should private and independent school provide accountability and transparency admission

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think you understand holistic admissions and its benefits for building a balanced community. I think want a school where people get admitted off of only strict quantitative instead of qualitative measures. That’s fine. You’re free to start a school for find one that suits your preferences. To demand private schools do x,y,z kind of reminds me of the communist style school system my family purposely moved to get away from.

Holistic admission= get family that can be mega donors and some people of color so the school looks good in terms of racial diversity.

I wonder why do school not prioritize academic performance and inclusivity across income levels.

Even people of color who are wealthy can still feel polarized socially in a white, rich environment. Look at country clubs who still for the most part maintain all white membership. Now think about students coming from extreme underprivileged backgrounds. This is in regards to the earlier argument about why there is not enough lower income Hispanic and Asian representation at DC private schools. Okay, so take a mom who works as a cleaner for and a dad who is a construction worker or landscaper. Or a parent who works in an Asian restaurant. Culturally, how will those parents relate to parents who are partners in law firms or go vacation in Italy or ski in Utah? These private school communities are small and they depend on the community to be cohesive so that a family feels connected and that they will continue to make their tuition payments. How is a family who is thinking about basic necessities like putting food on the table, even relating to hanging out having morning coffee with the moms or going to happy hour or attending fundraisers? Also, contrary to popular belief, FA is not 100% parents are still expected to contribute something.

Plus, playdates with friends how are you going to go to your friend's multimillion dollar house and then expect you "friend" to come to a small apartment or house in the wrong part of town. Not to say they won't, but it puts the financial disparity even more on display. It isn't fair to the child who may feel embarrassed or the hard working parents who can only afford so much.

They do give FA to all income levels, but from our experience, it tends to be parents who have good careers, but maybe can't afford the full $50,000+++ tuition. Maybe middle class but stable career folks who are university educated.

I personally think, if a student is extremely bright but from lower economic background, they should do public school until 8th grade and then do high school one of the monied boarding schools in the Northeast, where they would get way better financial aid (aid budgets are bigger) and their parents are far removed from the experience.

I am glad that that Jeff bezos or Barack Obama family didn’t meet people like you. They would have had the impression that being lower middle class is a situation you cannot change.

Obviously, you completely missed the point. Jeff Bezos went to public school and Barack Obama’s grandparents paid for his private high school education. No where was there mention of people from lower economic statuses not being able to change their circumstances, quite the opposite.

Someone that says this : “ Culturally, how will those parents relate to parents who are partners in law firms or go vacation in Italy or ski in Utah? ”

Has the following issue :

Cognitive Rigidity or Stereotyping – The assumption that people from different socioeconomic backgrounds can’t relate suggests a rigid view of cultural belonging. This may reflect categorical thinking—seeing groups as fundamentally separate rather than adaptable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do private colleges are now accountable and private schools not? Are they sacred cows?. What is the legal basis to treat two private entities differently? Is it ok to be race neutral in college admissions and not neutral in school admissions ?

Troll if you want but it will say a lot if you don’t provide a logical argument.

The legal basis is that they are private institutions. If they are not accepting any gov’t funds, so they are not bounded by the requirements often tied to those funds.

These schools have to comply with laws on student safety, discriminations, and most have to maintain certifications from independent bodies. However, they don’t have to comply with federal or state admissions disclosure requirements.

So if there two school candidates with exactly the same academic performance, private schools have the right to chose exclusively on their racial preferences?

If I am a business owner and have the same situation and hire a white person because I like whites, I thought that would be illegal even though I do not receive federal funds.

So I am not sure that private schools have carte Blanche to do whatever they want in admissions.

There is a big distance between making admissions data publicly available and having having carte blanche to do whatever they want. Schools have to follow anti-discrimination laws, as does my employer, but they don’t owe the public this type of detailed information.

You don’t have to disclose information of applicants but you could explain the reason for rejection. Is it done now ? Is there room for unfair decisions in this way ? Yes!

They do explain reasons for rejections but people just don’t want to accept them. Reasons for not accepting your child:

1) we have more qualified applicants than openings, we could not accept everyone

2) your child was not a good fit based on a number of criteria including test scores, grades, teacher’s recommendations, essays, student interviews, extracurriculars, and overall impression of you and your child during your interactions with us.

With hundreds, if not, thousands of applicants, they can’t give detailed specific feedback to every rejected kid. Most parents on here think their kids walk on water and their children clearly exceed all of the above criteria. So when the children aren’t accepted, the parents are in denial and want to find excuses for their children’s rejections.

