Troy

cubiczirconia

cubiczirconia

New member
So what's the big deal about Troy? Everybody seems to go there for High School.
Kiddo wants to join (I know there is an entrance test), and I don't think it's a good idea to spend hours in commuting when a 10 API school is in walking distance. But frankly, I have no clue on how great it is than Beckman High or even Northwood High. I asked a few parents with kids at Troy, they seem to focus more on the fact that their kids got in and it's a magnet school. Well, Columbus Tustin was also a magnet school, still 90% of the parents went with Pioneer middle..

Your two cents?
 
Troy slaughtered UNI and Northwood in all categories of the Science Olympiad competition 10 years in a row. For some reasons the students representing the schools were not all that smart in the impromptu situations. They may be a hard working students in studying for tests but they are not clever enough to apply their knowledge to solve everyday science problems.

This year the 2 Irvine schools came closer than the previous years.
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/high-295754-school-schools.html
 
I thought so too. The kids I have met are focused more on tests/ applying to college.. which is fine, but then, isn't high school also the time to have fun? I hear these kids stay up till midnight doing homework, and wake up early morning to get to school on time.
 
The Irvine kids cramped so much studying in taking tests they are not really learning the materials. Tiger moms are training them like circus animals to perform tricks that they become so perfect in several tasks but unable to do a good job if the format is changed.
 
I had two friends who went to Troy magnet, they are now druggies. I know quite a few people who went to Whitney, they talk about the rampant cheating and stress to stay competitive. Great high schools tend to make a difference for marginal kids... it's probably better for bright kids to be a bigger fish in a smaller pond. Although, I fully understand the desire for magnet schools having grown up in Cerritos.
 
Optimus(sub)Prime said:
I had two friends who went to Troy magnet, they are now druggies. I know quite a few people who went to Whitney, they talk about the rampant cheating and stress to stay competitive. Great high schools tend to make a difference for marginal kids... it's probably better for bright kids to be a bigger fish in a smaller pond. Although, I fully understand the desire for magnet schools having grown up in Cerritos.
Click to expand...

I?ve had a difficult time understanding this concept.
Through various activities, we?ve encountered a number of families living in neighboring cities that tell us how much they would love to move and live in Irvine.
When we ask what?s holding you back?
The main reply is the school system and how competitive it is.
The parents prefer to stay put so that their child continues to remain at the top of the class rather than moving to Irvine and run the risk of their child being deemed mediocre.

 
WoodburyDad said:
Optimus(sub)Prime said:
I had two friends who went to Troy magnet, they are now druggies. I know quite a few people who went to Whitney, they talk about the rampant cheating and stress to stay competitive. Great high schools tend to make a difference for marginal kids... it's probably better for bright kids to be a bigger fish in a smaller pond. Although, I fully understand the desire for magnet schools having grown up in Cerritos.
Click to expand...

I?ve had a difficult time understanding this concept.
Through various activities, we?ve encountered a number of families living in neighboring cities that tell us how much they would love to move and live in Irvine.
When we ask what?s holding you back?
The main reply is the school system and how competitive it is.
The parents prefer to stay put so that their child continues to remain at the top of the class rather than moving to Irvine and run the risk of their child being deemed mediocre.
Click to expand...
Just tell them to go to the "lower tier" Irvine schools, Woodbridge or Irvine High. That's my plan. :D
 
That is just a lame excuse because the parents couldn't afford Irvine.


WoodburyDad said:
Optimus(sub)Prime said:
I had two friends who went to Troy magnet, they are now druggies. I know quite a few people who went to Whitney, they talk about the rampant cheating and stress to stay competitive. Great high schools tend to make a difference for marginal kids... it's probably better for bright kids to be a bigger fish in a smaller pond. Although, I fully understand the desire for magnet schools having grown up in Cerritos.
Click to expand...

I?ve had a difficult time understanding this concept.
Through various activities, we?ve encountered a number of families living in neighboring cities that tell us how much they would love to move and live in Irvine.
When we ask what?s holding you back?
The main reply is the school system and how competitive it is.
The parents prefer to stay put so that their child continues to remain at the top of the class rather than moving to Irvine and run the risk of their child being deemed mediocre.
Click to expand...
 
The competition aspect makes sense since college admission is based on personal achievement and not the school you attended. You're more likely to get into an Ivy League school as a 4.0 student at a 8 API school than a 3.5 student at a 10 API school. I say that because both students can sign up for the same SAT prep course and potentially get a similar standardized test score.

