Washington City Paper article on picking a school

[Anonymous]

This. We've been researching schools for DS and the choices really make us feel sick. Far too many mediocre choices, desperate salespeople, smug incumbents, and the few schools that seem promising to us for less than $25k a year are unattainably competitive.

You people are total twits for wasting energy trying to figure out what schools he was clearly trying not to reference. It doesn't matter, as your comments reveal they are clearly interchangeable. I guess it's true that DC really has little appreciation for art / creativity.


MOVE to whatever you consider an acceptable neighborhood (probably JKLM) and then put your kid in BASIS. For now, shut up.
You are a total twit for not doing the research before moving here and insulting the rest of us.

Everyone else here seems to know the deal, native or not. Although if your kid is young I would point out that scientific studies show that learning a second language before the age of 6/7 alters the neurotransmitters in the brain so your dc will be able to acquire other languages later far more easily. And if people are really right about these language immersion charters becoming better, for young kids I would consider it. We bought our house based on the school even tho our only kid was not yet 2. Market for houses is in your favor. But you are the twit for not figuring out the lay of the land before you needed to if it is so important to you.

PS TO ALL the DC Parks and Recs had a pilot program a few years ago that would automatically get you in to a five day full day coop if you did the pilot as a younger child. Teacher Ms. Adrian. Awesome. I know not everyone could do a coop but it would get you to turtle park with the folks who don't want to pay for private preschool....

[Anonymous]

This. We've been researching schools for DS and the choices really make us feel sick. Far too many mediocre choices, desperate salespeople, smug incumbents, and the few schools that seem promising to us for less than $25k a year are unattainably competitive.

You people are total twits for wasting energy trying to figure out what schools he was clearly trying not to reference. It doesn't matter, as your comments reveal they are clearly interchangeable. I guess it's true that DC really has little appreciation for art / creativity.


MOVE to whatever you consider an acceptable neighborhood (probably JKLM) and then put your kid in BASIS. For now, shut up.
You are a total twit for not doing the research before moving here and insulting the rest of us.

Everyone else here seems to know the deal, native or not. Although if your kid is young I would point out that scientific studies show that learning a second language before the age of 6/7 alters the neurotransmitters in the brain so your dc will be able to acquire other languages later far more easily. And if people are really right about these language immersion charters becoming better, for young kids I would consider it. We bought our house based on the school even tho our only kid was not yet 2. Market for houses is in your favor. But you are the twit for not figuring out the lay of the land before you needed to if it is so important to you.

PS TO ALL the DC Parks and Recs had a pilot program a few years ago that would automatically get you in to a five day full day coop if you did the pilot as a younger child. Teacher Ms. Adrian. Awesome. I know not everyone could do a coop but it would get you to turtle park with the folks who don't want to pay for private preschool....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I loved it but we're from the Upper Westside of Manhattan and since moving to DC and going through the school process here, thank my lucky stars that we avoided the insanity of schools there.

It's all relative.

Is it really that bad? Do you all go private?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well I took it at face value, the hipster part, the bleeding liberal part, the fact that my husband can say things that I could never say without being called a racist because he is Hispanic and I am lily white, and posted - and my basically real name came up and now I am terrified that someone will see it. Sorry my kids are slightly older. Sorry I ever considered this. Please someone say that this was not as bad as I think it was - or don't say anything at all....

It was not bad at all, it was actually quite touching (Yes, I took the trouble to go and read the comments, now that you've mentioned it).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I loved it but we're from the Upper Westside of Manhattan and since moving to DC and going through the school process here, thank my lucky stars that we avoided the insanity of schools there.

It's all relative.

Is it really that bad? Do you all go private?

It is REALLY REALLY bad. Think the worst and x2 or x5. The public gifted programs that everyone wants like Hunter and Anderson start at K and all require NYC version of the WPPSI and their entrance yr is ONLY K. The other public gifted programs start at 3rd grade so everyone wants these two. There are a whole bunch of private programs - all the "good" ones run around 35K for preschool and has like 20 spaces.

Every few yrs, you hear about some millionaire hedge fund manager or similar getting into trouble for trying to get someone to pull strings to get their 3/4 yr old into a private preschool.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well I took it at face value, the hipster part, the bleeding liberal part, the fact that my husband can say things that I could never say without being called a racist because he is Hispanic and I am lily white, and posted - and my basically real name came up and now I am terrified that someone will see it. Sorry my kids are slightly older. Sorry I ever considered this. Please someone say that this was not as bad as I think it was - or don't say anything at all....

