Georgetown Prep vs. Sidwell

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The term Catholic Mafia is not pejorative. It simply describes this close-knit, fairly homogeneous sub-culture here in the DMV.

You and Dan Snyder would get along fine.

A huge majority of the US population and of native Americans themselves agree with Dan Snyder. It's the hyper-sensitive and hopelessy politically correct that are trying to expunge any term that they think might offend anyone from the lexicon.

My issue is not that it might offend. Go right ahead and use it if you want. Just know that it is not in anyway a neutral phrase, and you look you're foolish to imply it simply refers to a tight knit fairly homogeneous community as you are a previous poster stated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am not from this area, but have always privately thought what the deal is with all the stickers. In some ways it is kind of cool to see such spirit that isn't the case in other areas. My other thought is, unless you live in DC some of the top public school counties in the country include Fairfax and Many towns in Montgomery Co. It does strike me as odd that some families go so hard after private schools considering that. If I lived in DC I'd get it completely, but Potmac or McLean? Seems odd to me.

Interesting.

You say you are not from this area. And all this attention and commitment to these private schools seems odd to you. After all, you reason, there are perfectly good public schools available.

It seems odd to you because you don't understand who lives in DC (various groups, sub-cultures, etc), the history or how these schools are different from the public schools and from one another. Absent all that knowledge and understanding, its no surprise that spending a bunch of money on these private schools seems odd to you.

Not the person you are responding to, but please enlighten us as to how long you've lived in this area and how you've gained your knowledge of this area and all the various groups and sub-clutures. You purport to be an expert of everything in this area. How is that?

I'm a third generation Washingtonian. But I have lived for a few years in some other eastern cities like Philadelphia and NYC, where I came to understand just how different and unique DC is. I've always been interested in the structure of the schools and who sends their kids where.

Public school populations are determined by the character of the sending districts than surround the school. It's pretty easy to contrast Whitman with Springbrook, for example.

And if you've been around as long as I have, it's no secret which groups send their kids to which private schools. All you have to know is the cast of characters. Now if everyone is the same to you --- you can't see any differences --- then I could see how you might be confused. Like the Original poster in this thread.

So what you're saying is: 1) you don't have kids in these schools now, and maybe never did; 2) you are probably not Catholic yourself but believe you're an expert on what you see as a monolithic DC Catholic community; and 3) you've "been around so long" you are probably out of touch with the way things are now, but you don't have a problem passing off speculation and generalities as true insider knowledge.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I brought it up as odd above. I am from NY and there are only two ways to go, get out of the city or go private if you can afford to. I didn't mean it as an insult, but I do get the religious angles locally here to an extent. But how far it seems to go is pretty incredible. It seems like DC people are a lot less transient than people from other metropolitan areas. I didn't see myself as living in NY as a given most of my adult life after growing up there. We lived in Chicago and more of the same. A lot of people multi generation, but many kids grow up and just leave.

There are a lot of transients here too, of course. And there are a lot of kids that grow up here and leave.

But there are also some groups that have been here for a long time and whose kids return after college and live here. And that's quite common in the large Irish Catholic group that lives in NW DC and Montgomery County. In fact, one of the big differences between the NYC and Philly Catholic populations and DC's is comparatively how few Italians there are here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There seem to be a lot of professed "Quakers" whose surnames end in -stein and -berg when applications for Sidwell admissions roll in!

Anonymous wrote:I'm sure most in DC have heard the description, "Sidwell is where Protestants teach Jews how to be good Quakers".

These are perfect examples of the kind of casual, juvenile anti-Semitism you might expect from the boys at Georgetown Prep. Social progress for them is not throwing snowballs at maids riding the bus through Bethesda and Chevy Chase like they did in Pat Buchanan's teenage days.

[Anonymous]

I love how the most insular, close minded and bigoted group in this area is the one that shrieks about prejudice against its sacred catholic schools.

[Anonymous]

Come to think of it, as a New Yorker it did astound me at first there were so few Italian American Catholics in the DC area. There's a big difference between the blunt and and literal NY Italian Catholic community and the undertones here. I've only lived here a year and seem to have picked up very little of it. In New York if you are friendly, don't say anything bad about the Yankees and buy a few rounds of beers, you're in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am not from this area, but have always privately thought what the deal is with all the stickers. In some ways it is kind of cool to see such spirit that isn't the case in other areas. My other thought is, unless you live in DC some of the top public school counties in the country include Fairfax and Many towns in Montgomery Co. It does strike me as odd that some families go so hard after private schools considering that. If I lived in DC I'd get it completely, but Potmac or McLean? Seems odd to me.

Interesting.

You say you are not from this area. And all this attention and commitment to these private schools seems odd to you. After all, you reason, there are perfectly good public schools available.

It seems odd to you because you don't understand who lives in DC (various groups, sub-cultures, etc), the history or how these schools are different from the public schools and from one another. Absent all that knowledge and understanding, its no surprise that spending a bunch of money on these private schools seems odd to you.

Not the person you are responding to, but please enlighten us as to how long you've lived in this area and how you've gained your knowledge of this area and all the various groups and sub-clutures. You purport to be an expert of everything in this area. How is that?

