How would you place top schools on a scale of most liberal to most conservative?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS is in upper school, not going to name the grade. I resent being called a douchebag, and I feel I am raising honest concerns not hurling insults. This is my son's real experience. I'm glad it is not everyone's. Fwiw, it does open the door to some very robust family conversation. What one person said about a group of vocal Trump-supporting boys does ring true to me...there is a group of alpha boys in my son's grade that is quite vocal, and I think the boys who don't hold those views tend to keep quiet rather than challenge them. It is not the Trump-supporting that I object to...it is the name-calling, lack of respect and intolerance.

What you may not realize is the micro aggressions against conservative kids/families. Even a poster describes teachers as tolerant and progressive. Why not just tolerant? The problem is that liberals tend to think any opinion different is racist or anti feminist and that is just not true. I see way more loons in the left promoting hate against conservatives. Tolerant should be plain tolerant.

Racism and misogyny are not reversible. You can be mad at an inappropriate insult and it can be wrong that it was said but it isn't the same thing when it doesn't come with the weight of a history of oppression. That's what makes a "micro-aggression" an issue, it's the cumulative effect and the river that feeds it. A petty insult or some shade against someone for being conservative is just a petty insult or shade.

Tolerance doesn't mean blind acceptance of any view point. You can have a respectful argument about whether a particular policy position is rooted in racism or misogyny but you can't complain that there was an argument.

I went to GDS and there were some very conservative kids there and they did fine, perhaps largely due to a culture of rhetorical engagement. I understand 2017 is a different kettle of fish.

Just because you believe this, doesn't mean that everyone else does. For many of us, racism means discriminating on the basis of race, period. Sexism on the basis of sex. And trust us, NCS girls know how to give it as good as they get.

Right, you can reverse racial bias, it happens all the time. But it's not equivalent, and I wouldn't call it "racism." I don't know what NCS girls might say to an STA boy, and I'm sure it would be wrong, but the reinforcement from society - the fuel for the fire - it is not the same as it is when a boy or a boss says something misogynistic to a woman. You may not think it is, but the right wing rallying cry of "color blindness" and reverse racism is pernicious because it denies the existence of the oppression. The unspoken ending of "black lives matter" is "also" and the unspoken ending of retorting with "all lives matter" is "already." It's denying the problem and invalidating the people bringing it up.

That's not to say there isn't a shared goal of racial equality where the force of those micro-aggressions fades and a person of color might experience them more in the way you experience an insult for being conservative, I think there is and I think it's worth struggling toward. But today, right now, they're not the same. And saying they are is just another form of attack.

[Anonymous]

What’s the end game again? Noble cause or noble revenge?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This anonomous thread has seriously derailed.

Not really. Op asked about in classroom political leanings and also later asked about parent political leanings of communities. That seems to be what is being discussed. She wants to know if her child will feel comfortable at certain schools. Sorry if you don’t like the content. You can pass on reading it.

I think we liberals are enjoying this trump bashing and poseur kids at supposed schools train ride!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS is in upper school, not going to name the grade. I resent being called a douchebag, and I feel I am raising honest concerns not hurling insults. This is my son's real experience. I'm glad it is not everyone's. Fwiw, it does open the door to some very robust family conversation. What one person said about a group of vocal Trump-supporting boys does ring true to me...there is a group of alpha boys in my son's grade that is quite vocal, and I think the boys who don't hold those views tend to keep quiet rather than challenge them. It is not the Trump-supporting that I object to...it is the name-calling, lack of respect and intolerance.

I can assure everyone that Trump supporters are called a lot more names than anyone else.

That's because they deserve it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS is in upper school, not going to name the grade. I resent being called a douchebag, and I feel I am raising honest concerns not hurling insults. This is my son's real experience. I'm glad it is not everyone's. Fwiw, it does open the door to some very robust family conversation. What one person said about a group of vocal Trump-supporting boys does ring true to me...there is a group of alpha boys in my son's grade that is quite vocal, and I think the boys who don't hold those views tend to keep quiet rather than challenge them. It is not the Trump-supporting that I object to...it is the name-calling, lack of respect and intolerance.

I can assure everyone that Trump supporters are called a lot more names than anyone else.

That's because they deserve it.

No problem.

We hate you too.

