"Not a Meritocracy"

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Ok. Everyone is disappointed when their hard working student does not get into a desired college. That is true across the board.

Yes, but private school parents seem to be blaming the private school, as if paying for the $$ private school should mean they should get special treatment.

I have no dog in this fight but it seems the position of the private schools is that their kids with lower GPAs are being evaluated more harshly. Like the appropriate adjustments are not being made for the rigor of the grading.

This. My kid has been in public and private. Public school was not rigorous (even though it’s one of the “top area public schools). My kid’s gpa would be much higher in public. Maybe colleges were never really distinguishing between the rigor of schools or mandatory SATs disguised this.

The public school applicants have AP scores to validate their grades. If we're talking about public school kids applying to the type of schools the OP think he kid deserves to attend, you are talking about a lot of 4s and 5s in classes with curriculums that are supposed to be consistent across all schools offering the course.

Alll I know is everytime my kid's public school Blair goes up against these big 3 privates in academics they destroy them.

The best academic schools in metro DC aren't the NCS/Sidwell/GDS, they are Blair, TJ and AOS.

Maybe for STEM but not for Humanities

There's RMIB for that.

They didn't list RMIB

But I did.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lots of insecurity from public school parents here.
1) You'll find super smart kids at both public and private. I don't see any private school parents denying that fact.
2a) Private school is simply expensive and out of reach for many families. This in itself raises the hackles of public school parents who see this as fundamentally unfair and elitist. I don't think any private school parent would disagree. It's something that many private school parents acknowledge, and feel uncomfortable about, but in the end choose private because they can.
2b) Families who live in $1.5M homes in Ward 3 are also highly privileged, in the grand scheme of things. So, it's a bit disingenuous to criticize private school parents when you yourself likely have a HHI well, well above the city median.
3) As a private school parent, I like the fact that my kids are in a safe, small environment where teachers, administrators, and staff know my kids personally. I like that the teachers respond to my emails. I like that they don't have to walk through metal detectors. I like that kids aren't getting arrested at my kids school. I like that there aren't physical fights daily. I like that the there isn't a "Yale-or-Jail" mentality to the kids, which, frankly is the case at Jackson-Reed; and to make it worse, most of the "Yale" kids are White, and most of the "Jail" kids are Black. White JR parents like to tout the diversity of the school, but their kids' friends are almost all White. There is a lot of segregation within the school. While our kids' private school isn't perfect, there are lot more multi-ethnic/racial friendships than what I observe at JR. My sample size is admittedly small, but I don't see the Yale-Jail divide at top private schools they way I see it at JR.

And yes, for sure, the top JR kids are getting into top colleges, but that's not the main reason we are sending our kids to private. I know my kid will get into college, probably a pretty good one, even with the grade deflation.

There’s no insecurity about it. I went to a top public HS and can look at the data and see that on the whole privates have no monopoly on academic rigor. I’m sure it’s nice to send your kid to a private- there are many nice amenities. And of course you ARE paying for college admissions advantages. I know two families that openly admit that their troubled kid only got admitted to a decebt college due to the efforts of the private. I’m sure you get a lot of value from the tuition. But you are definitely not paying for an elite academic environment you can’t get for free.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Private school, especially one built on a set of values, like a Friends school, is just a completely different environment than a STEM and score obsessed public magnet. Believe it or not, many people do not just send their kids to these schools for a "competitive edge."

Unfortunately, if the only world you know is the TJ-type one, you just are living in a different reality. I went from SFS to UVa and was shocked by all of the NoVa kids who seemed caught up in scores and rankings. My high school experience was really different and much more values based. We didn't have class rank or anything like that. If you can't accept that and think every parent (and student) is just focused on "winning," you definitely belong at the public magnet.

Then don't complain when your kid doesn't get into a top college, which is what this thread is about. Oh I know.. you didn't send them to private school just for top college as the end goal. You would be perfectly happy with your kid going to mediocre private college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok. Everyone is disappointed when their hard working student does not get into a desired college. That is true across the board.

Yes, but private school parents seem to be blaming the private school, as if paying for the $$ private school should mean they should get special treatment.

I have no dog in this fight but it seems the position of the private schools is that their kids with lower GPAs are being evaluated more harshly. Like the appropriate adjustments are not being made for the rigor of the grading.

