By adamg on Sun., 4/24/2016 - 11:43 am
The Globe points out, again, that the city's premier exam school is mostly white and Asian in a city where kids are mostly black and Hispanic. But this time, the Globe looks at some of the reasons, including that a program started to help black and Latino students prepare for the entrance exam has increasingly become a resource for well off white kids
"If you are going to get disadvantaged kids into the exam school," said [a woman who runs an ISEE test-prep center in West Roxbury], "you need to stop subsidizing free ISEE test prep for people who are going away to Europe in the summer and live in condos [worth] over half a million dollars."
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I almost envy people like you
By adamg
Tue, 04/26/2016 - 7:21am
It must be so much easier to go through life without any sense of empathy whatsoever.
No parent should feel guilty about doing what's best for their kid. At the same time, those of us who do that can still feel there is something wrong with a system where not everybody has the same opportunity as our kids.
I thought well-off white
By maria c
Sun, 04/24/2016 - 5:40pm
I thought well-off white parents sent their offspring to schools advertised in Boston Magazine.
Even well-off white parents
By Sock_Puppet
Mon, 04/25/2016 - 5:48am
don't mind saving a few hundred thousand dollars by sending their kid to BLS.
If you're really thinking hard about BB&N
By Sally
Mon, 04/25/2016 - 8:23am
BLS is not going to cut it for you. It's a terrific school and yes they have an endowment but let's not pretend like it has anything like the resources of a private school or even a Newton North. It's a pretty scrappy, barebones place in terms of...well, everything--class size, amenities, sports and arts facilities, guidance, etc.
That's one woman's opinion
By Sock_Puppet
Mon, 04/25/2016 - 8:44am
But there are people who pull their kids out of BB&N, and Shady Hill, and Park, and all of the most glossy magazine-worthy private schools in the area because they think the education their kids will get at BLS is better.
There are a few
By Sally
Mon, 04/25/2016 - 10:27am
but they're by no means a huge number. The West Roxbury folks who apparently make up a fifth of the school aren't generally in the demographic who are considering spending $50k a year for high school. And again, if money were no object, your kid was accepted, and you were comparing the resources offered by Winsor or Roxbury Latin with BLS, it'd be a pretty tough comparison.
I'm sure there are better examples
By Sock_Puppet
Mon, 04/25/2016 - 5:16pm
Roxbury Latin neither has particularly impressive facilities (nothing like Nobles, Milton, or Dexter), nor is particularly expensive (likewise). There is plenty that RL lacks and BLS has, which might make a kid prefer BLS, even if the tuition isn't a stretch for mom and dad.
That said, it's apparent we know different people. And it's also true that folks I know don't all think the same about BLS.
Some folks I know think BLS is as good or better than most area private high schools. Others think it only looks good in context - it is just a normal high school surrounded by a system that sucks bad.
What do you think?
My bad example.
By Sally
Tue, 04/26/2016 - 8:07am
I said RL not really thinking--I have two uncles who went there on full scholarships back in the day and it was pretty transformative though also brutal in some of the same ways BLS used to be. But you're right--it seems like a much more down to earth place than a lot of the other private schools.
I'm still not sure though what tremendous resources BLS has that would make it more appealing for parents choosing between it and most privates. The sports program always seemed very hit or miss in terms of facilities and resources (though football seemed to soak up most of the money). The music programs are pretty great but seem to be driven mostly by the hard work and personalities of the people who run them. And the academics...just given the school's status, they seem crazily uneven. Some total rock star teachers, also a lot of lunatics.
So yes--I guess I have very mixed feelings. It was a great place for my kid--it was truly transformative. But we also came away with uneasy feelings that it could and should be better than it is.
Here's what some folks think of BLS, Sally
By Sock_Puppet
Sun, 05/01/2016 - 10:38am
http://www.bostonmagazine.com/images/uploads/pdf/bostonprivate.pdf
ISEE is for everyone.
By Rick C
Sun, 04/24/2016 - 7:15pm
And if some do not utilize it there isn't much you can do.
"when the alumni association reduced its contributions, the Boston public schools increased their own, and the offer was extended to the children of all taxpayers."
Seems fair enough to me. Unless you want to exclude a child because of his or her race it has to be open to ALL..
Instead of pulling down BLS
By Hugo
Sun, 04/24/2016 - 9:09pm
Instead of pulling down BLS in order to achieve some desired ethnic or racial diversity, how about pulling up all the elementary and middle schools in Boston which should give everyone a fair (or better) chance at getting in to BLS?
Of course its just easier to make BLS easier to get into so that's probably the approach the City will take.
A modest suggestion for Boston Latin
By Cotton Mather
Mon, 04/25/2016 - 7:29am
Here's an idea...
How about BLS direct that part/most of the annual revenue it sees from it's endowment ($5.4m last year: http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/24/politics/charles-koc...) be used to fund free test prep for all comers, with an emphasis on underserved Boston neighborhoods. Regardless of racial composition. Effectively, use the the endowment to make the test prep free, to really level the playing field.
They have the dough. There isn't another school in Boston that has that kind of dough. (I googled "Madison Park High School endowment" and the internet laughed at me....) Solves the problem on the ground, and makes them look a lot less like priggish, selfish weenies.
How Much You Willing To Pony Up?
By John Costello
Mon, 04/25/2016 - 7:43am
I gave $852 (!?!) last year and I have indicated that it should go towards art and theatre programs at the school. Even though I did not participate in any theatre nor any arts program at the school.
That's where I want my money to go, not to supplement a Bolling Building Financial Black Hole.
Latin still is a public school and basic learning skills should still be the taxpayers responsibility, with BLS and the other schools.
If you want to pay for test prep, jump in long dead former Dot Rat. My money isn't going to be siphoned off for "team building" exercises or new chairs for political hires in Dudley Square.
Get usef
By Sock_Puppet
Mon, 04/25/2016 - 7:57am
To the Internet laughing at you. No way in hell is the blsa going to turn over its endowment to the bps.
There is too much emphasis on test prep. If a kid is actually smart, he doesn't need test prep just to get into BLS. If massive test prep is the only thing that gets a kid into school, he's not going to benefit from the school as much as a kid who got in without it.
That said, it is unfair if middle class white kids (like our host's daughter) get to stack the deck with intensive test prep if less fortunate kids don't. That is certainly an issue the bps should address.
As so many have said, the bps should stop whining about how few minority* students go to BLS and work on preparing more to do so. IMHO, less time on tests is needed, but YMMV. How about the BPS produce minority* scholars who don't even need test prep? Work on that, Mr. Chang, not another scheme to get around lack of readiness.
The BLS endowment is and should be used to support the activities of current students, not to address social justice issues outside the school. Trying to make the school more welcoming for the black and Hispanic students who are there fits the purpose. Paying into another bps scheme doesn't.
I think Bill Maher has a point
By bulgingbuick
Mon, 04/25/2016 - 7:54am
with this plain nose on face monologue.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bill-maher-is-...
I went to bps my whole life
By SOWABOS
Mon, 04/25/2016 - 6:38pm
I went to bps my whole life and my family and I never knew their were test prep classes aimed at the majority minority for exam schools. I know giving the opportunity to take these classes I would've went to an exam school.
I agree it's unfortunate
By Sock_Puppet
Mon, 04/25/2016 - 6:47pm
You missed your chance to participle.
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