[Anonymous]

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]What a sad and nasty question to even ask! Must every single thing in life be politicized? It is this kind of thinking that has resulted in where the country now is. Sad![/quote]

Yes it is. We moved our dc from a liberal left leaning school because we could t take it anymore. Just teach my dc math and science and keep your political crap to yourselves. [/quote]

[b]What you call politics, some people call just being a decent person. [/b] I recently had someone tell me that discussing food insecurity was political. Like talking about the fact that there are people in the world who don't know where their next meal will come from is political. WTH?[/quote]

Don't you see the problem with your statement? You are so self-righteous in your position that you believe that anyone who disagrees with you is an indecent person. Just to use your example -- a discussion about food insecurity could easily become a political discussion. Politics would likely seep into discussions of why food insecurity exists and what sort of policies should be enacted to address it. Reasonable, DECENT people can differ on both of those issues.

If most of the teachers and/or students at a school shared your belief that there is only one [i]decent[/i] or acceptable position on a myriad of issues, I would have a real problem with the school -- even if I happened to agree with that view on any particular issue.[/quote]

You weren't there. It was just an acknowledgement of the fact that there are people who don't know where their next meal will come from and shouldn't we be thankful for what we have. Period. Not a "and you should give your money away to help them" not "and you should feel bad for what you have" not and "and can you believe our country hasn't effectively addressed it's poverty issue" ... just be thankful that you know where your next meal comes from because there are other children in the country and world who don't.

Not self-righteous. Not brainwashing. Not politicizing the fact that there are children in the country and world who don't know where their next meal will come from, just acknowledging said fact and thinking we should be grateful to not have that concern.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS is in upper school, not going to name the grade. I resent being called a douchebag, and I feel I am raising honest concerns not hurling insults. This is my son's real experience. I'm glad it is not everyone's. Fwiw, it does open the door to some very robust family conversation. What one person said about a group of vocal Trump-supporting boys does ring true to me...there is a group of alpha boys in my son's grade that is quite vocal, and I think the boys who don't hold those views tend to keep quiet rather than challenge them. It is not the Trump-supporting that I object to...it is the name-calling, lack of respect and intolerance.

I can assure everyone that Trump supporters are called a lot more names than anyone else.

That's because they deserve it.

No problem.

We hate you too.

Maybe OP didn’t mean for her question to go down this path (although starting a chain about schools’ political leanings is bound to stir emotion). Nonetheless, THIS is why his/her question matters. I don’t want my child going to a school where DC is HATED because his parents didn’t vote for Trump (we did not, and I wouldn’t love to be part of a school community where we were hated either, but at least we’re adults). Conversely, I don’t want my DC HATING another child because his parents voted for Trump. Indeed, there is a lovely family with whom my DS attends school now whose parents voted for Trump. They are wonderful playmates, and while we will never agree politically—by a long shot—we are on very friendly terms with this family, and our private school would find it troubling were things otherwise.

To be clear: There is no denying that the Trump administration has normalized, even celebrated, ad hominem attacks, name-calling, shaming, racially insensitive remarks, sexist comments, and on and on and on. From what I’ve seen all year long, one of the saddest things is that this crass and disrespectful way of “communicating” has trickled down to the schools, and sadly, it’s trickled down on BOTH sides. It is not false that being the child of a Trump voter can get you teased too, and I don’t support that either; these are kids who didn’t vote, and even with adults, perhaps we’d all benefit from remembering that discretion is often the better part of valor.

What I think is so important here is this: PP says he/she HATES us (liberals/non-trump voters). That is horrifying. It is particularly horrifying when you think about what his/her children are hearing at home and what those children bring with them to school. I wish I believed PP was a troll, but somehow I doubt it.

The part of OP’s question that goes to the political leanings of the families is thus on the right track, but liberal and conservative are just proxies—and quite imperfect ones—for kindness and respect. Given today’s rancorous political environment, I’d want to know the answer to a slightly more pointed question: “Which schools attract families who are so entrenched in their political beliefs that they teach their children to HATE others with different views?” I don’t know if that can be answered here or elsewhere in any rigorous or meaningful way. But that’s the question I’d really want the answer to.

[Anonymous]

Ok, NOW this discussion has gone off the rails.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS is in upper school, not going to name the grade. I resent being called a douchebag, and I feel I am raising honest concerns not hurling insults. This is my son's real experience. I'm glad it is not everyone's. Fwiw, it does open the door to some very robust family conversation. What one person said about a group of vocal Trump-supporting boys does ring true to me...there is a group of alpha boys in my son's grade that is quite vocal, and I think the boys who don't hold those views tend to keep quiet rather than challenge them. It is not the Trump-supporting that I object to...it is the name-calling, lack of respect and intolerance.

