BASIS - how long to figure out if school was a good fit for your child?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't look at it that way (asking if Basis is a good fit). I keep cultivating my child and spending less time worrying about the school. DS is in 8th now. He's not a top student, but he's not at the bottom, either. He used to be grumpy about school, but he is now joyful. It's because I started trusting him. I started respecting his ability to choose for himself. I even told him that if he wants to choose to fail, it's up to him, because I am choosing to respect his decisions. He actually goes to school and comes back HAPPY now, because he realizes I accept him just the way he is. Basis hasn't changed, but I have, and he has. Before, I think a lot of my incessant anxiety about the right school has to do with the amount of control I need over my child's future. No more.

So, my thought is, you can try to control the outcome of your child's life by picking the right/wrong school (nothing wrong with that... we picked Basis over Latin...he got in to both). But the parenting piece is still mostly about your core relational bond with your child. A well attuned child will thrive. We plan to stay through 12th grade. Thought briefly about Walls, but I think Basis is just fine. Kid has become more personally responsibly, grades are on the rise. Is Basis the right school? It's important to know why you are asking this question. The school has rigor, but it is is not crazy difficult. I feel like I read a lot of posts, and the key issue is not academic rigor but parental anxiety. So, do you solve the school issue or solve your own anxiety? For me, I have attained personal peace...and I see a seriously beneficial trickle down effect.

Sums up pretty much every thread, from the ones on potty training and school lunch/snack to college placements.

+1 People need to examine their fear of death and dial backwards to consider their decision processes. Maybe take The-Meaning-Of-Life 101.

“Because children grow up, we think a child's purpose is to grow up. But a child's purpose is to be a child. Nature doesn't disdain what lives only for a day. It pours the whole of itself into the each moment. We don't value the lily less for not being made of flint and built to last. Life's bounty is in its flow, later is too late. Where is the song when it's been sung? The dance when it's been danced? It's only we humans who want to own the future, too. We persuade ourselves that the universe is modestly employed in unfolding our destination. We note the haphazard chaos of history by the day, by the hour, but there is something wrong with the picture. Where is the unity, the meaning, of nature's highest creation? Surely those millions of little streams of accident and wilfulness have their correction in the vast underground river which, without a doubt, is carrying us to the place where we're expected! But there is no such place, that's why it's called utopia. The death of a child has no more meaning than the death of armies, of nations. Was the child happy while he lived? That is a proper question, the only question. If we can't arrange our own happiness, it's a conceit beyond vulgarity to arrange the happiness of those who come after us.”

-Tom Stoppard

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't look at it that way (asking if Basis is a good fit). I keep cultivating my child and spending less time worrying about the school. DS is in 8th now. He's not a top student, but he's not at the bottom, either. He used to be grumpy about school, but he is now joyful. It's because I started trusting him. I started respecting his ability to choose for himself. I even told him that if he wants to choose to fail, it's up to him, because I am choosing to respect his decisions. He actually goes to school and comes back HAPPY now, because he realizes I accept him just the way he is. Basis hasn't changed, but I have, and he has. Before, I think a lot of my incessant anxiety about the right school has to do with the amount of control I need over my child's future. No more.

So, my thought is, you can try to control the outcome of your child's life by picking the right/wrong school (nothing wrong with that... we picked Basis over Latin...he got in to both). But the parenting piece is still mostly about your core relational bond with your child. A well attuned child will thrive. We plan to stay through 12th grade. Thought briefly about Walls, but I think Basis is just fine. Kid has become more personally responsibly, grades are on the rise. Is Basis the right school? It's important to know why you are asking this question. The school has rigor, but it is is not crazy difficult. I feel like I read a lot of posts, and the key issue is not academic rigor but parental anxiety. So, do you solve the school issue or solve your own anxiety? For me, I have attained personal peace...and I see a seriously beneficial trickle down effect.

