Talk:Palmer Trinity School
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[edit] Presence of "Gangstas"
There has been an emerging trend of suburban gangsters or what they would call themselves "gangstas" on the Palmer Trinity Campus. They have a tendency to act hard, put on hats sideways while driving their BMW's, and talking how hard it is to live in Coral Gables. Talk of how their Gated Community is like a prison, and only wearing thug clothing make it easy to spot them. Rumours of gangs such as the infamous "Jew Crew", who deal matza bread and other black market items are on the rise. This is an emerging trend and is jeopardizing the Palmer Trinity atmosphere.
[edit] Stop with the advertising
This article keeps on being re-edited by Palmer Trinity staff. They do put on quite a rosey picture of the school, but fail to note poor retention rates, a very strong (and quite prejudiced) evangelistic segment to the school and an overall atmosphere of hostility. We should know, we're former students of the school (emphasis on former, since we have long since abandoned the place and find ourselves much happier elsewhere).
I have decided to leave the above statement intact to respond to it properly. First thing to know, the previous person to edit this discussion page was NOT faculty, he was a student. Upon seeing what you had to say about our school he could not leave it there. Second, i was present at the time and felt the same shock he did. I am also a student at Palmer Trinity School, and I cannot say I know of a place with a more inviting atmosphere. You may call it advertising, but as a current Senior, and Jewish student of the school, I do think i know what I am talking about. I have never witnessed any hostility against those of any conflicting religious beliefs of the school. In fact, an Assembly was recently held to celebrate the holiday of Rosh Hashana (the Jewish new year). I do not know when you, and whoever else you refer to as 'we' attended Palmer Trinity, but it is clearly not what you experienced anymore.
What advertising? I'm also a former student of Palmer Trinity School, I am currently attending Florida International University and I cannot believe that any student of PTS could agree with the ridiculus comment above. Being a student at FIU I found my self very well fitted into the university environment, I see current students struggling with the change. PTS completely prepared me for life. Technically, morally and ethically I could not ask for more. It is obvious that the person that wrote the first blog was either expelled or has a problem with accepting criticism or having constructive discussions about religion. Palmer always made it a point to acknowledge my religion, respected it and celebrated it. I guess another year in Palmer would have changed his mind. Palmer Trinity School was the best thing that could have happen to me. PTS forever will be in my memory. Thank you Mrs. Andrews or whoever is the new head of School. Go Falcons!!
__________________
Hmm. I have mixed feelings about PTS. On the one hand, I would not be the person I am today without the school, but on the other hand, it was a painful baptism by fire. Coming from a poorer family (scholarship), it was very hard to be accepted by my peers. They had a bit of an elitist attitude, and frankly, if you were not one of them, you weren't anything. But, due to the attitude at the school, I looked elsewhere for friends, and found many, and this led me down the path of my life I am at today. I spent my spare time with my friends outside of school and concluded that I never wanted to become one of the 'undisciplined' kids, as my friend put it nicely about the kids at Palmer. If there was any risk of upper education being infiltrated with these kind of kids, I wanted no part of it. I am currently in the Airforce academy, getting a degree in aeronautic engineering, since everyone here is regarded as equal, regardless of financial background. So in a way, thanks PTS.
Oh my god, this school was the worst decision I have ever made in my life. The kids were all raving fanatical fundamentalist Christians, and if you switch out, they give you NO credit for classes you already took! Save your money and your childrens sanity! This school is down-right BAD.
You the above are obviously an idiot and the school kicked you out for being dumber than dirty. Your current school is the one who didnt give you credit for your classes. If they didnt give you credit, it is obvious that you failed. I am sure that you are at Gulliver, because they will admit anyone, even kids who leave PT with all "F's". If you cant make it academically at Palmer, you go to Gullver Pinecrest. How can Palmer be a bad school when 100% of the kids go to 4 year universities and many go to the Ivy League? I guess you get a bad attitude when you flunk out of a good school.
Amen to the above. Gulliver is so much better.
The two comments above are ridiculous. -And at least from my experience in the past years, completely untrue.
