Do parents choose Latin/BASIS over Deal/J-R?

[Anonymous]

Who cares? Maybe send your kid to Duke Ellington.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Who cares? Maybe send your kid to Duke Ellington.

+1. This music parent always posts.

The kid dropped out of BASIS long ago.

Reminds me of the parent who complained that BASIS refused to support their kid's desire to learn some obscure language.

Obviously, you can't make everyone happy.

Don't like it? Enjoy your in-bounds school or one of DC's 130 charter schools, move to the burbs, or pay for private. Stop posting here because we really don't care.

[Anonymous]

This. Pretend otherwise if it makes you feel good, but going with high schools with weak ECs comes at a cost.

You want both strong academics and ECs across the board. But you can’t find that pairing in any DC public high school, not even Walls.

Shouting down parents with the temerity to point this out on DCUM won’t help.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We live IB for Deal/JR and intend to send our child there. Our neighbors have kids at Basis and proudly tell us their kids have hours of homework each night and thus can’t do other things like show up to the neighborhood social gatherings, play sports, etc. I am not sure if that is true of all kids attending BASIS, but tons of homework is their goal. It is not our goal. It depends on what you and your kid want out of their educational experience.

Certainly, if your priorities for choosing a school are socializing and sports, BASIS is not the right fit.

I have a few thoughts --

one of the reasons we really like it there is that every single family seems to value working hard. It's creates a sweet vibe, where the kids are working hard together, and maybe the lack to sports-focused and socializing -focused kids is why there is very little bullying. It really is a nice little haven for nerds.

The other thing is that you can tell the work and studying is actually making them smarter. You can see it happening. They are learning. It's a crazy idea, but studying actually does make you learn.

The final thing is that different kids will take different amounts of time to do the same work, and maybe that's why it's so important to know your kid before signing up. If they have a really good memory and are very organized and don't procrastinate, it will take less time and they will have to for other things,

So…you’re saying my neighbor’s kids were not the “right kind of kids” for BASIS since they spend so much time working? It has nothing to do with the drill and kill for no reason culture there? Bless your heart.

[Anonymous]

if so weak, how does Basis DC already have 6 ivy leaguers out of 45 kids...with other high level acceptances pending?

Anonymous wrote:This. Pretend otherwise if it makes you feel good, but going with high schools with weak ECs comes at a cost.

You want both strong academics and ECs across the board. But you can’t find that pairing in any DC public high school, not even Walls.

Shouting down parents with the temerity to point this out on DCUM won’t help.

[Anonymous]

Here is the reality: foreign language and music instruction is meaningless for the majority of kids --- almost none continue any of it past high school

Anonymous wrote:No, they didn't. Which instrumental music instruction did they receive? Where's the band? The orchestra? No instrumental music instruction means no music instruction, other than on paper.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here is the reality: foreign language and music instruction is meaningless for the majority of kids --- almost none continue any of it past high school

Anonymous wrote:No, they didn't. Which instrumental music instruction did they receive? Where's the band? The orchestra? No instrumental music instruction means no music instruction, other than on paper.

Wow, you seem like typical Basis parent with this comment, focused solely on academics as if that alone makes for a great educational experience.

The majority of families are not having their kids take languages or music to expect them to continue into college and adulthood. Just doing music and languages itself has been proven to have many benefits - cognitively, creatively, discipline, etc….

Lots of adults might have done music or languages for years then drop it only to pick it up again later in adulthood and enjoy it. I would argue that someone educated with these skills add to a well rounded individual.

[Anonymous]

Isn't ambitious language study and music... academic?

The truth is that you're hard pressed to find any first-rate enrichment at BASIS. In our experience, even their competitive academic teams are lackluster and woefully under-funded by DMV elite public-school standards. The problem isn't that the high school is small or because DC charters don't get the same funding per capita as DCPS does.

From what we could tell, BASIS is still little more than a comprehensive AP prep tutoring program. If that's what your family wants, it works.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:if so weak, how does Basis DC already have 6 ivy leaguers out of 45 kids...with other high level acceptances pending?

Anonymous wrote:This. Pretend otherwise if it makes you feel good, but going with high schools with weak ECs comes at a cost.

