Sidwell Obsession

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did the attorney general pull his kids out of Sidwell after the latest pedophile incident?

They were never there.

The think the reference is to the MD State Attorney General - but his kids left Sidwell for reasons unrelated to any supposed "pedophile incident"

[Anonymous]

Where did he place his children?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Where did he place his children?

Landon, I think.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow, clearly the negative Sidwell posts were written by someone completely unfamiliar with the school. Not my experience at all. There is a nice mix of stay at home and working parents, younger and older parents, etc., just like any other school. And my children transferred to Sidwell, where they have been happier than they ever were in their other school.

It's good that you believe that your children are happy at Sidwell -- I hope for their sake that you are right.

You are wrong about the compartive demographics - there are statistics on such things.

As to what parents value at Sidwell, consider one of the early posts on this thread:


Why the obsession with Sidwell?
1. Chelsea Clinton
2. Malia Obama
3. Sasha Obama
4. Lots of apps and thus rejections. We all want what is hard-to-get (e.g., Bill Gates trying to join Augusta National Golf Club).

Now does that sound like someone interested in their child's well being or their own social status? just asking.

In Washington DC you'd hard pressed to find any school that doesn't have it's share of social climbers and parents choosing schools for the wrong reasons. My kids don't go to Sidwell, but I know plenty of Sidwell families that do not meet the profile described in this thread. Sidwell is unique among the very best schools in that it offers a co-ed option - which is the right choice for some kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow, clearly the negative Sidwell posts were written by someone completely unfamiliar with the school. Not my experience at all. There is a nice mix of stay at home and working parents, younger and older parents, etc., just like any other school. And my children transferred to Sidwell, where they have been happier than they ever were in their other school.

It's good that you believe that your children are happy at Sidwell -- I hope for their sake that you are right.

You are wrong about the compartive demographics - there are statistics on such things.

As to what parents value at Sidwell, consider one of the early posts on this thread:


Why the obsession with Sidwell?
1. Chelsea Clinton
2. Malia Obama
3. Sasha Obama
4. Lots of apps and thus rejections. We all want what is hard-to-get (e.g., Bill Gates trying to join Augusta National Golf Club).

Now does that sound like someone interested in their child's well being or their own social status? just asking.

In Washington DC you'd hard pressed to find any school that doesn't have it's share of social climbers and parents choosing schools for the wrong reasons. My kids don't go to Sidwell, but I know plenty of Sidwell families that do not meet the profile described in this thread. Sidwell is unique among the very best schools in that it offers a co-ed option - which is the right choice for some kids.

I'm humored by parents who think they know everything that goes on at schools. It's helpful to have parents reporting their observations of children's happiness, but really? Did your parents know everything that troubled you in high school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I agree with most of what you stated and think that if Ivy is your goal then unless you know your child is going to be in the top 10% of their class in private that you are probably better transfering to a public. Your kid will still be in the top % but will probably have fewer legacies to compete with and it might increase their overall chances of getting in. Where I disagree with you is that the top 10% of students in Montgomery County or most public HS, even elite ones, get into Ivy leagues. Even with a lot of legacies you are probably looking at 10 or 30 students max attending Ivy league schools. I'm sure they went to great schools but there is no way the top 10 % in the large schools in Montgomery County go to Ivy league schools, that could be 200 students.

These posts are consistent with our experience in private and public schools. There were smart, striving kids in both places, and not-so-much striving in both places. My kids went on from private ES to top publics in MoCo, and the kids there are really very good academically and in terms of work ethic.

IMO, a lot of top public school kids go to UMD instead of Ivies because of the money -- their parents can't afford either 30K/year for private school, or to send their kids to Ivies. Driving my kids to various things, I've been to many tiny colonials in marginal areas of Silver Spring, where the families are happy and working hard, but the choice for these kids is probably going to be UMD, barring a scholarships. Or, we know a few kids who got really generous scholarships at 2nd-tier schools.

I agree with the PP that we know lots of public school parents with Ivy degrees, including HYP, so I'm not sure there's a clear advantage to public schools in terms of less competition from the legacy kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why the obsession with Sidwell?
1. Chelsea Clinton
2. Malia Obama
3. Sasha Obama
4. Lots of apps and thus rejections. We all want what is hard-to-get (e.g., Bill Gates trying to join Augusta National Golf Club).

Reasons to not go to Sidwell:
1. Chelsea Clinton
The girl is no longer even in school. After that excellent education got a job as a news anchor
2. Malia Obama
3. Sasha Obama
They will leave the school and go back to Chicago as soon as the next president is elected
4. Lots of apps and thus rejections
33K per annum tuition, The Quakers believe in modest dres code. This is definitely not practiced by the school children

[Anonymous]

Quakers aren't Shakers or Amish.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Quakers aren't Shakers or Amish.

Sidwell is QINO -- or, as the cliche goes, a Quaker school for Jewish kids taught by WASPs.

[Anonymous]

Really? Because there are three Jewish kids in my dcs class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Really? Because there are three Jewish kids in my dcs class.

# of Quakers in said class?

[Anonymous]

I think the sentiment (which I admit that I’ve heard from both Sidwell Friends’ alum) that Sidwell Friends has become “a Quaker school for Jewish kids taught by WASPs” reflects old fashioned Washington anti-Semitism of the type you’ll hear on the links at Chevy Chase Club/Congressional Country Club – but never in polite company.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:# of Quakers in said class?

I'm not the PP you're asking, so I don't know how many Quakers are in her child's class.

In case it matters: According to the school's website, half of the board members are Quaker, and 6% of the student body is Quaker (http://goo.gl/4zXkN). Nationwide, Quakers make up about 0.1% of the general US population (http://goo.gl/aY8hR). So Sidwell has about 60 times more Quakers than one would expect in the general population.

[Anonymous]

PP again. A little quick math suggests that if there are 3 Jewish children in PP's class, and the class is about 25 kids, that's 12%. According to the CUNY study, about 1.3% of the general US population is Jewish. So I guess that's about 9 times more than one would expect in the general population.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:# of Quakers in said class?

I'm not the PP you're asking, so I don't know how many Quakers are in her child's class.

In case it matters: According to the school's website, half of the board members are Quaker, and 6% of the student body is Quaker (http://goo.gl/4zXkN). Nationwide, Quakers make up about 0.1% of the general US population (http://goo.gl/aY8hR). So Sidwell has about 60 times more Quakers than one would expect in the general population.

US General Population stats are pretty irrelevant. People who identify themselves culturally as Jewish (but not necessarily religiously) are about 2.2% of the U.S. population -- I'm guessing that there is a considerably higher percentage at Sidwell. But, to the point, half the board being Quaker suports the "Quaker school" part of the cliche, the 6% number supports the notion that the school is not primarily for Quaker students so these statistics are consistent with the cliche. I know Sidwell welcomes all faiths, but given the demographics of NW and the near in suburbs and assuming that Sidwell is not a top chocie for most Catholics, I don't think it is a reach.