Jealous of a friends’ kids’ extracurricular

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sure it’s work, but not unique. Kids of certain demographics being put in Saturday language school and doing projects in “home country” is pretty common.

I think it’s pretty unique for non-Asian countries, which this is. And the ability to have documented (by grades and AP tests) trilinguality is impressive. And my comment about doing projects in the home country wasn’t that it was unique, just that it was a perfectly formed puzzle piece in a very well curated narrative that looks more organic because this language school was started when the children were 4.

Four? That's not organic--it's parent driven. If this is what one needs for Harvard, they can have Harvard. Let kids be kids.

[Anonymous]

Yup, you failed. What a terrible parent. Your kid underachieved because of you and will now be less attractive to elite colleges. First-class parents produce first-class kids, like your friend. You're, deservedly, second-class.

[Anonymous]

Our kids are in that Saturday language school. One DC already graduated and another is in high school. It is quite the commitment but both kids are trilingual. It’s not too late to join. Some kids do join later but you have to be willing to show up every Saturday morning for 4 hours and take trimester exams in both social studies/history and language/literature and weekly homework. It has been a great experience.

[Anonymous]

It's not that hot, OP. My kids did/are doing the Saturday school native language thing. My oldest picked GWU over W&M for college and for his study abroad went to a prestigious institution in our home country, to test it out for a potential Master's degree. It's not like Saturday school and picking a different language at his regular school got him into the Ivy League or anything.

You can achieve all that without the Saturday school. For us, it had nothing to do with college admissions, but everything to do with keeping a cultural connection with our home country. That is critically important for us, and that's why we forced our kids to attend. In elementary, they hated it. And then in secondary, when they saw their peers starting a language from scratch in middle school, they understood the value of their multilingual and multicultural background and they wanted to attend. But again - it's for their personal identity. Not for purposes of looking good for college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One way to look at it is if both your kids had done the same thing they'd probably worsen each other's chances if they applied to the same colleges. Because then both would have been less unique.

Also your kids did get more breathing room to be kids. So many kids and adults are mentally unhealthy now. I think it's best to start life with a little less pressure. It's an endurance race.

Well, pressure is better than ruminating. Nice dig at the other family, but so far the OP looks like an unhealthy one.

PP. You're basically calling my values a dig at other people. Not at all. People can make different choices about how to live life. I see evidence that more pressured and less pressured kids end up with the same outcomes. Also, it's pretty well documented that there is an adolescent mental health crisis and it is a recognized phenomenon at top schools.

Some kids have the temperament to follow a templated life and/or to handle lots of pressure. Just like some people are Olympic-level athletes. Others can't handle it.

My parenting philosophy has been shaped by knowing the brother of a post-senior-year of high school suicide victim. A kid from the DMV on his way to his parents' Ivy. That was years before I had kids. The situation made a strong impression on me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No kids are becoming fluent just from taking a language in school. They are not Trilingual with high school French or Spanish.

They are if they are already fluent in another romance language. A spinner speaker becoming fluent in Italian is not particularly difficult.

I doubt that's what it is.

[Anonymous]

Who cares.

It sounds like your goal in life having your children attend the most high status college?

Sad.

[Anonymous]

Physical education & exercise should help your son grow & function with a very clear head.

Sitting in a classroom staring at a computer screen for an extra day each week may do as much harm as it might help an individual.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our kids are bilingual and take our home in high school at one level higher than most peers and are doing well. Our friends, also with bilingual kids, enrolled their children in a Saturday language school, where the kids get what is essentially a second high school diploma from the home country. This has allowed their children to take a different language in school, meaning their kids are trilingual and they have a truly impressive extracurricular that shows commitment (the language school is intense) and has shaped their children’s entire narrative (the kid volunteered for a summer in the home country, has an internship next summer with an developing markets investment firm focusing on a part of the world using our language, etc.

I’m just kicking myself because if I had thought through this 10 years ago, I feel my child would be in a much better position college application wise. These friends had asked if we would be interested in doing the Saturday school with them, but it conflicted with sports and travel and our kid plays hs soccer but certainly isn’t going to get recruited.

Just a vent, but feeling like my past self let my high schooler down.

Get a life. This kind of "keeping up with the Joneses" mentality will drive you crazy. Stop worrying about ECs.

[Anonymous]

Your kids will shine in their own way. We are bilingual as well. We didn’t send our kids to weekend language schools. Instead, they take music lessons, participated in sports and did other problem-solving EC’s. They are fluent in both languages as we speak both at home, and they didn’t take another foreign language in hs, because they have other interests. One is in a WASP school now and the other is headed to a top 20 college with scholarship. No regrets so far.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yup, you failed. What a terrible parent. Your kid underachieved because of you and will now be less attractive to elite colleges. First-class parents produce first-class kids, like your friend. You're, deservedly, second-class.

Absolutely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our kids are bilingual and take our home in high school at one level higher than most peers and are doing well. Our friends, also with bilingual kids, enrolled their children in a Saturday language school, where the kids get what is essentially a second high school diploma from the home country. This has allowed their children to take a different language in school, meaning their kids are trilingual and they have a truly impressive extracurricular that shows commitment (the language school is intense) and has shaped their children’s entire narrative (the kid volunteered for a summer in the home country, has an internship next summer with an developing markets investment firm focusing on a part of the world using our language, etc.

I’m just kicking myself because if I had thought through this 10 years ago, I feel my child would be in a much better position college application wise. These friends had asked if we would be interested in doing the Saturday school with them, but it conflicted with sports and travel and our kid plays hs soccer but certainly isn’t going to get recruited.

Just a vent, but feeling like my past self let my high schooler down.

Was this the German school (DSW) in Potomac?

No I bet it’s Escuela Argentina. It’s the only school I know where you can actually earn a high school diploma from that country. It’s certified by the Ministry of Education in Argentina.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our kids are bilingual and take our home in high school at one level higher than most peers and are doing well. Our friends, also with bilingual kids, enrolled their children in a Saturday language school, where the kids get what is essentially a second high school diploma from the home country. This has allowed their children to take a different language in school, meaning their kids are trilingual and they have a truly impressive extracurricular that shows commitment (the language school is intense) and has shaped their children’s entire narrative (the kid volunteered for a summer in the home country, has an internship next summer with an developing markets investment firm focusing on a part of the world using our language, etc.

I’m just kicking myself because if I had thought through this 10 years ago, I feel my child would be in a much better position college application wise. These friends had asked if we would be interested in doing the Saturday school with them, but it conflicted with sports and travel and our kid plays hs soccer but certainly isn’t going to get recruited.

Just a vent, but feeling like my past self let my high schooler down.

Was this the German school (DSW) in Potomac?

No I bet it’s Escuela Argentina. It’s the only school I know where you can actually earn a high school diploma from that country. It’s certified by the Ministry of Education in Argentina.

Yup. The French Saturday School in Bethesda encourages students to take the DELF B2 exam, a French national exam, and you get a diploma for that, but it's not a high school degree - it's just a French proficiency degree.

[Anonymous]

My kids only speak English and only took up to Spanish 3 in hs. Both in at T10s

[Anonymous]

Nearly every Chinese and Korean family put their kids in Saturday classes. We are definitely not cut out for that level of intensity and we did not join these classes. Almost all of our friends children were in these classes.

No regrets. Child ended up at a HYPSM anyway which is remotely not on our radar until Junior year.