This. My kid has been in public and private. Public school was not rigorous (even though it’s one of the “top area public schools). My kid’s gpa would be much higher in public. Maybe colleges were never really distinguishing between the rigor of schools or mandatory SATs disguised this.

The public school applicants have AP scores to validate their grades. If we're talking about public school kids applying to the type of schools the OP think he kid deserves to attend, you are talking about a lot of 4s and 5s in classes with curriculums that are supposed to be consistent across all schools offering the course.

Is it MCPS where you get an 82 one semester and a 92 the next and they end up with an A for the year? That’s the crazy grade inflation I’m talking about.

[Anonymous]

That is the reason that wealthy Asians do not want to send their kids to top private HS in DMV.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lots of insecurity from public school parents here.
1) You'll find super smart kids at both public and private. I don't see any private school parents denying that fact.
2a) Private school is simply expensive and out of reach for many families. This in itself raises the hackles of public school parents who see this as fundamentally unfair and elitist. I don't think any private school parent would disagree. It's something that many private school parents acknowledge, and feel uncomfortable about, but in the end choose private because they can.
2b) Families who live in $1.5M homes in Ward 3 are also highly privileged, in the grand scheme of things. So, it's a bit disingenuous to criticize private school parents when you yourself likely have a HHI well, well above the city median.
3) As a private school parent, I like the fact that my kids are in a safe, small environment where teachers, administrators, and staff know my kids personally. I like that the teachers respond to my emails. I like that they don't have to walk through metal detectors. I like that kids aren't getting arrested at my kids school. I like that there aren't physical fights daily. I like that the there isn't a "Yale-or-Jail" mentality to the kids, which, frankly is the case at Jackson-Reed; and to make it worse, most of the "Yale" kids are White, and most of the "Jail" kids are Black. White JR parents like to tout the diversity of the school, but their kids' friends are almost all White. There is a lot of segregation within the school. While our kids' private school isn't perfect, there are lot more multi-ethnic/racial friendships than what I observe at JR. My sample size is admittedly small, but I don't see the Yale-Jail divide at top private schools they way I see it at JR.

And yes, for sure, the top JR kids are getting into top colleges, but that's not the main reason we are sending our kids to private. I know my kid will get into college, probably a pretty good one, even with the grade deflation.

There’s no insecurity about it. I went to a top public HS and can look at the data and see that on the whole privates have no monopoly on academic rigor. I’m sure it’s nice to send your kid to a private- there are many nice amenities. And of course you ARE paying for college admissions advantages. I know two families that openly admit that their troubled kid only got admitted to a decebt college due to the efforts of the private. I’m sure you get a lot of value from the tuition. But you are definitely not paying for an elite academic environment you can’t get for free.

I would not consider JR an "elite" academic environment, which would be my public school option.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Ok. Everyone is disappointed when their hard working student does not get into a desired college. That is true across the board.

Yes, but private school parents seem to be blaming the private school, as if paying for the $$ private school should mean they should get special treatment.

I have no dog in this fight but it seems the position of the private schools is that their kids with lower GPAs are being evaluated more harshly. Like the appropriate adjustments are not being made for the rigor of the grading.

This. My kid has been in public and private. Public school was not rigorous (even though it’s one of the “top area public schools). My kid’s gpa would be much higher in public. Maybe colleges were never really distinguishing between the rigor of schools or mandatory SATs disguised this.

The public school applicants have AP scores to validate their grades. If we're talking about public school kids applying to the type of schools the OP think he kid deserves to attend, you are talking about a lot of 4s and 5s in classes with curriculums that are supposed to be consistent across all schools offering the course.

Is it MCPS where you get an 82 one semester and a 92 the next and they end up with an A for the year? That’s the crazy grade inflation I’m talking about.

Indeed, but as a PP stated, just look at their AP test scores.

Everyone games the system to their advantage. Kids will put in the minimal effort to get the A, but when it counts like the AP test scores, they will show their ability.

Lots of public school kids get majority 5s on APs and 1500+ SAT scores. No amount of grade inflation is going to help with the AP test scores.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Trying to gauge the gap between expectations and reality here. If you are Big 3 and your kid got say 1490 with typical grades for someone with that score (not absolutely perfect), where would you hope they could get in (examples of schools) and where are they actually getting in?