Most if not all kids who attend BASIS know how much work is expected from them.
Unfortunately, kids are not treated equally. I would not have said that if I was not 100% sure of it.
And yes, if your kid is not wanted, the grades will plummet ... the school will just give your kid "F's.
Not a conspiracy, just facts that have happened to past students.

[Anonymous]

I didn't realize that my finally-happy-with-school-because-he's-not-bored kid has had his childhood crushed by going to BASIS. The Stoppard quote is beyond melodramatic.

And to the pp about the not wanted kids -- are all of the unwanted students of the same gender and or race? Because you keep beating this drum on every BASIS thread and I want to figure out if you have a huge chip on your shoulder.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I suppose being on their 5th year, BASIS DC should have mastered the art of eliminating "non-Basis material" students by the end of the first or second year in order to spare families aggravation, emotional distress.

No such luck for the ones who applied to BASIS during its Pilot year. There were certain students who did really well for a year or even two who were treated brutally by getting "F"s in their final report cards (final exams or final comps), regardless of the fact that they had been receiving A's and B's all year long. There are also former BASIS students who are still in therapy or PTSD.

BASIS is a pyramid model. They make their bread and butter on 5th-8th graders. They don't push them out until they absolutely have to unless they individually alter their financial bottom line. This is about money and the kids are cannon fodder. The education is not all that great either.

Once BASIS can afford to get rid of additional bodies (in later grades when they no longer have to fill the bleachers or risk admitting additional unexceptional kids), the grades do change, the curves end, and the social promotion ceases. Kids who were deceived into feeling competent can get crushed. This is their model - it is not about the Pilot year. We think they have softened the lower grades to keep kids in longer.

It is a sad situation but a very slick sell. Mastery defense, repetition, and being allowed to fail math keeps the warm bodies and the dedicated students until they are no longer financially necessary. It is brutal for those kids and wastes the time of the kids who could cut it from the get go in a true test based and less spiraled (boring, repetitive, deliberately slow) system. And the one leaving doesn't have to be your kid - just their best friend, in what ultimately becomes by design a very small school. Happiness matters in high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'd love to hear from both parents who know that BASIS is a good fit for their kids and parents who discovered it was not a good fit - how long did it take you to figure this out? Did you know in a couple of weeks, months or did it take a whole year?

took from 6th to 9th grade

[Anonymous]

Sadly basis sounds like the dc ethos: all about my kid, who is a genius and fuck the lot of y'all. In many ways, it sounds like exactly the school this town deserves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't look at it that way (asking if Basis is a good fit). I keep cultivating my child and spending less time worrying about the school. DS is in 8th now. He's not a top student, but he's not at the bottom, either. He used to be grumpy about school, but he is now joyful. It's because I started trusting him. I started respecting his ability to choose for himself. I even told him that if he wants to choose to fail, it's up to him, because I am choosing to respect his decisions. He actually goes to school and comes back HAPPY now, because he realizes I accept him just the way he is. Basis hasn't changed, but I have, and he has. Before, I think a lot of my incessant anxiety about the right school has to do with the amount of control I need over my child's future. No more.

So, my thought is, you can try to control the outcome of your child's life by picking the right/wrong school (nothing wrong with that... we picked Basis over Latin...he got in to both). But the parenting piece is still mostly about your core relational bond with your child. A well attuned child will thrive. We plan to stay through 12th grade. Thought briefly about Walls, but I think Basis is just fine. Kid has become more personally responsibly, grades are on the rise. Is Basis the right school? It's important to know why you are asking this question. The school has rigor, but it is is not crazy difficult. I feel like I read a lot of posts, and the key issue is not academic rigor but parental anxiety. So, do you solve the school issue or solve your own anxiety? For me, I have attained personal peace...and I see a seriously beneficial trickle down effect.

As you surely know, not all have attained the 'personal peace,' and I think recognizing that parental anxiety and taking your family out of situations that may exacerbate it is legit and actually to be commended. Might it be 'better', if you attained the personal peace and your child attended a school that was a good fit for them (as opposed to the family) - sure, but is it good that you preserve the core relational bond and act out of some self-awareness - definitely yes. So ask the question, take stock of your personal situation, and figure out what's best for your family.

