With that in mind, I'd like to invite list parents with kids IN SLCs to
comment on Julie Quist's charges that SLCs are too vocationally oriented and career-tracking. (I'm especially interested to hear from parents with kids
not in an IB or Liberal Arts program.)
My daughter just finished 9th grade at Southwest. Her experience was far more positive than anticipated (aren't we all afraid to send our little darlings off to big, bad high school!) Admittedly she is in the Arts & Humanities program (their version of liberal arts) but that was the SLC of her choice as she is an avid reader and into poetry and drama.
The teachers in her program are fantastic. Like most of the teachers she has had in the Mpls public schools, they are teaching her to think for herself and not just to read and regurgitate info but to put it in context, analyze it, critique it, draw conclusions and then test those conclusions. I don't think she is missing anything by not being in the college prep program.
My daughter is very bright but because she has a learning disability, she would have had difficulty with the pace and pressure of the college prep program. I've looked at the curriculum and spoken with parents whose kids are in that program and it is really pretty high-end. I disagree with the assessment that it is the average curriculum and the other SLC curricula are dumbed down. That is certainly not the case with the Arts & Humanities SLC at Southwest. In fact, the course materials my daughter brings home are fascinating and have led to many hours of interesting discussions in our household.
I'm no expert in this field but I don't think it hurts a student to be in a program that draws from a particular set of disciplines or orientation to present the information, as long as the students get the info they need. For example, when my daughter's literature class was studying classical oratory, the civics class was studying political speech and the science class was teaching about sound waves. I don't recall how the math class got in on the act.
One of the other things that seems to be working about this SLC concept is that students move together in cohorts of about 100 students each. There are opportunities to meet other students outside of the cohort but by being part of that smaller group that has classes together, etc. the students have a better chance to feel a part of something comfortable and familiar, which I think is very important in schools the size of our local high schools. The teachers work in teams with particular cohorts and this allows them to get to know their students better. The level of communication I've had with her teachers and their familiarity with my daughter's work have far exceeded my expectations.
I'm glad people are concerned enough to talk about what is happening in our schools and about school funding. I'm hopping mad at Pawlenty for cutting the school budgets--the one area that should always be fully funded no matter what. I'm not involved politically in the school system and have no vested interest other than being an "end user" of the system. But I have to say, as someone who comes from down south (my daughter was born in New Orleans), the schools here are fantastic compared to most other places and I'm grateful to the dedicated, good people who are teaching our kids.
Michelle Gross
Bryn Mawr
TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.)
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