My daughter transferred out of a great school in our home community to go to a math and science oriented selective school. She was bored and her grades slipped. In the school she transferred to, she got her ass kicked for two years and learned to be self-sufficient and learned she would not always be the smartest person in the building. Now she's a CMU SCS alum. I don't know if she could have made it through SCS without that preparation.
My son, on the other hand, thrived in our town's public school. He would have resented going to the school my daughter went through. He would have seen it as unnecessary, even punitive. He is at a very large university and is thriving there, too.
Different kids have different kinds of intelligence and maturity levels at different ages. Some never "fit in" and some kids are the kids everyone likes and have the high school social thing totally under control while pulling straight As.
If you undermine public schools by segregating the smart kids, my son would not have had time to play football, lacrosse, and baseball and teach skiing as his after school job. He would have felt getting good grades was a curse.
My son, on the other hand, thrived in our town's public school. He would have resented going to the school my daughter went through. He would have seen it as unnecessary, even punitive. He is at a very large university and is thriving there, too.
Different kids have different kinds of intelligence and maturity levels at different ages. Some never "fit in" and some kids are the kids everyone likes and have the high school social thing totally under control while pulling straight As.
If you undermine public schools by segregating the smart kids, my son would not have had time to play football, lacrosse, and baseball and teach skiing as his after school job. He would have felt getting good grades was a curse.