What you are describing is maybe the application process in another planet not in private schools in dc.

In dc the vast majority of children are not rejected but waitlisted and they tell you that your kid is great but unforntunately there were not enough spots.

But it is never clear the true reason and specially it is never disclosed that race and money place a big role in admissions. I see no reason to make hide the criteria for admissions, unless you want to prioritize money and race over other considerations.

The reason these schools waitlist these kids instead of out right rejections is because the schools are being polite instead of just saying your kids didn’t make the cut.

That’s fine. What’s not so fine is that they are trying to hide the criteria for the selection proxess. If the selection is done in a fair way, then what is the problem with sharing the criteria? Why is there a need to hide it ?

You are not entitled to this information from a private school and they have chosen not to share it. If you don’t like the level of transparency in the admissions process for a given school you should not apply to that school. I really hope you don’t like my children’s’ school’s process because you sound impossible.

Sure. When your kids are fired from a job because of their race and their rental application is rejected you should tell them that they should look for another job and another apartment. That sounds fair to me.

There is whole body of employment law that protects workers from discrimination, same thing with fair housing laws.

Point me in the direction of the private school admissions fairness statutes. You are not entitled to a transparent process based on your views of fairness.

Please go to public school, all are welcome there. If this is how you behaved during the admissions process of course your kid wasn’t accepted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do private colleges are now accountable and private schools not? Are they sacred cows?. What is the legal basis to treat two private entities differently? Is it ok to be race neutral in college admissions and not neutral in school admissions ?

Troll if you want but it will say a lot if you don’t provide a logical argument.

The legal basis is that they are private institutions. If they are not accepting any gov’t funds, so they are not bounded by the requirements often tied to those funds.

These schools have to comply with laws on student safety, discriminations, and most have to maintain certifications from independent bodies. However, they don’t have to comply with federal or state admissions disclosure requirements.

So if there two school candidates with exactly the same academic performance, private schools have the right to chose exclusively on their racial preferences?

If I am a business owner and have the same situation and hire a white person because I like whites, I thought that would be illegal even though I do not receive federal funds.

So I am not sure that private schools have carte Blanche to do whatever they want in admissions.

There is a big distance between making admissions data publicly available and having having carte blanche to do whatever they want. Schools have to follow anti-discrimination laws, as does my employer, but they don’t owe the public this type of detailed information.

You don’t have to disclose information of applicants but you could explain the reason for rejection. Is it done now ? Is there room for unfair decisions in this way ? Yes!

They do explain reasons for rejections but people just don’t want to accept them. Reasons for not accepting your child:

1) we have more qualified applicants than openings, we could not accept everyone

2) your child was not a good fit based on a number of criteria including test scores, grades, teacher’s recommendations, essays, student interviews, extracurriculars, and overall impression of you and your child during your interactions with us.

With hundreds, if not, thousands of applicants, they can’t give detailed specific feedback to every rejected kid. Most parents on here think their kids walk on water and their children clearly exceed all of the above criteria. So when the children aren’t accepted, the parents are in denial and want to find excuses for their children’s rejections.

What you are describing is maybe the application process in another planet not in private schools in dc.

In dc the vast majority of children are not rejected but waitlisted and they tell you that your kid is great but unforntunately there were not enough spots.

But it is never clear the true reason and specially it is never disclosed that race and money place a big role in admissions. I see no reason to make hide the criteria for admissions, unless you want to prioritize money and race over other considerations.

The reason these schools waitlist these kids instead of out right rejections is because the schools are being polite instead of just saying your kids didn’t make the cut.

That’s fine. What’s not so fine is that they are trying to hide the criteria for the selection proxess. If the selection is done in a fair way, then what is the problem with sharing the criteria? Why is there a need to hide it ?

You are not entitled to this information from a private school and they have chosen not to share it. If you don’t like the level of transparency in the admissions process for a given school you should not apply to that school. I really hope you don’t like my children’s’ school’s process because you sound impossible.

Sure. When your kids are fired from a job because of their race and their rental application is rejected you should tell them that they should look for another job and another apartment. That sounds fair to me.

There is whole body of employment law that protects workers from discrimination, same thing with fair housing laws.

Point me in the direction of the private school admissions fairness statutes. You are not entitled to a transparent process based on your views of fairness.

Please go to public school, all are welcome there. If this is how you behaved during the admissions process of course your kid wasn’t accepted.

