Anyone know what is going on a Woodson?

[Anonymous]

Can't wait for DeVoss to break up the public school cartels

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^^ that's not the teachers fault. How often do you hear parents on this thread spouting off about merit pay for teachers. Teachers who produce get better pay. Well how the hell is that measured? Oh that's right! Test scores.
Check out the thread on Hayfield. Bunch of a$$holes talking about how terrible Lee, Annandale, Stuart etc... are. They would never send their kids to a GS 5! Well, pick your poison. You want your property values, I guess some eggs get cracked in that omelette. God forbid you don't have a big enough "peer" group.
Quit blaming the administration and teachers. Or move ffs. You don't like the culture of that GS 10 school? Well honey, there are a bunch of 5's right down the road.

Much easier to spout off about how great her $40,000 private was.

Sweetheart- my kid is slated to go to a very undesirable high school, as per these threads. The only people who have my sympathy in these scenarios are the kids. You parents are the worst.

Exactly. Do you think it was my first choice to pay big money to send my three kids to private high schools? I was quite happy with the elementary and middle school so I'm not the private school 'snob' these folk want to make me out to be. It ended up being a necessity because it is my KIDS that mattered. Your child will probably do fine in the 'undesirable' school because you get it.

Who put a gun to your head and made you live in Great Falls and send your kids to Langley? If it was so horrible, you could have pupil placed them to South Lakes or Marshall. Easier to spend hundreds of thousands on privates, I guess, and then come on here railing against people trying to do their best at the public schools or the "illegal children" who attend them.

THIS. We live in Great Falls and our kids attend Langley. They are happy and enjoy school. But if they didn't? We would do exactly as the PP suggested and pupil place for South Lakes or Marshall. What's the point of spending so much money on privates that cultivate the same - or WORSE - culture of competitiveness? Why wouldn't you place your child in a less competitive school if they were feeling pressure?

All privates are not alike. If you tried to pupil place in South Lakes because your kid was not happy or thriving at Langley, you would be put in the Non-IB program and if your kid was smart, the principal would tell you it was not a good idea. You have to start IB Freshman year.

I hear this a lot from fellow Great Falls people. They have the big house, expensive cars, large diamonds, take multiple expensive vacations, but when it comes to their kids, they think private school as an alternative is a waste. That's your choice. There are a lot more unhappy kids than you think at Langley, and other competitive publics, but they are loathe to talk about it with what they feel are unsympathetic adults.

Coming from a Jewish family, education is very important to us. Jews studied even in concentration camps, and have always equated education and survival. Perhaps that makes me particularly attuned to whether or not my kids enjoy learning, rather than just going through the motions. My boys attended a private many here either have never heard of, or if they have, make fun of. Too bad, because they are missing out.

The fact is, Fairfax county schools have been going downhill and a lot of that is due to the school board and the way our tax dollars are spent.

So wait a minute. Aside from your obsession with the size of other women's diamonds, you keep claiming that privates (specifically Bullis, of course) are the panacea for "unhappy kids." No mention of all of the wealth on constant display at these privates - wealth that far exceeds what one finds at even the "best" publics. You complain about the competitive parents at FCPS high schools, but no mention at all of the same type of parents who populate private schools. Why is this? Why do you think privates - specifically Bullis - are so much healthier and lower-stress for kids? Hint: they're not. You're simply paying a fortune to happily be lulled into feeling like your kids are not under the academic and social pressure you claim they would be at a public. You're so full of it.

Smaller classes. Better meals. Individualized curriculum. Better guidance support. Need I go
He n?

"Better meals"??? Oh, honey.

Food is fuel. Or do only eat kale?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You really think a guidance counselor with hundreds of students is going to be able to properly guide students? They may give some helpful information or talk to a student if a student comes to them, but they aren't going out of their way to encourage kids to take classes well above their comfort zone. They may encourage kids take some AP classes, but I don't think they're the ones encouraging kids to take 5 plus AP's.

