Latin v. BASIS

[Anonymous]

We found Latin faculty to be well intentioned but inexperienced. The classroom management was weak and the administration turned a blind eye to student behaviors that would be unacceptable at Deal or local privates.

Latin is what Capitol Hill parents settle for when the aren't ready to write the check for private or move to MD/NoVa. Basis seems to be more of the same, though with less rundown facilities.

[Anonymous]

In the past five months, my fifth grader has started Latin, learned about world geography and distant cultures, read contemporary fiction, begun the study of drama, learned some physics and is now moving on to biology, and studied seventh grade math using Saxon. I think that very little of this material would have been available to her at our DCPS.

Person who wrote this ^^^^, please come back!! I need to know which school you're talking about. Is it Latin? Basis? I guess not Deal, due to the "starting Latin" ....

My 3rd grader is actually doing a lot of this already -- in 3rd grade. However, he's in a private school and it costs $31,500 a year and we frankly cannot afford that much longer. We need to place him in a public school in the District -- soon! -- and I'm wary about losing the focus on humanities by going public. PP's description gives me hope.

[Anonymous]

^^ not the pp, but this is what my fifth grader is doing at BASIS.

[Anonymous]

Both are excellent schools - and next time around there's going to be a lottery either way, so the amount of choice one will have as to getting into Latin vs. Basis will be the luck of the draw.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our child feels connected and loved at Washington Latin High School, both with peers and the really with-it faculty. The education is stimulating, but the connection is the 'intangible'. I do think you can find that connection in larger schools with some teachers, who are really special and you remember for a lifetime. Our child seems to have this feeling for what appears to be just about everyone. I consider HS years when kids can wander, sometimes to harsh consequences. I love how emotionally plugged in WL High School keeps our child. I do know that there are other fine high schools in DC, so it's not an either/or.

Our friends at Latin have had similar experiences.
We are at BASIS and my child is learning and doing fine academically. Teachers also have tutoring hours which is a big bonus.
However, when it comes to relationships, it is a different story -- putting down students is not that uncommon, and I experienced this first hand during a recent meeting with a teacher.
The coveted CJ is used as a communication tool between parents and teachers, but sometimes teachers forget to write down or put the reminder sticker. When parents don't reply the next day, teachers report even the most trivial things to administration, instead of emailing it to the parent directly.
I am not sure if they are busy or if this is a schoolwide policy.
From what I have seen and heard thus far, BASIS suits best for type "A" young men and women who thrive by competing and being the best, while Washington Latin is better suited for the more emotional adolescents.

[Anonymous]

Parent of a Washington Latin 8th grader. Basis wasn't around when we were making our decision, and I am sure it is a fine school. To address an earlier poster, at Latin there are a lot of young teachers, but there are also a lot of teachers who are on their second or third career. I love my child's history, English and Math teachers this year. One could probably be my child, one my contemporary and one my parent. All are fabulous and bring to the classroom different perspectives. I really feel that my child is challenged to learn and to think for himself. We initially thought we would apply to Walls or private for HS, but we are staying for HS. The high school program seems to offer more individualized attention and an interesting range of coursework. In the weekly letter that comes home to parents, I find the administrators really think through every educational decision that is made (for prospective parents read the legendas -- they are on the website). I feel that the teachers and administrators really want moral, ethical, thinking kids. My biggest complaint about the school has been the facility. We have been there four years. Hopefully the new one will be improved.

[Anonymous]

Yes, I think that is a big difference between Latin and other schools. They are unapologetically teaching from a moral perspective. Not religious, but moral. As in what does it mean to be a citizen of a country? A citizen of the world? What is our duty as educated people? What is right and what is beauty? What are the values behind science and literature? Answers aren't provided. The learning comes through the questioning. The socratic method. It is fulfilling for young people to approach learning in this way. I think it pushes back some of the nihilism and self centeredness that is part of being in middle and high school

[Anonymous]

Another Latin parent---
One of my favorite classes is 6th grade civics. The kids spend the first half of the year learning about various forms of government---starting with Hammurabi's Code and continuing through Athenian democracy and the Roman republic. The second half of the year is devoted to the American Revolution and the US Constitution---culminating in an end of year trip to Philadelphia. I second the PP re the facilities having been the weak link---we are also really thrilled about the new school, though it will be a more difficult commute.

I also love the sense of humor at Latin. It is not uncommon to wander the halls and find taped print-outs of magazine or web announcements, newspaper ads, etc, containing typos or spelling errors---together with a teacher's sidebar comment to the effect of "Don't let this happen to you!"

[Anonymous]

I wish civics had been so well-developed when our kid was in early MS at Latin-LOL. Boy was learning pretty dry and rote then in some areas. I'm so glad it has improved for the younger grades. I can see that just from the reports of projects and activities we see coming out in the Legenda. As the tip of the spear (our kid is in HS now) I can tell you the same improvement has occurred at the top. The HS offerings are wonderful, and we have found great discipline and camraderie among the kids. Better than MS in fact, perhaps b/cause HS is so much smaller. PT conferences were a revelation. To be able to sit and discuss, at length, your teen child's progress with every teacher and the college counselor. They give the gift of hands-on and personal, that's for sure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our child feels connected and loved at Washington Latin High School, both with peers and the really with-it faculty. The education is stimulating, but the connection is the 'intangible'. I do think you can find that connection in larger schools with some teachers, who are really special and you remember for a lifetime. Our child seems to have this feeling for what appears to be just about everyone. I consider HS years when kids can wander, sometimes to harsh consequences. I love how emotionally plugged in WL High School keeps our child. I do know that there are other fine high schools in DC, so it's not an either/or.

