East windsor and Cranbury school consolidation......
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PostPosted: Thu, Jun 9 2011, 11:39 am EDT    Post subject: Re: East windsor and Cranbury school consolidation...... Reply with quote

Guest wrote:
Its in the past and I guess we had different experiences with Hightstown. I never said it was great. In my circle I just wasn't aware of that much discord with the school itself and at the time the was a strong connection between Cranbury and its immediate neighbors (Hightstown and East Windsor). Obviously it is a much different place now then it was 25 or 30 years ago. I recall Lawrence having a lot of problems. Many students ended up in private school during that time frame. On a side note I am not really convinced Princeton is that great. Students who are at the top of class seem to do well- but the mediocre ones not so much.


Princeton is a very well ranked public school but there is no question that private schools are still better overall in terms of class size, resources and the ability to get more of their kids into top colleges. That's why despite having Princeton available, something like 14 8th graders are still going to private schools next year. The upside is when that happens it helps the budget because they have to put aside less for Pricneton tuition.
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PostPosted: Thu, Jun 9 2011, 4:34 pm EDT    Post subject: Re: East windsor and Cranbury school consolidation...... Reply with quote

Unfortunately it seems that Princeton has been taken over by the liberals to the point where they are more concerned with the kids excelling in a second language than they are with math, physics, and science! I will put my kids into private school in a couple of years when they finish at Cranbury. I'm also concerned about the new head of our school, it sounds as if her background is based in community activism and social justice instead of the true foundations of our educational system which is math, reading, and the sciences. A friend of mine has a son in Red Bank Regional High School, and I was bragging about Princeton being so much better, and then he showed me the syllabus of their physics program for their high school kids and I was floored! Unfortunately this town is in the process of painting itself into a corner. JMHO!
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PostPosted: Thu, Jun 9 2011, 5:32 pm EDT    Post subject: Re: East windsor and Cranbury school consolidation...... Reply with quote

Guest wrote:
Unfortunately it seems that Princeton has been taken over by the liberals to the point where they are more concerned with the kids excelling in a second language than they are with math, physics, and science! I will put my kids into private school in a couple of years when they finish at Cranbury. I'm also concerned about the new head of our school, it sounds as if her background is based in community activism and social justice instead of the true foundations of our educational system which is math, reading, and the sciences. A friend of mine has a son in Red Bank Regional High School, and I was bragging about Princeton being so much better, and then he showed me the syllabus of their physics program for their high school kids and I was floored! Unfortunately this town is in the process of painting itself into a corner. JMHO!


What planet are you from? Princeton is being taken over by liberals, you are correct they were taken over by liberals in the 90's...The 1890's. Princeton has always been a liberal town. My issue is your completely wierd assumption that liberals are more concerned with languages than math or science. I am a screaming liberal. Most of my shockingly liberal friends are in mathematical fields at Princeton University. The real problem is your denigration of foreign languages. I wish I could speak a 2nd language, but I am lousy at languages. I am willing to bet you are better at foreign languages than I. However, I am positive I am better at math than you are. So?....are you some kind of closet liberal?!?!

Also your use of the buzzwords of community activism and social justice are troubling. I don't think the new head of school would define themselves that way. I think her background is in education. I think your world view distorts every fact you come across and leads you to some odd conclusions.
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PostPosted: Thu, Jun 9 2011, 5:34 pm EDT    Post subject: Re: East windsor and Cranbury school consolidation...... Reply with quote

Princeton is well ranked but personally I am not that impressed. A lot of the "now twenty somethings" who went to Princeton are still fighting the demons that they picked up while in Princeton High School. There is definitily a drug problem at Princeton High School. Sadly many of the "mediocre" Cranbury students seem to get mixed up with this. For some it is a phase. For others they are in their twenties and still struggling. I am sure it is the same anywhere but sometimes I think people from Cranbury are so transfixed by the name "Princeton" that they are blind.
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PostPosted: Thu, Jun 9 2011, 7:04 pm EDT    Post subject: Re: East windsor and Cranbury school consolidation...... Reply with quote

Guest wrote:
Princeton is well ranked but personally I am not that impressed. A lot of the "now twenty somethings" who went to Princeton are still fighting the demons that they picked up while in Princeton High School. There is definitily a drug problem at Princeton High School. Sadly many of the "mediocre" Cranbury students seem to get mixed up with this. For some it is a phase. For others they are in their twenties and still struggling. I am sure it is the same anywhere but sometimes I think people from Cranbury are so transfixed by the name "Princeton" that they are blind.


