Conservative or progressive schools ?

[Anonymous]

I am independent and I see that some schools have very rigid views on the way a society should be.

Regardless of the bias, which schools tend to be more open to different views and are more tolerant. I just don’t want a school that brainwash children with ideology.

[Anonymous]

Is this along an educational philosophy spectrum? Along a partisan political spectrum? Or something else?

[Anonymous]

Progressive education is a pedagogy, having nothing to do with politics.

Many schools see teaching values as part of their purpose. This could include, for example, that all people are valued or that LGBTQ isn't real/accepted. It could include teaching the more difficult aspects of history or it could decide that dwelling on slavery is upsetting. You decide which is best for your child and choose a school accordingly.

[Anonymous]

Besides the political rants in this thread, so far, there’s clearly a misunderstanding and an ignorance about what progressive education is. And conservative education is not the antithesis of progressive education. But traditional education is the antithesis of progressive education.
Progressive education, yes, is a pedagogy (look up pedagogy if you don’t know what it means) by which schools pursue novel approaches the education based on research. For example, block scheduling is a progressive educational concept emanating from the idea that maybe eight subjects per day, five days a week isn’t the best way to approach school.

Now, will you find more liberal people in progressive schools? Probably so. Politically you could say that conservatives like the way things have always been or feel that things should go back to the way they were in some long forgotten decade, which tracks with traditional education. You could also say that liberals are more open minded which tracks with the ideals of progressive education.
So you will probably find a more liberal community in a progressive school, which means you’re going to see more acceptance of LGBTQ and less racism in progressive schools. Surely there’s more that can be said, but that’s it for now.

You’re welcome, MAGA moms and dads. That’s book learning for ya!

[Anonymous]

Some conservative schools: Stone Ridge; Prep, Bullis (very conservative; HOS is an Australian Trump), Visitation

Liberal: GDS (very), Potomac, SSASA, Holton, Burke, Maret

Center: Sidwell (more left), NCS, St. Albans, Landon

What do others think?

[Anonymous]

I would say Maret and GDS are left, not liberal. Anything episcopal is going to trend liberal (not necessarily left) with a traditional vibe. Sidwell is liberal leaning left. Stone Ridge is actually very left for a catholic school. Potomac is middle leaning left. Flint hill is the same.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would say Maret and GDS are left, not liberal. Anything episcopal is going to trend liberal (not necessarily left) with a traditional vibe. Sidwell is liberal leaning left. Stone Ridge is actually very left for a catholic school. Potomac is middle leaning left. Flint hill is the same.

I agree with this.

I also agree that you need to separate out progressive/traditional education and liberal/conservative viewpoints. They are, indeed, different things (though often are correlated.)

If you want to discuss ideology, then perhaps you need to drill down on what you want your kid to learn or not learn (which really is drilling down on history and english, for the most part.) If you want to discuss the way they are taught, then that's about how they teach/learn/test etc.

[Anonymous]

OP, could you explain which schools have rigid views about society and how you (presumably as someone who does not attend) "see" that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would say Maret and GDS are left, not liberal. Anything episcopal is going to trend liberal (not necessarily left) with a traditional vibe. Sidwell is liberal leaning left. Stone Ridge is actually very left for a catholic school. Potomac is middle leaning left. Flint hill is the same.

SR is very maga. Don’t let all girls fool you into thinking they at progressive. Everyone is blonde and the culture is a party mentality.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would say Maret and GDS are left, not liberal. Anything episcopal is going to trend liberal (not necessarily left) with a traditional vibe. Sidwell is liberal leaning left. Stone Ridge is actually very left for a catholic school. Potomac is middle leaning left. Flint hill is the same.

Agree Potomac is center/center-left.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would say Maret and GDS are left, not liberal. Anything episcopal is going to trend liberal (not necessarily left) with a traditional vibe. Sidwell is liberal leaning left. Stone Ridge is actually very left for a catholic school. Potomac is middle leaning left. Flint hill is the same.

SR is very maga. Don’t let all girls fool you into thinking they at progressive. Everyone is blonde and the culture is a party mentality.

I just have experience from about 10 years ago and it was aggressively left. Now maybe it changed in the last few years but the teachers were outspoken socialists and definitely guided the kids in that way. Catholic is not always maga conservative, see e.g Joe Biden or Jerry Connelly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some conservative schools: Stone Ridge; Prep, Bullis (very conservative; HOS is an Australian Trump), Visitation

Liberal: GDS (very), Potomac, SSASA, Holton, Burke, Maret

Center: Sidwell (more left), NCS, St. Albans, Landon

What do others think?

This actually made me lol. This poster is CLEARLY very well informed about Bullis, given that the HOS is NOT Australian (but hey - England, Australia - all the same, right?!) and as far as we as parents have seen he's not exactly a MAGA person. Bullis is not very conservative. It seems like it's welcoming to a broad spectrum.

But the OP should just visit the schools and see for themselves. Always the best way to find out whether a school is a good fit. That's how we decided to go with Bullis and are happy with our decision (2 kids in MS and US).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some conservative schools: Stone Ridge; Prep, Bullis (very conservative; HOS is an Australian Trump), Visitation

Liberal: GDS (very), Potomac, SSASA, Holton, Burke, Maret

Center: Sidwell (more left), NCS, St. Albans, Landon

What do others think?

This is hilarious, even if fake news! Since you are incorrect about his original nationality, it's highly unlikely you know anything about his politics, or indeed the school!

[Anonymous]

I think schools (both liberal and conservative) are more political than they want to accept.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would say Maret and GDS are left, not liberal. Anything episcopal is going to trend liberal (not necessarily left) with a traditional vibe. Sidwell is liberal leaning left. Stone Ridge is actually very left for a catholic school. Potomac is middle leaning left. Flint hill is the same.

SR is very maga. Don’t let all girls fool you into thinking they at progressive. Everyone is blonde and the culture is a party mentality.

I don’t know about very maga or even the school being very left, but families and girls do have Trump stickers on their cars. However, I would say the school itself leans in the middle.