school anxiety!

[flea]

Applications to magnet elementary schools in Cincinnati occur November 16. As Cincinnati magnet schools operate on a first-come, first-served basis, parents are now camping out outside the top schools, to get a preferred place in line for when the name-taking begins on Nov. 16. Which, you may note, is still 10 days away. An acquaintance posted to twitter from the line (in a tent? mr. flea suggested we drive by the school and see!) with the hashtag #occupyfairview. Note the inherent favoritism in this system not only for the organized and dedicated parents, but also for the parents with the resources, support, and flexibility to camp out for 10 days. What do single parents, families with two working parents, families with small children at home (which must be in a majority, as most of the camping out is for K enrollment) do? It's beautiful weather today, but generally in the low 40s overnight. Surely there is a less cruel way?

This is why my kids attend a "neighborhood" elementary school.

Just for shits and giggles, I looked into the application procedures for the magnet K-12 school for the creative and performing arts. For students entering K-3, you fill our forms and go for an interview. For students entering grades 4 and above, you fill our forms, get written recommendations from academic and art teachers, and audition. 4th and 5th graders submit a portfolio of visual art, a portfolio of writing, sing "America the Beautiful" (in the key of F), perform a short dramatic monologue (from the beginning of Charlotte's Web), are asked to turn up in a leotard (and those with dance experience are asked to submit a photo in first arabesque), and those with experience in musical instruments are asked to play.

I think getting into college might be simpler. Can we move back to small-town Georgia for the sake of the kids' education, please? Or at least for the sake of my stress level about it?

Comments

[jesseh]

Holy crap, that is insane! I can't imagine camping out like that for 10 days, even taking turns with a partner. "I need to take a few vacation days this week -- yeah, my kid is 4."

[mme_hardy]

Ten DAYS???????? Dear God. In a semi-sane school system, the administration would observe this behavior and set up a lottery. (Indeed, in some insane school systems I've seen there was a lottery.)

[veejane]

So basically, to get into an arts magnet school you have to be planning to apply to Juilliard? Bleh. Are middle-American parents just insanely competitive, or are ordinary schools that bad? Honestly! Have these people ever met a 4th grader??

[loligo]

FFS, that is crazy -- all of it! Yeah, we will definitely stick with our small-town schools here.