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Talk:Cambridge Rindge and Latin School

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Register Forum

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Wouldn't it be best to just copy the part about the register forum into the register forum main article (which i created quite a while ago . . . *g*)? -user:buch

Sure, I don't see why not. Perhaps then change the section to "''See main article: [[Register Forum]]''"?? May I ask how you came to write such an article, seeing as you are, according to the Userpage you listed (which you did not write from), from Germany? If you'd contact me, that would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again, mysekurity 6 July 2005 23:56 (UTC)

Controversy section

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I just wanted to drop a note to say that I added that section, and as a student and Cambridge resident during that time period - I can attest to it being factual, with no malice intent. --Mespinola 14:52, 6 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I would like to mention that your discussion of the Pilot School as part of the standard House system in CRLS is factually incorrect.

The Cambridge Pilot School was founded in 1969 by several educators and graduate students from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and graduated its first class in 1971. Pilot had the notable distinction of being the first Alternative (or Charter) High School in the nation, and the model for succeeding programs across the US (and several in Canada). The Cambridge Pilot School was housed in its own building on the Harvard campus until 1979, when it moved to the top floor of the new CRLS building. The Pilot School retained its independent status (with its own Principal, staff, school budget, admissions process, graduation, etc.) until June of 2000, when the school was officially abolished after graduating its final class. The remaining students and staff were absorbed into CRLS, under the new C, R, L and S house system. All of this information is available from the Cambridge School District's archive records.

The relationship between Pilot and Rindge was a co-operative one, with Pilot students eligible to take classes from the Rindge catalog, provided they were enrolled in a minimum number of Pilot classes. Further Matt Damon, Traci Bingham, and Max Casella were actually graduates of Pilot School, although they did perform in Rindge theater productions as part of the co-operative enrollment between the schools. This last comes from personal knowledge, as I had the good fortune to attend classes with all three.

Tazcat2k (talk) 17:19, 7 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]


Q&A:

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Well and good, Mespinola, but you don't say what time period you are actually talking about in that section. You leave out House A, and don't discuss the name changes of Houses C and D (B and C -> Leadership, D->Academy) in 1990 or 1991, so I'm assuming you're discussing a period before then.

  • I did mention House A. I was there as a student from 1986-1990, and prior to 86 I was occasionally there studying music. I couldn't offer any information about the name changes because that was after my time and I have no direct knowledge about how those names were chosen or the circumstances surrounding the issue at that time. --Mespinola 20:52, 6 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Circa my own first-hand experience, 1989-1993, all of the houses were supposed to be equally representative of the student body by race (narrowly defined), gender and neighborhood. At least that's what they told kids who didn't get into Pilot. So if the school was 35% black, so was each House. Houses were different sizes, and when B+C were combined in 1990, it was the biggest house and had the most black students - but it also had the most white students.

I think you are correct that things were ethnically divided, it certainly felt that way. All the white kids in House C might have come from East Cambridge, where there is a traditional Portuguese community, and all the ones in Fundamental might have come from Cambridgeport. Of course, now everybody has to be rich to live in Cambridge, unless you're in public housing.

  • That is very much what I saw in House C as well. Most of my years at CRLS I was down the hall in House B (FWIW, I am non-Anglo white). Freshmen year I tried out Oc-Ed (RSTA) for the computers course, but as a Freshmen they FORCED us to take a "sampler" of *ALL* vocational studies. I have to admit, I am very happy with what I was able to get out of Carpentry and Welding. --Mespinola 20:52, 6 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Also, houses were *not* equally representative by family income or class, and as students often wanted to be near their friends from elementary school, and as friendships by 8th grade often follow class lines, it ended up that middle-class families were choosing Pilot and House A (or if they didn't get in there, private schools), whereas working class kids were choosing B and C and D and RSTA.

I never had a sense that Fundamental had upper-class kids - upper class kids went to private schools.

  • The kids that were in the classes I occasional took in Fundamental were mostly upper class, mostly from West Cambridge. This was the same impression I had from strolling the hallways as well. Many of these students I went to Longfellow Elementary with while enrolled in the ISP (Intensive Studies Program), as well as kids I knew from West Cambridge where my girlfriend lived and where I played soccer (a seemingly preferred sport to the upper-class kids I knew). This is all to the best of my recollection. --Mespinola 20:52, 6 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    • I failed to mention that, yes, I agree with you that many upper-class kids I knew did go to area private schools as well (such as BBN). Perhaps the article should be revised to indicate mid-to upper-class whites. A three tier class system can sometimes be obscuring --Mespinola 21:28, 8 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

The schools efforts to maintain each house's diversity was exasperated by the fact that House D/Academy held the English-as-a-second-language classes. Since race was narrowly defined in terms of balancing houses, blacks who were Haitian were put in House D, effectively ghettoizing them (along with Koreans, Cape Verdeans...).

The controversy, in 2000 when the school was rearranged (one of the times), was that students in Pilot and maybe other houses were performing better on standardized tests than the other students. This was chalked up to economic/class distribution and not to racial distribution.

The racial controversies you are mentioning sound interesting though - did they exist prior to 1989, or after 2000, or was I oblivious or what?

  • From what I was told from my upper-classmen friends, it had been visibly that way from the student perspective for some years (I cannot recall how many) - getting worse each year. Before enrolling at CRLS, I was already aware of this situation and knew what to expect. --Mespinola 20:52, 6 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

And after writing all that, I'm not sure that any of this belongs in Wikipedia - it was certainly interesting for those of us who were there, but it doesn't reflect the school as it is now. (Or does it?)

  • That's a good question. I think that if you want to refer to the schools history and legacy - then yes I think it does - as it is a part of that history (good or bad). The Boston area has a significant historical mark in terms of racism and public schooling. Cambridge is also reflected in this, and I think its relevant to remember it - as many students do that were there during those times. I tried to keep my recollection of the events as factual as possible, writing in as NPOV (neutral point-of-view) as possible. --Mespinola 20:52, 6 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

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Some of the links I have waiting to integrate whenever Verizon DSL decides to get 'stable' again in Cambridge, Mass. (Waiting since Saturday.)

CaribDigita (talk) 21:39, 4 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]

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