Our friends at Latin have had similar experiences.
We are at BASIS and my child is learning and doing fine academically. Teachers also have tutoring hours which is a big bonus.
However, when it comes to relationships, it is a different story -- putting down students is not that uncommon, and I experienced this first hand during a recent meeting with a teacher.
The coveted CJ is used as a communication tool between parents and teachers, but sometimes teachers forget to write down or put the reminder sticker. When parents don't reply the next day, teachers report even the most trivial things to administration, instead of emailing it to the parent directly.
I am not sure if they are busy or if this is a schoolwide policy.
From what I have seen and heard thus far, BASIS suits best for type "A" young men and women who thrive by competing and being the best, while Washington Latin is better suited for the more emotional adolescents.

"Emotional" is a poor choice of words. I'd describe them as more multi-faceted, sensitive to the importance and depth of the material, not merely the competition with other students.

If DC were StarTrek, BASIS would be for Mr. Data; Latin for Captain Picard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

My pet theory is that people who paid the premium to move into Ward 3 do not like the idea of you being able to get an education that is equivalent or better to theirs. So, first of all this upsets their sense of entitlement - they paid more, so they should get more. Period. Secondly, specialty charter schools actually draw students out of the Ward 3 schools - which means there's more room for OOB students to come in. They perceive this to be a watering down of their preferred student body and it is very threatening.

If someone paid twice as much money for a shabby little house which feeds into JKLM then you paid for your gigantic townhouse in a neighborhood with bad schools, then they need to feel superior to you, dammit! And now, you have school options which are attractive? Well, that's not so good for the old investment...

No, honestly, a lot of us can afford private and send our kids to private as the default. Our home values don't go down and really never have, so it's not about investment.

Coffee shop chatter up here is that it would be nice to have a very competitive, exam-entrance PUBLIC high school option --- akin to Stuyvesant or T.J. Banneker and SWW sure ain't it. Since Stuyvesant doesn't exist in DC, and it never will because DC's population is 500,000, not 5 million .... we go to GDS.

(full disclosure, our kids go to private but I'm intrigued by BASIS so I'm on this thread. I fear though that BASIS will fall prey to the realities of the DC population and not become Stuyvesant-like, no matter what its curriculum guide states. see, e.g., the 2-track problem at Yu Ying.)

My understanding is that the 2nd track at Y u Y in g is only really for the leading edge/oldest class. I'be heard there is really no need for it with the students they got starting in PreK.

[Anonymous]

Some of these posts are making me wish we had not moved our child from Latin to Basis. But at Basis she has a much better sense of what is expected of her (at Latin she would sometimes stay up til 1am trying to figure out what the teacher was getting at to complete her homework) and she is able to be in the accelerated math class that she belongs in.

I think once the comps start weeding people out the academic opportunities will expand further. I kind of agree about the coldness at Basis with some of the teachers, but they are not the majority, and we heard and saw many of the star students from middle school at WL leave for private school, which is just not an option for us. If Basis does not work out, we are leaving DC, but I think there is every reason to believe it will.

Failure is not an option for them, nor is lowering their academic standards for the kids coming in at the 5th and 6th grade level, and the founders are here keeping an eye on the whole process. They are highly invested in having Basis DC succeed.

I do, however, think they underestimated how underprepared some of the 7th and 8th graders would be, and I don't know exactly how they are going to solve that problem.

My kid is in 6th and it is much less of an issue. And she has learned much more than she did at Latin, and much more than I did in my DC private school in 6th grade, and is fully up to the challenge.

And it is not rote learning. It requires independent thinking. I think the testing emphasis is just to identify who is falling behind before it becomes a disaster, and to get students used to being responsible and accountable about really learning the material.

All the dumping on Basis for being without a soul (don't remember whether it was here or on another thread) kind of ignores the fact that their track record in Arizona may mean that for the first time EVER Washington DC may end up with a high school that is ranked in the top 20 public schools in the country. A school that has a rank that automatically assumes that the kids who are graduating are actually educated, like the assumptions made about kids graduating from Sidwell, St. Albans, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We found Latin faculty to be well intentioned (sic) but inexperienced.

Top leadership at Latin is experienced and well known in Washington circles. The teaching staff is increasingly strong. A new day comes to Latin this summer with strong management, good finances, and renovated/expanded buildings on more than five acres.

[Anonymous]

Hey, now... it's not all just "data" - BASIS also has Latin, languages, literature, classics... a lot of traditional classical and liberal arts curriculum in the mix as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, I think that is a big difference between Latin and other schools. They are unapologetically teaching from a moral perspective. Not religious, but moral. As in what does it mean to be a citizen of a country? A citizen of the world? What is our duty as educated people? What is right and what is beauty? What are the values behind science and literature? Answers aren't provided. The learning comes through the questioning. The socratic method. It is fulfilling for young people to approach learning in this way. I think it pushes back some of the nihilism and self centeredness that is part of being in middle and high school

My son is a 5th grader at Latin this year and this is part of why we chose Latin over Basis. Both, I believe, offer the academic challenge, but I wanted something that was more holistic in the approach to teaching my son.