Forum Index
»
Private & Independent Schools
Who applies to GDS? I don't know anyone that applied there?
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
|
We applied to Beauvoir but not GDS or Sidwell. My DC has a learning style a lot like mine. I attended a very unstructured school a lot like GDS as a young child and it was absolutely the wrong place for me. It seemed like the wrong place for DC, too. We did not apply DC there. We toured Sidwell expecting to love it. We hated it. We did not apply DC there. We toured Beauvoir expecting too much structure and a lot of stuck up parents. We found the right school for DC instead (and a very warm, welcoming parent community).
It had nothing to do with our social mores and everything to do with DC's learning style and our gut reactions on the tours. |
Anonymous
| We applied to GDS and Sidwell, but (like you) I don't know anyone else who applied to these places. I'm not sure why that's the case. Maybe it has to do with where you live and how close/far you are from the school? |
Anonymous
| I didn't see kids yelling and running around during our tours!! And we took two of them. Having decided on GDS for our 9 year old, of course this is worrisome to read. GDS parents: please respond to this. |
Anonymous
| Who applies to GDS? Apparently LOTS of people you don't know. Big world out there, you know. |
Anonymous
|
I am really laughing for the first time in a long time at a thread about these schools on the private forum. I have foresworn it for the most part but something made me look today.
When we looked at schools, for child #1, we looked at PK at GDS, Beauvoir and St Patricks (not at Sidwell for many reasons). I LOVED so many things about GDS. I loved the calling of teachers by their first names. I loved the school's discussions on and openess about how different families are and how varied the human species is in skin color, sexual preferences, in religion, in style, and so many other ways. These are all things that I want my children to know and understand and accept as "normal" (i.e. just the way it is). The "chaos" and noise and free flowing style of the school, however, was a problem for my child. He is drawn to and prefers quiet and structure in general but esp. when he is trying to learn and concentrate. This was clear about him since a very young age and so it was equally clear that, as much as I loved GDS, it was not the right school for him. So, he is at a school considered more conservative and it is indeed much more structured and has tighter standards of discipline. It is perfect for him. He has thrived. However, we have also made sure that he knows and appreciates the differences in his fellow human beings and the school and many of its families, which you all obviously view as conservative, has reinforced these values... and so, I laugh. 
|
Anonymous
Why not pass judgment? (This is DCUM, after all!) They are breeding an entire generation of disrepectful brats. |
Anonymous
Really? Have you met every single child there? And they're all disrespectful brats? Interesting. I guess we can expect President Obama's kids to turn out the same way because Sidwell also has children address the teachers by first name according to the information we received. The entire U.S. is doomed. |
Anonymous
Do you know the historical antecedent in why GDS uses first names? |
Anonymous
|
Yes! I know the history. White people called Black people by their first names and Black people had to call white people Mr. or Miss. I get that. GDS wanted to level the playing field by using first names. I must admit that I am simplifying a really important issue but for me... children calling adults by their first names is not about the history.
FWIW I am Black. I applaud GDS for taking that issue head on and creating an environment where everyone is viewed as an equal. As I said, I am just old-fashioned. Sorry!!! |
Anonymous
Okay. I think some folks aren't aware of the underlying reason and make wrongheaded assumptions. Personally, I'm not a fan of it (really contrary to my being!), but think we've devised a system in terms of addressing adults for it to work with our DC for next year and beyond. Something along the lines of what happens with how you address adults at GDS stays at GDS. |
Anonymous
For the record, if GDS was the only school to which we were accepted I would have enrolled my kid in a heartbeat. Like you, I would have done the same with regard to addressing adults at school and outside of school. |
Anonymous
I wasn't aware of the history, also applaud GDS on both counts. It is my preference that my children address adults by title and name, i.e., Mr/Mrs/Ms/Miss/Dr/Rev/Coach/Aunt/Uncle/Mom/Dad, etc. The black adults that this ugly bit of history addresses weren't children. Can't say that I agree that children should be considered on the same level as adults emotionally, physically, mentally, etc. |
Anonymous
|
Anonymous
Actually, my very dark-complexioned, sharecropping grandparents who migrated to the DC area from South Carolina prior to this period experienced the entire array of exclusionary practices, in place, in this town. Their preference is, also, that children address adults by title. I suppose, it's a cultural/regional preference. |
Anonymous
|
I don't have children at GDS, but the whole "calling teachers
by their first names breeds disrespectful kids" does not ring true; at least to me. I totally understand a cultural or familial preference for the use of titles. That said, I grew up calling all my parents' friends by their first names and only in retrospect did I realize this was unusual. Rather than cause any disrespect, the kids I grew up with were all very close to our friends' parents and it continues to this day. The preschool my children attended also had a first name policy. Again, there was no disrespect or academic laxness noted. There are many ways to teach our children good values but equating use of first names with a denigrating society seems a little silly. |