Basis PCS

[Anonymous]

^ Seems like it's always the same couple of over-the-top, overbearing, overblown, totally paranoid posters dominating these BASIS threads. It's like they all want to feed off of their own drama and out-complain each other.

[Anonymous]

Yep. Exactly.

[Anonymous]

Seems to me there are a couple of new ones conveying new information - but then I read every BASIS DC thread thoroughly to try to defend the school - and here I find I am having trouble because it is not the usual just they push you out for no reason because you are the wrong color - it is retaliation. And it seems real. And I know the cheating is unfortunately real as well, and it is embarrassing to me.

I am one of the people who talked to Kathleen Reynolds fairly early on last year about cheating, but not the OP here. I think there are a fair number of us disturbed by it. Just because it happens elsewhere does not mean it is ok at BASIS. They could do something about this. So they caught some kids early in the year last year. What did they do? It just seems crazy to me that since the method of cheating is so clear they are deciding not to prevent it. Confiscate the phones for the precomps, comps, end of trimester tests and finals - we do it for the AP exams - as our own AP testing center - why can't we do it at other times? Do we really want it to trickle down?

Cheating may be everywhere, that does not mean it should be accepted at our school. I went to private school, and did not know a single cheater. Certainly plagiarism would have been more of a risk than anything else. I went to a college with a single sanction honor code - you cheat, you are expelled, and people took it pretty seriously for that reason (at least the people I knew). More harshly, you see someone cheat, and don't report it, you can be expelled for that as well. Thank God I never had to make that choice.

I think the minute you start talking about high stakes testing - precomps and comps, where promotion is at stake, so 6th grade, cheating should not be worth the risk. In my kid's class they took it knowing they would never be caught. But how much easier would it be if these kids (and I am seriously talking about the top of the class) never cheated in the first place? Fortunately many of the ones I am talking about left for high school - and don't assume this is the 9th grade either. But I know it has trickled down that far at least.

I do think the fact that kids who have the option of Deal are choosing BASIS over Deal is fantastic - a few years ago these were mythical creatures. No one believed they existed. Why would anyone choose BASIS over Deal? But we now have proof positive on this thread that they do. So instead of being so crappy to them, why don't you be nice to them for the time that they are at BASIS. I am pretty sure they are contributing to the intellectual environment of the MS. This is not love it or leave it. You can love it for MS and leave it for HS - attrition is 40%. So please stop crapping all over the people who choose to leave, and celebrate the fact that we finally have proof that there are Deal kids who are not posting just to figure out whether they should transfer before they fail their comps.

I also think the fact that there are 5 9th graders zoned for Wilson speaks volumes in favor of BASIS. I just hope the new HOS realizes that he has to sell them every year, keep them every year - if he cares. But having Wilson as an option and being risk averse might change your perspective if your perspective about the risks at BASIS DC change. And yes, I would agree that among the 10th and 11th graders, probably none are zoned for Wilson. I do not believe this crap that we need white kids to make people wake up about where we are sending people to college. We just need kids to go to good colleges.

So find a middle ground here guys - I believe almost everyone who has posted on this thread deserves to be treated with respect, and unlike other threads, I am pretty sure most of us are BASIS parents. So instead of blowing each other off, talking about men never walking on the moon, let's listen to each other. Let's try either to have this thread die or go out on a better tone than the two previous posters set. It is again, BOOSTERS blow off every. single. negative. thing. Stop. No one can respect parents with blinders on.

[Anonymous]

I disagree. IMO a couple of the PPs are being very unconstructive by venting here and/ or 'warning' others about vague issues and supposed retribution. There are better, more direct ways to raise concerns - with the school administration of the management organization who are the only ones who can change anything. I've done it more than once, respectfully, and my kids grades didn't change and the treatment of my family was fine.

If the retaliatory things being alleged (grade manipulation, unfounded calls to CFS) are happening those parents should leave. Vote with your feet. It sends a strong signal to others. Most important staying is bad for the kids. Period.

