Comparing and contrasting the culture at different FCPS high schools

[Anonymous]

Your description of this school makes it sound very cliquish. Is it?

EMPHATICALLY NO...I was explaining why it wasn't...because the kids are fluid between many different overlapping groups ! ! !

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

This principal is not a Madison grad and former sports star, as the previous one was, so that is changing the atmosphere there for the better.


And, then, some people think that sports is a great thing for a school. It raises the morale of the kids and gives them activities for balance in their lives.


Sports are still very big at Madison. The problem under the prior principal was that he tolerated bullying and misbehavior by jocks and created an environment in which the kids who were not varsity athletes were made to feel like second-class students. It is much better now.

This worries me as we are looking in the Madison pyramid. Kids are not sporty and not in band. We are not super wealthy. Is it better to go to a lesser school and be on the upper end of it (i.e. like a Herndon school) or go to a Madison type of school where you probably won't be among the super stars. ??

DD is a freshman at Madison...so we only know it as it is for this year. I think the one take away from the school is kids tend to be really, really focused on their interests whether theater, SGA, Chorus, sports, band, art, or school work, etc. They do also have friends that span these activities primarily from friendships at Thoreau or the elementary schools they started in.

On the athletics side, another thing that is interesting is that for sports that don't have JV/Varsity and everyone is effectively varsity the kids are friendly between under classmen and upper classmen. Not sure how it works w/ football or soccer...? The sports where Madison did really, really well this year where not the "big" boys sports like football, lacrosse or basketball (baseball and football had very good seasons, but playoffs...meh) ...it is the girls sports like cross country, volleyball and softball that have gone well into the state tournaments. Part of the athletics focus for Madison is because so many of the kids come up thru the VYI leagues and there is a very well funding athletic booster club.

Your description of this school makes it sound very cliquish. Is it?

Not at Madison, but what PP is very much a reflection of how the college admissions process filters down to public schools across the country that serve high-income communities. There is not much focus on well-rounded kids who want to try lots of different activities, and a premium on being the best at something, which colleges suggest kids need to describe and pursue as their "passion" (even if it isn't).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are looking at schools on the next tier down. How does West Potomac, Hayfield, Falls Church, Annadale and Edison compare?

To answer
My DC went to Luther Jackson and lots of DCs friends are going to Falls Church. We aren't in the Falls Church pyramid, but I'd be fine if we were. I'd say Falls Church and Marshall are similar demographics. As are Oakton and Madison. These are the 4 high schools that kids from Luther Jackson attend.

[Anonymous]

They are all fine schools

They are more diverse than other schools which is more reflective of the country as a whole

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are looking at schools on the next tier down. How does West Potomac, Hayfield, Falls Church, Annadale and Edison compare?

To answer
My DC went to Luther Jackson and lots of DCs friends are going to Falls Church. We aren't in the Falls Church pyramid, but I'd be fine if we were. I'd say Falls Church and Marshall are similar demographics. As are Oakton and Madison. These are the 4 high schools that kids from Luther Jackson attend.

Not really

Falls Church has 57% farms and 25% limited english
http://tinyurl.com/zlhkqaj

Marshall has 17% farms and 9% limited english
http://tinyurl.com/horgq5g

racial makeup of both schools are also very different

[Anonymous]

When people provide esl, farms and racial percentages, I'm having trouble figuring out what that means regarding how that answers the op's question. Are those schools more tolerant of all different types of diversity (race, see, etc)? Is it less cliquish? What kind of school spirit is there compared to less diverse schools? Don't these schools pretty much play each other in football, basketball, band, choir, theater, etc? Which schools sell out their tickets the most?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When people provide esl, farms and racial percentages, I'm having trouble figuring out what that means regarding how that answers the op's question. Are those schools more tolerant of all different types of diversity (race, see, etc)? Is it less cliquish? What kind of school spirit is there compared to less diverse schools? Don't these schools pretty much play each other in football, basketball, band, choir, theater, etc? Which schools sell out their tickets the most?

Majority poverty and lower scores means a student body struggling to pass the basics.

There are also gang issues associated with high minority and poverty schools, which exclude membership based on racial makeup.

The schools indicated by OP are all very good and have low FARMS and good test scores. I was refuting people stating Falls Church or Stuart are acceptable in comparison to OP's list.

[Anonymous]

Well, in my ecperience, the kids going to falls church and to Marshall via Luther Jackson aap are similar. Both have very similar middle class neighborhoods with a few high end areas.

I'm not pulling data, I'm just going off of first hand knowledge.

[Anonymous]

Oakton or Madison are preferred. Both are predominately UMC with a few lower end areas. But even the lower end areas are 500K +

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And no one has brought this up, but TJ is pure hell. Almost all of the students suffer from anxiety.

