Montgomery Blair vs elite privates

[Anonymous]

My kid could be a future applicant for both. I'm on faculty at an elite private but we live within the Down-County Consortium. Of course, she's 4 so I have a lot of time to figure out which way we'll go. I can see advantages/disadvantages to both options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid could be a future applicant for both. I'm on faculty at an elite private but we live within the Down-County Consortium. Of course, she's 4 so I have a lot of time to figure out which way we'll go. I can see advantages/disadvantages to both options.

PP, your child is four. She hasn't even started school yet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid could be a future applicant for both. I'm on faculty at an elite private but we live within the Down-County Consortium. Of course, she's 4 so I have a lot of time to figure out which way we'll go. I can see advantages/disadvantages to both options.

PP, your child is four. She hasn't even started school yet.

You don't say?

I was posting because people were struggling to think of a scenario in which a child would apply to both. I can see that our child very well might and I thought our situation was therefore relevant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid could be a future applicant for both. I'm on faculty at an elite private but we live within the Down-County Consortium. Of course, she's 4 so I have a lot of time to figure out which way we'll go. I can see advantages/disadvantages to both options.

PP, your child is four. She hasn't even started school yet.

You don't say?

I was posting because people were struggling to think of a scenario in which a child would apply to both. I can see that our child very well might and I thought our situation was therefore relevant.

Maybe wait on this until she's at least 8?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid could be a future applicant for both. I'm on faculty at an elite private but we live within the Down-County Consortium. Of course, she's 4 so I have a lot of time to figure out which way we'll go. I can see advantages/disadvantages to both options.

PP, your child is four. She hasn't even started school yet.

You don't say?

I was posting because people were struggling to think of a scenario in which a child would apply to both. I can see that our child very well might and I thought our situation was therefore relevant.

Maybe wait on this until she's at least 8?

I'm sure your work to police who may and may not participate in this conversation is very much appreciated by the larger community. Gold star for you!

[Anonymous]

Private is more holistic (but can include things like social standing of parents, which is obviously 100% irrelevant in magnet).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid could be a future applicant for both. I'm on faculty at an elite private but we live within the Down-County Consortium. Of course, she's 4 so I have a lot of time to figure out which way we'll go. I can see advantages/disadvantages to both options.

PP, your child is four. She hasn't even started school yet.

You don't say?

I was posting because people were struggling to think of a scenario in which a child would apply to both. I can see that our child very well might and I thought our situation was therefore relevant.

Maybe wait on this until she's at least 8?

I'm sure your work to police who may and may not participate in this conversation is very much appreciated by the larger community. Gold star for you!

PP, if you want to think about your four-year-old applying to an "elite private" and a highly-competitive math/science program for high school, then go right ahead.

[Anonymous]

Private high school parent here. Even though DS went to public middle school, we didn't even consider Blair mainly because it doesn't have the well rebounded environment we were seeking for our DS. And we wanted a strong English/writing program and knew we would get that at our elite private. Heard writing at all public high schools don't even compare.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Private high school parent here. Even though DS went to public middle school, we didn't even consider Blair mainly because it doesn't have the well rebounded environment we were seeking for our DS. And we wanted a strong English/writing program and knew we would get that at our elite private. Heard writing at all public high schools don't even compare.

That's just inviting an argument and is too grand of a statement to justify. I'm not a humanities focused person, but I would admit that the RM IB program and Blair CAP program (just to name two) do very well creating journalists who, last I checked, write regularly.

It is a good point that the curriculum at Blair's magnet does not pretend to be well rounded. It is very focused and the students are focused as well.

I also appreciate that you note that you are a private school parent and have only heard about the experience in public schools within MCPS. Most do not admit that before passing judgment and it should be applauded.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Private high school parent here. Even though DS went to public middle school, we didn't even consider Blair mainly because it doesn't have the well rebounded environment we were seeking for our DS. And we wanted a strong English/writing program and knew we would get that at our elite private. Heard writing at all public high schools don't even compare.

That's just inviting an argument and is too grand of a statement to justify. I'm not a humanities focused person, but I would admit that the RM IB program and Blair CAP program (just to name two) do very well creating journalists who, last I checked, write regularly.

It is a good point that the curriculum at Blair's magnet does not pretend to be well rounded. It is very focused and the students are focused as well.

I also appreciate that you note that you are a private school parent and have only heard about the experience in public schools within MCPS. Most do not admit that before passing judgment and it should be applauded.

She did say that her child went to a public middle school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Private high school parent here. Even though DS went to public middle school, we didn't even consider Blair mainly because it doesn't have the well rebounded environment we were seeking for our DS. And we wanted a strong English/writing program and knew we would get that at our elite private. Heard writing at all public high schools don't even compare.

That's just inviting an argument and is too grand of a statement to justify. I'm not a humanities focused person, but I would admit that the RM IB program and Blair CAP program (just to name two) do very well creating journalists who, last I checked, write regularly.

It is a good point that the curriculum at Blair's magnet does not pretend to be well rounded. It is very focused and the students are focused as well.

I also appreciate that you note that you are a private school parent and have only heard about the experience in public schools within MCPS. Most do not admit that before passing judgment and it should be applauded.

I don't know about Blair CAP but RMIB teaches extensive writing for 4 years. Kids read and write EVERY.SINGLE.DAY.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Private high school parent here. Even though DS went to public middle school, we didn't even consider Blair mainly because it doesn't have the well rebounded environment we were seeking for our DS. And we wanted a strong English/writing program and knew we would get that at our elite private. Heard writing at all public high schools don't even compare.

That's just inviting an argument and is too grand of a statement to justify. I'm not a humanities focused person, but I would admit that the RM IB program and Blair CAP program (just to name two) do very well creating journalists who, last I checked, write regularly.

It is a good point that the curriculum at Blair's magnet does not pretend to be well rounded. It is very focused and the students are focused as well.

I also appreciate that you note that you are a private school parent and have only heard about the experience in public schools within MCPS. Most do not admit that before passing judgment and it should be applauded.

I don't know about Blair CAP but RMIB teaches extensive writing for 4 years. Kids read and write EVERY.SINGLE.DAY.

I was wanting to hear more about the well-rebounded environment and its contributions to writing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I was wanting to hear more about the well-rebounded environment and its contributions to writing.

Kids practice basketball every day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I was wanting to hear more about the well-rebounded environment and its contributions to writing.

Kids practice basketball every day.

And they wonder why taller kids always get better grades...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't know about Blair CAP but RMIB teaches extensive writing for 4 years. Kids read and write EVERY.SINGLE.DAY.

It's just not comparable. Here's the difference - RMIB's 12th grade reading list: Pride and Prejudice, Hamlet , A Room of One’s Own, Selected poems (Margaret Atwood), The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, A Farewell to Arms, Haroun and the Sea of Stories.

In the elite privates, the Rushdie and Twain are middle school texts. The Austen is often a 9th grade book. These are all important books to read, but they are pretty foundational. At the privates, senior lit classes are more likely reading The Waste Land, Mrs. Dalloway, Absalom, Absalom!, The Myth of Sisyphus and Lolita that mirror core college English courses. And they offer additional electives that go deep on Ondaatje and Zadie Smith and Baldwin and Murakami in addition to Ovid, Homer,Virgil,and Sophocles classics.