How is to not be Jewish at GDS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Whereas not assigning homework over the Christmas holiday is just plain common sense....

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Nice sarcasm...Some of these Jewish holidays are not typically days when the school is closed. Therefore, I should expect that the school operates as normal, with regulary scheduled assignments, and without grade/class-wide special concessions for missing students. Christmas happens to falls during the winter break.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Whereas not assigning homework over the Christmas holiday is just plain common sense....

.

Nice sarcasm...Some of these Jewish holidays are not typically days when the school is closed. Therefore, I should expect that the school operates as normal, with regulary scheduled assignments, and without grade/class-wide special concessions for missing students. Christmas happens to falls during the winter break.

No, honey. The winter break is scheduled around Christmas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Whereas not assigning homework over the Christmas holiday is just plain common sense....

.

Nice sarcasm...Some of these Jewish holidays are not typically days when the school is closed. Therefore, I should expect that the school operates as normal, with regulary scheduled assignments, and without grade/class-wide special concessions for missing students. Christmas happens to falls during the winter break.

Do you honestly think its a coincidence that Christmas break, er,winter break, is at Christmas?

I don't think it will kill your kids or reduce your investment not to have homework for one day. Its called flexibility.

[Anonymous]

Well, considering that only slightly more than 2.2% of the US population is Jewish,* I would say that structuring a school calendar, or as here, the school homework schedule, around Jewish religious holidays makes that school "Jewish in character" as opposed to non-religious or "Christian in character" since it is taking into account only a small portion of the US population for one type of religious minority but not all religious minorities (is homework halted based on Ramadan? DiWali?)** Yes, GDS Winter Break is scheduled around the traditional Christian holiday, Christmas, but it could be argued that that is the "norm" in our society** and also includes the non-religious New Year celebration. It would be very interesting to see a school hold itself out as "non-religious" and actually NOT have days off/holidays based on any religious celebrations and instead solely on equal divison of the school year amongst semesters/quarters. Enrolled students could then take days off if their religion dictated or not if they were atheists or agnostics. Now that would be an interesting model!











* population was estimated at 6,489,000 (2.2%) as of 2008, US Census Bureau Statistical Abstract 2009, Table 76, Jewish Population, 2008. The Jewish population includes Jews who define themselves as Jewish by religion as well as those who define themselves as Jewish in cultural terms. Data on Jewish population are based primarily on a compilation of individual estimates made by local Jewish federations (as reported in the American Jewish Yearbook).

**The majority of Americans (76%) identify themselves as Christians. Non-Christian religions (including Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism), collectively make up about 3.9% to 5.5% of the adult population. Another 15% of the adult population identifies as having no religious belief or no religious affiliation.

[Anonymous]

GDS actually has school on the high holy days. Many other privates do not -- for example, my DS attends McLean and they have those days off. I believe that most public school systems in our area do as well. So by your ridiculous rubric you've created, these other schools are Jewish and GDS is not so much, since they have school on those days. And way to wave a magic wand and say Christmas break doesn't count.

Also, who cares what the Jewish population in general is? Its much higher in the larger DC area. And obviously if you have even a sizeable minority of Jewish students in your school it becomes disruptive for everyone to throw them homework that the teachers have to get to the kids and the kids have to scramble to catch up on.

You're being really silly. But, hey, why don't you march up to the school with all your stats and complain? I'm sure they'd love you for it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well, considering that only slightly more than 2.2% of the US population is Jewish

Obviously not the right demographic to extrapolate from. You have to look at the even smaller fraction of the US population that can afford $30,000+/kid/year in tuition and then at the miniscule % of that small fraction that lives in DC or its immediate environs and is willing to shell out that kind of money for education. At which point, I feel pretty confident, judging from local private school enrollments generally, that 2.2% grossly underestimates what % of the relevant population is Jewish.

So the question becomes when you know that a substantial minority of your students won't have time to do homework a couple of evening during the school year, do you decide not to assign homework for that night (and/or to treat the relevant unit of homework as weekly rather than nightly during such a period, so that kids/families have some flexibility about when it can be done)? Either approach (and I've seen both taken at GDS) seems much more reasonable and realistic to me than, basically, saying "Hell, you people are a small minority of the American population, so don't expect us to take your peculiar needs into account" -- which seemed to be the logic behind PP's argument. And when other families have comparable demands that get in the way of homework at other times, you cut them similar slack.

