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Anonymous
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Hi everyone,
My mom showed me this WL thread and I just wanted to put in my two cents. Before I went to Washington Latin PCS I went to a small private school. I came to Latin last year and really loved it. The best part was the teachers. They were friendly and loved what they were doing. Some people have been complaining about latin being taught, but I absolutely love it. It's my favorite class this year. Pretty much everyone who goes to the school loves it, actually. Our grade has all these sorts of competitions going on in 5 minute vocab (a class game we play to work on vocab; we try to get as many words we can in 5 minutes) and we get really competitive. The other classes are pretty great too. English is great; we have read a lot of interesting plays and short stories this year. Science is good too; our teachers try to make it as hands-on as possible but it's hard to with our space right now. Math is good and there are plenty of levels to be in depending on your level. The languages are well taught too. We also have some great history teachers. There are only one or two teachers that aren't completely great. |
Anonymous
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Hi everyone,
I just came across this thread and I almost feel it's my duty to issue a quick warning about the new private school, Washington Latin (not to be confused with Washington Latin Public Charter School). As far as the new private school -- I'd keep far away from anything TR Ahlstrom has a hand in. I used to work at Washington Latin Public Charter School but quit a while back as a result of TR Ahlstrom's behavior. It was unlike anything I've ever seen before, and that's why I'm posting here now. It wasn't because of his religious comments, or his conservative values, or any of that which earlier posters have mentioned -- and which they are right about. But instead because of the almost criminial way he took such a good situation -- a wonderfully diverse, interesting community of students, families and teachers (I've never been in a place like that, before, or since . . . ) -- and ended up dividing it against itself. There were so many good people there willing to help him, with so much excitement (I count myself among them), yet it just could not be because of Ahlstrom himself: his secretiveness, his public scapegoating of those who didn't agree with him, his paranoia, his fiscal irresponsibility, his disdain for input of any kind, his treatment of the students as assets in his business (or perhaps "brand" is a better word) -- and later, as pawns against the parents. I found it all frightening. A lot of what happened was well documented in The Post and other places. I'm not a part of the school anymore (in fact, I got out of teaching), but I still hear from my former students, and it's bittersweet to hear how much they love the school and Mrs. Cutts (the principal who replaced Ahlstrom) now. That's the irony of all this, too -- in spite of all the terrible things that Ahlstrom did, in the end he really did found this wonderful charter school, which I'm sure will thrive for many years. It just took someone else to run it. I again want to commend all of the courageous parents, teachers and students who are still there after all that they went through under Ahlstrom. So I'd say -- WLS Charter School deserves as serious consideration as any other school in the area, but keep clear of the new Washington Latin private school. |
Anonymous
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Hello. I was a student at Latin and I think that you all are uneducated on Headmaster Ahlstrom's goal for us. He did not in any way have racist ideologies incorporated to his curriculum. Yes he wanted all races to be educated equally. Does that make him racist though? Also, someone posted earlier "there's no evidence that reading Homer instead of TOni Morrison makes better students." This is incorrect. Homer's works make better students because they have ideologies and ideas that can be used in everyday life as opposed to Toni Morrison's works that focus on life as an African American. All that T.R did was try to make his curriculum and classrooms fair for all. I as an African-American Male stand by him.
P.S If he were so racist, why did he marry a black woman? |
Anonymous
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I am sorry, but Toni Morrison's books are about much more that African American life. If this is what you took away from reading her books while you were a student at Latin, then does not speak well for the education you received.
Both Homer and Morrison are valuable books. |
Anonymous
They are. For the record, Homer's work has been considered valuable to Western Civilization for 3000+ years. As for our conclusions about the education you have received, we can see that you have chosen to conduct an anonymous debate with a middle-schooler. Said middle-schooler is apparently in this forum to defend his school, his school's founder, and his study of classical texts. Who is winning here, and why? |
Anonymous
Certainly. Years ago, when I first met Ahlstrom during his humble student recruitment days, he spoke of the superiority of the classics with religious fervor. He seemed to have some sort of personality disorder back then. Glad I followed my intuition and didn't apply. |
Anonymous
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First, Ahlstrom is no longer associated with the school, so I don't know why we're having this debate about his personality. As the middle schooler said, the question that's up for debate is the applicability of classics vs. Morrison to everyday life.
Second, obviously the merit of modern vs. classics is debatable. And the middle schooler did an eloquent job of defending his perspective. Fortunately, it's not an either-or situation at Latin, contrary to what you're arguing. An earlier post showed that they are reading various modern books like Orwell in addition to the classics. Versus some other schools where all you get is the modern. |
Anonymous
Thanks for the clarification. Odd that a middle schooler was posting on DCUM at 10 a.m. on a school day. Free period, maybe. |
Anonymous
| I just wanted to ask the young man who used to attend the Washington Latin Public Charter School -- if I may, what caused you to leave the school? |
Anonymous
| Lots of schools were 2 hours late on 3/4 (my kids among them). Or maybe he was sick -- it happens. |
Anonymous
Thanks for the explanation. Didn't realize that lots of DCPSs opened late yesterday. You're probably right, he was probably sick and was cruising DCUM with his mother. |
Anonymous
| My son has read The Giver, Twelfth Night and Anne Frank (among other texts) so far this year at WL in 6th Grade English. Ahlstrom is no longer associated with the school; it is interesting that he is still being discussed. Like many 'visionaries', he was an extremely charismatic to some, disturbing to others--utterly polarizing personality. However, we are grateful to him for his initial vision and for starting the school,. That vision (a great classics education in DC) has been built upon by the new head Martha Cutts, who has brought both serenity, stability and new vision to the school. Good Luck to TR, wherever he is. However, the Washington Latin Public Charter School Community has moved forward to build a great future around our wonderful scholars. |
Anonymous
| Ahstrom has been gone for more than a year. I agree that Martha Cutts has been wonderful! |
Anonymous
| Is Martha Cutts the head of the private school ? Or is Thomas A. Soule, the Head Master? Does anyone know how the new school is doing, what students and teachers think of it etc? |
Anonymous
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Martha Cutts is the head of the public charter school, not the private school.
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