Culture of Holton-Arms

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:+1. The problem is that girls in Holton MS will not be prepared for the top notch classes because the curriculum is so slow and limited. So they need extra math. Trust me when I say that the top math girls in MS all supplement. It should not be necessary for the price tag and really exacerbates the wealth gap.

This is true. All the top students at Holton have science and math tutors.
Be prepared to get tutors for your girls in high school

That’s obviously wrong. My DD is a top student and has never had a tutor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:+1. The problem is that girls in Holton MS will not be prepared for the top notch classes because the curriculum is so slow and limited. So they need extra math. Trust me when I say that the top math girls in MS all supplement. It should not be necessary for the price tag and really exacerbates the wealth gap.

This is true. All the top students at Holton have science and math tutors.
Be prepared to get tutors for your girls in high school

That’s obviously wrong. My DD is a top student and has never had a tutor.

What grade is she in?

Most girls do have a tutor for at least one subject. Often multiple subjects. Especially when the girls hit junior year.
10th grade Chemistry is a tough class and many of the girls have an outside tutor

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:+1. The problem is that girls in Holton MS will not be prepared for the top notch classes because the curriculum is so slow and limited. So they need extra math. Trust me when I say that the top math girls in MS all supplement. It should not be necessary for the price tag and really exacerbates the wealth gap.

This is true. All the top students at Holton have science and math tutors.
Be prepared to get tutors for your girls in high school

That’s obviously wrong. My DD is a top student and has never had a tutor.

What grade is she in?

Most girls do have a tutor for at least one subject. Often multiple subjects. Especially when the girls hit junior year.
10th grade Chemistry is a tough class and many of the girls have an outside tutor

Definitely not.most girls

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:+1. The problem is that girls in Holton MS will not be prepared for the top notch classes because the curriculum is so slow and limited. So they need extra math. Trust me when I say that the top math girls in MS all supplement. It should not be necessary for the price tag and really exacerbates the wealth gap.

This is true. All the top students at Holton have science and math tutors.
Be prepared to get tutors for your girls in high school

That’s obviously wrong. My DD is a top student and has never had a tutor.

What grade is she in?

Most girls do have a tutor for at least one subject. Often multiple subjects. Especially when the girls hit junior year.
10th grade Chemistry is a tough class and many of the girls have an outside tutor

Definitely not.most girls

Uh no they don’t. You’re fooling yourself to rationalize the outside spend. Girls are supposed to be going to the teacher, and in our experience. they’ve always been highly responsive and supportive. Maybe your DD needs to advocate for herself more with her teachers, organize her time better at school, and stop relying on your pocketbook to solve her problems. — US Parent of 2 girls

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:+1. The problem is that girls in Holton MS will not be prepared for the top notch classes because the curriculum is so slow and limited. So they need extra math. Trust me when I say that the top math girls in MS all supplement. It should not be necessary for the price tag and really exacerbates the wealth gap.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:+1. The problem is that girls in Holton MS will not be prepared for the top notch classes because the curriculum is so slow and limited. So they need extra math. Trust me when I say that the top math girls in MS all supplement. It should not be necessary for the price tag and really exacerbates the wealth gap.

This is true. All the top students at Holton have science and math tutors.
Be prepared to get tutors for your girls in high school

That’s obviously wrong. My DD is a top student and has never had a tutor.

What grade is she in?

Most girls do have a tutor for at least one subject. Often multiple subjects. Especially when the girls hit junior year.
10th grade Chemistry is a tough class and many of the girls have an outside tutor

Definitely not.most girls

I think girls don’t talk about having tutors and perhaps even hide it but it is way more common than you think

Uh no they don’t. You’re fooling yourself to rationalize the outside spend. Girls are supposed to be going to the teacher, and in our experience. they’ve always been highly responsive and supportive. Maybe your DD needs to advocate for herself more with her teachers, organize her time better at school, and stop relying on your pocketbook to solve her problems. — US Parent of 2 girls

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:+1. The problem is that girls in Holton MS will not be prepared for the top notch classes because the curriculum is so slow and limited. So they need extra math. Trust me when I say that the top math girls in MS all supplement. It should not be necessary for the price tag and really exacerbates the wealth gap.

This is true. All the top students at Holton have science and math tutors.
Be prepared to get tutors for your girls in high school

That’s obviously wrong. My DD is a top student and has never had a tutor.

What grade is she in?

Most girls do have a tutor for at least one subject. Often multiple subjects. Especially when the girls hit junior year.
10th grade Chemistry is a tough class and many of the girls have an outside tutor

Is there a culture element?
Like some cultures there that highly value stem have parents that tutor. And don’t call it tutoring per se.
Others pay a tutor.
Others just let it be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Holton is awesome. Especially at humanities. Quite good. And the culture is not perfect but actually really pretty nice and welcoming. The pretty rich white blonde girl clique exists--but it exists in every school. Nothing special. They lord over everyone and sneer at others. There is also the rick kid clique who goes to Mrs Simpson's. But that is everywhere too. The one thing that is not good is Math. It is soooo bad. Especially in middle school. Just so pathetic compared to MCPS and other private schools. Then when they over-rotated on diversity issues by teaching only African history in 7th grade. That was insane. What about the Aztecs? Mayans? Arabs? India? Persia? China? Japan? Korea? Come on. I understand we have been overemphasizing Europe. But then go so extreme as to only teach Africa in World History was just plain stupid.