Very logical argument.

What you are saying was also true for Harvard…. Until the Supreme Court said it was no legal.

The objective reality is that for many application process such as a job or rental there is legall requirement to have well defined criteria for the selection process to prevent discrimination. Why the schools are excempted from this ? It’s a mistery to me. Maybe that’s why the selection process they are so keen to accept family with lobbyists and lawyers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do private colleges are now accountable and private schools not? Are they sacred cows?. What is the legal basis to treat two private entities differently? Is it ok to be race neutral in college admissions and not neutral in school admissions ?

Troll if you want but it will say a lot if you don’t provide a logical argument.

The legal basis is that they are private institutions. If they are not accepting any gov’t funds, so they are not bounded by the requirements often tied to those funds.

These schools have to comply with laws on student safety, discriminations, and most have to maintain certifications from independent bodies. However, they don’t have to comply with federal or state admissions disclosure requirements.

So if there two school candidates with exactly the same academic performance, private schools have the right to chose exclusively on their racial preferences?

If I am a business owner and have the same situation and hire a white person because I like whites, I thought that would be illegal even though I do not receive federal funds.

So I am not sure that private schools have carte Blanche to do whatever they want in admissions.

There is a big distance between making admissions data publicly available and having having carte blanche to do whatever they want. Schools have to follow anti-discrimination laws, as does my employer, but they don’t owe the public this type of detailed information.

You don’t have to disclose information of applicants but you could explain the reason for rejection. Is it done now ? Is there room for unfair decisions in this way ? Yes!

They do explain reasons for rejections but people just don’t want to accept them. Reasons for not accepting your child:

1) we have more qualified applicants than openings, we could not accept everyone

2) your child was not a good fit based on a number of criteria including test scores, grades, teacher’s recommendations, essays, student interviews, extracurriculars, and overall impression of you and your child during your interactions with us.

With hundreds, if not, thousands of applicants, they can’t give detailed specific feedback to every rejected kid. Most parents on here think their kids walk on water and their children clearly exceed all of the above criteria. So when the children aren’t accepted, the parents are in denial and want to find excuses for their children’s rejections.

What you are describing is maybe the application process in another planet not in private schools in dc.

In dc the vast majority of children are not rejected but waitlisted and they tell you that your kid is great but unforntunately there were not enough spots.

But it is never clear the true reason and specially it is never disclosed that race and money place a big role in admissions. I see no reason to make hide the criteria for admissions, unless you want to prioritize money and race over other considerations.

The reason these schools waitlist these kids instead of out right rejections is because the schools are being polite instead of just saying your kids didn’t make the cut.

That’s fine. What’s not so fine is that they are trying to hide the criteria for the selection proxess. If the selection is done in a fair way, then what is the problem with sharing the criteria? Why is there a need to hide it ?

You are not entitled to this information from a private school and they have chosen not to share it. If you don’t like the level of transparency in the admissions process for a given school you should not apply to that school. I really hope you don’t like my children’s’ school’s process because you sound impossible.

Sure. When your kids are fired from a job because of their race and their rental application is rejected you should tell them that they should look for another job and another apartment. That sounds fair to me.

There is whole body of employment law that protects workers from discrimination, same thing with fair housing laws.

Point me in the direction of the private school admissions fairness statutes. You are not entitled to a transparent process based on your views of fairness.

Please go to public school, all are welcome there. If this is how you behaved during the admissions process of course your kid wasn’t accepted.

Some that says this : “ Please go to public school, all are welcome there. If this is how you behaved during the admissions process of course your kid wasn’t accepted.”


Has the following issues :

Lack of Empathy – The statement implies an inability to understand or empathize with others' struggles, suggesting empathic deficits or a lack of compassion for the challenges some parents or children face during the admissions process.

Defensive Narcissism – The comment could reflect a need to defend one's own choices or privileges. In such a case, the speaker may feel threatened by those who don’t conform to their worldview, and this results in disparaging remarks about others to protect their self-image.

[Anonymous]

OP, How do you propose to police these qualitative and subjective assessments? When you apply, should the AO bluntly tell you they didn’t admit your kid because you seem like an overbearing jerk? Or that kid seems a bit whiney while playing with blocks? Or that the other kid in the room just seems more articulate than yours? Then will you still cry racism anyway because you think your kid was smarter and better in every way?

TBH the process of admitting kids seems a bit like a beauty pageant in that it seems totally subjective. But I still like holistic admissions schools better than admissions “by the numbers” like in your vision.

