Hill Middle Schools

[Anonymous]

Some people genuinely want to believe in and support neighborhood/community schools. They are aware of the problem that gentrifiers in urban neighborhoods statistically largely opt for private and charter schools, irrespective or the underlying quality of the neighborhood public schools. Does not really matter if it is Oakland, New York, or DC. DCPS could do a lot more to support advanced middle school coursework. But that is another issue. There are families in our neighborhood who care a lot about academics but who may also feel some moral imperative to attend the nearby public school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some people genuinely want to believe in and support neighborhood/community schools. They are aware of the problem that gentrifiers in urban neighborhoods statistically largely opt for private and charter schools, irrespective or the underlying quality of the neighborhood public schools. Does not really matter if it is Oakland, New York, or DC. DCPS could do a lot more to support advanced middle school coursework. But that is another issue. There are families in our neighborhood who care a lot about academics but who may also feel some moral imperative to attend the nearby public school.

But suddenly they don't feel that same moral imperative for high school. Because we all have our limits.

[Anonymous]

I think that is right. it is all a balance. DCPS also runs application high schools.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:You're not wrong but I'm a little surprised by how many neighborhood families seem OK with Eliot-Hine, Jefferson Academy and Stuart Hobson these days though. I'm not hearing too many complaints from friends and neighbors who are using these schools, most of them UMC and white.

There are stats on this that were posted recently. It’s actually not that many families choosing their IB middle school, no matter what boosters like you post (repeatedly).

Give me a break. I'm no booster. My children attend a parochial middle school in VA. I've been fed up with our DCPS ES post Covid, thrilled that we only have one week of 5th grade left. But I'm genuinely surprised by how many of the brainy families we've known on the Hill for many years are actually sending their children to Eliot Hine, Jefferson or Stuart Hobson for 6th or 7th grade. You don't have to be a booster to notice the uptick in Hill enrollment or to comment on it here.

Your alleged surprise doesn’t trump the actual numbers, which actually tell the opposite story.

I know quite a few parents who are sending their kids to Stuart Hobson and Eliot. None of them have kids who are really academic achievers so they feel comfortable in a low key environment where academics isn’t such a priority.

This is not true in my experience. Yes, the academic high flyers at our IB mostly try for Latin and Basis, but if they don't get in, they typically do head to SH. It's parents whose kids who are doing fine but not great who are more likely to move in those circumstances. This year's 4th grade at our school has a ton of kids coming back for 5th as of now and weirdly the best students are all returning (some got shut out in the lottery, some had a miserable BASIS shadow day and refused to go, and some have true believer parents... so it's a mixed bag). If they actually go on to SH the next year in any meaningful percentage, I think it could start a trend at the school because parents looking at the fifth grade next year and then at who goes to SH the following year will no longer have the same FOMO. We'll see.

That is some magical thinking. Everyone I know who is at Stuart Hobson either doesn’t care about academics at all (due to bigger problems or not being very motivated) or is desperately playing the lottery.

I heard about this “trend” towards attending Stuart Hobson when my son started kindergarten in 2013.

It is 100% not magical thinking that our school has a much bigger 5th grade class coming back for next year than we have had in recent years. It is also not magical thinking that it includes the bulk of the high achievers… which is also unusual. Whether they actually go on the SH the following year is the question, as per my post. Whether it actually starts a trend or is a blip is another question.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:You're not wrong but I'm a little surprised by how many neighborhood families seem OK with Eliot-Hine, Jefferson Academy and Stuart Hobson these days though. I'm not hearing too many complaints from friends and neighbors who are using these schools, most of them UMC and white.

There are stats on this that were posted recently. It’s actually not that many families choosing their IB middle school, no matter what boosters like you post (repeatedly).

Give me a break. I'm no booster. My children attend a parochial middle school in VA. I've been fed up with our DCPS ES post Covid, thrilled that we only have one week of 5th grade left. But I'm genuinely surprised by how many of the brainy families we've known on the Hill for many years are actually sending their children to Eliot Hine, Jefferson or Stuart Hobson for 6th or 7th grade. You don't have to be a booster to notice the uptick in Hill enrollment or to comment on it here.

Your alleged surprise doesn’t trump the actual numbers, which actually tell the opposite story.

I know quite a few parents who are sending their kids to Stuart Hobson and Eliot. None of them have kids who are really academic achievers so they feel comfortable in a low key environment where academics isn’t such a priority.

Ha, you might group my kid in there, but I’d gladly share his IQ tests to disabuse you of that notion … The kids I know going to EH come from very accomplished families who are comfortable with EH likely because of that.

Why?

Because they don’t think their kid needs to be hothoused/tiger-mommed to succeed. I don’t necessarily share that view entirely but for various reasons we are trying it out. Believe me when I tell you some very, very bright kids will be going.

As a brown person, it’s always been my perception that these kids scoop up all the advantages that should be going to the brown kids, while allowing their parents to pretend to be super woke and brag to their other white friends. I find it disgusting. But that’s just my opinion (and I am totally certain I’m not alone!).

What specifically are those advantages, and why should they be going to "the brown kids"?

There are some advantages to going to a poor school, such as specific internships ska scholarships. Those are geared towards the economically disadvantaged but the quiet parents scoop them all up since they know how to package their kids. I mean if you think this is ethical then good for you I guess?