As for the supposed cell phone cheating - BASIS has a policy that cell phones are to be kept in lockers during the day. Do you want kids frisked daily to make sure they aren't on their person? Before tests? Just before a trip to the bathroom on a test day? Or maybe they shouldn't be allowed to go to the bathroom during a test? Any of the above will raise howls of civil rights violations and a culture of distrus within days on this board.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I disagree. IMO a couple of the PPs are being very unconstructive by venting here and/ or 'warning' others about vague issues and supposed retribution. There are better, more direct ways to raise concerns - with the school administration of the management organization who are the only ones who can change anything. I've done it more than once, respectfully, and my kids grades didn't change and the treatment of my family was fine.

If the retaliatory things being alleged (grade manipulation, unfounded calls to CFS) are happening those parents should leave. Vote with your feet. It sends a strong signal to others. Most important staying is bad for the kids. Period.

As for the supposed cell phone cheating - BASIS has a policy that cell phones are to be kept in lockers during the day. Do you want kids frisked daily to make sure they aren't on their person? Before tests? Just before a trip to the bathroom on a test day? Or maybe they shouldn't be allowed to go to the bathroom during a test? Any of the above will raise howls of civil rights violations and a culture of distrus within days on this board.

I guess some people are so used to the idea of being frisked for guns that being frisked for cell phone must sound like a joke.

People in here (generally the same two or three posters) confuse rumors with facts and events that happen to one or two kids with school trends. It is our job as parents to be involved and vigilant, but this "culture of conspiracy" is really annoying.

[Anonymous]

I love how everyone makes up all of this information about kids cheating. If kids are cheating, and they get caught, you would have no way of knowing unless it was your own kid. It would be dealt with that kid and their family privately. I know a kid who got caught cheating on a math test and the admin contacted the parents that day and told them he got a zero on the test for cheating. So yes, they do seem to care about this and are not turning a blind eye to it. But I see no reason for the school to threaten kids about it, especially when I'm sure its a small population of kids that are committing the offense anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:........... If a MS kid excels in English, they won't need to study Latin to score high on the SAT verbal section eventually.

strangely enough, my 6th grade kid LOVES Latin and wants to continue it. I took Latin all the way through my private highschool (and ended up in a class of only 3 kids with a wonderful teacher). We all got 5s on the AP exam, but I also made a best friend for life who fortunately has ended up in the DC area and a teacher I talked to until the day she died. Kid has already read the Iliad and the Oddysey in English (I had read one, but not by 6th grade, and kid really loved the Classics teacher and the subject last year. So there may be other reasons for exposing kids to Latin.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pp, you're ridiculous. Do you really think the kids coming from dcps have a foundation in any language? My kid was a product of Brent's weekly mandarin classes. She learned next to nothing in those years. The quality of instruction was lacking, to say the least. We're very happy that Basis requires Latin for two years, and they do a great job of it..

Don't get why BASIS requires Latin. What would be wrong with making Latin optional, while teaching Spanish, Chinese, maybe French to families who would prefer kids to learn those languages from 5th grade, particularly those who come in with serious background for whatever reasons? Sure, kids aren't coming in from DCPS with strong language foundations en masse, now. But if a kid starts weekly Spanish in PreK3 (as at Brent this year) and continues through 5th grade, they're likely to learn a certain amount of Spanish, particularly if families supplement.

There has been for a while a class for kids who come from native or almost native french speaking families I think (we had two kids in MS place #4 and #6 in the nation in some competition last year) but honestly if you have really learned a language, not studying it for two years will not do untold damage. What I hope for eventually (but we would have to get our Latino population up there) is a Spanish class for native speakers who can already speak the language but don't know how to read and write it and what is slang and what is not......

trying to get back on a more productive if controversial track here - Washington Latin makes kids only take Latin for 5th and 6th grade as well, and then they can start learning another language. Assuming that many of these posters from way upthread are not opting for DCI etc presumably they are some of the thousands trying to get in there, right?

The only diffference is BASIS allows you to drop Latin after two years, and Latin doesn't? And we still beat them in Certamen (Latin) competitions? And that BASIS allows you to accelerate in math instead of taking Algebra 1 for 7th and 8th grade and then if you want to accelerate you have to take both Algebra II AND Geometry in 9th..........