Exactly. We regularly get emails from school instructing parents to wisely counsel their kids about NOT taking too many APs. There is constant information about how much work AP classes entail and to be sure students aren't overloading on those classes. No one has ever encouraged or insisted students take more than they can handle.

There have been recent lawsuits. Don't doubt it

[Anonymous]

An article about the poisonous culture from a teenms point of view:
https://www.mindful.org/teens-stress-and-suicide-a-day-in-the-life/

[Anonymous]

From the above article. How many of you support this lifestyle?

For Meghan, a typical day begins at 7 a.m. She wakes, has breakfast, and gets to school. She then prepares to turn in homework and take a test or quiz in at least one course almost daily. After school, she participates in two hours of daily lacrosse practice. She then gets home, eats, showers and is finally able to begin her five-plus hours of homework. She starts at 8pm and goes to sleep at 1 am. (This isn’t accounting for the time for the entire week every three weeks that she doesn’t get home until 9:30 because she is working on her school paper commitment. Nor does this include any time she tries to have with friends socially, or downtime to just be with family and herself.) This schedule, Meghan says, is quite common for most of her classmates at Paly.

[Anonymous]

Here is a Reddit thread started by a former Woodsen student:

https://www.reddit.com/r/nova/comments/1z0qy2/suicides_at_wt_woodson_high_school/

[Anonymous]

Let's also read about the effects of sleep deprivation caused by the insane workloads and everything else "necessary" to get into a "good" college:

http://www.vbschools.com/schools/hours/content/pdfs/SleeplessInFairfax.pdf

[Anonymous]

This little tidbit caught my eye:

“There are parents who have too high expectations for their children,” Goodwin says. “They don’t realize how hard it is to get into college [now].” Case in point: Goodwin notes that the average weighted GPA for a Whitman student accepted to Maryland last year was 4.35.

Ridiculous. And we wonder why kids are falling apart?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This little tidbit caught my eye:

“There are parents who have too high expectations for their children,” Goodwin says. “They don’t realize how hard it is to get into college [now].” Case in point: Goodwin notes that the average weighted GPA for a Whitman student accepted to Maryland last year was 4.35.

Ridiculous. And we wonder why kids are falling apart?

So parents are the ones with too high expectations? The problem couldn't possibly be how hard it is to get into college now, even state schools? These standards are crazy! Kids at these high schools have an expectation that they need to go to college to have a middle class lifestyle. Then they see kids who take "only 5 APS" getting rejected at your basic state college, even some with 8....Of course they will feel stressed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This little tidbit caught my eye:

“There are parents who have too high expectations for their children,” Goodwin says. “They don’t realize how hard it is to get into college [now].” Case in point: Goodwin notes that the average weighted GPA for a Whitman student accepted to Maryland last year was 4.35.

Ridiculous. And we wonder why kids are falling apart?

So parents are the ones with too high expectations? The problem couldn't possibly be how hard it is to get into college now, even state schools? These standards are crazy! Kids at these high schools have an expectation that they need to go to college to have a middle class lifestyle. Then they see kids who take "only 5 APS" getting rejected at your basic state college, even some with 8....Of course they will feel stressed.

+1 to the reply here. Even parents who counsel their kids to ease up and keep a sense of balance find that the kids are pushing themselves because kids in this area are keenly aware that college admissions are insanely tough now. I'm not even talking about kids who want to shoot for high-prestige schools; just getting admitted to any four-year college now seems vastly harder than it was when we parents were looking at colleges. I agree that a lot of parents push kids too hard, but even kids whose parents are mellower feel academic pressure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^^ that's not the teachers fault. How often do you hear parents on this thread spouting off about merit pay for teachers. Teachers who produce get better pay. Well how the hell is that measured? Oh that's right! Test scores.
Check out the thread on Hayfield. Bunch of a$$holes talking about how terrible Lee, Annandale, Stuart etc... are. They would never send their kids to a GS 5! Well, pick your poison. You want your property values, I guess some eggs get cracked in that omelette. God forbid you don't have a big enough "peer" group.
Quit blaming the administration and teachers. Or move ffs. You don't like the culture of that GS 10 school? Well honey, there are a bunch of 5's right down the road.

