Can't decide whether to stay in Einstein/downcounty zoning or move

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Long-winded PP suggests that Einstein does not offer a "poor education." I don't think anyone thinks that it does. The question is really is at as good an education? I think your answer seems to be that it is when you consider the diversity as part of the education, or am I misunderstanding you?

Long-winded PP here. Yes, you are understanding me correctly.

And to clarify, I don't think Einstein offers a "poor education" but I do think its educational offerings, in the strictly academic sense of that term, are indeed inferior e.g. to those at Whitman. To me, those differences are not sufficient to cause me to move to Bethesda or Potomac, when I consider the diversity factor, and all of the down sides (for our family and me personally) involved in moving out of this area.

In what way are the academic offerings inferior? My kids are still in elementary where the curriculum is the same across the county.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Long-winded PP suggests that Einstein does not offer a "poor education." I don't think anyone thinks that it does. The question is really is at as good an education? I think your answer seems to be that it is when you consider the diversity as part of the education, or am I misunderstanding you?

Long-winded PP here. Yes, you are understanding me correctly.

And to clarify, I don't think Einstein offers a "poor education" but I do think its educational offerings, in the strictly academic sense of that term, are indeed inferior e.g. to those at Whitman. To me, those differences are not sufficient to cause me to move to Bethesda or Potomac, when I consider the diversity factor, and all of the down sides (for our family and me personally) involved in moving out of this area.

In what way are the academic offerings inferior? My kids are still in elementary where the curriculum is the same across the county.

Sorry; I worded that poorly. What I meant is, test scores are higher in western MC, and there is a larger percentage of motivated students from supportive, affluent families. That certainly has an impact on the environment. But as I noted above, to me, those differences are not enough to cause me to move.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

As much as I believe that my child would succeed and would be able to get into top colleges from an average high school, I also believe s/he will have a better chance to get into top college because s/he went to Bethesda High School (or any other top HS) because of its name.

Long-winded here. Well, it's your decision to make, obviously, but re: the bolded part above, I think you are wrong. Top students are a dime a dozen at Bethesda High, and top colleges are accustomed to seeing applications from dozens or hundreds of them each year. OTOH, a comparable student from Einstein or Northwood or Wheaton High will stand out, by virtue of coming from the underdog school.

That is a statistical fact.

I would love to see the statistics, because I disagree with your statement. Perhaps things have changed in the last 15 yrs but when I was applying for college, I was the student from the underdog school. I had the after school activities, AP credits, did a summer exchange program, etc, yet I was placed on the waiting list at several top colleges. During my freshman year I realized that my accomplishments were the same and/or part of the list of other students who graduated from private schools or schools like Bethesda. You cannot tell me that a valedictorian from an underdog/no name school will be treated the same as his counterpart from a school with a great reputation.

[Anonymous]

Not the pp here, and I don't have statistical evidence, but I do have anecdotal evidence. The issue is no so much how admissions officers compare an underdog applicant to a Whitman applicant. The issue is that the underdog applicant is likely to be one of only a few of her classmates applying to any given Ivy. My friend's daughter was one of over two dozen Whitman seniors applying to my alma mater. She was being compared to all of her classmates who had access to the same opportunities as she had. The competition was very steep. And the kids all knew the competition would be steep when it came time for college applications, thus making her enitre 4 years at Whitman one long, competitive process.

[Anonymous]

Can anyone answer whether the academic offerings are the same across the county schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not the pp here, and I don't have statistical evidence, but I do have anecdotal evidence. The issue is no so much how admissions officers compare an underdog applicant to a Whitman applicant. The issue is that the underdog applicant is likely to be one of only a few of her classmates applying to any given Ivy. My friend's daughter was one of over two dozen Whitman seniors applying to my alma mater. She was being compared to all of her classmates who had access to the same opportunities as she had. The competition was very steep. And the kids all knew the competition would be steep when it came time for college applications, thus making her enitre 4 years at Whitman one long, competitive process.

Yes, this.

I would only add that for students who are not competitive (like my nephew who has a myriad of learning disabilities), Whitman is a nightmare.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

In what way are the academic offerings inferior? My kids are still in elementary where the curriculum is the same across the county.

The curriculum may be the same for all county schools, but questions arise as to whether the implementation is the same. In groups like the Gifted and Talented Association of Montgomery County (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/GTAletters/) there are always questions about whether "red zone" and "green zone" schools offer the same courses at the same level of rigor.

[Anonymous]

OP here. We aren't considering Whitman- only BCC and WJ. Any insights on the differences between those schools and Einstein?

Thanks for all of the comments.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not the pp here, and I don't have statistical evidence, but I do have anecdotal evidence. The issue is no so much how admissions officers compare an underdog applicant to a Whitman applicant. The issue is that the underdog applicant is likely to be one of only a few of her classmates applying to any given Ivy. My friend's daughter was one of over two dozen Whitman seniors applying to my alma mater. She was being compared to all of her classmates who had access to the same opportunities as she had. The competition was very steep. And the kids all knew the competition would be steep when it came time for college applications, thus making her enitre 4 years at Whitman one long, competitive process.

Thanks. I can see your point. Hubby and I just talked about this issue couple days ago and I haven't thought of the fact that all the kids will be competing for couple of spots (assuming they all apply to the same school). Our kids will start school in couple of yrs. and we actually decided to stay where we are and not worry about Bethesda's schools.

[Anonymous]

Are people in your downcounty neighborhoods moving out to change school cluster?

[Anonymous]

Is anyone here in the New Hampsh. Estates & OakView Elementary / Eastern Middle / Blair High School zone? If so, how has your experience been? DC is not school age yet, and we wonder what we'll do when the time comes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are people in your downcounty neighborhoods moving out to change school cluster?

I may be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is anyone here in the New Hampsh. Estates & OakView Elementary / Eastern Middle / Blair High School zone? If so, how has your experience been? DC is not school age yet, and we wonder what we'll do when the time comes.

I went to Eastern Middle and Blair HS. It was over 10 years ago mind you.

I found these schools to be wonderful!! Since they are both magnets there is a large number of highly motivated students that truly enjoy learning. It was cool to be smart and to work hard there. I was not in the magnets but did take electives with these students and some honors classes with them. It's an interesting dynamic. Also, because of the magnets they have electives that are generally not available in the other schools, like television production. I remember it was a blast developing and producing our own games shows and talk programs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is anyone here in the New Hampsh. Estates & OakView Elementary / Eastern Middle / Blair High School zone? If so, how has your experience been? DC is not school age yet, and we wonder what we'll do when the time comes.

I went to Eastern Middle and Blair HS. It was over 10 years ago mind you.

I found these schools to be wonderful!! Since they are both magnets there is a large number of highly motivated students that truly enjoy learning. It was cool to be smart and to work hard there. I was not in the magnets but did take electives with these students and some honors classes with them. It's an interesting dynamic. Also, because of the magnets they have electives that are generally not available in the other schools, like television production. I remember it was a blast developing and producing our own games shows and talk programs.

I'm the poster who asked this question. Because DC is still so young, our more immediate concern is about the elementary, but it's great to hear from someone who had a positive experience at the higher levels. I wonder how much things have changed, or if it's the comparative framework of having Bethesda as a neighbor that generates so much negative discussion about some of these schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is anyone here in the New Hampsh. Estates & OakView Elementary / Eastern Middle / Blair High School zone? If so, how has your experience been? DC is not school age yet, and we wonder what we'll do when the time comes.

Have you tried a search of the archives? I seem to remember some thread about NH Estates in the last year or so, and unfortunately, I don't think they had much good to say about the school.