Walls vs Private- How Would You Compare

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a child at Walls and at Private. My children are at the right spot for them BUT hands down private is a better educational experience.
Private has elements where it is the "easy button". Example - both kids got COVID and were out for a little more than a week. Private school counselor helped create a plan to make up work. Walls - you are on your own to jump back and catch up.
My child at Walls is a solid student but not top of class. If you are at the top of the class - there are lots of opportunities available to you. If you are not - you muddle through almost as a 2nd tier.
There are also interesting racial dynamics at Walls - not to say that they are not at other schools but since you are not able to do a "shadow day" like privates allow - make sure you speak to as many students as possible to understand the landscape.

Your insinuation that area privates don’t have “interesting racial dynamics” is laughable. The fact that you haven’t returned to explain your statement confirms my suspicions that your statement about Walls is unfounded.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Isn’t that a huge pain to commute from Walls to JR for after school practices?

TBC is closer to Walls so great for kid who does crew.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a child at Walls and at Private. My children are at the right spot for them BUT hands down private is a better educational experience.
Private has elements where it is the "easy button". Example - both kids got COVID and were out for a little more than a week. Private school counselor helped create a plan to make up work. Walls - you are on your own to jump back and catch up.
My child at Walls is a solid student but not top of class. If you are at the top of the class - there are lots of opportunities available to you. If you are not - you muddle through almost as a 2nd tier.
There are also interesting racial dynamics at Walls - not to say that they are not at other schools but since you are not able to do a "shadow day" like privates allow - make sure you speak to as many students as possible to understand the landscape.

Please expand. What are the “interesting racial dynamics at Walls”?

I am working on how to phrase and be anonymous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a child at Walls and at Private. My children are at the right spot for them BUT hands down private is a better educational experience.
Private has elements where it is the "easy button". Example - both kids got COVID and were out for a little more than a week. Private school counselor helped create a plan to make up work. Walls - you are on your own to jump back and catch up.
My child at Walls is a solid student but not top of class. If you are at the top of the class - there are lots of opportunities available to you. If you are not - you muddle through almost as a 2nd tier.
There are also interesting racial dynamics at Walls - not to say that they are not at other schools but since you are not able to do a "shadow day" like privates allow - make sure you speak to as many students as possible to understand the landscape.

Please expand. What are the “interesting racial dynamics at Walls”?

I am working on how to phrase and be anonymous.

If you are worried about anonymity, then the “interesting racial dynamics at Walls” must be unusual and experienced only by your child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a child at Walls and at Private. My children are at the right spot for them BUT hands down private is a better educational experience.
Private has elements where it is the "easy button". Example - both kids got COVID and were out for a little more than a week. Private school counselor helped create a plan to make up work. Walls - you are on your own to jump back and catch up.
My child at Walls is a solid student but not top of class. If you are at the top of the class - there are lots of opportunities available to you. If you are not - you muddle through almost as a 2nd tier.
There are also interesting racial dynamics at Walls - not to say that they are not at other schools but since you are not able to do a "shadow day" like privates allow - make sure you speak to as many students as possible to understand the landscape.

Please expand. What are the “interesting racial dynamics at Walls”?

I am working on how to phrase and be anonymous.

If you are worried about anonymity, then the “interesting racial dynamics at Walls” must be unusual and experienced only by your child.

my observations are my observations

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a child at Walls and at Private. My children are at the right spot for them BUT hands down private is a better educational experience.
Private has elements where it is the "easy button". Example - both kids got COVID and were out for a little more than a week. Private school counselor helped create a plan to make up work. Walls - you are on your own to jump back and catch up.
My child at Walls is a solid student but not top of class. If you are at the top of the class - there are lots of opportunities available to you. If you are not - you muddle through almost as a 2nd tier.
There are also interesting racial dynamics at Walls - not to say that they are not at other schools but since you are not able to do a "shadow day" like privates allow - make sure you speak to as many students as possible to understand the landscape.

Please expand. What are the “interesting racial dynamics at Walls”?

I am working on how to phrase and be anonymous.

If you are worried about anonymity, then the “interesting racial dynamics at Walls” must be unusual and experienced only by your child.

Lol

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a child at Walls and at Private. My children are at the right spot for them BUT hands down private is a better educational experience.
Private has elements where it is the "easy button". Example - both kids got COVID and were out for a little more than a week. Private school counselor helped create a plan to make up work. Walls - you are on your own to jump back and catch up.
My child at Walls is a solid student but not top of class. If you are at the top of the class - there are lots of opportunities available to you. If you are not - you muddle through almost as a 2nd tier.
There are also interesting racial dynamics at Walls - not to say that they are not at other schools but since you are not able to do a "shadow day" like privates allow - make sure you speak to as many students as possible to understand the landscape.

Please expand. What are the “interesting racial dynamics at Walls”?

