So I’m Australian, and here in Australia we have schools for gifted children, where admissions are based purely on standardised test results. Near the end of primary school you go to a special place to take a test, and the test is designed to measure logical thinking and mental flexibility rather than academic experience. And if you score highly, you go to a special school with smart students of all different backgrounds.
And I liked Spider-Man Homecoming in large part because Peter Parker goes to a “magnet school”, which I’m told is the American equivalent. And it doesn’t have any dumb jock types; the school bully is a little Indian brat with rich parents. It felt like a more modern take on high school tropes than all the high school movies where nerds wear bow ties that feel like the writer grew up in the 50s.
Anyway, half of My polycule says that magnet schools are all fake and only serve the rich. There’s no way a low income white boy from queens could make it into a gifted school in our world, based purely on academic achievement. I’m aware that the American system is less fair and money plays a much bigger role, but I thought there was at least a chance that a genius kid could beat the system and get into a good school with good grades.
Do magnet schools exist? Is it all just lies by the rich?
The USA doesn’t have a system of magnet schools. Some parts of the country, including New York City, do.
New York City’s school district has several high schools that you have to a test to get into that high school or have an artistic portfolio. These tests are very competitive and the high schools are geared to help funnel the brightest of New York City’s youth into college. There is no tuition to get in and these high schools are seen as a gateway to the best colleges in the world.
Most school districts in the USA don’t have these public magnet schools.
I believe most of the most populous school districts do have them.
And there’s a wide range of approaches to gifted ed.