[Anonymous]

PP back to add, I’m sure your vision would appeal to some parents and kids and by all means you should found a school or find an existing school that does admissions strictly by the numbers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, How do you propose to police these qualitative and subjective assessments? When you apply, should the AO bluntly tell you they didn’t admit your kid because you seem like an overbearing jerk? Or that kid seems a bit whiney while playing with blocks? Or that the other kid in the room just seems more articulate than yours? Then will you still cry racism anyway because you think your kid was smarter and better in every way?

TBH the process of admitting kids seems a bit like a beauty pageant in that it seems totally subjective. But I still like holistic admissions schools better than admissions “by the numbers” like in your vision.

Darling, I never said “by the numbers” but spell out clearly if a kid is admitted because the school likes the skin color.
Used to be legal in Harvard, not anymore. Still is legal in schools. Not sure for how long.

I looks like You’re one of the lobotomized parents in this thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP back to add, I’m sure your vision would appeal to some parents and kids and by all means you should found a school or find an existing school that does admissions strictly by the numbers.

The problem when you experience a lobotomy ☝️

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think you understand holistic admissions and its benefits for building a balanced community. I think want a school where people get admitted off of only strict quantitative instead of qualitative measures. That’s fine. You’re free to start a school for find one that suits your preferences. To demand private schools do x,y,z kind of reminds me of the communist style school system my family purposely moved to get away from.

Then government should abolish the equal opportunity housing laws. If a tenant is rejected because the landlord doesn’t like the way she dresses, then it’s ok to reject the application. It’s ok if you don’t like tge law but is the law for many economic transactions like housing and job applications. What you are unable to explain is why schools are different. There is such a thing as consumer rights in capitalist countries for your information.

Ok, let me get this straight. You want to apply the exact same requirements as the housing laws across all transactions? First, yes, I think housing is a fundamental need, and that your access to housing, if you can pay for it, should not depend on how you dress or whether you are funny, charming, witty, etc. But you want to apply this across all transactions in society? So that includes, for example, if I want to walk into a fancy restaurant wearing a bikini and sandals, the owner has no right to deny me service? Or if I show up to prep school wearing a clown costume instead of my uniform, the principal has no right to expel me? I agree with consumer rights, but this country also reserves freedoms for providers of services as well. There is in fact, a difference between equal access to housing vs. equal access to every single service you want.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think you understand holistic admissions and its benefits for building a balanced community. I think want a school where people get admitted off of only strict quantitative instead of qualitative measures. That’s fine. You’re free to start a school for find one that suits your preferences. To demand private schools do x,y,z kind of reminds me of the communist style school system my family purposely moved to get away from.

Then government should abolish the equal opportunity housing laws. If a tenant is rejected because the landlord doesn’t like the way she dresses, then it’s ok to reject the application. It’s ok if you don’t like tge law but is the law for many economic transactions like housing and job applications. What you are unable to explain is why schools are different. There is such a thing as consumer rights in capitalist countries for your information.

Ok, let me get this straight. You want to apply the exact same requirements as the housing laws across all transactions? First, yes, I think housing is a fundamental need, and that your access to housing, if you can pay for it, should not depend on how you dress or whether you are funny, charming, witty, etc. But you want to apply this across all transactions in society? So that includes, for example, if I want to walk into a fancy restaurant wearing a bikini and sandals, the owner has no right to deny me service? Or if I show up to prep school wearing a clown costume instead of my uniform, the principal has no right to expel me? I agree with consumer rights, but this country also reserves freedoms for providers of services as well. There is in fact, a difference between equal access to housing vs. equal access to every single service you want.

Not really, just that schools follow the same guidelines as colleges to prevent the selection process based on the racial preferences of the admission committee. What so hard to understand ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, How do you propose to police these qualitative and subjective assessments? When you apply, should the AO bluntly tell you they didn’t admit your kid because you seem like an overbearing jerk? Or that kid seems a bit whiney while playing with blocks? Or that the other kid in the room just seems more articulate than yours? Then will you still cry racism anyway because you think your kid was smarter and better in every way?

TBH the process of admitting kids seems a bit like a beauty pageant in that it seems totally subjective. But I still like holistic admissions schools better than admissions “by the numbers” like in your vision.

Darling, I never said “by the numbers” but spell out clearly if a kid is admitted because the school likes the skin color.
Used to be legal in Harvard, not anymore. Still is legal in schools. Not sure for how long.