Now fast forward to college, the argument is that a 10 API school student would be better prepared to navigate the competitive world of college. Okay, so the 4.0 student becomes a 3.0 student at an Ivy league, and the 3.5 becomes a 4.0 at UCI. As an employer, who would you hire? An Ivy leaguer or someone from UCI? (no offense to anteaters)

The point I was trying to make is that all schools have bad apples. Its true Irvine schools would theoretically have less bad apples. At the end of the day, peer group selection is a function of parental influence and some luck. The marginal kids, who have less parental influence and make poorer choices, would greatly benefit from having smart friends - they get the biggest uptick from Irvine schools. A smart kid is a smart kid regardless of where they are... they will definitely shine more (and have better story to tell) if they can stand-out from the pack. At the end of the day, that's what gets you into a good university. Or maybe they have poor parents who can't afford Irvine..haha.
 
Precisely OP. I have confirmation from several high ranking college admission officers that 4.0 GPA from an 8 API school are chosen over a 3.5 from a 10 API. Applicants are from over 40,000 public and private schools and not including the oversea applicants. Administrators can't tell the difference between a 10 API  from an 8 API school.
 
irvinehomeshopper said:
Precisely OP. I have confirmation from several high ranking college admission officers that 4.0 GPA from an 8 API school are chosen over a 3.5 from a 10 API. Applicants are from over 40,000 public and private schools and not including the oversea applicants. Administrators can't tell the difference between a 10 API  from an 8 API school.
Click to expand...

These are my thoughts exactly. Why suffer through an ultra-competitive school and get lost in a sea of stellar students trying to be number one, when you could really excel and shine somewhere less competitive? This is one of my concerns about Irvine schools.
 
Going over the exact thing with the daughter. I don't want her to spend the entire teenage worrying about tests and scores only. Irvine (OK, TUSD-Irvine) is fine, she can manage, but Troy would be too much. Thank you guys for giving me more ammo to discourage her from being a GPA-junkie.
 
irvinehomeshopper said:
The Irvine schools are to fulfill the desire of parents bragging right and trophy display.
Click to expand...

Well, in that case sending the "smart child" to a 8 API school would guarantee more trophies- no?
 
In the mind set of FCBs brands are paramount. Labels dictate their lives. They will go hunger for days to save up for buying an expensive item. This strong determination value results despite a painful journey. This philosophy of no pain no gain is the reason why Asians are wealthy, successful and at the sametime sad.
 
Education is like housing:

During high school, you can afford to have the best house on the worst block. 4.0 student from the inner-city? There would be stories written about you in the LA Times.

During college/grad school, you can afford to have the worst house on the best block. What do you call the person who graduates last in their class from med school? -Doctor-
 
Maybe we should be more concerned educational content/standards rather than just grades. YES getting a 4.0+ GPA is great and being in the top 5-10% is nice but if the school curriculum fails to prepare kids for 21st  global job market then we have failed.

The US used to be leaders in primary and secondary education in the world and now we have fallen way behind. Our standards are too low and there are many children from poor communities being left further behind. We are endangering our long term economic security and making it less likely for upward mobility from the lower class (aka The American Dream).

We have such poor math and science education in this country, we don't have enough mid-level engineers to compete with China. A very sobering article everyone should read from the NYTimes tells why our favorite iPad/iPhone will never be made in the USA:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/b...d-a-squeezed-middle-class.html?pagewanted=all

We need more emphasis at a local and national level on public education reform and how serious the consequences will be if we fail.
 
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For comparison purposes, here are the 2010 base API scores for University and Foothill high. Shockingly (!), Asian students do worse at Uni (with a sample 10x the size). I have no idea what -10pts translates to and if it really matters. Based on this, an African-American student would have the most to gain by attending Uni - there are 32 lucky kids in 92603.

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OP, this is a nice comparison. The 2 charts demonstrated Asians having good study discipline regardless Of schools. Take for instance in Garden Grove even with a poverty level Asians did fairly well boosting La Quinta High to among the top 10 in OC.

This is no news to me.  Before the popularity of suburbs ethnic commercialization from 1940-1980 Asian immigrants were poorer than the immigrants today. Their first stumping ground were clustered around Chinatown, Japantown and Koreatown.

Even those somewhat economically well off they still lived among the poors. The students attended schools like Franklin, Lincoln, Manual Arts, Roosevelt, LA High, Wilson High, Belmont High, Hollywood High and Marshall High.

Back in the days these schools were no different than today plagued with gang, drug, pregnancy, and low academic success. Among the population were Asians, Blacks and Latinos. Despite of the disadvantages Asians did extremely well, went to college, and some even became industry leaders.

These earlier generations of Asians are now parents or grand parents of TI members, source of down payment, occupants of the tiny bedroom downstairs, tiger mom, and etc.
 
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