This is all over the map (academically & geographically): Denison, College of the Holy Cross, Santa Clara, Brandeis, Pitt, St. Olaf, DePaul, University of Rhode Island, University of New Hampshire

Those are safety schools for public school kids with those stats. Big 3 can’t even get into Bates or Smith ED with those stats? Kenyon RD?

All three schools you listed should not be considered safeties. Why do you think that big 3 students should get into better colleges than public school kids of the same stats?

If it is understood that a 3.2 at a private school is like a 3.7 at a public school because of different grading standards, then there should be some effort to make an adjustment. That would be fair and rational right?

Well, you chose to send your kid to private school knowing it had a “different grading system.” Second, that’s like saying that a 4.0 in public school could never be considered good enough.

That is what they are saying - if you have a perfect gpa at public school and high AP scores you are still less than their B student - it is crazy. And that is how it used to work. I had very high grades, excellent APs, high SAT from a rural public and wound up at a top 10 SLAC with a bunch of B boarding school kids who were supposedly my equivalent because of the higher standards in private school which was a joke and just works to justify letting in people who the school knows, know how to pad an endowment. It's a free country and the school can do what it wants, but for people now to be complaining that the system is broken because they can no longer buy their child a spot as easily is not very self aware to say the least

This was also my experience-I went from a good but large public hs to a t20 school and then onto an Ivy grad school. The private school kids were not better prepared and often just could not cope as well because they were used to more hand holding or attention.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok. Everyone is disappointed when their hard working student does not get into a desired college. That is true across the board.

Yes, but private school parents seem to be blaming the private school, as if paying for the $$ private school should mean they should get special treatment.

I have no dog in this fight but it seems the position of the private schools is that their kids with lower GPAs are being evaluated more harshly. Like the appropriate adjustments are not being made for the rigor of the grading.

This. My kid has been in public and private. Public school was not rigorous (even though it’s one of the “top area public schools). My kid’s gpa would be much higher in public. Maybe colleges were never really distinguishing between the rigor of schools or mandatory SATs disguised this.

The public school applicants have AP scores to validate their grades. If we're talking about public school kids applying to the type of schools the OP think he kid deserves to attend, you are talking about a lot of 4s and 5s in classes with curriculums that are supposed to be consistent across all schools offering the course.

Is it MCPS where you get an 82 one semester and a 92 the next and they end up with an A for the year? That’s the crazy grade inflation I’m talking about.

One semester with 2 quizzes worth 20 points.
Another semester with 3 quizzes each worth 20 points

But you want them want each semester to be weighed equally...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I mean, of course, the Head of School at a $50K per year school that isn't having good results with college admissions is going to blame the admissions process and not admit that the school isn't do what it needs to so that its students get good results.

HOS recognized the expediency of that strategy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s a sad state of affairs that educators are now openly saying we don’t have a meritocracy. What do we have? An oligarchy?

What we have is a college admissions process that was never designed to be a meritocracy. Is that a bad thing? No. Schools want what they want. Pick them accordingly.

Well stated - the schools know who the "big" families are. Benched lacrosse goalie with 1300 SATs and son of Hedge Fund Dad - welcome to Amherst. Everybody else with those scores - go public and save your $$$.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok. Everyone is disappointed when their hard working student does not get into a desired college. That is true across the board.

Yes, but private school parents seem to be blaming the private school, as if paying for the $$ private school should mean they should get special treatment.

I have no dog in this fight but it seems the position of the private schools is that their kids with lower GPAs are being evaluated more harshly. Like the appropriate adjustments are not being made for the rigor of the grading.

This. My kid has been in public and private. Public school was not rigorous (even though it’s one of the “top area public schools). My kid’s gpa would be much higher in public. Maybe colleges were never really distinguishing between the rigor of schools or mandatory SATs disguised this.

The public school applicants have AP scores to validate their grades. If we're talking about public school kids applying to the type of schools the OP think he kid deserves to attend, you are talking about a lot of 4s and 5s in classes with curriculums that are supposed to be consistent across all schools offering the course.

Is it MCPS where you get an 82 one semester and a 92 the next and they end up with an A for the year? That’s the crazy grade inflation I’m talking about.

Indeed, but as a PP stated, just look at their AP test scores.

Everyone games the system to their advantage. Kids will put in the minimal effort to get the A, but when it counts like the AP test scores, they will show their ability.

Lots of public school kids get majority 5s on APs and 1500+ SAT scores. No amount of grade inflation is going to help with the AP test scores.