I looks like You’re one of the lobotomized parents in this thread.

How sad that you can't engage in civilized discourse without insulting others. Personally, if I were an AO, that is why I would reject your application.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think you understand holistic admissions and its benefits for building a balanced community. I think want a school where people get admitted off of only strict quantitative instead of qualitative measures. That’s fine. You’re free to start a school for find one that suits your preferences. To demand private schools do x,y,z kind of reminds me of the communist style school system my family purposely moved to get away from.

Then government should abolish the equal opportunity housing laws. If a tenant is rejected because the landlord doesn’t like the way she dresses, then it’s ok to reject the application. It’s ok if you don’t like tge law but is the law for many economic transactions like housing and job applications. What you are unable to explain is why schools are different. There is such a thing as consumer rights in capitalist countries for your information.

Ok, let me get this straight. You want to apply the exact same requirements as the housing laws across all transactions? First, yes, I think housing is a fundamental need, and that your access to housing, if you can pay for it, should not depend on how you dress or whether you are funny, charming, witty, etc. But you want to apply this across all transactions in society? So that includes, for example, if I want to walk into a fancy restaurant wearing a bikini and sandals, the owner has no right to deny me service? Or if I show up to prep school wearing a clown costume instead of my uniform, the principal has no right to expel me? I agree with consumer rights, but this country also reserves freedoms for providers of services as well. There is in fact, a difference between equal access to housing vs. equal access to every single service you want.

Also your example of the bikini in the restaurant is super stupid. There is a dress code in many restaurants and they reserve the right to enforce it. The beauty of that is that “the criteria is spelled out clearly” I wish the same apply for schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, How do you propose to police these qualitative and subjective assessments? When you apply, should the AO bluntly tell you they didn’t admit your kid because you seem like an overbearing jerk? Or that kid seems a bit whiney while playing with blocks? Or that the other kid in the room just seems more articulate than yours? Then will you still cry racism anyway because you think your kid was smarter and better in every way?

TBH the process of admitting kids seems a bit like a beauty pageant in that it seems totally subjective. But I still like holistic admissions schools better than admissions “by the numbers” like in your vision.

Darling, I never said “by the numbers” but spell out clearly if a kid is admitted because the school likes the skin color.
Used to be legal in Harvard, not anymore. Still is legal in schools. Not sure for how long.

I looks like You’re one of the lobotomized parents in this thread.

How sad that you can't engage in civilized discourse without insulting others. Personally, if I were an AO, that is why I would reject your application.

Agree. It is not very clever to say : “Then will you still cry racism anyway because you think your kid was smarter and better in every way?”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, How do you propose to police these qualitative and subjective assessments? When you apply, should the AO bluntly tell you they didn’t admit your kid because you seem like an overbearing jerk? Or that kid seems a bit whiney while playing with blocks? Or that the other kid in the room just seems more articulate than yours? Then will you still cry racism anyway because you think your kid was smarter and better in every way?

TBH the process of admitting kids seems a bit like a beauty pageant in that it seems totally subjective. But I still like holistic admissions schools better than admissions “by the numbers” like in your vision.

Darling, I never said “by the numbers” but spell out clearly if a kid is admitted because the school likes the skin color.
Used to be legal in Harvard, not anymore. Still is legal in schools. Not sure for how long.

I looks like You’re one of the lobotomized parents in this thread.

How sad that you can't engage in civilized discourse without insulting others. Personally, if I were an AO, that is why I would reject your application.

Elitist parent that want DEI only for the upper income class ☝️

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, How do you propose to police these qualitative and subjective assessments? When you apply, should the AO bluntly tell you they didn’t admit your kid because you seem like an overbearing jerk? Or that kid seems a bit whiney while playing with blocks? Or that the other kid in the room just seems more articulate than yours? Then will you still cry racism anyway because you think your kid was smarter and better in every way?

TBH the process of admitting kids seems a bit like a beauty pageant in that it seems totally subjective. But I still like holistic admissions schools better than admissions “by the numbers” like in your vision.

Darling, I never said “by the numbers” but spell out clearly if a kid is admitted because the school likes the skin color.
Used to be legal in Harvard, not anymore. Still is legal in schools. Not sure for how long.

I looks like You’re one of the lobotomized parents in this thread.

How sad that you can't engage in civilized discourse without insulting others. Personally, if I were an AO, that is why I would reject your application.

Elitist parent that want DEI only for the upper income class ☝️

Yeah, no wrong on all accounts here.