Conservative-friendly schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The trump child went to SAES

Exactly

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids are in public schools and I’m concerned about the level of political/ideological indoctrination they are getting. I’m not even particularly conservative myself by the standards of ten years ago, but am uncomfortable with the nonstop promotion of LGBTQ and also by history/social studies getting 90% swallowed up by lessons about racism, the civil rights movement, etc. Yes these things happened but they are not the only things that happened and you are actually not getting a good education in history or social studies if you think black-white relations in the US constitute all of human history.

We are considering private schools, but I’m concerned it’s going to be a similar story there. What private schools offer a more balanced approach and are open to ideological diversity? Would it mostly be the mid level Catholic schools vs the fancy schools? We are not Catholic or religious so I’m uncertain about those.

Thanks, and looking to get actual advice here vs starting a big political argument so won’t respond to posts that try to do that

Stone Ridge, Landon, Georgetown Prep, Visitation are all much more balanced and are places where conservatives would be comfortable.

[Anonymous]

The reason "everything is social emotional learning" at good schools -- especially the elite privates -- is that there's 20+ years of strong research-based evidence that it increases academic achievement as well as improves life outcomes for students.

Interpersonal skills are hugely important for success in most high-paying career fields.

[Anonymous]

I don’t know where you are and what grades you are looking for, but Trinity Christian in Fairfax might fit the bill. Not an elite private school by the standards around here but definitely friendly to conservatives.

[Anonymous]

My suggestions for looking in to the fit of the school are:

- read the course descriptions
-read the student club list
- read the summer reading lists and assignments
- pay attention to the social media
- talk to families from the school
- ask the school what ways the students are involved in social action (for example, prolife march, pride parade, etc)and what sorts of things the school sponsors and hosts (conference for same sex families, etc).
-Ask the school about how their commitment to the things above are communicated in the classroom. Are these things incorporated in daily lessons, special events, etc. Is involvement mandatory or required for all students?
-Ask specific questions about the things that you care about (for example, staff that identify as Catholic, POC, LBGT, etc)


That should give you a lot of information to help you gauge comfort level with a school and it's current priorities.

People on this site tend to have trouble seeing nuance, do your own homework.

[Anonymous]

Definitely not Landon or Stone Ridge. They have gone woke in the past few years. We just received Stone Ridge magazine and half of it was all about DEI

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My suggestions for looking in to the fit of the school are:

- read the course descriptions
-read the student club list
- read the summer reading lists and assignments
- pay attention to the social media
- talk to families from the school
- ask the school what ways the students are involved in social action (for example, prolife march, pride parade, etc)and what sorts of things the school sponsors and hosts (conference for same sex families, etc).
-Ask the school about how their commitment to the things above are communicated in the classroom. Are these things incorporated in daily lessons, special events, etc. Is involvement mandatory or required for all students?
-Ask specific questions about the things that you care about (for example, staff that identify as Catholic, POC, LBGT, etc)


That should give you a lot of information to help you gauge comfort level with a school and it's current priorities.

People on this site tend to have trouble seeing nuance, do your own homework.

Agree.
Assemblies, book lists, social studies units, upper school newspaper (grain of salt there, is self selecting).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The reason "everything is social emotional learning" at good schools -- especially the elite privates -- is that there's 20+ years of strong research-based evidence that it increases academic achievement as well as improves life outcomes for students.

Interpersonal skills are hugely important for success in most high-paying career fields.

I’m a former DC private school parent who moved out of state. Both our middle and high schools have a heavy focus on social emotional learning (as much, if not more so than our DC private did) but manage not to be political. We live in a blue city in a red state where families have varying political views. Everyone gets along and respects each other. We have friends all over the political spectrum any many friends whose political views remain unknown to is. While my kids may disagree with the kid who is pro-life, I think it’s healthy for my kids to hear her point of view and learn to listen respectfully. Their schools would not tolerate anything less.

One of the things I miss least about DC is how polarizing politics can be. I am thankful that our schools manage to keep dialogue related to politics issues polite and respectful of varying views.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know where you are and what grades you are looking for, but Trinity Christian in Fairfax might fit the bill. Not an elite private school by the standards around here but definitely friendly to conservatives.