As a parent with a student at Princeton High I will gladly take it over any of the other public school options and private schools such as Peddie or Notre Dame. The only local private school I would choose over Princeton is Lawrenceville Prep. That's my view and that as one whose mother was a former educator in the area.
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Guest






PostPosted: Thu, Jun 9 2011, 7:18 pm EDT    Post subject: Re: East windsor and Cranbury school consolidation...... Reply with quote

Guest wrote:
Princeton is well ranked but personally I am not that impressed. A lot of the "now twenty somethings" who went to Princeton are still fighting the demons that they picked up while in Princeton High School. There is definitily a drug problem at Princeton High School. Sadly many of the "mediocre" Cranbury students seem to get mixed up with this. For some it is a phase. For others they are in their twenties and still struggling. I am sure it is the same anywhere but sometimes I think people from Cranbury are so transfixed by the name "Princeton" that they are blind.


I think you are correct about the drug problem, unfortunately there is a drug problem at all of the surrounding districts, including the private schools.
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PostPosted: Thu, Jun 9 2011, 7:55 pm EDT    Post subject: Re: East windsor and Cranbury school consolidation...... Reply with quote

Guest wrote:
Guest wrote:
Princeton is well ranked but personally I am not that impressed. A lot of the "now twenty somethings" who went to Princeton are still fighting the demons that they picked up while in Princeton High School. There is definitily a drug problem at Princeton High School. Sadly many of the "mediocre" Cranbury students seem to get mixed up with this. For some it is a phase. For others they are in their twenties and still struggling. I am sure it is the same anywhere but sometimes I think people from Cranbury are so transfixed by the name "Princeton" that they are blind.


As a parent with a student at Princeton High I will gladly take it over any of the other public school options and private schools such as Peddie or Notre Dame. The only local private school I would choose over Princeton is Lawrenceville Prep. That's my view and that as one whose mother was a former educator in the area.


I wasn't dissing Princeton just stating facts. My kids will go to there. But if you look at the list of universities graduating seniors will attend on any given year and compare it to a school like Peddie the percentage of kids going to top ranked colleges is much higher with Peddie and the like than Princeton. Princeton does fine and gets akids into Ivy Leagues every year, including a bunch to Princeton though that is partially do to legacy and parents with connections to the school. But after the very top students are accounted for, the privates do much better. This is of course self-selecting since the privates disproportionately get strong students.
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PostPosted: Thu, Jun 9 2011, 8:07 pm EDT    Post subject: Re: East windsor and Cranbury school consolidation...... Reply with quote

Guest wrote:
Princeton is well ranked but personally I am not that impressed. A lot of the "now twenty somethings" who went to Princeton are still fighting the demons that they picked up while in Princeton High School. There is definitily a drug problem at Princeton High School. Sadly many of the "mediocre" Cranbury students seem to get mixed up with this. For some it is a phase. For others they are in their twenties and still struggling. I am sure it is the same anywhere but sometimes I think people from Cranbury are so transfixed by the name "Princeton" that they are blind.


As you say every school as a drug problem. The problem isn't the schools, it's parents. You say some people are transfixed with the name "Princeton" but the real issue is any parent who thinks their responsibility ends and shipping their kids off the the school and hoping for the best. Sending your kids to a good school doesn't mean you've done your job, just that you've improved your odds for success if as a parent you continue to work very hard at helping shape your kids, with the school as a tool rather than a solution. Princeton is a decent tool. No more, no less.
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PostPosted: Thu, Jun 9 2011, 9:58 pm EDT    Post subject: Re: East windsor and Cranbury school consolidation...... Reply with quote

Dear Screaming Liberal,
I will put my math skills up against yours any day of the week. Quick warning, I received my doctorate in mathematics from MIT. I will put my money where my mouth is! Show up at the Inn, no pencil or paper and we will have a one on one math bee (and no you cannot use your fingers) for the kids in town to see. Should I lose, I will pay for your meals at the Inn for 30 calendar days, should you lose, you will pay mine, and trust me I love the place! Pick the date, and we'll post an announcement in the Cranbury Press at my expense. Let me know, this is not a bluff! Put your money where your mouth is! This could be the start of something good, possibly an annual town math bee!

PS: Regarding a second language, outside of Arabic, Korean, Mandarin, Cantonese, and other associated dialects, it is a waste of our kids time other than for cultural purposes. You can take that to the bank! Get your kid into a heavy math, physics, or science program, and THEY will reap the rewards!
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PostPosted: Fri, Jun 10 2011, 12:14 am EDT    Post subject: Re: East windsor and Cranbury school consolidation...... Reply with quote

Guest wrote:

PS: Regarding a second language, outside of Arabic, Korean, Mandarin, Cantonese, and other associated dialects, it is a waste of our kids time other than for cultural purposes. You can take that to the bank!


I am not any of the above posters, but I read that according to the census, 12% of american households speak some spanish at home. As a result, more jobs every year are requiring bi-lingual workers- doctors and lawyers, nurses and teachers, etc.

Math is also a second language.
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PostPosted: Fri, Jun 10 2011, 12:15 am EDT    Post subject: Re: East windsor and Cranbury school consolidation...... Reply with quote

Guest wrote:
Guest wrote:

PS: Regarding a second language, outside of Arabic, Korean, Mandarin, Cantonese, and other associated dialects, it is a waste of our kids time other than for cultural purposes. You can take that to the bank!


