2 Black sisters i know who are in their school's Top Twenty have 4.2's, take all honors classes, BUT only scored a 15 on their ACT assesment, and a 880/890 on their SAT. I have a 3.5, take all honors classes, and scored a 29 on ACT and a 1210 on SAT. We both grew up in the inner-cty.The difference between us? I attend a predominantly White school out of our district, while they attend our district's all-Black school.
i used to hate it, cuz half my friends went to the Black school, but now that i'm a senior......i'm GLAD i attended this school.
now b4 you jump down my throat, let me set up my case. As much as I support HBCU's and intend on going to one(FAMU, NCA&T or Hampton), i think when it comes to your college-prep years(high school), attending a White school gives you an advantage. Many(not all, but many) inner-cty schools are sent teachers who REALLY don't want to be there, and who already have low expectations of their Black students. Therefore, they don't push a challenging enough curriculum for their students to score high on standardized tests. There is also less money pumping through inner-city schools, because money is sent to schools based on attendance, and we all know how many people be skippin' class.
I'm not saying these schools perform poorly because they are Black, but i am saying that socioeconomics play a huge role in education, and most Black schools are located in unstable economic areas.
my question to you: To what degree do you believe the racial composition and location of a high school affects how well its students will perform on standardized tests? Would you send YOUR kids to a White school if the one in your district was substandard?
Oh my goodness. I can totally agree with you on that one. I went to a predominantely white school called Woodward Academy in Atlanta, and the whole time I was growing up people would make fun of me and all. They even said I changed and started "acting white" because I attended the school. My friends, who had higher GPA's than I did, did not score as well on their SAT or ACT. But really, I couldn't compare the GPA's since their 3.9's and 4.0's were coming from public schools and my 3.42 came from my private school. Because of the difficulty of my school, the colleges I applied to weighted my GPA, so I really ended up with a 3.8 or so.
Anyways, I believe that the racial composition and location of a school can highly effect a student on their standardized tests. Although it is not the only factor, I believe it plays a large role. My school stressed academic excellence and since the 7th grade, we began preperation for the SAT and ACT and our progess and success were monitered very closely. If we were not on track, then the neccessary actions would be taken to get us there.
I personally would definitely not have a problem sending my child to a white school. I myself am I a product of a white school, and I could not imagine it any other way. I believe my school prepared me well, so even if I had made the decision to attend a PWI, instead of an HBCU, I would succeed either way. I have no regrets about coming to an HBCU though....that's actually what I wanted. My high school did a good job preparing me, but now it is my turn to breakaway and use what they taught me in order to brighten my future.
It is not necessarily just white vs inner city, or white vs black. It is a good neighborhood school against bad/poor neighborhood schools. It can be a black school in a good neighborhood against a poor white school, and the black school normally will have more
I could seriously write a damn book on this topic :x
but I wont...
but at my school (Redan HS)...we have some of the highest scores in the county on the GHSGT (GA HS Graduation Test)...but there are alot of students that really dont take the SAT or any other standardized test that seriously...and nor do the sorry **** teachers... They're constantly shoving the GHSGT down our throats and hardly EVER give us any SAT Prep (there's a SAT Prep class but that's a joke :roll: )...It's like
"We just want you to graduate, we don't care what you do afterwards."
I'm not saying Redan is a bad school because it truly is a great school but the administration could put ALOT more effort into test prep
Would I send my child to a white or black school?
Well, it depends more on the school's academic achievements than the racial makeup...I do notice that the majority white schools have the nicest facilities and textbooks...but It's truly up to the student to take their academic tenure seriously...My parents enrolled me in Magnet and I kinda liked it but I came back to the general education program in middle school...because I'd rather CHOOSE what AP/Gifted courses I want to take based on my academic strongpoints
uhh...so...I would let my child decide where he/she wants to go...because even I sometimes envy schools like Parkview and Chamblee but I wouldn't want to go to ANY school other than the great Redan High
If I want to do good on standardized tests then I have to do it myself and that's fine with me
That's real
I was in the same situation, allmy friends that went to "black" schools are behind in their classes or takin remedial classes. Meanwhile most of my classes have upperclassmen in them
I think that racial makeup of a school has a HUGE factor to do with how u do on SATs and ACTs...I can say that if it were not for me being in Honors and AP classes at a diverse high school, I would not have been prepared to attend a REALLy good college...I went to one of the best high schools in Cleveland, and that really helped. Our valedvictorian attends Stanford and our salututorian (sp?) goes to Case Western, which I would say is a MIdwest Ivy League school...so yeah, going to a predominantly white school does help u prepare better for college...why? Because u have more (and better) resources than other schools.
