Looking for an honest assessment of GDS
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Anonymous
| My DD is considering GDS when applying to highschool in the fall. She is a strong athlete and good student. Our concern is finding the right place for her as she has previously been in a fairly sheltered, small class environment. Appreciate any honest feedback. And yes, we do plan to tour the school, along with others, when the 2013-2014 tours begin..... |
Anonymous
| Lots of dcum stuff on GDS. After reading you may have specific f/up questions....... |
Anonymous
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Have had two kids at the GDS HS recently. Overall a fantastic academic experience, vast majority of teachers have been incredible, and of note, they improve with time (in our experience the 9th grade classes were the weakest, but maybe just chance, because some great teachers do have 9th grade classes). However, the curriculum/academic expectations are very challenging and this is a school full of achievers and parents who expect their kids to be the best, so the intensity particularly around the end of junior year and beginning of senior year is pretty high, the administration and college counselors do what they can to offset it, but it is a challenge. I am sure same in all of the very academic high schools, and kids can offset a bit by not choosing a ridiculous set of classes and adjusting easier for harder teachers if necessary. There is a lot of flexibility for kids to adjust their schedules. The physical facility is great, and lends itself well to the strong community feeling of the school, the forum was a fantastic architectural idea, and it brings students together all day during school and late into the evening. The school is open until 11 every night I believe, and kids are there studying, working on projects, rehearsing for plays, participating in sports events. I don't know of another local school that has this type of open community every weekday. The spectrum socially is pretty broad, from kids focused on sports to kids focused on politics and especially lots of kids focused on arts. The theater program is incredible. For sports, some are really very strong, boys and girls soccer have quite a bit of recent success, boys winning MAC tournament twice last two years, girls third in top flight of the ISL (AA), and the cross=county and track teams have incredible participation levels and also win a lot (I think MAC twice, and have done well in ISL and local public/private meets). Girls basketball and volleyball also strong. For a school with a nonsporty reputation they do pretty well, and what is nice that kids involved in sports are not pegged only as "jocks" and seem to participate in a lot of other stuff as well, and not only socialize with other athletes. There is a longstanding fantastic program for kids going to with 4-5 teachers each summer to Ethiopia and Kenya. Community service programs very active. It is not a large school, so each grade socially can be wonderful or in some cases plagued by a few cliques, but suspect that is always the case in a class of only 120 kids. However, in HS since grades mix much more and bigger than MS, if there are cliques, they are much less of a problem. The reputation for drugs seems overblown or out of date, not an issue at all in our experience, easy for kids to avoid if they want to. There is a lot done to integrate the new 9th graders into the school, and since it is a very big entry (I think 40-50 kids, versus many fewer at Sidwell and Maret at least) new kids do not feel particularly out of it.
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Anonymous
| Great post, 13:29 -- honest and complete. |
Anonymous
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I have heard two criticisms from GDS parents: (1) heavy homework load in the upper school, even heavier than other schools, and (2) not a great school for kids in the middle. There are supports for kids who are struggling and there is a lot of focus for high achievers but the rest feel like they are just kind of there in terms of the school.
I've also heard that some grades have very troubling social dynamics but I think thats true everywhere. |
Anonymous
| Is the drug issue overblown? I am the OP. |
Anonymous
Just so you know, at every one of the top schools (e.g. Sidwell, STA, NCS) the parents also think the homework load is too heavy and heavier than other schools. It's one of those things. GDS is rigorous academically, though. I would disagree with the "just kind of there in terms of school" -- the small class sizes mean everybody gets attention from teachers (it's a pretty close community that way, as are many of these independent schools). |
Anonymous
My sense is that as GDS has gotten stronger academically in the past 15 years, as well as increased its emphasis on sports somewhat (kids running cross country have less time to hang out and smoke weed), the drug issue has subsided to be the same as the other independent schools (not something to ignore, but not a notable feature of GDS). I think it's more of a sterotype at this stage, honestly. |
Anonymous
I'm PP and have compared notes with GDS parents - I'm a Cathedral school parent (certainly not perfect schools either) and their kids definitely had more homework. And I heard the thing about kids in the middle from several parents as well, though that might be true of other schools as well. OP should talk to other GDS parents. No school is perfect and I would be wary of any parent who thinks their child"s school is. |
Anonymous
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Absolutely true that no school is perfect, and parents can always find reason to complain. Having said that, with one recent graduate and one current student, let me give my 2 cents on some of the comments above:
1. Homework doesn't seem overwhelming ... there is a lot of attention to trying to ease the stress. In my own view, there is not enough homework, and the stress comes mainly from extracurriculars, which are great. But as you've already seen many may not agree with this. 2. Some academic depts are better than others. History is weak, now, and science could be better. English is superb, and math and foreign language somewhere in between. As always, though, there are great teachers and some more mediocre. School does try to make improvements, such as current revisions to history. 3. We've seen no drugs, or even alcohol. My kids report there is a lot of talk about it, but they've seen no direct evidence. Other parents report to me, though, that there is alcohol at parties (at least for this year's freshman class). But if a child wants to insulate him or herself from that, it seems to be no problem and he or she will find plenty of company. |
Anonymous
My kids, 2 now in college and 1 in HS, attend/ed another DC independent, but have many GDS friends. Although I used to hear a lot more about drugs at GDS parties several years back, my sense is that PP is correct in saying that drug/alcohol use at GDS isn't really any different from other schools these days. In fact, my kids have always said that GDS's reputation in this regard is based on a stereotype. W/re to academics: I've also had the impression from talking to GDS kids and parents that the school is willing to re-think its curriculum both with respect to individual kids and overall. This is not the case at all "Big 3" schools, which can be all too happy to rest on their laurels. Finally -- to pick up on PP's reference, the XC/track program at GDS is awesome. |
Anonymous
| On curricular flexibility, there have been substantial changes this year (for next) in both math and history. At the highest levels of math, GDS still offers the most extensive offerings in the city and suburbs (even more than TJ and Blair, I believe), but the recent changes were in the PC/Trig sequence. Freshman and sophomore (Euro) history are still trying to work themselves out. |
Anonymous
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I find the lack of alcohol/drugs thread here interesting. In these days of stricter sales and more awareness by schools, getting drugs and alcohol must be much harder for kids at a smallish school. Do you think that the kids are really doing fewer drugs or they are doing less detectable drugs like prescription drugs these days? GDS used to have a druggie rep. in part because the kids could go off campus and smoke pot in the alleyways near school. I'm sure the staff would be on any seemingly stoned student like a ton of bricks these days. But kids sharing ADHD meds (especially if the homework load/pressure to succeed is as some posters here imply) might be less apparent to parents and staff.
Just wondering... |
Anonymous
| Then there's that whole thing with the KKK fliers . . . If that had happened at Landon, it would be all over the media by now. |
Anonymous
| Isn't GDS predominately Jewish? (And, I'm Jewish so please no flames) |