Much easier to spout off about how great her $40,000 private was.

Sweetheart- my kid is slated to go to a very undesirable high school, as per these threads. The only people who have my sympathy in these scenarios are the kids. You parents are the worst.

Exactly. Do you think it was my first choice to pay big money to send my three kids to private high schools? I was quite happy with the elementary and middle school so I'm not the private school 'snob' these folk want to make me out to be. It ended up being a necessity because it is my KIDS that mattered. Your child will probably do fine in the 'undesirable' school because you get it.

Who put a gun to your head and made you live in Great Falls and send your kids to Langley? If it was so horrible, you could have pupil placed them to South Lakes or Marshall. Easier to spend hundreds of thousands on privates, I guess, and then come on here railing against people trying to do their best at the public schools or the "illegal children" who attend them.

THIS. We live in Great Falls and our kids attend Langley. They are happy and enjoy school. But if they didn't? We would do exactly as the PP suggested and pupil place for South Lakes or Marshall. What's the point of spending so much money on privates that cultivate the same - or WORSE - culture of competitiveness? Why wouldn't you place your child in a less competitive school if they were feeling pressure?

All privates are not alike. If you tried to pupil place in South Lakes because your kid was not happy or thriving at Langley, you would be put in the Non-IB program and if your kid was smart, the principal would tell you it was not a good idea. You have to start IB Freshman year.

I hear this a lot from fellow Great Falls people. They have the big house, expensive cars, large diamonds, take multiple expensive vacations, but when it comes to their kids, they think private school as an alternative is a waste. That's your choice. There are a lot more unhappy kids than you think at Langley, and other competitive publics, but they are loathe to talk about it with what they feel are unsympathetic adults.

Coming from a Jewish family, education is very important to us. Jews studied even in concentration camps, and have always equated education and survival. Perhaps that makes me particularly attuned to whether or not my kids enjoy learning, rather than just going through the motions. My boys attended a private many here either have never heard of, or if they have, make fun of. Too bad, because they are missing out.

The fact is, Fairfax county schools have been going downhill and a lot of that is due to the school board and the way our tax dollars are spent.

So wait a minute. Aside from your obsession with the size of other women's diamonds, you keep claiming that privates (specifically Bullis, of course) are the panacea for "unhappy kids." No mention of all of the wealth on constant display at these privates - wealth that far exceeds what one finds at even the "best" publics. You complain about the competitive parents at FCPS high schools, but no mention at all of the same type of parents who populate private schools. Why is this? Why do you think privates - specifically Bullis - are so much healthier and lower-stress for kids? Hint: they're not. You're simply paying a fortune to happily be lulled into feeling like your kids are not under the academic and social pressure you claim they would be at a public. You're so full of it.

Smaller classes. Better meals. Individualized curriculum. Better guidance support. Need I go
He n?

"Better meals"??? Oh, honey.

Food is fuel. Or do only eat kale?

My kids and most of the other kids I know bring their own healthy, nutritious meals from home. It's called common sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You really think a guidance counselor with hundreds of students is going to be able to properly guide students? They may give some helpful information or talk to a student if a student comes to them, but they aren't going out of their way to encourage kids to take classes well above their comfort zone. They may encourage kids take some AP classes, but I don't think they're the ones encouraging kids to take 5 plus AP's.

Exactly. We regularly get emails from school instructing parents to wisely counsel their kids about NOT taking too many APs. There is constant information about how much work AP classes entail and to be sure students aren't overloading on those classes. No one has ever encouraged or insisted students take more than they can handle.

