after Green Acres

[Anonymous]

More detail on the GAS administrator tour comment re GAS kids on student coucil at Maret - the story was in context of how GAS students were taught to work as a team/group (ie..no-cut sports where both great and not-great players get equal time) and how they ended up being good team members whereever they go - even when they are not the best player, top student etc, they have confidence to speak up and/or stand up to make things work for a group. This then went into the idea that the GAS students tended to be "involved members of society" after leaving, that they felt confident to have their voices heard...then the Maret comment about student council (I think it was student council anyway? perhaps it was another leadership-like group?) - At the time, I assumed it meant GAS kids spread over 9-12 grade...not all from a single grade.

[Anonymous]

Can't the school teach leadership AND reading AND math?

[Anonymous]

Who says GAS doesn't do all 3? I think what the PP said was that it was not a good fit for a bright child who did not like pressure. And while GAS may not pressure children it doesn't mean that it doesn't teach them. But it may mean a very bright child who wants to coast may be able to do so. At the same time, there are very bright kids who want to delve deeply into a subject or topic in an "outside of the box" manner and to do so "in addition to" the academics that would be expected of them. I get the feeling that GAS might allow such students to do so in a way that a more traditional school would not allow them to explore - they seem to encourage and support original thought and exploration.

[Anonymous]

12:01 here: We stayed in MCPS. My DC got into GAS and a couple of others and we decided we just couldn't swing the tuition.

But I know a couple of really bright and motivated kids who go there.

[Anonymous]

Thanks 12:01 - very helpful.

[Anonymous]

OP, I think that these schools need to realize that they are asking parents to gamble with their money (lots of it), and their children's educations.
The school has a "different" way of doing things, and there is only one way to find out if it works for you. For me, it is too much of a gamble, so we won't go there. I am sure that it is great for other families.

[Anonymous]

New to the discussion here. As current GAS parents, we have asked the question about high schools as well. Here's what we've learned.

More Green Acres kids go to GDS each year than any other local HS. Those who have a choice between GDS and Sidwell almost always choose GDS because it feels more progressive, i.e., in line with the values of families who chose Green Acres in the first place, so that doesn't seem too surprising. About 1/3 of Green Acres kids who apply to Maret get in -- not bad for a school that takes around 10%. I'm not sure what people have against St. Andrew's, which looks like the second-most frequently attended. The program in the SA high school is absolutely terrific, and the kids go to great colleges. Green Acres also routinely gets kids into the MCPS magnets at Blair and R.M. An administrator at GAS also told us that there are almost never applicants to NCS or St. Albans -- just doesn't feel like a fit to many families, who don't usually want single-sex high schools.

I don't think Green Acres parents choose Green Acres to impress other parents. I'm certainly not saying that all of the Sidwell or NCS parents choose those schools for image, but with people throwing around undefined terms like "best" all the time, I think it's just human nature to go with what everybody says is the "best" and not to think too independently about it. No offense, but we thought really hard about what we want for our kids, rather than what everybody's impression is. We chose Green Acres because we agree with the school that that's how children learn best. If all we wanted was a ticket to college, we would have made different choices when our kids were 5, I guess, but we figure that kids who really love to learn and work with others will come out okay even if they don't go to H-Y-P. Sure, not everybody at Green Acres is a "genius," and there's a huge difference: We don't WANT a school where all the kids learn the same way (logical, visual, mathematical). All those schools that tout their diversity pay a lot of attention to race and sexual orientation (which they should), but not so many seem interested in diversity in the ways kids learn -- even though that's what the real world will bring. Our kids are bright and happy, and we don't think it's a race to see how many things they can learn fastest. I wonder what the "best" schools would look like if somebody measured how much kids love going to school and learning.

