Bullying at NCS
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
| Does anyone still think that NCS is NOT the "mean girls" school? |
Anonymous
I'm the mother of the girl who transferred and I do not think it is the mean girls school. Thats something people outside of NCS say and its just name calling. There are mean kids everywhere. The difference at NCS is that the administration does nothing about it and doesn't care about the emotional health of its students. My DD was bullied and they knew and it was somehow her problem and hers alone. After she left we heard about her bully turning on other girls. And its not just the bullies. Its the way every decision a student makes is based on whether it will help her college applications. Its the way girls feel they have to compete against each other. Its the way so many girls there are miserable and hate the place. (And if your younger DD loves it, just wait until 10th, 11th 12th grade.) |
Anonymous
| You said it's not a mean girls school then went on to prove that a culture of meanness is allowed to thrive. |
Anonymous
| I understood her point. |
Anonymous
| My DD is in Holton, transferred from public, and loves it. But there are some girls who could be mean if the administration allowed it. They don't and try to stop everything mean or cliquey that comes to their attention. Parents have been told that the worst thing a student can do there is be rude to others or a bully. It's taken seriously. |
Anonymous
Not connected to NCS but have elementary-school aged kids and was thinking of NCS as a high school option in the future. I am totally shaken after reading this and not sure will apply now. Please take care of youself and don't let the "mean girls" get to you. Remember you are smart and an individual with self esteem. |
Anonymous
| Curious, are most of the girls who bully from Beauvoir? On the one hand, I'd be surprised. I've known two grades of Beauvoir girls who went on to NCS and they all seem like sweet girls. On the other hand, I wonder if the bullying is mainly done by Beauvoir girls who perceive non-Beauvoir girls (at least in the lower grades) to be outsiders. |
Anonymous
| That is not my understanding of situations I'm familiar with over the last ten years. I think some girls who enter after Beauvoir are ultra competitive and act like they have a lot to prove. It's thrown some of the really happy Beauvoir girls off course. I'd be curious to see a reply to the question asked earlier of NCS attrition rate for former Beauvoir students. |
Anonymous
New PP here. I can't comment on the bullying, but I can weigh in on the stress and lack of sleep. Being a student at ANY high school in this area is stressful, especially if you're balancing the top-notch academics with sports and other ECs. My DC went through an area magnet and has friends at Sidwell, NCS and Maret, and the comments about getting no sleep and being constantly stressed could have come from kids at any of these schools. The book The Overachievers describes the Whitman version of this, but it certainly goes on in top privates. There's obviously a lot of debate about the stress on kids, with movies like Race to Nowhere and some families opting for less stressful schools and fewer ECs. But I don't think this stress and sleeplessness is just an NCS thing. |
Anonymous
It amazes me that this sort of behavior among guidance counselors and teachers is tolerated. Surely, NCS is doing something about it, right? |
Anonymous
Really? The academic pressure that the girls talk about is endemic at any top school in this city. What do these tweets say to you about mean girl culture? To me, it actually makes the school seem less mean. After all, the girls are comfortable venting about their weaknesses to each other. If they expected mocking or ostracism, this would be social suicide. I am left thinking that there is too far too much pressure on these girls to succeed, but that probably comes from their parents just as much as it does from the school. |
Anonymous
| To the prior poster who asked about Beauboir v Non-Beauvoir girls - I think by the first few months of 4th grade that distinction is almost gone, and certainly by middle school most of the girls don't care whether you came from Beauvoir or another school, so many new students come every year. |
Anonymous
It is the parents for sure. |
Anonymous
| Wow, this thread is awful. I graduated from Visitation (in the 90s, mind you) and while there was a little bit of mean girl behavior, it was nothing like what is described here. Maybe because it was HS only? I knew a few ultra smart NCS girls at the time but the only thing that we ever heard about the NCS culture was the eating disorders and insane academic pressure. |
Anonymous
| Why is everyone so worked up about what is most likely a made-up thread? |