I don’t care about AP scores. The colleges are screening by GPAs which are artificially inflated.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:"Np. You paid $50k a year to get your kid into a good college. Indeed you are outraged that you are not getting this expected outcome. But classmate larlo’s parents paid an extra $50million to some T20 get their kid into a super great college. And you somehow think that is unfair? You have no moral ground to stand on. You are a hypocrite. You tried to buy your kid a leg up on the public school kids and you lost. You think public school kid parents should similarly resent you for buying your kids way into a better school? I’m sure in that case your argument would be ‘well we all want to give our kids the best opportunities."

OP is worried about her child getting into college. Are parents of private school kids not allowed to say that their child has worked hard, Did she say that kids at public schools don't work hard? [b]No she did not. Does slamming her make you feel better? Sad.[/b]

OP isn’t worried about her child getting into *a* college. There are thousands of colleges.

And yes, she did say public school kids do “minimal work.”

OP here. I most definitely did not say that.

Here’s the quote but I don’t know who wrote it:

“ But is it hard to see your kid work herself to the bone for four years and get deferred from Wisconsin when her neighbor down the street -- an equally smart, engaging and accomplished kid -- who did minimal work at Wilson gets in.”

Plus Wisconsin is extremely competitive. What's wrong with IU or Michigan State? Many state flagships are no longer safeties for anyone.

Private school parents did not pay beaucoup bucks just so that their larlo ends up at IU or Michigan State.

Specifically, what is wrong with IU or Michigan State?

nothing for the mere mortals, but it's not good enough after spending $50K year for several years in K-12.

"not good enough" is not specific

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok. Everyone is disappointed when their hard working student does not get into a desired college. That is true across the board.

Yes, but private school parents seem to be blaming the private school, as if paying for the $$ private school should mean they should get special treatment.

I have no dog in this fight but it seems the position of the private schools is that their kids with lower GPAs are being evaluated more harshly. Like the appropriate adjustments are not being made for the rigor of the grading.

This. My kid has been in public and private. Public school was not rigorous (even though it’s one of the “top area public schools). My kid’s gpa would be much higher in public. Maybe colleges were never really distinguishing between the rigor of schools or mandatory SATs disguised this.

The public school applicants have AP scores to validate their grades. If we're talking about public school kids applying to the type of schools the OP think he kid deserves to attend, you are talking about a lot of 4s and 5s in classes with curriculums that are supposed to be consistent across all schools offering the course.

Is it MCPS where you get an 82 one semester and a 92 the next and they end up with an A for the year? That’s the crazy grade inflation I’m talking about.

Indeed, but as a PP stated, just look at their AP test scores.

Everyone games the system to their advantage. Kids will put in the minimal effort to get the A, but when it counts like the AP test scores, they will show their ability.

Lots of public school kids get majority 5s on APs and 1500+ SAT scores. No amount of grade inflation is going to help with the AP test scores.

I don’t care about AP scores. The colleges are screening by GPAs which are artificially inflated.

AP scores seem de-emphasized now anyway. Sure, 5s help bolster your profile. But kids with weak scores aren't expected to submit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok. Everyone is disappointed when their hard working student does not get into a desired college. That is true across the board.

Yes, but private school parents seem to be blaming the private school, as if paying for the $$ private school should mean they should get special treatment.

I have no dog in this fight but it seems the position of the private schools is that their kids with lower GPAs are being evaluated more harshly. Like the appropriate adjustments are not being made for the rigor of the grading.

This. My kid has been in public and private. Public school was not rigorous (even though it’s one of the “top area public schools). My kid’s gpa would be much higher in public. Maybe colleges were never really distinguishing between the rigor of schools or mandatory SATs disguised this.

The public school applicants have AP scores to validate their grades. If we're talking about public school kids applying to the type of schools the OP think he kid deserves to attend, you are talking about a lot of 4s and 5s in classes with curriculums that are supposed to be consistent across all schools offering the course.

Is it MCPS where you get an 82 one semester and a 92 the next and they end up with an A for the year? That’s the crazy grade inflation I’m talking about.

One semester with 2 quizzes worth 20 points.
Another semester with 3 quizzes each worth 20 points

But you want them want each semester to be weighed equally...

Give me a break. Then give equal amount of work for each semester since (kicker) they are for the same length of time.