What? Agree. But is this true?? The progress in certain civilizations is outstanding, in countries that have had over 1 B people for millennia.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:+1. The problem is that girls in Holton MS will not be prepared for the top notch classes because the curriculum is so slow and limited. So they need extra math. Trust me when I say that the top math girls in MS all supplement. It should not be necessary for the price tag and really exacerbates the wealth gap.

Sounds like one should stay in public until 9th grade and come in as a stronger student than the lifers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:+1. The problem is that girls in Holton MS will not be prepared for the top notch classes because the curriculum is so slow and limited. So they need extra math. Trust me when I say that the top math girls in MS all supplement. It should not be necessary for the price tag and really exacerbates the wealth gap.

Sounds like one should stay in public until 9th grade and come in as a stronger student than the lifers.

But then are the lifers duller that those coming in from where there are more advanced curricula?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:+1. The problem is that girls in Holton MS will not be prepared for the top notch classes because the curriculum is so slow and limited. So they need extra math. Trust me when I say that the top math girls in MS all supplement. It should not be necessary for the price tag and really exacerbates the wealth gap.

Sounds like one should stay in public until 9th grade and come in as a stronger student than the lifers.

But then are the lifers duller that those coming in from where there are more advanced curricula?

Don’t know who’s “smarter” or “duller.” All you know is one transcript has advanced classes and a certain grade, and another doesn’t have advanced classes. One has learned more. Period.

Being 1 or 2 classes behind is difficult to catch up with on a trimester system where only certain classes are offered a year a trimester.

I alum interview for a stem college and cover the Blair school, so have seen what boys and girls are capable of if they are capable, hard working, AND have access to the classes, tools, studies to fly fast.

[Anonymous]

While I could imagine some of the girls keeping it private, I would be VERY surprised if a single student in the Multivariable Calculus class this year were getting tutoring (at any point in their time at the school).

Is there outside tutoring happening across the upper school? I'm sure there is. There are 350 students and there is one that is the "best" and one that is the "worst" - but you have to ask yourself what are you ranking? The school doesn't think of the students this way, and frankly, neither should the parents - and we all know the colleges don't. (As is often said, if the top 20 colleges in this country wanted to fill their classes with valedictorians and 1600 SAT kids, they could, but they don't).

For those that want to couple smaller class size with caring teachers and an environment that is mostly free of drama, Holton provides a great education. If you or your child want more choices (both in class selection and extracurriculars) the local public schools do a great job with that. They have other issues as we all know, which is why people choose options like Holton.

Comparing them apples to apples doesn't work because what they offer are so different.

Speaking of rankings, if you were to take the top 25 kids of a Holton class and drop them into Whitman or Churchill or Blair, etc. they would do very well there. The opposite is also true. There isn't magic with hardworking kids.

The trick in the run up to high school or college is finding out what makes those kids hardworking and bright - much as those from the outside assume it is money, connections, or tutoring, etc., sometimes it is the combination of grit and determination often brought about by fostering those kids with sound teaching practices, sometimes stern teachers, and sometimes fun teachers. Finding what environment works for your kid is the assignment for us parents - many find it at a place like Holton.

But let's also be honest; if my oldest kid grew up in the middle of nowhere he would have wasted his life. My middle dd would have excelled and done just fine. My youngest (now the only one I have in HS) has thrived in a smaller environment. It has taken years to build confidence. Would that have happened in a large public school? Maybe. But it would have been a much harder struggle and who knows where she would have ended up. I'm thankful she has had the opportunities at Holton.

tldr; know your kid, find out what will work best for them!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:+1. The problem is that girls in Holton MS will not be prepared for the top notch classes because the curriculum is so slow and limited. So they need extra math. Trust me when I say that the top math girls in MS all supplement. It should not be necessary for the price tag and really exacerbates the wealth gap.

This is true. All the top students at Holton have science and math tutors.
Be prepared to get tutors for your girls in high school

That’s obviously wrong. My DD is a top student and has never had a tutor.

Yeah yeah, we watched a coworker for 6 years, 2 kids say this at a Big 3. No paid tutors. Just mom and Dad helping, daily.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:+1. The problem is that girls in Holton MS will not be prepared for the top notch classes because the curriculum is so slow and limited. So they need extra math. Trust me when I say that the top math girls in MS all supplement. It should not be necessary for the price tag and really exacerbates the wealth gap.

This is true. All the top students at Holton have science and math tutors.
Be prepared to get tutors for your girls in high school

That’s obviously wrong. My DD is a top student and has never had a tutor.

Yeah yeah, we watched a coworker for 6 years, 2 kids say this at a Big 3. No paid tutors. Just mom and Dad helping, daily.

PP here. Let me assure you that this is not the case here. Mom and dad have hectic jobs. Why is it hard to accept that not everyone needs help to do well in math and science?!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:+1. The problem is that girls in Holton MS will not be prepared for the top notch classes because the curriculum is so slow and limited. So they need extra math. Trust me when I say that the top math girls in MS all supplement. It should not be necessary for the price tag and really exacerbates the wealth gap.

This is true. All the top students at Holton have science and math tutors.
Be prepared to get tutors for your girls in high school

That’s obviously wrong. My DD is a top student and has never had a tutor.

Yeah yeah, we watched a coworker for 6 years, 2 kids say this at a Big 3. No paid tutors. Just mom and Dad helping, daily.

PP here. Let me assure you that this is not the case here. Mom and dad have hectic jobs. Why is it hard to accept that not everyone needs help to do well in math and science?!

I would also add, why is it hard to accept that a child’s teacher is happy to provide support if the child were to ask? I can’t think of a teacher at my big 5 school who wouldn’t meet with them during their Study halls etc.