[edit] Cleanup
I've removed the point-of-view/advertising-oriented statements from the article and removed the cleanup tag. OhnoitsJamieTalk 21:23, 25 January 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Palmer Trinity Counters Bad Press
[edit] Palmer Trinity tries to counter bad word of mouth
It's a dirty little secret, but Palmer Trinity has a very poor retention rate, with kids clawing to be switched out of the school every year. Need proof? Why would a school with a "good reputation" need to hire a ''Public Relations Firm'' to handle its image?
You obviously dont know anything about retention rates of the school for the past 3 years the attrition rate has been 4%. The rate is about the same as Ransom and is much lower than Gulliver's or Miami Country Day. Also most independent schools have a PR firm on retainer. Gulliver has one. Palmer Trinity has not had one in 3 years and hired one when we hired the new head of school and when the Hester Property was puchased. Please get your facts straight. This year 2007, the attrition rate is 3% and there were over 400 applications for 125 spaces. Your dirty little secret is that you make up facts.
http://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/stories/2004/05/10/daily45.html
The story and all.
That is simple. Anybody who is an observant student at PT knows what is going on...well most of the older ones should notice anyway. The school is attempting to reinvent itself so to speak. It is attempting to go from what you speak of to a school that rivals the best in the state. The PR is probably to give Palmer a small boost until it is able to fully alter its reputation how it sees fit.
[edit] Environmentally Harazardous
Yeah, this school is going to cut down tens of acres of natural forest next to it! (Not speaking about the Mango grove it purchased behind it). What a disrespect for the environment!—This unsigned comment was added by 65.10.106.222 (talk • contribs) .
- If you can provide a source for the bit about them buying property and planning to develop it, it's appropriate to include that fact. Adding a WP:POV tone to the statement is not appropriate. OhNoitsJamieTalk 01:14, 22 March 2006 (UTC)
Environmentally Hazardous? This is also another case of bullsh!t, the hester property has been bought for further construction, this doesnt make palmer some environmentally hazardous organization only expanding onto a field of dying avacado trees.
A general plan of what the school will be doing over the next few years with the property it recently purchased has been shown to the entire student body and faculty in an assembly several months back.
It is highly unlikely to see the school back down from expanding on that property; While i cannot prove it, i can say that several hundred students were first hand witnesses to these plans.
WOOO congrats! You must be proud. Those mangos are dead as dirt and we've bought the property. The other thing back there is peacocks.
As a current student, I have noticed quite a bit of littering, as well as purposeful harm to tree's and orchids (IE, kicking bark off, pulling flowers off, etc). As well as this, it is a well known but secretive fact that many athletes after school make an attempt to hit peacocks with their cars as possible, as a sick form of enjoyment. These kids are badly disturbed.
As a current student who has been here for a long time, the above comment about purposeful harm to peacocks and trees is complete bullsh!t. Sorry kid but your little anti-athlete agenda was poorly executed. Dont vent your anger on wiki because you couldn't make the team.
The school uses excess paper and styrofoam and yet they call themselves 'environmentaly friendly'. The school wastes alot of energy and is preparing for the destruction of the Hester property in order to make room for more concrete and useless buildings. Way to go.
Styrofoam cups have been banned.
Expansion is a necesary evil. For the school to continue to improve, it has to go somewhere. Calling the school buildings 'useless' certainly has little merit. As for how environmentally friendly the school is, I dont know. I would certainly lean against it however.
Also, as a freshman in college (I just graduated from PT last year) I can account for or discount some of the things said here. I have never heard of anybody intentionally attempting to hit peacocks after school hours. Especially since the peacocks are usually not on the parking lots in the afternoon. And yes, I *was* an athlete 2 out of the 3 seasons. I was there, after school, until atleast 5pm every day. Of course, what you report is the *current* seniors most likely. I can't speak for them with great confidence.
Palmer has had this property for five years. And what have they done? Nothing. I can imagine the board of directors selling it off to some developer to build a mall there.
- Five years is a bit long, I would venture a guess that Palmer has owned that property for 3-4 years at the absolute most. At any rate, the school has presented its plans to build on the property in the coming years to the entire student body, a fact which has been mentioned before. I would, however, like to ask the author of the comment above my own to tell me just how a developer would gain approval to build a mall in a residential neighborhood.
[edit] A school, or a business?