There have been recent lawsuits. Don't doubt it

OMG. Links, please?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You really think a guidance counselor with hundreds of students is going to be able to properly guide students? They may give some helpful information or talk to a student if a student comes to them, but they aren't going out of their way to encourage kids to take classes well above their comfort zone. They may encourage kids take some AP classes, but I don't think they're the ones encouraging kids to take 5 plus AP's.

Exactly. We regularly get emails from school instructing parents to wisely counsel their kids about NOT taking too many APs. There is constant information about how much work AP classes entail and to be sure students aren't overloading on those classes. No one has ever encouraged or insisted students take more than they can handle.

There have been recent lawsuits. Don't doubt it

But the problem is with college admissions officers, who know what AP classes are offered at the high schools in their "geographical area" and judge one student vs another on whether the applicant took the most challenging classes or not. When UVA is out of reach for anyone outside of the top 10% of a NoVa HS, and your competition is taking weighted AP classes, students need to keep up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You really think a guidance counselor with hundreds of students is going to be able to properly guide students? They may give some helpful information or talk to a student if a student comes to them, but they aren't going out of their way to encourage kids to take classes well above their comfort zone. They may encourage kids take some AP classes, but I don't think they're the ones encouraging kids to take 5 plus AP's.

Exactly. We regularly get emails from school instructing parents to wisely counsel their kids about NOT taking too many APs. There is constant information about how much work AP classes entail and to be sure students aren't overloading on those classes. No one has ever encouraged or insisted students take more than they can handle.

There have been recent lawsuits. Don't doubt it

But the problem is with college admissions officers, who know what AP classes are offered at the high schools in their "geographical area" and judge one student vs another on whether the applicant took the most challenging classes or not. When UVA is out of reach for anyone outside of the top 10% of a NoVa HS, and your competition is taking weighted AP classes, students need to keep up.

I have wondered whether Woodson is particularly stressful because academically it's one of the top schools in the county, yet it's not as wealthy as Langley, McLean, Madison or Oakton. Does that translate into more pressure to get into a handful of top state schools, whereas at other "top" schools more students may feel like out-of-state schools and private colleges and universities are options. I'm not suggesting some students at the other schools aren't also stressed, but there is something happening that leads to Woodson getting called a "pressure cooker" more than other schools. Maybe they have a unique need to really make sure kids and parents there know that other schools besides UVA, W&M and Virginia Tech are fine alternatives?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You really think a guidance counselor with hundreds of students is going to be able to properly guide students? They may give some helpful information or talk to a student if a student comes to them, but they aren't going out of their way to encourage kids to take classes well above their comfort zone. They may encourage kids take some AP classes, but I don't think they're the ones encouraging kids to take 5 plus AP's.

Exactly. We regularly get emails from school instructing parents to wisely counsel their kids about NOT taking too many APs. There is constant information about how much work AP classes entail and to be sure students aren't overloading on those classes. No one has ever encouraged or insisted students take more than they can handle.

There have been recent lawsuits. Don't doubt it

But the problem is with college admissions officers, who know what AP classes are offered at the high schools in their "geographical area" and judge one student vs another on whether the applicant took the most challenging classes or not. When UVA is out of reach for anyone outside of the top 10% of a NoVa HS, and your competition is taking weighted AP classes, students need to keep up.

I have wondered whether Woodson is particularly stressful because academically it's one of the top schools in the county, yet it's not as wealthy as Langley, McLean, Madison or Oakton. Does that translate into more pressure to get into a handful of top state schools, whereas at other "top" schools more students may feel like out-of-state schools and private colleges and universities are options. I'm not suggesting some students at the other schools aren't also stressed, but there is something happening that leads to Woodson getting called a "pressure cooker" more than other schools. Maybe they have a unique need to really make sure kids and parents there know that other schools besides UVA, W&M and Virginia Tech are fine alternatives?

Good points, which make me wonder how much our kids now need to compete with much wealthier foreigners for our best schools.