Different PP--- I don't have a kid there, but I know a mom of a current junior and she tells me that a lot of the kids (including her child) have anxiety issues. If not anxiety, then depression. Not saying every kids does. But, it is somewhat common from her comments.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And no one has brought this up, but TJ is pure hell. Almost all of the students suffer from anxiety.
/quote]

Different PP--- I don't have a kid there, but I know a mom of a current junior and she tells me that a lot of the kids (including her child) have anxiety issues. If not anxiety, then depression. Not saying every kids does. But, it is somewhat common from her comments.

Oh, if one friend of yours says so, it must be true

Please tell me which HS your kid goes to so I can report comments from some random person I know who has a kid there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And no one has brought this up, but TJ is pure hell. Almost all of the students suffer from anxiety.
/quote]

Different PP--- I don't have a kid there, but I know a mom of a current junior and she tells me that a lot of the kids (including her child) have anxiety issues. If not anxiety, then depression. Not saying every kids does. But, it is somewhat common from her comments.

Oh, if one friend of yours says so, it must be true

Please tell me which HS your kid goes to so I can report comments from some random person I know who has a kid there.

Well it is objectively true that her child (at TJ) has anxiety and she knows lots of other kids who are in TJ and in AAP in general. You can dismiss it if you want -- but I know that it IS true at my kid's AAP center that there are a lot of kids who are "special" -- they are extreme in there intelligence and extreme in their sensitivities or emotions as well. Not every kid. Not the majority. But, even my kid's 3rd grade AAP teacher said that extremes tend to go with AAP kids. My AAP kid's best friend is dealing with anxiety. I think my own child has at times. I know other kids in the class who fall apart at the sound of the fire alarm or have other sensitivities. It is not hard to imagine that kids who are taking the MOST demanding of all the classes -- college level and beyond (not just AP level) in HS would be more likely to have anxiety. They have always been smart enough to make it and as it gets harder, the pressure rises and the anxiety can come out -- even for kids who are way, way smart (like 99th percentile SAT smart). Doesn't mean YOUR child is going to catch anxiety if s/he goes to TJ -- but it is definitely there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When people provide esl, farms and racial percentages, I'm having trouble figuring out what that means regarding how that answers the op's question. Are those schools more tolerant of all different types of diversity (race, see, etc)? Is it less cliquish? What kind of school spirit is there compared to less diverse schools? Don't these schools pretty much play each other in football, basketball, band, choir, theater, etc? Which schools sell out their tickets the most?

Majority poverty and lower scores means a student body struggling to pass the basics.

There are also gang issues associated with high minority and poverty schools, which exclude membership based on racial makeup.

The schools indicated by OP are all very good and have low FARMS and good test scores. I was refuting people stating Falls Church or Stuart are acceptable in comparison to OP's list.

It's a meaningless statement to assert that Falls Church and Stuart are not "acceptable in comparison to OP's list." What does that even mean? Acceptable to whom? It seems to say more about a Marshall poster's anxiety of having Marshall discussed in the same breath as Falls Church than anything else. Perhaps that tells OP something about the current "culture" at that school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Well it is objectively true that her child (at TJ) has anxiety and she knows lots of other kids who are in TJ and in AAP in general. You can dismiss it if you want -- but I know that it IS true at my kid's AAP center that there are a lot of kids who are "special" -- they are extreme in there intelligence and extreme in their sensitivities or emotions as well. Not every kid. Not the majority. But, even my kid's 3rd grade AAP teacher said that extremes tend to go with AAP kids. My AAP kid's best friend is dealing with anxiety. I think my own child has at times. I know other kids in the class who fall apart at the sound of the fire alarm or have other sensitivities. It is not hard to imagine that kids who are taking the MOST demanding of all the classes -- college level and beyond (not just AP level) in HS would be more likely to have anxiety. They have always been smart enough to make it and as it gets harder, the pressure rises and the anxiety can come out -- even for kids who are way, way smart (like 99th percentile SAT smart). Doesn't mean YOUR child is going to catch anxiety if s/he goes to TJ -- but it is definitely there.

Great summary, PP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And no one has brought this up, but TJ is pure hell. Almost all of the students suffer from anxiety.

Different PP--- I don't have a kid there, but I know a mom of a current junior and she tells me that a lot of the kids (including her child) have anxiety issues. If not anxiety, then depression. Not saying every kids does. But, it is somewhat common from her comments.

My child went to TJ and we did not see a lot of anxiety issues with the kids there. My child was involved with sports all three seasons, so knew a pretty good variety of kids. Maybe kids who exercise every day have lower anxiety in general. The kids we were around a lot at TJ were all pretty healthy, and pretty positive thinkers.