Basically, the goal (not always achieved) is to keep workloads manageable. There are also rules about how many tests/major assignments kids can have due in a single week in MS and a rotating schedule in the MS/coordination in the LS to ensure that there's never homework in every subject on the same night. And academics end at 1:45 in 7th/8th grade to accommodate extramural sports. Seems humane to me to avoid creating situations in which a bunch of kids will, predictably, have to scramble to catch up with the rest.

[Anonymous]

Look I'm not Jewish, but have kids at GDS. PP @ 9:10 is nuts. MoCo schools take off for the high holidays - does that make them a "Jewish" school system? A satellite of Israel? There are a lot of kids at GDS who are Jewish - much more than the stat you cited; moreover, GDS was founded by AA and Jewish families. Is it so terrible that school is held, but homework is not assigned for those days?

The beauty of independents: you don't have to apply if you do not like the conditions.

[Anonymous]

I think the bigger issue is not religion but rather how these schools with less than 50% of District enrollment are able to skate by as tax free entities while not being great neighbors (see: GDS go-go dances, GV heavy traffic etc). I don't mind paying $30k to educate my kid but I hate having to educate kids from MoCo and the other burbs as well. If a school (exceptions for church based schools) has less than 70% District residents it should lose it's not for profit status on the District level. That is prime real estate.

Flame away.

[Anonymous]

Real estate owned by the schools in question. Just like universities, churches, the federal government, and various non-profits own prime real estate in the District and remain tax exempt even though they serve and employ people from other jurisdictions.

[Anonymous]

This topic came up some time ago 14:33. I happen to agree + think a good compromise would be to give first choice acceptances to kids from DC...would help the environment not to have all thos SUVs, Humvees coming in from the burbs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Real estate owned by the schools in question. Just like universities, churches, the federal government, and various non-profits own prime real estate in the District and remain tax exempt even though they serve and employ people from other jurisdictions.

Real estate is owned by property owners and they still get taxed. Real estate is owned by businesses and they get taxed. Your point? Again if the jursidiction realizes that these schools serve no benefit for DC residents they can go ahead and tax them. I hate coming home and having my driveway blocked by cars with MD plates.

[Anonymous]

I'd wager that the top schools everyone on this board wants to get into would be less competitive/desirable if they gave top preference to applicants from their state/locality. This goes for MD and VA schools as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Look I'm not Jewish, but have kids at GDS. PP @ 9:10 is nuts. MoCo schools take off for the high holidays - does that make them a "Jewish" school system? A satellite of Israel? There are a lot of kids at GDS who are Jewish - much more than the stat you cited; moreover, GDS was founded by AA and Jewish families. Is it so terrible that school is held, but homework is not assigned for those days?

The beauty of independents: you don't have to apply if you do not like the conditions.

Well said.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well, considering that only slightly more than 2.2% of the US population is Jewish,* I would say that structuring a school calendar, or as here, the school homework schedule, around Jewish religious holidays makes that school "Jewish in character" as opposed to non-religious or "Christian in character" since it is taking into account only a small portion of the US population for one type of religious minority but not all religious minorities (is homework halted based on Ramadan? DiWali?)** Yes, GDS Winter Break is scheduled around the traditional Christian holiday, Christmas, but it could be argued that that is the "norm" in our society** and also includes the non-religious New Year celebration. It would be very interesting to see a school hold itself out as "non-religious" and actually NOT have days off/holidays based on any religious celebrations and instead solely on equal divison of the school year amongst semesters/quarters. Enrolled students could then take days off if their religion dictated or not if they were atheists or agnostics. Now that would be an interesting model!




That would be pagan holiday, wouldn't it? The Christ Child was worked in a little later, you know, because that solstice thing was the norm in Europe.

[Anonymous]

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Whereas not assigning homework over the Christmas holiday is just plain common sense....[/quote].

Nice sarcasm...Some of these Jewish holidays are not typically days when the school is closed. Therefore, I should expect that the school operates as normal, with regulary scheduled assignments, and without grade/class-wide special concessions for missing students. Christmas happens to falls during the winter break.[/quote]

Do you honestly think its a coincidence that Christmas break, er,winter break, is at Christmas?

I don't think it will kill your kids or reduce your investment not to have homework for one day. Its called flexibility.[/quote]

True that. I'm old enough to remember the days before everything had to be so PC. It was called Chrsitmas Vacation. It still is Christmas vacation. And if you go to Tel Aviv, things are closed on Shabat. When in Rome...