the regular program homeschool highschool is a dinosaur, the rest of JCPS is going toward Mangets and Traditional programs. Manual does offer those kids something that they want, they are totally free to go to Moore or the other schools, they want to go to Manual, and if they are lucky will get in. This is something I agree with the privates on, parents should have the right to chose the school that will give there kid the best chance for success, my problem with the private schools only has to do with certain apperences of impropriety connected to financial aid and title 9 concerns. But outside of that, Moore doesn't own rights to kids in their area, those kids should be free to go to Central's medical program, Male's traditional program, Manual's Math Science and Technology program, or if they can pay tuition, St.X or Trinity. That is not hurting Moore area kids that is providing them with a choice, Moore is hurting it's self by not offering a program smart kids want to go to. Trust me I didn't go to Manual from living in Fisherville because I was forced to, or because I like 2 hour long bus trips that I have to meet at 5:30 in the morning to catch. I went there because it's Math Science Tech program was cooler and the kids were working on more interesting stuff then when I toured St.X and Eastern.

So those kids at Manual wouldn't be mational merit students if they went to a real public school? These kids would still be great kids without Manual.

Not all of them. The level of education they recieve does have something to do with it, you know.

 

They certainly wouldn't be academically challenged the way that they are.

 

They wouldn't have access to taking classes at U of L, or all the AP classes Manual offers (I believe Manual offers more than every other school combined.)

 

Manual is a public high school. You don't pay to go there. There's no REAL difference in Manual existing and having Advanced classes in a 'home based' school. Stratification is stratification, and if you oppose Manual's operation, then when it gets down to it, you might as well say that all students should be taught the same...

So you are saying that teachers at other public schools aren't nearly as good as teachers at Manual?

 

Don't you get that schools like Moore will never raise their test scores up to compete with the Manuals and Males because they don't get the same kids because Manual and Male get to pick the best students in the County while Moore, Western, Southern just have to take what they get. And don't you also get that the board decides which schools get what programs? Schools have to ask the board to get an advanced program. You can't just put one up. They have to give you permission.

Not advanced program, Thomam, AP- Advanced Placement, as in, courses you take to prepare you for AP tests, which give you college credit. :thumb:

Also, raising their scores to compete with Manual and Male is not the point. The point should be to raise their scores to better prepare the students that they cater to, and Manual and Male will do the same. :thumb:

And I'm not saying that the teachers at Manual are better than the rest of JCPS, I'm saying that their hands aren't tied to teaching at a level below the competence of these top students.

So you are saying that teachers at other public schools aren't nearly as good as teachers at Manual?

 

Don't you get that schools like Moore will never raise their test scores up to compete with the Manuals and Males because they don't get the same kids because Manual and Male get to pick the best students in the County while Moore, Western, Southern just have to take what they get. And don't you also get that the board decides which schools get what programs? Schools have to ask the board to get an advanced program. You can't just put one up. They have to give you permission.

You keep using the word pick and that is not the right word. They accept the top students. To say they pick the top students implys that the students are chosen and don't have a choice and are stolen from other schools. Look at it this way, if Manual and Male didn't exist then other schools would not get the students that live in Germantown and Old Louisville and around Preston Highway good and bad students and good and bad athletes that currently go to other JCPS schools. It evens out, students and Parents pick the schools that they want to go to, if they can cut the mustard and get lucky in the lottery, then they can get to go to Male and Manual and the other JCPS programs, if not then they either have the choice to go back to a school like Moore or go to the private schools if they have the means or are informed of finacial aid possiblities and encouraged to go to a private school at little league games. Manual isn't lineing up kids in your area and forcing them to come to Manual or promising them finacial aid, they simply say if you want to come you have to apply and you might make it in.

That is a true statement, they think they are doing what is right. I don't agree with them but I respect that their intentions aren't "evil". If you don't get that then think and say what you want but my conscience is clear either way. I understand completely why the privates are mad, the key to their supremacy is being put into jeopardy, I get that. Why can't you get that the publics are going to want to do what is in their interest? You don't have to agree with it, I know I don't, but I understand why they are doing this.

 

 

You DON'T get it! The private schools are always looking to better themselves and improving. The fact that they do is a testament to that committment. However, we are not mad because "our supremecy is being put in jeopardy". That's insulting! We are upset because we have followed the rules, and we have succeeded, and now, our programs are being targeted for competitve elimination with the publics. The fact of the matter is that we LOVE when the public school teams are successful. I don't know if you've noticed, but we don't schedule lightly. Trinity is not blessed with the strongest district, but they make up for it by playing teams like, Elder, MBA, Cincy X, and oh yeah...you guys.

 

It's funny how the pest interest of the publics is what is being pushed. The fact of the matter is that it won't wind up being the best for the publics....because overall, private or public, it is NOT what's in the best interest of the kids.

You keep using the word pick and that is not the right word. They accept the top students. To say they pick the top students implys that the students are chosen and don't have a choice and are stolen from other schools. Look at it this way, if Manual and Male didn't exist then other schools would not get the students that live in Germantown and Old Louisville and around Preston Highway good and bad students and good and bad athletes that currently go to other JCPS schools. It evens out, students and Parents pick the schools that they want to go to, if they can cut the mustard and get lucky in the lottery, then they can get to go to Male and Manual and the other JCPS programs, if not then they either have the choice to go back to a school like Moore or go to the private schools if they have the means or are informed of finacial aid possiblities and encouraged to go to a private school at little league games. Manual isn't lineing up kids in your area and forcing them to come to Manual or promising them finacial aid, they simply say if you want to come you have to apply and you might make it in.

 

Nice, Ram....real nice. You know the drill. If you know something, then report it to the KHSAA.

Manual does have advantage in academics, because Manual has the best programs and does turn away students that can't cut it. But they aren't recruiting the best and brightest, the best and brightest are applying and getting in there is a difference. If Manual wasn't an option, the majority of those Manual kids that could afford it would go to Catholic or other private schools, not Moore and Fern Creek, I mean I visited Eastern, I was not going to Eastern, even if Manual didn't take me I would have done whatever I could to get into St. X if Manual wasn't an option. So take that story somewhere else, Manual and Male are great because they allow people to go to public schools and still get an education instead of getting beat up or being bored in class while the teacher is taking kids to the office for fighting or explaining things to the slow kids.

 

This is a very good point. If JCPS didn't offer high quality optional programs, many who are currently enrolled at Male and Manual would opt for private schools. That is the reason why I believe private school vouchers (if they are ever approved), will not get much traction in Jefferson County--because there are already excellent optional programs available through the JCPS. The sad fact of the matter is that there are way too many kids whose parents don't care about their education, and are not involved. There always have been and there always will be. No re-distribution of high achieving students will make these neglectful parents care about their kids, nor will the presence of bright students in the same school lift these kids to a higher level of achievement.