Here's a list of things Palmer makes money on. And hwere does all that money go? There's no way that teachers and bills can cost so many millions every year.
- Tuition is over $30000 a year - Many families donate large amounts of money every year. A single family bought the entire new property for the school. - If a family makes a large enough donation, their child's teacher is forced to stop picking on them, disciplining them, and getting them in trouble. The child's grades usually go up dramatically as well. - Food costs $1000 every year - When a student leaves his or her laptop "unattended" (the term is used loosely), teachers that find it confiscate it and it costs a progressive amount of $50, $100, $250, and $500 to get back. After the fourth offense, further offenses cause an $500 charge and a saturday school detention - Saturday school detentions cost $50 - Summerschool costs $10000 - The average dance costs $25. The homecoming dance costs $200. - A three day school trip to New York with two meals a day included, two nights at one of the cheapest hotels in New York, subway transportation, and a few tours costs $2500. - A new 1000 page math textbook costs $120 at the school bookstore. At the end of the year, students can sell their books back to be sold secondhand. The same math textbook cna be sold back for $23. A secondhnad copy costs $65. - A new paperback copy of Macbeth costs $15, and can be sold back at the end of the year for $2. It can be bought secondhand for $7. - A new powercord for the laptop model the school uses costs $95. On amazon.com, the same model costs $45.
Now, I ask you, is the school a school or a business
Actually, tuition is not 30,000 a year. Good try though.
- Hardly so, Although I was never allowed to personally see the bills, school tuition is currently in the neighborhood of 20 grand per year. (As most students will gladly inform you.)
- I have never heard of laptop violations go up to such an absurd amount. The largest I have ever (in the 4 years I attended Palmer Trinity School) seen that charge rise to is 100$. Something has to be done when a student loses their computers, it is better to pay 100$ and get a scolding from the parents than get a new laptop.
- Homecoming over the 2005-2006 (my senior year) school year costed no more than 75$. (Prom was within a couple dollars in price.)
- I am unsure of the New York trip you are mentioning, but it bears a strong resemblance to the New York Model United Nations trip I attended last year. It was moderately well priced (considerably cheaper than the 2500$ you list), the fare included all plane tickets and three nights in the same hotel all Model United Nations students stayed in. (Afterall, the hotel was where it was hosted).
- School texts always cost a small fortune. I am in college, I *wish* my math text costed only 120$.
Those are the only discrepancies I noticed in your posting. There may be more, and my information is outdated a couple months, but I see no reason to disregard it. While the school certainly makes money off of its book return policy, I must ask you what other schools you have been to that require students to purchase their own texts? Assuming you have, what kind of policy does that school (or schools) have? You should find them strikingly similar.
While the school undoubtedly makes money from its students in all kinds of ways, there is no reason to inflate your numbers and then present them as fact.
[edit] This article is not neutral
I have to argue the neutrality of this article. It paints a verypositive piture of the school, with its exchange program, laptop program, and college application rate.—The preceding unsigned comment was added by Kaosbouncer (talk • contribs) .
- That information is verifiable and as such is perfectly acceptible. If you can come up with some verifiable criticism, you're welcome to add it. OhNoitsJamie Talk 18:19, 7 September 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Gay scandal
Ha, serves such a prejudiced body well!
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/15958091.htm
The head chaplain was gay all along. They can't possibly be happy about that. There was nothing illegal committed, only outside activities didnt represent the school. He was a gay oil wrestler, aka the miamilucha. He for some reason felt like keeping a website to broadcast his well-lubed homosexual wrestling, putting the school at risk for bad press. He has dropped his teaching career and is persuing a pro card in gay oil wrsetling, he is currently on an intense training regimen..
[edit] School revisionism
The school keeps modifying the article to remove the gay scandal. We need to put a freeze on this article to prevent anymore rosey covering ups. Else the article will have a pro-palmer bias. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 70.149.110.135 (talk) 01:29, 4 January 2007 (UTC).
[edit] Famous Alumni
I sort of doubt some names in the "Famous Alumni" section of the article. For one thing, there are no sources for it, and (the descriptions at least) seem sort of hoax-like. Should we remove them, or leave them and try to find sources for them? --θnce θn this island Speak! 22:21, 17 September 2007 (UTC)