I am working on how to phrase and be anonymous.

If you are worried about anonymity, then the “interesting racial dynamics at Walls” must be unusual and experienced only by your child.

my observations are my observations

True, and your (unexplained) observations regarding the racial dynamics at Walls appear to only affect your child. Hmmm…

[Anonymous]

Walls is a mediocre public school...good for DC but nowhere near the top (or even second tier) local private schools. Teachers are overall uninspired and unmotivated and it shows. The administration is abysmal. If private is an option for you (and you are not morally opposed to private education, which understandably many people are), I'd say go for private. If you are in-boundary to J-R and your kid can handle large/overcrowded chaos, I'd even consider that over Walls. I've had two kids go through Walls and my third is at J-R and I am overall more impressed with the caliber of teaching there (though it is certainly not a top private education either).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Walls is a mediocre public school...good for DC but nowhere near the top (or even second tier) local private schools. Teachers are overall uninspired and unmotivated and it shows. The administration is abysmal. If private is an option for you (and you are not morally opposed to private education, which understandably many people are), I'd say go for private. If you are in-boundary to J-R and your kid can handle large/overcrowded chaos, I'd even consider that over Walls. I've had two kids go through Walls and my third is at J-R and I am overall more impressed with the caliber of teaching there (though it is certainly not a top private education either).

What on god's green earth does "caliber of teaching" mean? That seems like one of those really subjective phrases that people use to make whatever case they seek to make.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Walls is a mediocre public school...good for DC but nowhere near the top (or even second tier) local private schools. Teachers are overall uninspired and unmotivated and it shows. The administration is abysmal. If private is an option for you (and you are not morally opposed to private education, which understandably many people are), I'd say go for private. If you are in-boundary to J-R and your kid can handle large/overcrowded chaos, I'd even consider that over Walls. I've had two kids go through Walls and my third is at J-R and I am overall more impressed with the caliber of teaching there (though it is certainly not a top private education either).

So what is your experience with private schools to make any type of comparison? What are the issues with the Walls administration?

[Anonymous]

I'm a long time (20 year) DCPS parent with kids at both schools and the academic expectations are much higher an elite DC private (the Big3). There's honestly no comparison. The kids are asked to write things (in English class but also in history, religion, and foreign language classes) that I did not have to write as an English
major at an Ivy league school. There are no retakes for anything, no late work is accepted, etc. Basically you get things turned in on time or you get a zero. You better do well on every test or quiz or you get a crappy grade---so there is really no room for error or a night of blowing off the reading.
And there is a LOT of reading. My 10th grader is now on the 8th or 9th book this year in Brit Lit. It's 30-50 pages a night every night for one (ELA) class. Pop quizzes are the norm on the previous night's reading. There are many Bs and Cs as course grades--even for kids who are working very hard and doing every single assignment to the best of their ability. In some classes, getting a course grade A is almost impossible. The teacher may structure things so that one kid gets a final A (out of 15 kids in the class).

The teaching staff is great and most have been at the school for 10-30 years. There is complete stability in that regard--i.e. never any fear that you won't have a teacher or even a good teacher. (As a long term DCPS parent i think this might have been the most striking difference)

There are very few middle class (or even professional class) kids. Most are either wealthy or on aid. We are in the middle (just over the aid cut-off) and sometimes it feels like we're on our own island. Our kid fits in fine. I will say that I used to think that these schools must be filled with wealthy dumb kids. The reality is that wealthy people in DC tend to be extremely smart and successful and smart people tend to have smart kids. So my kid's school is filled with wealthy and very smart kids. There are very few external flaws to be found---"what you're rich, athletic AND really, really, smart?"---it can be hard on a high schooler who is trying to figure out life when this is almost all their peers.
The racial stuff is interesting. A disproportionate percentage of the kids on aid (and aid kids are about 30% of the student body) are URM. Certainly not all the URMs are on aid. But this does add a class dimension to the race dimension. I'd like to think that there is not a lot of outwardly racist stuff that goes on (I hope!) but I will say that the kids tend to segregate socially by race. Such is life anywhere. These schools haven't figured out a way to really integrate the kids' social lives anymore than the rest of society has.