Op stated they are not religious, so I don’t think this would be a good fit. Trinity in Fairfax follows a very Bible-based Christianity, to the point that our super-catholic friends came away thinking they were not religious enough for the place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NCS teaches LGBTQ studies classes, just an FYI.

Also, NCS has stopped addressing parents about their “daughters”. It is always about your “student”. I do find this irritating because we are at an all girls school. You have a transgender son, I really, really don’t care. But if the administrators referring to the student body collectively as “girls”, “Young women” or “daughters” offends you or causes you to complain, maybe send them to a co-ed school??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NCS teaches LGBTQ studies classes, just an FYI.

Also, NCS has stopped addressing parents about their “daughters”. It is always about your “student”. I do find this irritating because we are at an all girls school. You have a transgender son, I really, really don’t care. But if the administrators referring to the student body collectively as “girls”, “Young women” or “daughters” offends you or causes you to complain, maybe send them to a co-ed school??

That would bother me a lot. A girls school should be celebrating girls and womanhood, not treating it like a shameful thing that cannot be named.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NCS teaches LGBTQ studies classes, just an FYI.

Also, NCS has stopped addressing parents about their “daughters”. It is always about your “student”. I do find this irritating because we are at an all girls school. You have a transgender son, I really, really don’t care. But if the administrators referring to the student body collectively as “girls”, “Young women” or “daughters” offends you or causes you to complain, maybe send them to a co-ed school??

Big surprise! Misinformation on DCUM! The policy is when addressing an entire group of students not to refer to them in any gendered terms as there might be students in the group who do not identify as women/girls. It's about being polite and not making trans-identified or questioning students feel uncomfortable. NCS is still a girls school and all of its marketing keeps that in place. Again, this is just a practice of being considerate and not making students feel excluded from those around them at any given moment. Trans kids at NCS know it's a girls' school, but they choose to stay there because many have attended since lower school and have established a friend network who supports their identities. They just want to be seen and acknowledged. But I guess people like yourself don't even want to extend even the slightest common courtesy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Moderate democrat here, and we are at STA.

+1. Our extended family has put kids through STA and SAES. Look at Episcopal schools.

STA is not socially conservative, per se. The school has an annual diversity day and provides students with school time to attend affinity groups. Also, the Episcopal Dicoese of Washington is very supportive of the BLM and LGBTQ equality movements, as well as reasonable gun bans and control.

Not OP but share their concerns though would use less charged language. We’re looking at the cathedral schools because after public we also just want a more traditional education. It does feel like everything is social emotional learning and obsessed w inserting a racial/privileged lense to EVERYTHING at the expense of rigorous academics. I’m supportive of BLM, LGBTQ and other progressive causes but the obsession of forcing it into every subject is just too much.

when you say you are supportive of BLM and LGBTQ - what exactly does that mean? do support an org that believes that children dont need fathers and that wasted millions of dollars on themselves and that actively discriminates against white people & do you have to be supportive of peoples sexual orientation even if now being "cisgender" or simply saying you would not date a trans person or that trans women are not women gets you labeled a homophob?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Moderate democrat here, and we are at STA.

+1. Our extended family has put kids through STA and SAES. Look at Episcopal schools.

STA is not socially conservative, per se. The school has an annual diversity day and provides students with school time to attend affinity groups. Also, the Episcopal Dicoese of Washington is very supportive of the BLM and LGBTQ equality movements, as well as reasonable gun bans and control.

Not OP but share their concerns though would use less charged language. We’re looking at the cathedral schools because after public we also just want a more traditional education. It does feel like everything is social emotional learning and obsessed w inserting a racial/privileged lense to EVERYTHING at the expense of rigorous academics. I’m supportive of BLM, LGBTQ and other progressive causes but the obsession of forcing it into every subject is just too much.

+100

[Anonymous]

Look, I would just love to see this family end up at GDS just so that I could grab my popcorn and see the fireworks.