[quote=yuhtey]i’m starting to get the fear regarding “good schools” especially if they solicit “donations” which are in practice a bunch of bribes in return for either special attention or higher marks than earned.

if there’s one thing rich people are very good at it’s tilting the table in their favor via cash. they take both pride and enjoyment in buying people off.

anyone have any experience with this?[/quote]

In terms of marks, I would say – Ha! They have adopted a system of grading with a low mark of “B” for beginning, then “D” for developing, then “S” for secure and then “E” for exceeds expectations. Most of the time, the teachers are told that they cannot give out an “E” and I have gotten a bunch of weasel words to explain why that is. Kids come home with a 100% math test, and they get an “S”. It’s nonsensical.

If there are any kids who get special consideration, I would say that it’s the children of people who volunteer a lot. The schools rely on those families and I sense that consciously or subconsciously the kids get preferential treatment. Donations go to the district as a whole rather than to your school of attendance, and you will rarely, if ever, interact with those at the district level.