You want both strong academics and ECs across the board. But you can’t find that pairing in any DC public high school, not even Walls.

Shouting down parents with the temerity to point this out on DCUM won’t help.

The BASIS haters can't stand the good college results and will find some way to diminish that achievement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:if so weak, how does Basis DC already have 6 ivy leaguers out of 45 kids...with other high level acceptances pending?

Anonymous wrote:This. Pretend otherwise if it makes you feel good, but going with high schools with weak ECs comes at a cost.

You want both strong academics and ECs across the board. But you can’t find that pairing in any DC public high school, not even Walls.

Shouting down parents with the temerity to point this out on DCUM won’t help.

The BASIS haters can't stand the good college results and will find some way to diminish that achievement.

These high-achieving kids will be stunted for life because Basis only offers a smattering of music classes including AP Music Theory. The lack of a Basis symphony, jazz band, and choir will haunt them forever.

[Anonymous]

it is academic for a small fraction of kids, if they want to pursue those things there are many ways to do so outside of high school -- in fact that likely looks better for college admissions as it shows more of a passion......

When schools such as Basis DC have to make tradeoffs due to funding, space, etc. things like advanced music are expendable....much like many colleges now getting rid of majors that have little demand

Anonymous wrote:Isn't ambitious language study and music... academic?

The truth is that you're hard pressed to find any first-rate enrichment at BASIS. In our experience, even their competitive academic teams are lackluster and woefully under-funded by DMV elite public-school standards. The problem isn't that the high school is small or because DC charters don't get the same funding per capita as DCPS does.

From what we could tell, BASIS is still little more than a comprehensive AP prep tutoring program. If that's what your family wants, it works.

[Anonymous]

Few kids study language and music in college, look up the number of degrees granted by major for any school.....some will need to take language as part of a requirement but that is all they do

Anonymous wrote:Isn't ambitious language study and music... academic?

The truth is that you're hard pressed to find any first-rate enrichment at BASIS. In our experience, even their competitive academic teams are lackluster and woefully under-funded by DMV elite public-school standards. The problem isn't that the high school is small or because DC charters don't get the same funding per capita as DCPS does.

From what we could tell, BASIS is still little more than a comprehensive AP prep tutoring program. If that's what your family wants, it works.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Few kids study language and music in college, look up the number of degrees granted by major for any school.....some will need to take language as part of a requirement but that is all they do

Anonymous wrote:Isn't ambitious language study and music... academic?

The truth is that you're hard pressed to find any first-rate enrichment at BASIS. In our experience, even their competitive academic teams are lackluster and woefully under-funded by DMV elite public-school standards. The problem isn't that the high school is small or because DC charters don't get the same funding per capita as DCPS does.

From what we could tell, BASIS is still little more than a comprehensive AP prep tutoring program. If that's what your family wants, it works.

In a place like DC, with the Levine school of music, and DC youth orchestra, maybe there is less of a need to do it within the school. I'm a music person (played all throughout my childhood and played in bands as an adult) and I'm completely fine sending my kids to BASIS to learn things, and then doing music outside of school. That's what we are doing and it works -- they will totally be able to pick music up as adults, if they want to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:if so weak, how does Basis DC already have 6 ivy leaguers out of 45 kids...with other high level acceptances pending?

Anonymous wrote:This. Pretend otherwise if it makes you feel good, but going with high schools with weak ECs comes at a cost.

You want both strong academics and ECs across the board. But you can’t find that pairing in any DC public high school, not even Walls.

Shouting down parents with the temerity to point this out on DCUM won’t help.

The BASIS haters can't stand the good college results and will find some way to diminish that achievement.

These high-achieving kids will be stunted for life because Basis only offers a smattering of music classes including AP Music Theory. The lack of a Basis symphony, jazz band, and choir will haunt them forever.

Ha ha. Well played!

[Anonymous]

What are the Basis demographics?

The website says that the average Basis graduate earns $112k in scholarships.

This would imply that incomes are quite low because top schools don't award merit.

However, I wonder if they are being lazy and taking the total scholarships awarded for admittances and then dividing by the student body.

So, if one kid is admitted to 10 schools with a free ride to each, that total amount is divided by all students.