For middle schoolers? And you’re shaming people for attending their actual IB school? And you think the reason some UMC folks on the Hill go to SH for middle school is because they want those magical internships that are apparently for brown kids despite not being explicitly tailored that way (even though they could be)? That must be why they all go to Eastern too when presumably these shiny baubles are even more prevalent! Oh, wait. Each part of this post is more ridiculous than the last.

[Anonymous]

We have a student at SHMS and have been very pleased with the quality and dedication of SH teachers and administration. While we have no other middle school experience to compare with first-hand, our kid has always excelled academically and continues to do so at SH. SH also has a phenomenal theater program, perhaps the best in DC!

[Anonymous]

Which grade? SH can become a real drag by 8th grade. That's when you have a bunch of kids who work at a 4th or 5th grade level in the very same science and social studies classes as kids who are ready for high school work.

[Anonymous]

This is true, but more advanced students are given some harder assignments.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some people genuinely want to believe in and support neighborhood/community schools. They are aware of the problem that gentrifiers in urban neighborhoods statistically largely opt for private and charter schools, irrespective or the underlying quality of the neighborhood public schools. Does not really matter if it is Oakland, New York, or DC. DCPS could do a lot more to support advanced middle school coursework. But that is another issue. There are families in our neighborhood who care a lot about academics but who may also feel some moral imperative to attend the nearby public school.

As this thread makes clear, many people at those schools don't want them there.

[Anonymous]

One main reason we chose BASIS over SH was the viable high school path. It was too risky to count on Walls.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some people genuinely want to believe in and support neighborhood/community schools. They are aware of the problem that gentrifiers in urban neighborhoods statistically largely opt for private and charter schools, irrespective or the underlying quality of the neighborhood public schools. Does not really matter if it is Oakland, New York, or DC. DCPS could do a lot more to support advanced middle school coursework. But that is another issue. There are families in our neighborhood who care a lot about academics but who may also feel some moral imperative to attend the nearby public school.

Oh, you mean the almost 20% population increase since in the last 25 years that reversed DCPS closures all over DC? You mean the projected population increases that stopped DC from continuing to sell off surplus schools?

You are like the idiots in my neighborhood who speak about the good old days of the crack epidemic before the gentrifiers moved in. Don't like it? LEAVE!

[Anonymous]

People dont necessarily want Larla fully taking over and pushing her ideas onto everyone else. That was covered in the nice white parents podcast. Most people are not really stacked against their neighbors of all socioeconomic and racial stripes attending their neighborhood schools.

[Anonymous]

Maybe “some moral imperative” is too strong and a poor word choice. There are some factors beyond just academics influencing people but its wrong too broad brush say they do not care about academics because they choose EH over Basis/private/moving.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You're not wrong but I'm a little surprised by how many neighborhood families seem OK with Eliot-Hine, Jefferson Academy and Stuart Hobson these days though. I'm not hearing too many complaints from friends and neighbors who are using these schools, most of them UMC and white.

There are stats on this that were posted recently. It’s actually not that many families choosing their IB middle school, no matter what boosters like you post (repeatedly).

Give me a break. I'm no booster. My children attend a parochial middle school in VA. I've been fed up with our DCPS ES post Covid, thrilled that we only have one week of 5th grade left. But I'm genuinely surprised by how many of the brainy families we've known on the Hill for many years are actually sending their children to Eliot Hine, Jefferson or Stuart Hobson for 6th or 7th grade. You don't have to be a booster to notice the uptick in Hill enrollment or to comment on it here.

Your alleged surprise doesn’t trump the actual numbers, which actually tell the opposite story.

I know quite a few parents who are sending their kids to Stuart Hobson and Eliot. None of them have kids who are really academic achievers so they feel comfortable in a low key environment where academics isn’t such a priority.

Ha, you might group my kid in there, but I’d gladly share his IQ tests to disabuse you of that notion … The kids I know going to EH come from very accomplished families who are comfortable with EH likely because of that.

Why?

Because they don’t think their kid needs to be hothoused/tiger-mommed to succeed. I don’t necessarily share that view entirely but for various reasons we are trying it out. Believe me when I tell you some very, very bright kids will be going.

As a brown person, it’s always been my perception that these kids scoop up all the advantages that should be going to the brown kids, while allowing their parents to pretend to be super woke and brag to their other white friends. I find it disgusting. But that’s just my opinion (and I am totally certain I’m not alone!).

This is going to sound snarky, but it’s not. It’s a real, earnest question that I would like an answer to. What would you like white families to do differently? I don’t want to raise my kids in an all white area. I want my kids to have diverse classmates and live in a diverse neighborhood. SH or EH are looking like good options for us. I mean, I’m not bragging to anyone, and I’m honestly not sure what advantages my kid might be inadvertently scooping up. If you could get into the specifics here, that would be helpful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe “some moral imperative” is too strong and a poor word choice. There are some factors beyond just academics influencing people but its wrong too broad brush say they do not care about academics because they choose EH over Basis/private/moving.

Let's be honest. They "chose" EH because they struck out in the Latin/BASIS lottery. I have seen this so many times. Parents are all about support for neighborhood schools until their kid has a good option, and then they're going to go ahead and take it.