I can assure everyone that Trump supporters are called a lot more names than anyone else.

That's because they deserve it.

Yeah! Go DCUM liberals!! show us what u got!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ok, NOW this discussion has gone off the rails.

Happily, the post your referenced has been removed.

[Anonymous]

Trump isn't a republican or conservative. His supporters have been fooled.

[Anonymous]

Save us from your societal damnation spewing from your Chevy Chase home.

You send your child to a school that costs more than a family considered middle class earns. Please don’t lecture us on the “liberal” greater good of society. If you really, really believed that, your DC wouldn’t be at a private school. Period.

Don’t jump into the we’re FA families, you wouldn’t be reading DCUM forums, you’d be trying to make ends meat and working your tails off. Oh that’s right, your liberal beliefs allow you to collect off society and criticize without working for it so you have time to post.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't often hear microaggression used in this context...and I agree with you, to a point. My son has introduced me to the term misandrist, and I hear the complaint that white boys feel they are always on the wrong end of a put-down. That said, teenage boys are immature and take a fair point too far...putting down and insulting the ones they perceive to be against them in a way that goes way beyond microaggression.

I really would love to see some open, well-moderated discussion on this. Both liberals and conservatives are well represented at STA--it would be an opportunity for the kind of discussion that needs to happen everywhere in our country.

(Also, for the record. The post I was responding to at 11:00 has disappeared. It basically said that the kind of talk I was describing is not tolerated at STA.)

Re: your second paragraph: Yes, yes, and more yes! One question I have is whether a politically "balanced" school--as some suggest STA is--doesn't present a great opportunity for this sort of dialogue. The tough part is that one has to rely greatly on teenagers to conduct it, but kids are more capable than we think.

To respond more broadly to OP's question, a few observations about some schools that haven't gotten mentioned recently: GDS is, in our experience, the most outwardly liberal. By outwardly, I mean that it is not just a feature, it's a mission. More than that, it is liberal in a particular way, in that there are certain "acceptable" ways to talk about difficult topics such as racial justice, and there are "unacceptable" ways to talk about them--even among what one might call "liberal" ways of discussing them. As liberal parents, both we and other (liberal) parents we know found it a little ideologically non-diverse, and not necessarily in a good way (for us; others of course may feel differently). Both Sidwell and Maret are less outwardly liberal, but both tend to reflect the demographics of DC, which are heavily democratic. Query whether this changes somewhat now that there is a Republican administration; after all, to some degree, this is a company town, and parents tend to want to send their kids to the best schools. We neither have kids nor know enough people at the Virginia and Maryland schools for me to offer empirically supportable views.

To us, STA is a bit of a puzzle. Beauvoir, which is the feeder to STA, is a warm, nurturing, respectful, loving place with a delightful community of kids and parents. While STA is not entirely populated by Beauvoir kids, one would think the same sort of community would remain. For some of our friends, that's been their experience, their kids are happy, and their boys are total gentlemen. Talk to the girls at NCS and other schools, though? We hear stories of terrible misogyny and sexist comments by some of the boys. We've never asked whether the boys they referred to were Republicans or Democrats--it hardly seemed appropriate, and as recent events have demonstrated, sexism is not a partisan issue. I do agree with the prior poster, however, who said that racial and social justice are approached differently by different political parties, so I don't think the issue is entirely apolitical. Just not sure which way it cuts in this case.

We are moderates and like a mix of families. Beauvoir is great but is different in that it has more liberal families. Each year we have been at STA, most of the new families admitted in the lower school have been republican and my son is friends with many of them. However, a few pro trump supporters have also been admitted in recent years and got a few other current boys to join in their group and their written and verbal actions towards their classmates and others are neither kind, tolerant, or respectful. Not all trump supporters in the grade behave this way but there is a large enough group of them now that they are intimidating to anyone that speaks up to them.

The problem is that the schools like the country is divided almost 50/50 and most people think that nobody supports or likes Trump.....

[Anonymous]

OP conflated traditional and progressive teaching approaches with conservative /liberal political leanings. A mistake many make. A progressive teaching method can simply mean flexible seating. The thread was derailed from the get go. OP should start a new and clear thread.

[Anonymous]

Op wanted to know the tone and political culture of the school- students, teachers (most important) and admin. Don’t kid yourself that s/he wasn’t asking about traditional very progressive or play based teaching methods.

The former is important since many of us want our children to have a broad education in terms of classes and ideas, and not be brainwashed or told opinions every day/week about politicians and social policy.