[Anonymous]

I don't have a bone in this fight, but I did go on a tour of GAS recently during the school day. I liked it very much. Had several really nice conversations with administrators and parents, met a bunch of kids who were friendly, funny, at-ease. Saw kids doing all kinds of things during the half-hour break in the morning -- playing sports indoors, on the playground outdoors, in the art room, playing strategy board games with the math teacher. We were there for several hours and saw math, spanish, ethics, photography, art (the art rooms look amazing), drama, language arts, etc. The kids seemed engaged, the teachers kind and innovative and dedicated. Is that all worth $27,000? It might be to us, considering our own middling experiences thus far in DCPS (some bullying, a surprising amount of religious intolerance, a lot of teaching to the DC CAS, among other things). If DC can go someplace very supportive and not crazy competitive, with good content and instruction, and just a very nice feel to the place, it might be a great place to survive middle school.

[Anonymous]

Thanks 10:18 - Your post is so helpful for a families out there looking for schools. It gives concrete, useful information that families can use to decide whether GAS matches their family/child or not.

And thanks to 10:19 - Your perspective and description of your visit are also quite helpful.

[Anonymous]

Kids who have gone to Blair recently from GAS? Hmmmm. Can't post names, I know, but numbers? If a child hasn't even had geometry (b/c GAS rarely offers it), then it defies credulity that they "routinely" go to Blair. I do believe that of private schools most go to GDS - great school, and a good thing to tout. I believe about 2-3 go each year from GAS to GDS, or at least have in the past 3-4 years.

[Anonymous]

There's a humanities magnet at Blair, too.

[Anonymous]

There is also a non magnet component of Blair.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kids who have gone to Blair recently from GAS? Hmmmm. Can't post names, I know, but numbers? If a child hasn't even had geometry (b/c GAS rarely offers it), then it defies credulity that they "routinely" go to Blair. I do believe that of private schools most go to GDS - great school, and a good thing to tout. I believe about 2-3 go each year from GAS to GDS, or at least have in the past 3-4 years.

10:18 here again...

Last year five went to GDS. Over the past 10 years, that number seems like it's a little below the average, but that's not surprising, since GDS (as well as Sidwell and Maret) have had explosions of applicants in the past decade, and percentages are down everywhere.

I don't have exact numbers, but I know of at least four who have gotten into the Blair CAP program, the Blair Math/Science/Tech program, or the RM I.B. program in the past five years. (Some who got in might have chosen other options, too.) Is it possible that geometry is less important to Blair than rigorous understanding of algebra, broad ability to consider and solve problems, or a deep curiosity about the way things work? Oh nooooooooo! How can math be about anything except who got the farthest by the end of eighth grade!?! Doesn't eighth grade geometry predict earning power after Harvard Business School?!?!

Okay, okay, seriously, I'm pretty sure the school makes these numbers available on tours. If this is very important to you, I'm sure you could just ask them. Then again, if this is very important to you, GAS might not be the right school for your family. 8^)

[Anonymous]

Thanks - that is good information. The reason it these numbers are important, to me, is that they can be indicative of how strong the students are in general. I have heard from numerous sources that there are strong students there, but that they are not very challenged academically, and the school administrators are in fact hostile to kids they think are too smart for their own good. So it is great to be bright, but let's not be too obvious about it because (a) let's not make others feel bad and (b) it is not important in the world. Smarts aren't the only thing in the world, but to a very smart kid, they often need validation they are not weird, and I'm just not sure GAS nurtures the idea that they aren't weird - from anecdotes over the years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks - that is good information. The reason it these numbers are important, to me, is that they can be indicative of how strong the students are in general. I have heard from numerous sources that there are strong students there, but that they are not very challenged academically, and the school administrators are in fact hostile to kids they think are too smart for their own good. So it is great to be bright, but let's not be too obvious about it because (a) let's not make others feel bad and (b) it is not important in the world. Smarts aren't the only thing in the world, but to a very smart kid, they often need validation they are not weird, and I'm just not sure GAS nurtures the idea that they aren't weird - from anecdotes over the years.

Sometimes smart kids ARE weird.