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Sidwell, Maret and Georgetown Day-- Are all the families very liberal?
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Anonymous
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On the one hand, I think it is inappropriate for people to attack OP. On the other, I do wonder why they are seeking to avoid people who disagree with them. My family is extremely liberal, but my DC attends a Cathedral school, which is probably 50-50, and i am so glad she is exposed to people who view the world differently. She gets in political discussion with her conservative friends all the time and as long as she is respectful, and they are respectful of her, I think its great. And I don't have any problem with the conservative parents.
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Anonymous
| I have friends all over the political map but I don't understand so-called "liberals" I've met here. They are pro-choice but care only about the less fortunate on a macro level, don't have any real concern for the environment (especially in their gas guzzlers), don't really appreciate meaningful integration, and are constantly upset about their taxes. Can someone please explain this to me? |
Anonymous
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You're not really looking for an explanation. You are, like 95% of the people who post on this board, spewing your self-aggrandizing rhetorical observations.
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Anonymous
| So you're saying it's an accurate observation? |
Anonymous
Oh for heaven's sake, who studies the Reformation in any course prior to college? This post is ridiculous, imho. |
Anonymous
Maybe not ridiculous, too few facts to tell, IMO. MLK is an American icon, like George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Martin Luther is not. It makes sense that MLK and his life would be part of a civics curriculum repeated in the early grades. So if this is a criticism of a lower school curriculum, it's a bit misplaced. But if this is the parent of an upper school student, I'd wonder what was going on, too. I learned about Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation in 9th? 10th? grade. At a po-dunk private school in PG County that doesn't get any discussion in this forum. |
Anonymous
| OP here. This has been enlightening. It seems that some of the posts were making fun but some of you were very helpful. I appreciate the candor. |
Anonymous
| Yeah, I learned about Martin Luther in 7th grade (at NCS). Our kids need to know about both Martin Luther's. |
Anonymous
Yes, but if I was going to pick one, it would be MLK by a mile, no question. The issue of race is a fundamental, ongoing American problem and learning about MLK teaches people 1) the about the absolute disgrace of Jim Crow and 2) the response of nonviolent resistance. By contrast, Martin Luther really has not that much relevance to everyday Americans. Sure it might be nice for people to be aware of the historical antecedents of the split between Catholic and Protestant churches, but there are probably a dozen other topics in medieval/early modern European history that I would think are more important to know. |
Anonymous
Podunk private school gal here, again. Which dozen other topics did you have in mind, exactly? Study of the Reformation is about more than just "the historical antecedents of the split between the Protestant and Catholic churches." When you consider that the Roman Catholic church had its own state ( the Holy Roman Empire) and thus was a political influence in Europe (and beyond) for centuries, the Reformation is best understood in terms of its political impact rather than spiritual/ecclesiastical ones. Spiritual disagreement with the Church existed in Europe for centuries; there are various heresies that pre-date the Reformation. Luther's theories, and his translation of the Bible from Latin into the vernacular, challenged the POLITICAL power of the Holy Roman Empire. And that's why they are important. He was a community organizer, of sorts. I'm not enough of a historian/intellectual to posit what the world would look like now if the Reformation never had happened. But is the first strike at the power and authority of the Holy Roman Empire any less "relevant" to modern day Americans than, say, the signing of the Magna Carta, or the French Revolution, or the fact that Henry VIII had eight wives, and took England away from the Catholic church to divorce his first? And, not that it should matter, but I feel compelled to let you know that I'm black. So I'm not minimizing your points b/c I'm bigoted or biased. Kids need to learn about both Martins. |
Anonymous
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Well, the Holy Roman Empire wasn't really holy or Roman, that is the pope may have had, at various times, various degrees of influence over the emperor, but the empire didn't in any real sense belong to the papacy, and I don't think I would analyze its decline primarily in terms of the challenge posed by Martin Luther.
I'm not going to try and rank order various topics, but in general the rise of cities, the demise of the manorial system, the rise of technology (e.g., but not solely, the movable type printing press), the rise of humanism, the rise of nationalism-- all of these are the type of topics that I think are more important for kids to try and appreciate. I wouldn't try to teach the history of the period without any reference to the Reformation, but if you ask me whether I consider knowledge of Martin Luther and the 95 theses a priority for any high school student the answer would be no. |
Anonymous
But you don't have to pick one. You can have both. The question is one of emphasis. And the question is not whether you like the prevalent emphasis, but, in response to the OP's question, whether a conservative would find the curriculum congenial. Also, while the particular example was about MLK v Martin Luther, that was just an example and not intended to hijack the debate into a discussion of MLK's place in history. But if that's how you see it then you will probably be just fine with the curriculum. |
Anonymous
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Interesting discussion, but to get back on point a bit...
OP's original question involves the schools themselves being liberal, not just the families/ students who attend. What's wrong with asking about that? We're fairly liberal ourselves (OK, I guess "moderate" is more appropriate), but when I found out that GDS allows (encourages?) 6 year old kids to call teachers by their first names, that marked the school off my list immediately. This is what I call a "liberal" concept that has nothing to do with politics. And just for the record, I'd better never catch my own kids calling ANY adult by his/ her first name, until my kids are about 25! |
Anonymous
| We ruled out GDS for the same reason. We asked in our interview if our child could still address adults as Mr. or Mrs. because that is what we teach at home and their answer was some version of a "no." I would still consider myself a liberal. |
Anonymous
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I think many families would like a school environment that includes a mix of liberal and conservative families as part of a school's diversity. I understand that schools would not and should not request such information during admissions of course and I also understand that the liberal/conservative standing of the families is quite different than the liberal/conservative-ness of the curriculum. Can anyone indicate schools other than the Cathedral schools that provide at least some family-level diverstity of this type?
Our DS is currently at a very liberal school and it is just fine ... but am still curious about the question as we begin looking forward towards high school. |