if you had to choose between sidwell, beauvoir, and gds, where would you accept?

[Anonymous]

Well, you know, there are Jews and there are JEWS...

These discussions always strike me as incredibly anti-semitic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:.

Sidwell

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well, you know, there are Jews and there are JEWS...

These discussions always strike me as incredibly anti-semitic.

What do you mean by, "there are Jews . . . ."?

[Anonymous]

Seems pretty obvious from the responses that one size does not fit all..

[Anonymous]

These discussions always strike me as incredibly anti-semitic.

Why? Other than the first sentence in your post (which I think was a weak attempt at humor) there has been nothing even slightly negative in the posts, only a concern that a school, GDS, touting itself as non-religious, and espousing the ideals of tolerance and equality for all races, colors, and creeds, actually does have a bias toward a specific creed. You could substitute "Christian" or "Catholic" or "Buddhist" or Muslim" in any of the comments and the flavor and meaning would remain the same. The introduction of Sidwell into the discussion by calling it "equally Jewish" misses the point of the GDS post and may perhaps carry a whiff of anti-semitism but the original post is unbiased.

[Anonymous]

What's anti-semitic is the assumption that a secular school becomes "Jewish" when too many (or the wrong kind of? cf. the Sidwell comparison) Jews are present. And when any inclusion of Jewish holidays makes the school "biased" toward Judiasm, but no one decides that a secular school becomes a "Christian" school if it has an Xmas party.

It's totally parallel to racist discourse of the one-drop rule, white is the universal/unmarked category variety.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What's anti-semitic is the assumption that a secular school becomes "Jewish" when too many (or the wrong kind of? cf. the Sidwell comparison) Jews are present. And when any inclusion of Jewish holidays makes the school "biased" toward Judiasm, but no one decides that a secular school becomes a "Christian" school if it has an Xmas party.

It's totally parallel to racist discourse of the one-drop rule, white is the universal/unmarked category variety.

I disagree completely. Its is not the "inclusion of Jewish Holidays." It is the front and center celebration, expensively catered, a bigger deal than any other like minded event of, in this particular case, a religious holiday at a school professing to be totally non-religious. It is also the make-up of the board that blatantly favors parents (and their children) of a particular religious and cultural background, and at a schhol that advertises itself as perfectly toleratnt and providing equal treatment to all. It is nothing at all to do with "how many" student at the school are Jewish. As for the celebration of religious holidays, neither Christmas nor any other religious holiday should be given such preferential and heavy handed status at such a school. Now that said, there is an argument that there is a style of "Christmas" celebration that is uniquely secular Americana. That is certainly debatable and rather subjective.

On the other hand, the Sidwell comments did cross into anti-Semetic territory by calling Sidwell "Jewish" based solely on the number of children from the Jewish religion/culture.

Furthermore,

[Anonymous]

It's not ant-semitic to talk facts. There are a lot of Jewish students at GDS.

[Anonymous]

There's a schoolwide Christmas assembly and a Passover assembly -- as well as a Harvest assembly, a MLK day assembly, and a Halloween parade. Passover is no bigger a deal than any of the others. So why aren't we a Christian or pagan or Native American school? If anything, the catering means less investment/ownership of the event -- by contrast, there's pressure to contribute to Xmas festivities.

Xmas as "uniquely secular Americana" is the analogy to white as the universal/unmarked category. We're the norm -- you're the "other." And too much of the other makes something theirs not ours. Because, hey, that's not normal.

Basically, what you're saying (even if you're only relaying what your friends are saying) is there are too many Jews on the Board and if Passover is catered, so should Xmas be.

How you get from there to GDS is "a Jewish school" or Jewish kids are "blatantly favored" is beyond me. Unless the logic is as fundamentally anti-semitic as I've claimed.

My (non-Jewish) kid attends this school and has for a number of years, so I'm speaking from experience.

[Anonymous]

See, if you get over a certain number of Jews in the school, it gets to be a problem. I think thats what PP is saying.

But, of course if there is an ostensibly secular school that is majority Christian, you never hear that its a Christian school or that everyone is biased towards Christian. In fact, as long as there isn't a chapel requirement, or some kind of regular, sectarian religious observance, everyone will accept that it is not a Christian school, no matter the demographics of the student body.

Double standard, no?

[Anonymous]

So Christmas is secular, i.e. non-offensive, but Passover is religious, i.e. offensive.

There are Jewish schools in this area. They teach Jewish theology and Hebrew. That is what a Jewish school is. To say that the number of Jews makes it a "Jewish" school is to debase the actual religion. And of course, to say Christmas is a secular holiday debases Christianity as well.

[Anonymous]

PP said in her earlier post that she doesn't have children at GDS, she's just "heard," So she doesn't really know what she's talking about. She just has friends who are appalled by having matzah thrown in their faces and having to schlep their kids to all those bar mitzvah parties. Oh, and her friends are very upset about all that clannishness, you know. That thing where Jews get together and give each other the secret mazol tov handshake.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went to GDS and now have young kids. If you want your child to play Division I sports in college, GDS is not going to be your first choice. If you want your child to be able to play sports in HS, GDS has lots of teams and opportunities to play sports. Virtually anyone who wants to play makes it on a team, which is not true at some other private schools.

I would not make a decision on K-8 based on sports. Children play in youth leagues and if the child shows unusual ability and commitment to a sport then make a change for high school. Be realistic . 9 years at GDS don't effect college.

The vast majority of students on teams at single sex schools are not capable of playing at any level in college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Really a bizarre series of comments that seem completely not based on fact. I have had kids at both GDS and Sidwell, and we are neither Jewish nor Quaker. GDS is not religious in any way. The major holidays are all discussed and celebrated in various events, and the major world religions are all studied in history classes in MS and HS. The school does not give a holiday on Rosh H or Yom Kippur, which results in lots of missing kids (versus Montgomery County where they are holidays). The only year that perhaps a kid who is not Jewish can feel a bit weird is in 7th grade, when the bar and bat mitzvahs season arrives, this does tend to overwhelm social events for the entire year in some classes that are majority Jewish, but this has nothing to do with the school (and I can imagine in a Catholic school the same type of thing could occur around confirmation events or sweet 16s). If anything Sidwell is MORE not less linked to a specific religion. It is a Quaker school, the head must be Quaker, there is required Quaker meeting every week for all students (just as at the Cathedral schools there are required religious events and classes). Many ways in which the school runs and deals with issues is very much based in Quaker theory and practice. It is not "lip service" or for "show". My daughter has been fascinating by meeting and learning about Quakerism, and feels it has been a major component of her experience there.

Anyway, no student is going to feel in any way marginalized at either school because they are not Quaker or Jewish in our experience.

My non-Jewish children [not at GDS] went to a number of bar and bat mitzvahs in grade 7 and 8. They also attended numerous sweet sixteens sophomore year. Each of the 3 events ranged from at-home parties to wedding or prom like events. Sweet sixteens are not as common for VA girls. Bethesda, Chevy Chase , Potomac , NW DC has a huge sweet sixteen culture for all religions. Even some boys had the parties.

[Anonymous]

Bethesda, Chevy Chase , Potomac , NW DC has a huge sweet sixteen culture for all religions. Even some boys had the parties.

Really?! Wow, I thought sweet sixteen parties went out with the 1950s.