5 ms·

> According to data from the Education Department, calculus is not even offered in most schools that serve a large number of Black and Latino students. The dat

by high_5 5y ago

> According to data from the Education Department, calculus is not even offered in most schools that serve a large number of Black and Latino students. The data mentioned does not show if the problem is in the schools or the Black/Latino students picking such schools.

joe-collins 5y ago
Students don't typically pick their high schools. They're sorted into one based on their address. Transfers are possible, within enrollment limits, and subject to a parent's willingness to go through the paperwork, but they're certainly not the norm.
amcoastal 5y ago
I'm going to guess you just have no idea how schooling works in the US. Otherwise I'd be super interested in your theory that the poorest parents are spending resources to take their kids out of their way to shittier schools.
- Dma54rhs 5y ago
  I'm not an American, so can you tell me? Don't you have some sort of state or national standards every school has to cover?
  - lotsofpulp 5y ago
    No. Every state is different, and even within states, every county/city can be different, and even within county/city, different school districts can be different. My city of 200k people has two different school districts led by different people. I am assuming there are some standards tied to federal government funding, or maybe standards at the state level. Generally though, you want to live in the more expensive parts of town because those schools will be better managed (and obviously have a more capable cohort of students due to them being kids of richer parents). When buying a house, the basic question all couples with kids face is "what is the least expensive house in the most expensive neighborhood" in order for their kids to attend the better schools (assuming the parents are not rich enough to send them to $20k+ per year private schools). It is one of the reasons the SAT and Advanced Placement test scores is (or was back in my day) so prominent in determining admittance to college. They are optional tests that kids take to show their proficiency.
  - vgel 5y ago
    Sort of, it's complicated, but that's also not related to what GGP said? They were claiming parents could choose schools, which is not true (at least, in most of the US). Whether schools are pf consistent quality (they aren't really) is a separate issue.
    - Jensson 5y ago
      Don't students get to pick even in high school? High school is when education between kids starts to diverge so you need a way to select where to go at that stage, USA doesn't let you do that unless you pay for private school?
      - amcoastal 5y ago
        Nope. You can choose classes within your school, but if you go to a shitty school you're out of luck. This is why initiatives like this are so important. And comments like the original one that started this thread are ignorant at best, and when made into a political viewpoint, oppressive.
        Jensson 5y ago
        Well, to me and probably many others it is unthinkable that students wouldn't be able to pick their high school. But thanks for explaining, now I think I understand better why American college is structured as it is. I always wondered why American colleges offered high school courses, but if students cannot reliably take high school courses then colleges needs to offer those to all the students who couldn't take them in high school.
        vgel 5y ago
        This is also, in similar theme to my other comment, because high schools aren't standardized and have often wildly different curricula, even between high-quality high schools. Colleges do a ton of work to smooth this out, from offering high-school courses for freshmen to re-normalizing GPAs to account for different grading scales between schools.
- kvakerok 5y ago
  You're assuming they believe that lack of calculus makes schools shittier.
catlikesshrimp 5y ago
"The data mentioned does not show if the problem is in the schools or the Black/Latino students picking such schools" This wording is so wrong. You can't say that the Black/Latino Students are the problem in any context. You can't say Race-People-problem. Can't.

by high_5 5y ago

joe-collins 5y ago

Students don't typically pick their high schools. They're sorted into one based on their address. Transfers are possible, within enrollment limits, and subject to a parent's willingness to go through the paperwork, but they're certainly not the norm.

amcoastal 5y ago

I'm going to guess you just have no idea how schooling works in the US. Otherwise I'd be super interested in your theory that the poorest parents are spending resources to take their kids out of their way to shittier schools.

Dma54rhs 5y ago
I'm not an American, so can you tell me? Don't you have some sort of state or national standards every school has to cover?
- lotsofpulp 5y ago
  No. Every state is different, and even within states, every county/city can be different, and even within county/city, different school districts can be different. My city of 200k people has two different school districts led by different people. I am assuming there are some standards tied to federal government funding, or maybe standards at the state level. Generally though, you want to live in the more expensive parts of town because those schools will be better managed (and obviously have a more capable cohort of students due to them being kids of richer parents). When buying a house, the basic question all couples with kids face is "what is the least expensive house in the most expensive neighborhood" in order for their kids to attend the better schools (assuming the parents are not rich enough to send them to $20k+ per year private schools). It is one of the reasons the SAT and Advanced Placement test scores is (or was back in my day) so prominent in determining admittance to college. They are optional tests that kids take to show their proficiency.
- vgel 5y ago
  Sort of, it's complicated, but that's also not related to what GGP said? They were claiming parents could choose schools, which is not true (at least, in most of the US). Whether schools are pf consistent quality (they aren't really) is a separate issue.
  - Jensson 5y ago
    Don't students get to pick even in high school? High school is when education between kids starts to diverge so you need a way to select where to go at that stage, USA doesn't let you do that unless you pay for private school?
    - amcoastal 5y ago
      Nope. You can choose classes within your school, but if you go to a shitty school you're out of luck. This is why initiatives like this are so important. And comments like the original one that started this thread are ignorant at best, and when made into a political viewpoint, oppressive.
      - Jensson 5y ago
        Well, to me and probably many others it is unthinkable that students wouldn't be able to pick their high school. But thanks for explaining, now I think I understand better why American college is structured as it is. I always wondered why American colleges offered high school courses, but if students cannot reliably take high school courses then colleges needs to offer those to all the students who couldn't take them in high school.
        vgel 5y ago
        This is also, in similar theme to my other comment, because high schools aren't standardized and have often wildly different curricula, even between high-quality high schools. Colleges do a ton of work to smooth this out, from offering high-school courses for freshmen to re-normalizing GPAs to account for different grading scales between schools.
kvakerok 5y ago
You're assuming they believe that lack of calculus makes schools shittier.

catlikesshrimp 5y ago

"The data mentioned does not show if the problem is in the schools or the Black/Latino students picking such schools" This wording is so wrong. You can't say that the Black/Latino Students are the problem in any context. You can't say Race-People-problem. Can't.