It was not bad at all, it was actually quite touching (Yes, I took the trouble to go and read the comments, now that you've mentioned it).

Thanks so much from the bottom of my heart

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I loved it but we're from the Upper Westside of Manhattan and since moving to DC and going through the school process here, thank my lucky stars that we avoided the insanity of schools there.

It's all relative.

Is it really that bad? Do you all go private?

It is REALLY REALLY bad. Think the worst and x2 or x5. The public gifted programs that everyone wants like Hunter and Anderson start at K and all require NYC version of the WPPSI and their entrance yr is ONLY K. The other public gifted programs start at 3rd grade so everyone wants these two. There are a whole bunch of private programs - all the "good" ones run around 35K for preschool and has like 20 spaces.

Every few yrs, you hear about some millionaire hedge fund manager or similar getting into trouble for trying to get someone to pull strings to get their 3/4 yr old into a private preschool.

My brother said he had to write a letter of recommendation when his sister-in-law was filling out pre-school applications on the upper east side.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
This. We've been researching schools for DS and the choices really make us feel sick. Far too many mediocre choices, desperate salespeople, smug incumbents, and the few schools that seem promising to us for less than $25k a year are unattainably competitive.

You people are total twits for wasting energy trying to figure out what schools he was clearly trying not to reference. It doesn't matter, as your comments reveal they are clearly interchangeable. I guess it's true that DC really has little appreciation for art / creativity.

MOVE to whatever you consider an acceptable neighborhood (probably JKLM) and then put your kid in BASIS. For now, shut up.
You are a total twit for not doing the research before moving here and insulting the rest of us.

Everyone else here seems to know the deal, native or not. Although if your kid is young I would point out that scientific studies show that learning a second language before the age of 6/7 alters the neurotransmitters in the brain so your dc will be able to acquire other languages later far more easily. And if people are really right about these language immersion charters becoming better, for young kids I would consider it. We bought our house based on the school even tho our only kid was not yet 2. Market for houses is in your favor. But you are the twit for not figuring out the lay of the land before you needed to if it is so important to you.

PS TO ALL the DC Parks and Recs had a pilot program a few years ago that would automatically get you in to a five day full day coop if you did the pilot as a younger child. Teacher Ms. Adrian. Awesome. I know not everyone could do a coop but it would get you to turtle park with the folks who don't want to pay for private preschool....

Responding to comment on my post.

Hi, 15+ year resident of DC here, not counting college. I know DC backwards and forwards, so I'm not complaining about the neighborhood I chose to have children in -- not at all. I'm related to the heartbreak of having to do the right thing, i.e. put our child in an economical integrated school that has serious disruptive elements, versus the safe route for our part of town (private). Our kid is proving to be far more resilient than we would have guessed - yay! - but then again we were coddled by our parents in ways that ours is clearly not. I simply relate to the writer's many levels of angst and admire the work it took to "go there".

[Anonymous]

If you want to know how good we have it here compared to NYC, go find the 2008 documentary "Nursery University."

It's insane.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
This. We've been researching schools for DS and the choices really make us feel sick. Far too many mediocre choices, desperate salespeople, smug incumbents, and the few schools that seem promising to us for less than $25k a year are unattainably competitive.

You people are total twits for wasting energy trying to figure out what schools he was clearly trying not to reference. It doesn't matter, as your comments reveal they are clearly interchangeable. I guess it's true that DC really has little appreciation for art / creativity.

MOVE to whatever you consider an acceptable neighborhood (probably JKLM) and then put your kid in BASIS. For now, shut up.
You are a total twit for not doing the research before moving here and insulting the rest of us.

Everyone else here seems to know the deal, native or not. Although if your kid is young I would point out that scientific studies show that learning a second language before the age of 6/7 alters the neurotransmitters in the brain so your dc will be able to acquire other languages later far more easily. And if people are really right about these language immersion charters becoming better, for young kids I would consider it. We bought our house based on the school even tho our only kid was not yet 2. Market for houses is in your favor. But you are the twit for not figuring out the lay of the land before you needed to if it is so important to you.

PS TO ALL the DC Parks and Recs had a pilot program a few years ago that would automatically get you in to a five day full day coop if you did the pilot as a younger child. Teacher Ms. Adrian. Awesome. I know not everyone could do a coop but it would get you to turtle park with the folks who don't want to pay for private preschool....

Responding to comment on my post.