Good luck to us all in raising kids that are connected to us and in attaining personal peace.

[Anonymous]

Enough with the pyramid scheme already. You needn't post it on every thread.

FWIW we were a founding family at LAMB and all their early planning was for a pyramid of PK3-5 yos. The idea was to have 3 classes for that age, 2 of 1st-3rd and 1 of 4th-6th.

If they lost a student in 1st or 2nd they back filled with a new 3 yo.

Now 13 years in LAMB more closely resembles a rectangle.

Not picking on LAMB (we stayed all the way through) but it is not an uncommon model.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sadly basis sounds like the dc ethos: all about my kid, who is a genius and fuck the lot of y'all. In many ways, it sounds like exactly the school this town deserves.

??? Basis is not like that at all! I don't get where you get that the school is like that. These kinds of comments make me sad. I send my child to Basis but I definitely do not think fuck the rest of the city. It is about my kid only because I am in charge as her parent, not that other kids have no value. The school is very responsible towards its students. I just went to 6th grade parent night tonight and wish I was the one going to school! The teachers were warm and nurturing, and also experts! I was so impressed because they were soooo friendly and so talented! My child is not a genius, but a school like Basis believes in her. It is exactly the kind of school my child deserves. It is a school that refuses to underestimate a child's ability.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Enough with the pyramid scheme already. You needn't post it on every thread.

FWIW we were a founding family at LAMB and all their early planning was for a pyramid of PK3-5 yos. The idea was to have 3 classes for that age, 2 of 1st-3rd and 1 of 4th-6th.

If they lost a student in 1st or 2nd they back filled with a new 3 yo.

Now 13 years in LAMB more closely resembles a rectangle.

Not picking on LAMB (we stayed all the way through) but it is not an uncommon model.

The "pyramid scheme" is not about the first few years of operation. It is a fundamental element of a strategy for success that whittles six sections of 5th graders down to one section of seniors (maybe two). BASIS will never look like a rectangle. It's strategy for success is high attrition.

http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/mesa/2015/05/27/closer-look-arizona-challenging-schools-basis-cbt/28004137/

[Anonymous]

Re 00:52.

Each year BASIS DC has retained more students from 8th to 9th.

This year they took fewer 5th and 6th graders than ever before.

There are many more elementary school students in DCPS than high school students. Why can't they retain their students?

[Anonymous]

jaybird wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean really, let's face it. The school is extremely demanding timewise. We got in but opted out because it just wasn't a good fit. But part of the reason was because we felt it to be "too expensive" in terms of time and emotional investment for what you get out of it. I'll take less bragging rights in exchange for healthy relationships and a feeling of satisfaction over bragging rights any day (not saying that the healthy relationships and satisfaction don't exist for BASIS kids and parents, but I really think the highly competitive environment is not conducive to it)

I don't think you can have a well-formed opinion of something you haven't experienced.

I have

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sadly basis sounds like the dc ethos: all about my kid, who is a genius and fuck the lot of y'all. In many ways, it sounds like exactly the school this town deserves.

??? Basis is not like that at all! I don't get where you get that the school is like that. These kinds of comments make me sad. I send my child to Basis but I definitely do not think fuck the rest of the city. It is about my kid only because I am in charge as her parent, not that other kids have no value. The school is very responsible towards its students. I just went to 6th grade parent night tonight and wish I was the one going to school! The teachers were warm and nurturing, and also experts! I was so impressed because they were soooo friendly and so talented! My child is not a genius, but a school like Basis believes in her. It is exactly the kind of school my child deserves. It is a school that refuses to underestimate a child's ability.

Fair enough! You are the one with personal experience. I am glad basis is good for your children
And your family. I don't know the school, only what I hear. What I hear does seem in keeping with what I see in DC in general. It's not a town with a lot of pity.