[Anonymous]

Unfortunately BASIS really is NOT a STEM school in the high school - you get one science (maybe) and one math class as part of the core curriculum each year. Any AP science classes are extra classes that extend the school day and have to be taken at zero hour (7:45) or after school (3:45) and they won't necessarily offer what you want in your three years of AP opportunities and they may offer two at the same time - like AP Chem and AP Computer Science this year are both in zero hour. This is one reason we may lose kids to Wilson next year - because 9th graders there are not allowed to take APs, but at BASIS they are.

There are 6 required APs to graduate - I think at least 3 are liberal arts (AP US Gov't in 9th, AP English in 10th, I don't know what in 11th besides AP language which at the rate our kiddos are going would be totally unfair........)

And as insane as it sounds, the most advanced 9th graders this year are taking 4 AP Classes, and most are taking 3 because US Gov't and Politics is mandatory and if they only did precalculus for one year they are in AP Calc AB, and then some of the LEAP students left decided to continue with AP Chem, the others are in AP Computer Science, and most are also taking AP Environmental Science. This probably won't happen again because the HOS said he was uncomfortable with it, but no one was watching what the kids signed up for and I advised against him requiring them each to drop one or two AP classes now because it might lead to more attrition.

So if anyone has an opinion about this (preferably a BASIS parent who knows what the other 3 required AP courses are) please pitch in and let's get this back on track now that we are back at the top again for everyone to see

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:........... If a MS kid excels in English, they won't need to study Latin to score high on the SAT verbal section eventually.

strangely enough, my 6th grade kid LOVES Latin and wants to continue it. I took Latin all the way through my private highschool (and ended up in a class of only 3 kids with a wonderful teacher). We all got 5s on the AP exam, but I also made a best friend for life who fortunately has ended up in the DC area and a teacher I talked to until the day she died. Kid has already read the Iliad and the Oddysey in English (I had read one, but not by 6th grade, and kid really loved the Classics teacher and the subject last year. So there may be other reasons for exposing kids to Latin.

Wonderful. He wants to continue with Latin, and can and will. Why not let him take AP Latin as early as 8th grade if he wants? But let others have a choice, let respect for the high-achieving individual prevail in the language acquisition sphere at BASIS, and in other areas. A control freak undercurrent in the curriculum nonpluses some of us, including parents of excellent students.

BASIS students who excel at French, Spanish, Arabic, Russian, Chinese etc. shouldn't have to study Latin, or any other language, to reach for the stars academically. MoCo understands this, explaining why they don't force MS students in public programs to take language classes. Language study is voluntary before HS in MoCo, yet the county's International Baccalaureate language exam scores are among country's highest. Really.

[Anonymous]

BASIS never held itself out to be a STEM school, but that said they do 9 hours of science a week, which is more than most schools offer. They want students to at least have a couple of years of Latin instruction because that is a traditional core to classics, science and language. Beyond that, students are free to do what they like in terms of languages. BASIS doesn't try to fit itself into a box like "STEM" - they do their own thing, which is ultimately something like a more rigorous version of traditional European style education with a strong AP college prep focus.

[Anonymous]

But not particularly strong AP prep for languages. If kids are going to excel on AP language tests (earning 5s), it doesn't hurt to build methodically on foundations laid in elementary school, or before, particularly for Chinese. Well-heeled parents supplement more for language more than BASIS seems to grasp. Those who can't afford au pairs, tutors, immersion summer camps and so forth are the ones short-changed by modern languages only being offered from 7th grade.

What does a traditional European style education really mean in this context? DC public school kids do not enjoy the benefit of Continental European style academic streaming from age 9 or 10, and they aren't preparing to take the French Bacca, German Abitur etc.

[Anonymous]

At my rigorous European school we started a second language in 4th grade (with no break in instruction before 12th), and Latin was optional. The feeder school sent loads of graduates to top British and Continental universities.

[Anonymous]

The APs by the end of 11th grade are Chem, Bio, Calculus AB, Calculus BC, Engish Lit, English Language, US History, US Gov and Politics. AP World History and Physics are optional. Not sure about Foreign Language, since that wasn't the focus of my meeting with the academic director.

The regular school day for the upper school ends at 4pm. Maybe some APs are offered before and after school due to lack of numbers in the current upper grades (AP psych, for example).

[Anonymous]

BC Calc is also optional.