So, if you had an average kid -- where would you send them?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bullis is not better than Whitman, and that is a public school

Whitman has a better reputation than Bullis and it's free!

I know for me, the difference in cost of housing between my current neighborhood, and Whitman's, plus the extra arts and sports I'd want to supplement with (included in tuition at Bullis) would cost me more than I'd pay at Bullis.

[Anonymous]

St. John's
Edmund Burke
Charters
Stone Ridge
Mater Dei

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What if they were younger -- are their good schools for little ones in this category?

Also, does anyone know if SSFS takes kids like this?

SSFS definitely takes "average" kids. My friend's son goes there and is the most well rounded child you could ever meet. He is into sports and the outdoors and takes his studies seriously.

[Anonymous]

Well, I do not think "average" is a bad thing, espcially average in Washington DC. Its better than a genius with terrible social skills or a precocious musician with self-confidence issues or an outstanding and exceptionally talented athlete who is utterly self-absorbed or a stellar mathmetician who hates to read, or a brainiac who never lifts her headout of a book, and can;t carry on aconversation with real live people to save her life. "Average" is as under valued in our society as "nice" is. Give me a smart, savvy, personable, well-rounded joe-averager any day. Those are actually the individuals who seem to end up the happiest people and most successful people, at least from an enjoyment of life perspective. They sample and enjoy lots of different things, have rich social lives, enjoy reading a myriad of books on all sorts of topics. Seriously, especially in a place like Washington, average is not bad word, average is actually a pretty great position from my viewpoint.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:St. Patrick's, NPS

My kids attend neither NPS or St Pat's, so I don't have a horse in this race. I am familiar with them from the admissions guantlet a few years back and I would hesitate to describe them as non-competitive.

[Anonymous]

For Virginia schools:

Congressional, Browne, Alexandria Country Day, Langley School?
All good schools for good, solid students.

[Anonymous]

I would home-school them and spare them the realization that they were just "average".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bullis, Field, or Burke

What's the deal with Bullis? Considering its nice location in the heart of affluent Potomac, and its great facilities, you would think it would be considered a top tier program. What gives?

Is is possible that Bullis is what Bullis wants to be? Serving a wide variety of kids well in a heterogenous setting; developing well rounded kids with strong skills and rich experiences in academics, athletics and the arts; encouraging kids to strive for their own personal best, rather than competing against external criteria. These seem to be the goals that Bullis has set for itself, and from everything I hear they meet them. Maybe the people at Bullis feel these goals are just as valid as producing Harvard students and serving the kids with the high WPPSI scores?

[Anonymous]

every child will profit from a good private school no matter the age. just look from one that your child doesn't have to test into. many christian schools offer great education for average children for a fee, with small class sizes and great teachers. they will also learn a lot of respect because good christian and catholic schools do not tolerate back talk, drugs, and have strict dress code to prevent innapropriate material being exposed to the kids. they are about a lot more than religion. they are usually the best choice for average or just above average children or teens.

[Anonymous]

except that you are surrounded by holy rollers

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:every child will profit from a good private school no matter the age. just look from one that your child doesn't have to test into. many christian schools offer great education for average children for a fee, with small class sizes and great teachers. they will also learn a lot of respect because good christian and catholic schools do not tolerate back talk, drugs, and have strict dress code to prevent innapropriate material being exposed to the kids. they are about a lot more than religion. they are usually the best choice for average or just above average children or teens.

As the parent of college kids I have observed that the catholic school kids are much more wild than the public school kids. (That is in high school). For starters, there is a lot more drinking. We seriously considered putting all our kids in catholic schools when we moved here. We chose public schools because there was so much more for them to do and be involved in. It worked out well for us. I think you must weight what the school has to offer with the child's needs. We have active kids who had interests that could be better pursued in our local public school. FWIW, we have seen our kids, and others in our kids grades, fare much better in the college placement game than their catholic school friends.

I think the "average kid" needs to have their parent advocate for them wherever they go. I also think it is our job, as a parent, to help our children find what they are passionate about and enable them to develop that. There are no average kids, just average parents.

[Anonymous]

there is an incredibly wide spectrum of catholic schools - everything from classroom size, academics, college placements, costs, parish / independent , tuition fees, some where religion is part of every day, some where its near invisible, some heavy workloads, some minimal . .. . I think its hard to use a broad brush on them just as one generally doesn't use a broad brush on all public schools or all private schools. there are a lot of threads on the individual schools . if one is interested, you really have to do your research. I'm not surprised on pp comments as I think of several of the high schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For Virginia schools:

Congressional, Browne, Alexandria Country Day, Langley School?
All good schools for good, solid students.

Not sure I'd include Langley in this list - it's very strong academically and has become pretty difficult to get into. I think of Langley and Norwood as peer schools - both tend feeder schools into the most competitive private high schools (like Potomac, Sidwell, etc).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bullis, Field, or Burke

What's the deal with Bullis? Considering its nice location in the heart of affluent Potomac, and its great facilities, you would think it would be considered a top tier program. What gives?

Is is possible that Bullis is what Bullis wants to be? Serving a wide variety of kids well in a heterogenous setting; developing well rounded kids with strong skills and rich experiences in academics, athletics and the arts; encouraging kids to strive for their own personal best, rather than competing against external criteria. These seem to be the goals that Bullis has set for itself, and from everything I hear they meet them. Maybe the people at Bullis feel these goals are just as valid as producing Harvard students and serving the kids with the high WPPSI scores?

That seems reasonable PP. However I'd imagine its tough for Bullis not to feel the pressure of competing with "top tier" schools - especially with the Type A affluent demographics of its surrounding neighborhoods. Good for them for sticking with a particular niche and mission.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:every child will profit from a good private school no matter the age. just look from one that your child doesn't have to test into. many christian schools offer great education for average children for a fee, with small class sizes and great teachers. they will also learn a lot of respect because good christian and catholic schools do not tolerate back talk, drugs, and have strict dress code to prevent innapropriate material being exposed to the kids. they are about a lot more than religion. they are usually the best choice for average or just above average children or teens.

As the parent of college kids I have observed that the catholic school kids are much more wild than the public school kids. (That is in high school). For starters, there is a lot more drinking. We seriously considered putting all our kids in catholic schools when we moved here. We chose public schools because there was so much more for them to do and be involved in. It worked out well for us. I think you must weight what the school has to offer with the child's needs. We have active kids who had interests that could be better pursued in our local public school. FWIW, we have seen our kids, and others in our kids grades, fare much better in the college placement game than their catholic school friends.

I think the "average kid" needs to have their parent advocate for them wherever they go. I also think it is our job, as a parent, to help our children find what they are passionate about and enable them to develop that. There are no average kids, just average parents.

You may be right about the wildness of catholic school kids at high school age. My kids are in a catholic school now. I wonder if some of that comes from their families/heritage not necessarily the school experience as i find the some parents to be very social and some serious drinkers.

However I would have to comment that my kids in elementary catholic school are sheltered from alot of adult oriented influences. Bad language, inappropriate media, sexual discussions etc. I see it come up with their public school friends much more often. I'd like to keep my kids in a kid world as long as possible.