I am not any of the above posters, but I read that according to the census, 12% of american households speak some spanish at home. As a result, more jobs every year are requiring bi-lingual workers- doctors and lawyers, nurses and teachers, etc.

Math is also a second language.


Forgot to add Laughing
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PostPosted: Fri, Jun 10 2011, 8:39 am EDT    Post subject: Re: East windsor and Cranbury school consolidation...... Reply with quote

Guest wrote:
Dear Screaming Liberal,
I will put my math skills up against yours any day of the week. Quick warning, I received my doctorate in mathematics from MIT. I will put my money where my mouth is! Show up at the Inn, no pencil or paper and we will have a one on one math bee (and no you cannot use your fingers) for the kids in town to see. Should I lose, I will pay for your meals at the Inn for 30 calendar days, should you lose, you will pay mine, and trust me I love the place! Pick the date, and we'll post an announcement in the Cranbury Press at my expense. Let me know, this is not a bluff! Put your money where your mouth is! This could be the start of something good, possibly an annual town math bee!

PS: Regarding a second language, outside of Arabic, Korean, Mandarin, Cantonese, and other associated dialects, it is a waste of our kids time other than for cultural purposes. You can take that to the bank! Get your kid into a heavy math, physics, or science program, and THEY will reap the rewards!


My point though you have appeared to miss it Wiitgenstein, is that a preference for math and the sciences is not a liberal or conservative stance. That your judgement is so clouded by your political beliefs you cannot see this. So, you went to MIT. Perhaps you met a physicist there. Were they any more liberal or conservative than the general population of the area? The two MIT trained physicist I know at PU are as liberal as everybody else I know there. There politics is indistinguishable from those I know in the liberal arts(I don't know anybody in the foreign languages so I will use liberal arts as a proxy, I am sure you hate them also).

The other strange part about your argument is that Foreign Languages are not stealing enrollment from the sciences, finance has. There is a widespread complaint that we are losing a lot of our great candidates for basic research to wall street. This is not a political decision either, but an economic one. Wall street pay has been outpacing science and engineering pay for 20 years.

I do see you have modified your argument a bit. Not all languages are bad asian languages and arabic you now declare winners. Funny thirty years ago we were all told to learn Japanese(not on your list). Twenty years ago we all needed to learn Russian. These predicitons were wrong, I suspect yours will be too.

Back to the political part of your diatribe. I have only known on linguist. He died about 10 years ago. He was fluent in six languages and worked for the state department. A lovely man. He was the most conservative guy I knew.
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PostPosted: Fri, Jun 10 2011, 8:40 am EDT    Post subject: Re: East windsor and Cranbury school consolidation...... Reply with quote

Oops spelled Wittgenstein wrong.
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PostPosted: Fri, Jun 10 2011, 9:02 am EDT    Post subject: Re: East windsor and Cranbury school consolidation...... Reply with quote

Oops = grammar wrong!! There (THEIR) politics is indistinguishable from those I know in the liberal arts(I don't know anybody in the foreign languages so I will use liberal arts as a proxy, I am sure you hate them also).
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PostPosted: Fri, Jun 10 2011, 9:27 am EDT    Post subject: Re: East windsor and Cranbury school consolidation...... Reply with quote

I GET IT NOW. Sorry I now see what the hatred for liberal foreign language is. For the life of me I could not figure out why the poster was equating foreign language training with liberals. I finally did a google search. 5 days ago Rush Holt (a known liberal) proposed 50 million for foreign language training. Obviously our dear conservative poster is up in arms over this. It is ironic that Holt has an Ivy league Ph.D in Physics.

Well dear conservative poster, if you think 50 mil on language training is a waste of money just say so. But I think your original contention that Princeton High is more concerned with students excelling at foreign language than in the sciences is simply wrong. I also don't think that liberals prefer foreign language instruction to the science has a shred of truth to it.

Was I right that Holt put this bee in your bonnet?
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PostPosted: Fri, Jun 10 2011, 9:40 am EDT    Post subject: Re: East windsor and Cranbury school consolidation...... Reply with quote

Just to chime in here as another poster.

First, I have a liberal arts degree, but do nothing with it. My field is actually in banking.

Second, in today's world I would encourage kids to learn a second language. The world is a lot smaller and there will be huge markets in China for our kids and grand kids. I don't understand why Cranbury still does French when I would be pushing Mandarin. Even my french colleagues prefer to speak and practice English in business settings and I have a fair capability in French that is never used.

Third, the like for sciences or languages to me is a personal one. I was horrible and hated science and math. My sister loved both. So while I was taught them I do most of my work in excel now and never have to look at a periodic table or look at the physics work I had to do in Physics in college.

Now, that said I see all of this as important at the K-HS levels as it encourages thinking. None is more important than another unless a child shows a particular interest.
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