Yu Ying parents, what are the school pros and cons?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pros: Great location, diverse population, Chinese curriculum, great test scores
Cons: The belief that I'm doing right by my child by exposing him to Chinese. Which, I struggle with the fact that he may never use it outside of those 4 walls. And I can't really help him learn or really know what he is saying. The sinking feeling that you drank the Kool-aid. You also never feel welcome in the school also.

Signed,

A parent ready to jump ship

+1. At LAMB in my case.

Did you jump from YY to lamb? Or why did you leave lamb?

[Anonymous]

I believe Mandarin is and will be a differential factor in most professional job markets (anything related to international business, engineering, research, etc...)

[Anonymous]

Pros: academically not very challenging which allows lots of time for kids to be kids. The homework load is light, especially in the higher grades. The special ed services are now really good after they fixed some significant personnel and policy issues. We dropped Chinese tutors 2 years ago and the kids are doing the same as before (well, but not the top of the class).

Cons: Math instruction is inconsistent, but barely mediocre at best. Science has been hit or miss. US history and world geography is non-existent and must be supplemented at home. Several of the boys we know are leaving because they son't want to risk moving up to DCI with possibility of it being another girl-centered, woman-run school with no athletics. There used to be a great sense of community at the school, but the admin is cold and likes to keep the parents at arm's reach.

Disclosure: we would go for private for our oldest if we could afford it, but the youngest is happy. There are lots of happy, smart kids with happy, smart parents there. I enjoy their company.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pros: academically not very challenging which allows lots of time for kids to be kids. The homework load is light, especially in the higher grades. The special ed services are now really good after they fixed some significant personnel and policy issues. We dropped Chinese tutors 2 years ago and the kids are doing the same as before (well, but not the top of the class).

Cons: Math instruction is inconsistent, but barely mediocre at best. Science has been hit or miss. US history and world geography is non-existent and must be supplemented at home. Several of the boys we know are leaving because they son't want to risk moving up to DCI with possibility of it being another girl-centered, woman-run school with no athletics. There used to be a great sense of community at the school, but the admin is cold and likes to keep the parents at arm's reach.

Disclosure: we would go for private for our oldest if we could afford it, but the youngest is happy. There are lots of happy, smart kids with happy, smart parents there. I enjoy their company.

Thanks, very useful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pros: academically not very challenging which allows lots of time for kids to be kids. The homework load is light, especially in the higher grades. The special ed services are now really good after they fixed some significant personnel and policy issues. We dropped Chinese tutors 2 years ago and the kids are doing the same as before (well, but not the top of the class).

Cons: Math instruction is inconsistent, but barely mediocre at best. Science has been hit or miss. US history and world geography is non-existent and must be supplemented at home. Several of the boys we know are leaving because they son't want to risk moving up to DCI with possibility of it being another girl-centered, woman-run school with no athletics. There used to be a great sense of community at the school, but the admin is cold and likes to keep the parents at arm's reach.

Disclosure: we would go for private for our oldest if we could afford it, but the youngest is happy. There are lots of happy, smart kids with happy, smart parents there. I enjoy their company.

Agree about the academics. You will find better academics at most private schools and probably JKLMM, the math instruction especially is poor. The main reason to go to YY is for the Mandarin.

We love the school bc we really wanted Mandarin but will be sending DC to private school not DCI after YY. DH and I both attended private schools from k-12+.

[Anonymous]

And the truth comes out. I guess it's still a good option at the very least.

[Anonymous]

Can someone talk a bit more about the concerns about math? Yu Ying is right now the only school we would leave our current HRCS for, but math is one of my top priiorities. The math test scores look pretty decent. Is the math instruction uneven or unstructured? Is it bad only compared to top privates in DC? How does it compare to the math at other HRCS? Am wondering if the math is only bad compared to what parents who compel their kids to study Chinese want for their kids, in which case, it might actually be better than at other HRCS. For example, when I took Chinese as a second language in high school I remember a couple of brothers in my class playing math games together for fun that their parents taught them.
Does anyone have any in depth perspective on this question?

[Anonymous]

YY parent here. My oldest is in first and we don't have any concerns about math. He loves math and it seems very appropriate and engaging. And similar to what friends in other schools are learning.

[Anonymous]

Double posting. I would also like to know what other YY parents find lacking about math. I am not finding that but maybe it is in upper grades?

[Anonymous]

Upper grade kid: very inconsistent math program. My DC had huge gaps that seemed to be passed along that caught up with her this year. Some kids are fine, but we relied on just what the school taught. I had a hunch because she just wasn't working on the same things I did at that age, but hey I'm not a teacher so what do I know about math teaching sequences-- especially with the common core and all that. Unfortunately, that was wrong.
Once we figured out the problem and how deep the deficits were we got a tutor. Three months of intense work and she is now on track. Here is an example to help you: they never taught times tables when it typically happens so the teacher the following year assumed it had been done and moved on to things like area and perimeter, long division, etc. like they knew them. It was not just my daughter either. Some kids had learned them along the way but the ones who didn't pick them up on their own were at a deficit.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for posting YY parents!

[Anonymous]

PP here: I assume that what I am talking about with my DD is a product of the first few classes going through and them working out the bugs. If any third or fourth grade parents have different experiences it would be nice to get that perspective to add to mine. I don't want it to come out as a lopsided story if that's not the case!

[Anonymous]

K parent. So far we love the school. We don't have a Chinese tutor yet, but my child is doing very well in Mandarin so far and likes it a lot. I actually thought the math was kind of advanced, LOL, since they are already adding and subtracting in K, but I'm not a teacher! The YY parents get a lot of grief here on DCUM for being mean, but we have experienced the polar opposite. Parents are very friendly and interesting people, and we have made some wonderful friends already. We feel incredibly lucky to be at YY and plan to go the distance at DCI.

[Anonymous]

Another parent, I just want to speak to the question about whether everyone who enrolls their child should assume they'll have to pay for a Mandarin tutor at some point. We have a child who just started DCI this year, and we never ever used a tutor, and our child's Mandarin (according to both YY teachers last year and outside Chinese friends and acquaintances we have) is excellent. Tones and all. I do think different kids take to it at different rates, but we only know a few families who actually got a tutor at some point. Most did not, and it's worth asking the Admins what their official answer is to "What % of parents use tutors/outside Mandarin classes for their kids", but just from discussion with our fellow families, most do not use tutors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP here: I assume that what I am talking about with my DD is a product of the first few classes going through and them working out the bugs. If any third or fourth grade parents have different experiences it would be nice to get that perspective to add to mine. I don't want it to come out as a lopsided story if that's not the case!

Fourth grade parent here. It isn't just math that's a problem, but the language arts component for fourth grade is lacking when compared to what's required under common core. If DC does not get into Latin for next year, We are looking to send DC to private for middle school, and test-in for HS. We will attempt to keep up his Mandarin though the Hope School.