Hi, 15+ year resident of DC here, not counting college. I know DC backwards and forwards, so I'm not complaining about the neighborhood I chose to have children in -- not at all. I'm related to the heartbreak of having to do the right thing, i.e. put our child in an economical integrated school that has serious disruptive elements, versus the safe route for our part of town (private). Our kid is proving to be far more resilient than we would have guessed - yay! - but then again we were coddled by our parents in ways that ours is clearly not. I simply relate to the writer's many levels of angst and admire the work it took to "go there".




OK, fangirl/fanboy

I don't get it though. The "right thing"? Are you saying you have the means to put your kid in private school but you are sending your kid to an economically diverse school out of some sense of moral obligation or superiority? Or wait, from your first post it looks like you have $25k/year to spend, but you don't think your kid can get into private school...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you want to know how good we have it here compared to NYC, go find the 2008 documentary "Nursery University."

It's insane.

My cousin was told his daughter was not "diverse" enough despite the fact that he comes from an old famous decent family, his wife is from Columbia, and his daughter already spoke English, Spanish and French. So now she is at a sweet Catholic school and obsessed with horses, but one smart kiddo who did not get in to the "best" NYC schools. The school idiot who made that comment was from Dalton....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you want to know how good we have it here compared to NYC, go find the 2008 documentary "Nursery University."

It's insane.

My cousin was told his daughter was not "diverse" enough despite the fact that he comes from an old famous decent family, his wife is from Columbia, and his daughter already spoke English, Spanish and French. So now she is at a sweet Catholic school and obsessed with horses, but one smart kiddo who did not get in to the "best" NYC schools. The school idiot who made that comment was from Dalton....

What does it mean to be from an "old famous decent family", and what does that have to do with diversity?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you want to know how good we have it here compared to NYC, go find the 2008 documentary "Nursery University."

It's insane.

My cousin was told his daughter was not "diverse" enough despite the fact that he comes from an old famous decent family, his wife is from Columbia, and his daughter already spoke English, Spanish and French. So now she is at a sweet Catholic school and obsessed with horses, but one smart kiddo who did not get in to the "best" NYC schools. The school idiot who made that comment was from Dalton....

What makes her diverse? It sounds like a boring, old self-important, entitled family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you want to know how good we have it here compared to NYC, go find the 2008 documentary "Nursery University."

It's insane.

My cousin was told his daughter was not "diverse" enough despite the fact that he comes from an old famous decent family, his wife is from Columbia, and his daughter already spoke English, Spanish and French. So now she is at a sweet Catholic school and obsessed with horses, but one smart kiddo who did not get in to the "best" NYC schools. The school idiot who made that comment was from Dalton....

What does it mean to be from an "old famous decent family", and what does that have to do with diversity?

Nothing. And fine forget the decent part. I was trying to say not a robber baron, not a Rockefeller. And obviously not a Kennedy. Her father is not diverse.

I guess what I was trying to say without identifying the child is she is a mix of a before the Mayflower WASP father and a mother from Columbia, trilingual and bicultural and indisputably Hispanic. I think there are many kinds of diversity, but I think hers certainly counts. She spends all her time when not in school in Columbia... For the Dalton School (which purportedly prides itself on diversity) to decide that she was not diverse seemed ridiculous to me.

Maybe the idiot from Dalton had filled up all the "Hispanic" slots, or only wanted kids who were 100% from a foreign country, or was looking for a Taino ... I could go on and on and get less and less politically correct and offend more and more people, but what is the point?

I do really want to know what the admissions officer meant though about her not being "diverse enough" for Dalton... Maybe it is that WASPS are now a minority but her heritage on her mother's side disqualified her? He was looking for one of the few remaining 100% WASP kids whose parents have a lot of money?

The only point was how ridiculous the comment was and how sad the situation was - not that she did not get in, but the reason they gave her parents, which had everything to do with her meeting some strange kind of checklist that had nothing to do with her intelligence. And as I said, I would have loved to have seen the checklist. Her parents were too taken aback and too polite to ask what particular type of diversity she was lacking. But I really wish they had, cause I think the story would just get better and better.....

[Anonymous]

And they did not feel that she was entitled to get in to Dalton, or anywhere. They were just shocked by the explanation for her rejection.

I guess the other point I was trying to make was that IMO we are old but we are not boring, have not been resting on laurels for centuries and eating grapes, and do not feel entitled to anything except a fair shake in a meritocracy.

I did not say we came from old money or more to the point that we had any now... Oh and we are not the Bushes (just remembered his comments about his grandchildren being the little brown ones)... And my cousin does not manage a hedge fund or own a house in the Hamptons. Enough already. Sorry I even mentioned the father or his heritage.