I'm a third generation Washingtonian. But I have lived for a few years in some other eastern cities like Philadelphia and NYC, where I came to understand just how different and unique DC is. I've always been interested in the structure of the schools and who sends their kids where.

Public school populations are determined by the character of the sending districts than surround the school. It's pretty easy to contrast Whitman with Springbrook, for example.

And if you've been around as long as I have, it's no secret which groups send their kids to which private schools. All you have to know is the cast of characters. Now if everyone is the same to you --- you can't see any differences --- then I could see how you might be confused. Like the Original poster in this thread.

So what you're saying is: 1) you don't have kids in these schools now, and maybe never did; 2) you are probably not Catholic yourself but believe you're an expert on what you see as a monolithic DC Catholic community; and 3) you've "been around so long" you are probably out of touch with the way things are now, but you don't have a problem passing off speculation and generalities as true insider knowledge.

\
Pretty much as expected you trying to understand my background was so that you could attempt to disqualify any opinion but your own. A cheap trick that won't work with me.

1. Wrong
2. Wrong
3. Wrong

Part of my knowledge base comes from out neighborhood of a couple of hundred homes. It's one that sends about half it's teens to the local highly-regarded MoCo public school and half to private schools. The Catholics who send their kids to private schools --- and that's the strong majority of them ---choose Prep or Gonzaga and sometimes the Heights or St. John's. I know who they are either through the Church or through the neighborhood. The Protestants and Jews who send their kids to private schools seem to prefer Landon or Bullis. I know that because I know the families, whether or not they are locals, where they work, etc. and I can easily do a count of the brown or blue jackets in the neighborhood.

Of course, when my own sons were at one of these schools, I knew pretty much the whole class and where they were from. So I think I have a pretty good handle on which population these schools serve. I have also been questioned many times by parents trying to understand the differences between these schools based on my families close association with one of them.

Seems your knowledge is based on this year's situation. Pretty thin basis if you ask me.

[Anonymous]

I'm the person who guessed about your "qualifications" here but I'm certainly not the only one trying to discredit you. My whole point is that many of us are tired of YOU trying to dismiss the opinions of anyone with a slightly more current and varying view of the Catholic schools. I've lived in DC for 20+ years myself and also have a large network of family & friends with kids in these schools NOW and recently. My knowledge and others' insights are based on multiple kids in multiple schools over multiple years, and certainly not by "counting jacket colors" in the neighborhood or remembering the way things used to be. If you really have a close association with one of these schools you are doing an awful job representing it . . . and you're making the rest of us look terrible. But perhaps that's your true agenda.

[Anonymous]

Yikes. This New Yorker is pretty stunned. DC does have a stigma of an insular place caught on itself, but the more times I encounter that mentality I just get closer to convinced that these stereotypes are fair. I now wonder if national politics seems caught in an increasingly conservative spiral because elected politicians spend too much of the year here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love how the most insular, close minded and bigoted group in this area is the one that shrieks about prejudice against its sacred catholic schools.

Do you find no irony in your post? I am one of the previous posters noting that the Catholic "mafia" is a pejorative term. My kids go to Sidwell. It doesn't require a Catholic school education to conclude it is offensive to liken a group to the mafia. I just don't get what is possibly debatable about that point. It would seem like referring to a group as the episcopal KKK, the German Nazis, or the middle eastern ISIS, quite casually, and stating it was only indicate they cohesive group with closely held beliefs, you know, no negative implication at all. Hard to believe this notion is that controversial.

[Anonymous]

I didnt use the term catholic mafia but stand by my post.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love how the most insular, close minded and bigoted group in this area is the one that shrieks about prejudice against its sacred catholic schools.

Do you find no irony in your post? I am one of the previous posters noting that the Catholic "mafia" is a pejorative term. My kids go to Sidwell. It doesn't require a Catholic school education to conclude it is offensive to liken a group to the mafia. I just don't get what is possibly debatable about that point. It would seem like referring to a group as the episcopal KKK, the German Nazis, or the middle eastern ISIS, quite casually, and stating it was only indicate they cohesive group with closely held beliefs, you know, no negative implication at all. Hard to believe this notion is that controversial.

Totally agree with getting rid of the "Catholic mafia" term. I'm so tired of seeing it on DCUM and everyone just breezing over it like it's no big deal. It doesn't matter if a Catholic person is the one using it and seems to find it endearing. It's offensive.

[Anonymous]

+1. Those who say that Catholics don't care about college. The whole idea that if u compare Prep to Sidwell u don't know the lay of the land silly. I have had kids in both schools. Both have very positive attributes: strenuous academics is not the only aspect of a school. I get the feeling on DCUM that DC Protestants are both resentful
And jealous of the Carholic communities in our area because the feel a lack of community since many are only interested in Ivy League educations and high paying jobs. Not that either are bad but they donor determine happiness by themselves

[Anonymous]

yeah thats it. we are all jealous of the catholic community. keep telling yourself that.

[Anonymous]

Have you ever been to a WCAC sporting event? Or a Club Blue lacrosse game? Or CYO basketball game?

If so, you don't need to know why that group is refereed to as the Catholic Mafia. It is a fairly homogeneous group that acts consistently at cetain events.