What is the best public high school in Fairfax County?

[Anonymous]

You might also consider skipping FCPS and moving to Falls Church to the George Mason pyramid. My colleagues who live in VA tell me that their kids speak of Langley as the best place to buy drugs.

[Anonymous]

Langley has its haters on this board for sure, but I would say that it is without question, the top high school in Fairfax County. I say this objectively, test scores and rankings in independent reports like US News Top Public High Schools. I have had two kids go through and they loved it. True it's the wealthiest demo of any of the schools but I have found the kids to be very nice and not snobby in the least. Check out the housing but that would be my choice if we were moving into the area.

[Anonymous]

TJ, Langley then the rest

Mclean is excellent but not really ahead of Madison, Oakton, Woodson or Marshall

[Anonymous]

My top recommendations would be Madison, McLean, Marshall and Woodson, but any high school in Fairfax County is good. I have to admit I find the concentration of wealth, and lack of SES diversity, at Langley off-putting, but maybe it's not an issue. George Mason in FCC is just too small for my tastes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My top recommendations would be Madison, McLean, Marshall and Woodson, but any high school in Fairfax County is good. I have to admit I find the concentration of wealth, and lack of SES diversity, at Langley off-putting, but maybe it's not an issue. George Mason in FCC is just too small for my tastes.

The taxes are very high in falls church city

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My top recommendations would be Madison, McLean, Marshall and Woodson, but any high school in Fairfax County is good. I have to admit I find the concentration of wealth, and lack of SES diversity, at Langley off-putting, but maybe it's not an issue. George Mason in FCC is just too small for my tastes.

This. Langley has great academics, but the lack of any economic diversity wouldn't be ideal for us. I wouldn't want to buy an $800K or $900K home and have my kids be considered the poor kids. Too much keeping up with the Jones. From clothes to cars to summers in Europe, its not the type of environment I'd want my kids growing up in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My top recommendations would be Madison, McLean, Marshall and Woodson, but any high school in Fairfax County is good. I have to admit I find the concentration of wealth, and lack of SES diversity, at Langley off-putting, but maybe it's not an issue. George Mason in FCC is just too small for my tastes.

This. Langley has great academics, but the lack of any economic diversity wouldn't be ideal for us. I wouldn't want to buy an $800K or $900K home and have my kids be considered the poor kids. Too much keeping up with the Jones. From clothes to cars to summers in Europe, its not the type of environment I'd want my kids growing up in.

OP made clear they could afford any school district. Sounds like Langley would be perfect.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My top recommendations would be Madison, McLean, Marshall and Woodson, but any high school in Fairfax County is good. I have to admit I find the concentration of wealth, and lack of SES diversity, at Langley off-putting, but maybe it's not an issue. George Mason in FCC is just too small for my tastes.

This. Langley has great academics, but the lack of any economic diversity wouldn't be ideal for us. I wouldn't want to buy an $800K or $900K home and have my kids be considered the poor kids. Too much keeping up with the Jones. From clothes to cars to summers in Europe, its not the type of environment I'd want my kids growing up in.

Well wouldn't it continue for your kids and their kids if you are rich

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My top recommendations would be Madison, McLean, Marshall and Woodson, but any high school in Fairfax County is good. I have to admit I find the concentration of wealth, and lack of SES diversity, at Langley off-putting, but maybe it's not an issue. George Mason in FCC is just too small for my tastes.

This. Langley has great academics, but the lack of any economic diversity wouldn't be ideal for us. I wouldn't want to buy an $800K or $900K home and have my kids be considered the poor kids. Too much keeping up with the Jones. From clothes to cars to summers in Europe, its not the type of environment I'd want my kids growing up in.

OP made clear they could afford any school district. Sounds like Langley would be perfect.

Prior poster here, not the one you're responding to. The four other schools mentioned have plenty of rich kids, but I think the greater SES diversity acts as some counterbalance to the "affluenza" associated with the rich parts of NoVa. I think the kids are perhaps less likely to focus on the bling if they have classmates who obviously cannot afford it.

I also recognize that it could be viewed as condescending to want low or moderate-income kids at a school just so they can bring your rich kids down to earth, but the other kids get the benefit of the challenging academic environment at those schools as well. In the first instance, parents ought to be teaching their kids values, but I wonder how much of that goes out the window when the peer group is 98.5% wealthy and talking about their cars, clothes and vacations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My top recommendations would be Madison, McLean, Marshall and Woodson, but any high school in Fairfax County is good. I have to admit I find the concentration of wealth, and lack of SES diversity, at Langley off-putting, but maybe it's not an issue. George Mason in FCC is just too small for my tastes.

This. Langley has great academics, but the lack of any economic diversity wouldn't be ideal for us. I wouldn't want to buy an $800K or $900K home and have my kids be considered the poor kids. Too much keeping up with the Jones. From clothes to cars to summers in Europe, its not the type of environment I'd want my kids growing up in.

OP made clear they could afford any school district. Sounds like Langley would be perfect.

