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DC Public and Public Charter Schools
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We know the following:
1. Walls gets a lot more applicants than Sidwell. 2. People generally don't bother applying to Walls unless their kid is an outstanding student. 3. People generally don't bother applying to Sidwell if their parents aren't rich. 4. Sidwell generally has to prefer kids from families who can pay its tuition because it has bills to pay like everyone else and the school doesn't get tax dollars. Given all of that, you think the cream of the crop of Walls' applicants is much creamier than Sidwell's. |
SWW does not offer Physics C (Mech and E&M) on a regular basis as well. JR does (along with Physics 1 and 2). They have a healthy cohort of kids taking AP Chem and CSA. Walls did offer Linear Alg in the past (at least a couple of years ago) but if JR kids are so inclined they can take those classes through Dual Enrollment. |
Instead of engaging in petty (envy-based) insults, perhaps you should sharpen YOUR reading comprehension skills. The PP said, “And most of the high performers at Walls could get into Sidwell.” The PP didn’t engage in the verbal reinterpretation you’re trying to do now. As I said before, most high performers at Walls could not get into Sidwell. Case in point: When my oldest son applied to both Walls and Sidwell several years ago, from a DCUM-popular DCPS middle school, he was the only student admitted to both schools. There were at least a dozen other students who applied from his school that year. About 2/3 of the students (from his school) who were denied admission to Sidwell, were admitted to Walls. Sidwell routinely admits 0-2 students from my son’s middle school annually, while Walls takes at least 10/year. Does that sound like “most of the high performers at Walls could get into Sidwell?” |
And the intro science classes are fine, but kind of lackluster. No (or extremely limited) labs in either biology or chemistry, for example. It feels like a waste given that lots of the kids have the intellectual firepower to handle more interesting and more rigorous material. Walls (DCPS?) seems content to offer a fairly basic science curriculum in which half the cohort earns As. |
🤣 Lol—you think that Walls’ students who turn down spots at private schools “will have a $500k downpayment gift from their parents when they are ready to buy a house”?! You clearly know very little about Walls’ student body. The vast majority of Walls’ families can’t afford to provide even $10k in down payment assistance. Their child is at Walls because it’s “the best” and MOST AFFORDABLE school they were admitted to. |
NP. I’m sure you wish it burned Sidwell parents up. Sorry to burst your bubble. 😝 Go look at the graduating seniors’ IG accounts for Sidwell and JR. Very little overlap. And good luck and Godspeed to the tiny handful of JR students who thread the needle from that school to an Ivy+. |
Of course not! That false introduction was used so the PP could attempt to advance their narrative. |
Yet, on a per student basis, Sidwell sent more students to Ivy+/T20 schools than Latin. That’s true for this year, last year, and every year. I know which one I’d prefer. |
Not true, I still work at one -of course only an idiot would say which. And are you implying what I stated is false? Walls nor Sidwell will guarantee anything for your child if you are not wealthy, well-connected, or your child isn’t a great boot licker. Let’s also talk about what ‘preparation’ means because I truly think many of you pushing Sidwell to be your ultimate dream did not grow up very wealthy and do not get it. |
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Here's the thing. I went to a top SLAC in the 90s, and I bet many of you did too.
I had classmates that had come from Sidwell and similar schools. They were wealthy before they went to Sidwell, wealthy once they graduated from my SLAC and are wealthy now. The Sidwell attendance did not cause the wealth and didn't even really perpetuate it because those kids never earned it and still don't. It just correlated with it. And it also correlated with Ivy League legacy / attendance. You guys are acting like our actions are the things that cause our kids to have privilege when the privilege or lack thereof predated our choice of school and will live on after we are gone. It's in the way that they talk, the friends that they have and their bank accounts. My kid has a trust fund. He's going to attend a DCPS school, and it's not going to suddenly rob him of his wealth. He's not the only one who will inherit wealth. None of that was changed or will be changed by his high school attendance choices. My friends from college who arrived there with upper middle class parents are, by and large, still upper middle class or higher. My friends who arrived at college working class still are to this day. And the ones who arrived with college professor parents, surprise! They are college professors. Some of them are more well known or less so, but their material circumstances haven't changed much based on having gone to a high prestige college. Or Sidwell or Walls. School choice is simply not the determining factor we allege it to be. |
Trust fund from … the grandparents? I am guessing you personally do not have the means currently to create a trust. Because that would suggest you have your own cash flow wealth. And if you did have the means, then it begs reason that you wouldn’t select the superior education. What is more important than education foundation (except health and love)? |
My kid doesn't want to go to private school. He's very against it, and I'm going along with his preference. He finds private school kids stuffy and believes private schools are either too small or too religous (debatable, but he's largely right in our region). He especially hates jocks. So, I support his choice. |
By the way, I do believe I've selected the superior education. I've worked at a boarding school (not in DC). I know that there are many talented staff there, but public school education and continuing education requirements are simply more rigorous. More public school teachers have education degrees, extensive pedagogy and discipline instruction, and high salaries. Unsurprisingly, this selects for better educated and higher quality teachers. We could debate all day the reason why public school education is seen as worse than private school education. I question whether private school education ever was better. If there's an argument to be made, it's simply that you're selecting for privileged connections and friends who will help you succeed later in life when you choose a private school education. No one debates that this is the case. It's possibly the main benefit, other than better maintained facilities and beautiful campuses. Do I think my son's day would be more pleasant and worry free if he attended Sidwell rather than Walls? Maybe. Hard to say. Both schools are very selective. Both have well behaved student bodies dedicated to learning and passionate teachers. I can guarantee you, though, that the teachers at Walls have more education classes when they are hired, are evaluated more rigorously on their pedagogical education, and have more ongoing continuing education. They are also paid a LOT more than the teachers at Sidwell Friends. I have a friend who took a major pay cut to work at Sidwell. |
NP but lots of wealthy parents choose public schools like Walls over private. There are many reasons for this choice, including wanting their children to not solely be exposed to privileged and other wealthy people. |
Walls offers Physics C every year (only Mech) and has never offered Linear Algebra. Ever. |