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Why do schools give preference to siblings? What's the logic?
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Anonymous
10:36 here. I'm not sure if you're calling me out, or referring to someone else. If it's me, you're missing the point that I was trying to understand the other person's math argument. In fact, I was one of several people who made your same good-for-families point back on page 1 of the thread. If you're calling out the other person, I still think you're being unduly harsh toward someone who seems to be earnestly trying to navigate the school admissions process. Name-calling is not going to improve the discussion. |
Anonymous
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Let's remember why this whole thing happened .....
A parent with 1 child who is 5 did not get into 1st choice school and now (in July) is pissed b/c they realized that 1 thing that could have influenced the rejection was sibling preferance. I wonder if the OP is the one who started the thread titled: "If schools made last year's admissions data widely available, would this be helpful to you?" |
Anonymous
And there is no guarantee that one's DC would still be accepted.... |
Anonymous
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There seems to be a thread to this discussion that assumes that private schools have or should have some sort of obligation to children or parents other than those who attend their schools, meaning an obligation to rejected applicants. If a policy like sibling preferences is good for the school's families, and does not negatively impact the quality of education in any real way, I'm not sure what the problem is. These are private institutions, funded by private resources, not public schools. I'd certainly be opposed to policies that were contrary to basic public policy (race-based discrimination, etc.), but I can't identify any such policy problem with a sibling preference system. Also, part of the point of these schools is to able to teach to a range of academic talents, so if the siblings one year turn out to be less academically oriented, the school can focus on academics in its non-sibling admits.
I'll be applying to private schools for the first time this fall, and may be disappointed at rejections due to sibling preferences, but it's not as though I'm going into this thinking the private school world is some kind of meritocracy, as much as that word seems crazy to apply to kids in any event. |
Anonymous
Totally untrue--in fat there was recently a study about this that found the exact opposite. |
Anonymous
| The private school I worked in has a strong sibling policy because it's a great way to add diversity to the school. Diversity defined in terms of academic ability, athletic ability, etc. |
Anonymous
| Why is diversity in terms of academic ability a good thing/desirable goal? |
Anonymous
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Diversity in terms of academic ability is desirable for a multitude of reasons... human beings aren't the same and have things to learn from each other. An advanced reader may have a rich vocabulary, but be a limited problem solver. A global thinker intuitively understands how all the theories relate, and a detail-minded person, might be able to follow directions and implement a plan they could never envision. One peron might be great at abstractions or number relationships, and another at clear writing or poetry.
Etc. etc. etc. |
Anonymous
I sure hope you're right because DD2 can barely remember her name. |
Anonymous
| FWIW, the research shows that siblings are usually within 10 points of each other on IQ tests. Oldest children are the high achievers, but not necessarily brighter. |
Anonymous
Exactly! I am the poster who wrote about schools desiring academic diversity. Thanks for explaining it more. You did it better than I could have. |
Anonymous
How does giving preference to siblings encourage this type of academic diversity? I've got no complaints about a sibling preference, but the academic diversity argument doesn't really make sense to me. Please explain. Thanks. |
Anonymous
20:43 needs to take on this question...I can only guess about what was meant. |
Anonymous
| well, I did not like this either when my first one applied to pre-schools. now that he graduated from NCRC and is in Beauvoir, I loved sibling preference as I don't need to do anything now for our little daughter. she is going to start at NCRC in a few weeks and will then follow his brother to Beauvoir. NCRC does not even ask for a play visit, to my surprise. |
Anonymous
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an educational consultant who adminstered my kid's WPSSI said that at young ages (preK K) it is very difficult to assess which children will excel or not. Because it is tough to tell who the next excellent students will be, admitting siblings is an easy thing to do.
She said that the sibling preference becomes much less important as children get older (middle school, high school applicants) when it is easier to evaluate a child's individual academic record/ personality/ artistic athletic ability etc. Part of her point was that siblings have a much higher yield factor, so that the admissions process is smoother with a more dependable yield (e.g., most of siblings accept, an unknown % of other admitted children accept) |