Prior poster here, not the one you're responding to. The four other schools mentioned have plenty of rich kids, but I think the greater SES diversity acts as some counterbalance to the "affluenza" associated with the rich parts of NoVa. I think the kids are perhaps less likely to focus on the bling if they have classmates who obviously cannot afford it.

I also recognize that it could be viewed as condescending to want low or moderate-income kids at a school just so they can bring your rich kids down to earth, but the other kids get the benefit of the challenging academic environment at those schools as well. In the first instance, parents ought to be teaching their kids values, but I wonder how much of that goes out the window when the peer group is 98.5% wealthy and talking about their cars, clothes and vacations.

Wonder away. As for the kids at Langley, they do just fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My top recommendations would be Madison, McLean, Marshall and Woodson, but any high school in Fairfax County is good. I have to admit I find the concentration of wealth, and lack of SES diversity, at Langley off-putting, but maybe it's not an issue. George Mason in FCC is just too small for my tastes.

This. Langley has great academics, but the lack of any economic diversity wouldn't be ideal for us. I wouldn't want to buy an $800K or $900K home and have my kids be considered the poor kids. Too much keeping up with the Jones. From clothes to cars to summers in Europe, its not the type of environment I'd want my kids growing up in.

OP made clear they could afford any school district. Sounds like Langley would be perfect.

Prior poster here, not the one you're responding to. The four other schools mentioned have plenty of rich kids, but I think the greater SES diversity acts as some counterbalance to the "affluenza" associated with the rich parts of NoVa. I think the kids are perhaps less likely to focus on the bling if they have classmates who obviously cannot afford it.

I also recognize that it could be viewed as condescending to want low or moderate-income kids at a school just so they can bring your rich kids down to earth, but the other kids get the benefit of the challenging academic environment at those schools as well. In the first instance, parents ought to be teaching their kids values, but I wonder how much of that goes out the window when the peer group is 98.5% wealthy and talking about their cars, clothes and vacations.

Wonder away. As for the kids at Langley, they do just fine.

Wouldn't it be easier and less costly to be the cool kid in a school that's not Langley?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My top recommendations would be Madison, McLean, Marshall and Woodson, but any high school in Fairfax County is good. I have to admit I find the concentration of wealth, and lack of SES diversity, at Langley off-putting, but maybe it's not an issue. George Mason in FCC is just too small for my tastes.

This. Langley has great academics, but the lack of any economic diversity wouldn't be ideal for us. I wouldn't want to buy an $800K or $900K home and have my kids be considered the poor kids. Too much keeping up with the Jones. From clothes to cars to summers in Europe, its not the type of environment I'd want my kids growing up in.

OP made clear they could afford any school district. Sounds like Langley would be perfect.

Prior poster here, not the one you're responding to. The four other schools mentioned have plenty of rich kids, but I think the greater SES diversity acts as some counterbalance to the "affluenza" associated with the rich parts of NoVa. I think the kids are perhaps less likely to focus on the bling if they have classmates who obviously cannot afford it.

I also recognize that it could be viewed as condescending to want low or moderate-income kids at a school just so they can bring your rich kids down to earth, but the other kids get the benefit of the challenging academic environment at those schools as well. In the first instance, parents ought to be teaching their kids values, but I wonder how much of that goes out the window when the peer group is 98.5% wealthy and talking about their cars, clothes and vacations.

Wonder away. As for the kids at Langley, they do just fine.

So you say, but there have been more posts on DCUM from unhappy Langley parents than from parents at other schools. Maybe their expectations are higher, so they are more prone to complain?

[Anonymous]

I'm a happy Langley parent! Well, ex. We just graduated. It's all in how you have raised your kids. The money issue, fancy cars, drugs, loose morals, whatever just wasn't an issue for us. I can't even think of a story to tell. Fantastic education. The building could be nicer but they are starting work on that this year.

Property taxes in McLean at a bitch, however, and it's tough to get into a VA school from NoVA.

[Anonymous]

Another happy Langley parent! We always felt like the diversity at Langley was much better than at a private school but with the same level of academics. The wealth factor is far more an outsiders perception than a reality. Teenagers care about pocket money far more than wealth. And guess what, the kids at any Fairfax County School have pocket money. Someone always has a bigger house etc-- kids do not care. The cars in the Langley student lot are not much different than at any of the other schools-- trucks are very popular, even more so than BMW's. I can say this from attending sporting events at all of the schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Another happy Langley parent! We always felt like the diversity at Langley was much better than at a private school but with the same level of academics. The wealth factor is far more an outsiders perception than a reality. Teenagers care about pocket money far more than wealth. And guess what, the kids at any Fairfax County School have pocket money. Someone always has a bigger house etc-- kids do not care. The cars in the Langley student lot are not much different than at any of the other schools-- trucks are very popular, even more so than BMW's. I can say this from attending sporting events at all of the schools.

When Langley teams lose sporting events, some of the students invariably yell (and tweet) variations of "at least we are richer and have bigger houses/nicer cars than you" at kids from the other schools. I've heard this first-hand. Maybe this is just semi-ironic trash-talk to be forgotten, but it does shape perceptions of Langley students by "outsiders."