That all said, I sometimes (often) wonder if the academic stress is worth it or necessary. I wouldn't say my kid is having a FUN high school experience. It's more of a long slog. My child at Walls was much happier overall. It was a far less challenging, far more uneven (with regards to teacher and overall quality) but allowed my kid to have more outside interests and a better quality of life. The racial stuff (since that was mentioned) was pretty similar. My kids (I have 4) are long-term DCPS kids. Sure, they had a sprinkling of close friends of other races all the way through but in general, when it really comes down to it, kids in DCPS tended to segregate by race (and class) as well. That part is very similar between public and private in DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a long time (20 year) DCPS parent with kids at both schools and the academic expectations are much higher an elite DC private (the Big3). There's honestly no comparison. The kids are asked to write things (in English class but also in history, religion, and foreign language classes) that I did not have to write as an English
major at an Ivy league school. There are no retakes for anything, no late work is accepted, etc. Basically you get things turned in on time or you get a zero. You better do well on every test or quiz or you get a crappy grade---so there is really no room for error or a night of blowing off the reading.
And there is a LOT of reading. My 10th grader is now on the 8th or 9th book this year in Brit Lit. It's 30-50 pages a night every night for one (ELA) class. Pop quizzes are the norm on the previous night's reading. There are many Bs and Cs as course grades--even for kids who are working very hard and doing every single assignment to the best of their ability. In some classes, getting a course grade A is almost impossible. The teacher may structure things so that one kid gets a final A (out of 15 kids in the class).

The teaching staff is great and most have been at the school for 10-30 years. There is complete stability in that regard--i.e. never any fear that you won't have a teacher or even a good teacher. (As a long term DCPS parent i think this might have been the most striking difference)

There are very few middle class (or even professional class) kids. Most are either wealthy or on aid. We are in the middle (just over the aid cut-off) and sometimes it feels like we're on our own island. Our kid fits in fine. I will say that I used to think that these schools must be filled with wealthy dumb kids. The reality is that wealthy people in DC tend to be extremely smart and successful and smart people tend to have smart kids. So my kid's school is filled with wealthy and very smart kids. There are very few external flaws to be found---"what you're rich, athletic AND really, really, smart?"---it can be hard on a high schooler who is trying to figure out life when this is almost all their peers.
The racial stuff is interesting. A disproportionate percentage of the kids on aid (and aid kids are about 30% of the student body) are URM. Certainly not all the URMs are on aid. But this does add a class dimension to the race dimension. I'd like to think that there is not a lot of outwardly racist stuff that goes on (I hope!) but I will say that the kids tend to segregate socially by race. Such is life anywhere. These schools haven't figured out a way to really integrate the kids' social lives anymore than the rest of society has.

That all said, I sometimes (often) wonder if the academic stress is worth it or necessary. I wouldn't say my kid is having a FUN high school experience. It's more of a long slog. My child at Walls was much happier overall. It was a far less challenging, far more uneven (with regards to teacher and overall quality) but allowed my kid to have more outside interests and a better quality of life. The racial stuff (since that was mentioned) was pretty similar. My kids (I have 4) are long-term DCPS kids. Sure, they had a sprinkling of close friends of other races all the way through but in general, when it really comes down to it, kids in DCPS tended to segregate by race (and class) as well. That part is very similar between public and private in DC.

Thank you for that. That sounds very much like my experience at an elite boarding school many years ago. Crushing work load surrounded by overachievers. I did not know anyone from my high school who did not think college was easy and less stressful than our high school. I would have had more fun in public school. I would have learned less there too. I probably would not have gotten into the college I did. And now, in my 50's, I don't think it would have made a difference to where I ended up career wise.

[Anonymous]

While I can't offer a direct comparison - see above for what sounds like quality insight - to judge from how easy/difficult college seems as an indicator of how well a school (public/private) prepares kids, Walls does a fine job. My Walls graduates came home saying freshman year in college was a breeze. So maybe that "slog" with no reprieve isn't what defines rigor, though it may be a good fit for some. (Granted, low N and any number of confounding variables, plus a pandemic that has made freshman year perhaps a little more coddled than it otherwise tends to be.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Walls is a mediocre public school...good for DC but nowhere near the top (or even second tier) local private schools. Teachers are overall uninspired and unmotivated and it shows. The administration is abysmal. If private is an option for you (and you are not morally opposed to private education, which understandably many people are), I'd say go for private. If you are in-boundary to J-R and your kid can handle large/overcrowded chaos, I'd even consider that over Walls. I've had two kids go through Walls and my third is at J-R and I am overall more impressed with the caliber of teaching there (though it is certainly not a top private education either).

I think Walls’ recent Harvard grad, now Rhodes Scholar would disagree with you. She give Walls a lot of credit in terms of her academic preparation for Harvard and beyond. However, other children may need the extra handholding that private school provides.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a child at Walls and at Private. My children are at the right spot for them BUT hands down private is a better educational experience.
Private has elements where it is the "easy button". Example - both kids got COVID and were out for a little more than a week. Private school counselor helped create a plan to make up work. Walls - you are on your own to jump back and catch up.
My child at Walls is a solid student but not top of class. If you are at the top of the class - there are lots of opportunities available to you. If you are not - you muddle through almost as a 2nd tier.
There are also interesting racial dynamics at Walls - not to say that they are not at other schools but since you are not able to do a "shadow day" like privates allow - make sure you speak to as many students as possible to understand the landscape.

Based on what you wrote, it doesn't seem like you think Walls is as good as your other child's school