Do you think DC kids in 2022 find college elsewhere boring?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There’s great benefit to leaving the weird DC bubble.

While not DC, both my DCs looked at schools with smaller pools of students from their home city.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There’s great benefit to leaving the weird DC bubble.

+1

I think there's a critical thinking element to this. Living in an environment that does not have the exact same value system as where you grew up forces you to learn to evaluate situations in a more well-rounded way. The DC area can be very susceptible to a certain kind of self-satisfied group think, and it tends to be self-reinforcing. People here are very convinced of their own intelligence and judgment. Going somewhere where people think differently and don't automatically differ to the wisdom of that DC group think will help prevent your kid from becoming myopic or insufferable. It can also help with empathy and with self-awareness.

The more homogeneous your child's DC experience was, the more this is true. It is most true for kids who were in elite privates all the way and have had really limited interactions with people outside of that bubble. Much less true for kids who were public schools, especially if outside the JKLM or W school bubbles.

This is an important part of becoming a thoughtful adult that I think many DC families miss because they, too, are over-focused on a very DC-centric values system.

Interesting and insightful comment. Just out of curiosity, PP, what do you consider "DC-centric values?" Do you think they are different from, say, "NYC-centric values" or "SF-centric values" or "Chicago-centric values?"

[Anonymous]

I think a medium sized city would be the best of both worlds—say Richmond, Columbia, SC, or Syracuse.