i'd say that it does make a difference. i go to a private, mostly white school and they're always telling us about SAT this or SAT that. we have a whole center dedicated to college/test prep. our library has practice SAT books in it. we set aside a day where we take the PLAN or the PSAT, depending on your grade level, while some schools have to sign up and pay for it themselves. but i also agree with King_J. it is more neighborhood than race in some areas of the country where there might be a lot of upper middle class/high class people of color, who won't stand to have a substandard school. i would send my children to the best school in our area, and if that school is white, so be it. but me being me i think i would encourage them to go to an HBCU, to get that other side of the coin if they do go to a mostly white school.
I agree with Afropoeticsista on the fact that predominately white schools do prepare you better for college than inner-city schools do. My reasoning on this is because I go to an innercity school in Compton,cali called Centennial and its horrible because most of the kids that go to my school don't really want to to be there, the girls are all trying to be fast or the boys are acting like thugs. I mean 3 years ago, it was worse when I was a freshman with teachers that fell asleep or that got into fights with the students. Now, don't get me wrong being in an inner city environment made me prepared for anything that came my way. But leave no doubt I will be sending my kids to a predominately white school.
Yes i do think it makes a difference....i also think the make up of the school makes a difference as well....
I go to a predominantly white school...which is located in a black neighborhood...now...there are all of...lets see 20 black kids in a school of 500 to 600 students....there are 180 seniors on record...9 of which are black...
I think at city schools...besides the fact that the funding pretty much ****...no one is driving these kids to excel...although there are many smart kids who go to these schools...if the teachers and board of education doesn't put effort into it...you'll see a difference in testing...
Now i live out on Long Island...go to a pretty good school....A LOT OF GENIUS FOLKS OVER HERE...and I MEAN a lot...you got like 75% of the senior class with an Average of like 85 and up...then again thats how it should be as much as these teachers and our principal push us to always make that grade...our principal is like "one of the guys" he's real cool...and he's almost like a father figure to all of the students...the seniors especially because he's been our principal for 7 years (first at Junior High...then he moved to the High school) and just about everybody has this cool personal relationship with him where you can talk about whats goin down this weekend...who's havin that party...and i think that also helps...when i talk to my friends who go to schools in city settings...they dont talk positively about their teachers and principles although im sure there are many nice teachers out there...but like tori said...a lot of city teachers are like forced there and they aren't happy...and if they aren't happy...they aren't going to do what they were called for....
I couldn't agree with this subject more. I also attend a predominantly white school with a population of 2000 kids and about 300-350 are black, now that is not bad considering DuPont Manual is the #1 High School in Kentucky, above even private schools.
Ever since my freshman year SAT's, ACT's, and SAT II's have been stressed. We don't have college prep classes, but they do conduct seminars and free practice tests after school, and force the sophomores to take the PSAT, and the Juniors to take the SAT's, and my school pays for it.
At first I was quite upset that all my friends went to the only predominantly black school in Louisville which is Central High School, and yeah a lot of their GPA's were higher than mine, but they also took honors classes (which in Kentucky is not good, they are like remedial classes). I on the other hand took Advanced Courses and AP Courses, and felt that as I enter college in 2005, I will be more prepared than my counterparts. They scored 20-22 on the SAT, I scored a 29 my first time. I just felt like the funding at my school was stable, and that the stress on taking challenging classes that will benefit you in the long run were more readily available, the teachers were very helpful and wanted you to succeed, and enjoyed their job. Now I want to take these skills I learned and apply them to further my education at an HBCU (CAU!!!), so yes I think I would send my child to a predominantly white school, if the reputation was good, the teachers cared, and the education my child was getting is a wholesome one.
