Will Negative Press Impact Applications/Admissions?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It may give a certain group of people pause, but the core constituencies won't be affected.

Yeah. There is a large segment of the population that will think, "This school produced two current Supreme Court Justices."

I will say, as the parent of a pre-teen girl, we have been having many, many conversations about the behavior of boys she may come across - not just from Prep, or Landon (though they do provide useful examples) but from any school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here: I'm not muck raking. I'm sincerely wondering if it might be easier to be accepted at these schools this year and wondering if Landon had fewer applications after its bad press years ago. I'm sure there is a core constituent base and that Landon rebounded. But, was there a dip? If considering Holton or Prep or St. Albans, might my DD and/or DS have an easier chance applying this year? DD is also looking at Catholic girls schools.

Why would you put Holton in that group? I don't particularly like Holton, but one of its students being assaulted 35 years ago does not seem to have anything to do with the school overall. It's not like they created a culture that encouraged being assaulted then and for sure don't now.

Come on now. You know the word allegedly belongs there. And if BK did do the things that he is accused of, I’m sure it’s not Georgetown Prep’s fault for creating that culture. Most of you were toddlers in the early 80’s. It was a very permissive time. My high school even had a smoking area. The 70’s/early 80’s were an overall permissive time period.

Yes, I forgot about that! I graduated in '77 and I remember smoking in the courtyard with half the school. I even used to go to school after smoking pot. The teachers knew.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the kind of parents who know the value of having a close knit alumni network that looks out for one another - as demonstrated in today's article on Kavanaugh in WaPo know that value of sending their children to these kinds of institutions and know the value of being associated with institutions that will groom and look after their own. They know they are the elite and intend to stay that way as long as possible.

You people really place way too much into this “alumni network”. These are his high school friends who are defending him. They would do the same thing if they all went to public school.

Based on my experience in public school, then and now, it's every person for themselves. You went there because you lived within its boundaries.

When our own boys went to one of the two local Jesuit high schools, I was surprised by how they all seemed to stick together including the alumni. It was different from the shark-tank of cliques I experienced at one of the top US public high schools in a NJ town.

+100 People who are not immersed in it do not know the strong bond these boys maintain for years later. It is awesome.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The actions of one or a few individuals at a local school in the news recently occurred 35-40 years ago. Does any reasonable person really think that those behaviors are still prevalent?

I have no connection to the school except we've been there a few times for children's practices or games. I would have no qualms considering the school for our sons if they were applying to high school and if we lived in the general area.

I think OP is muck raking. Isn't there enough intolerance and nastiness in the world already, OP? Do you really need to dive in, too?

It’s quite hard to believe that people would allow a school’s culture from almost 40 years ago to affect how they think about it now. But yes, people really are that irrational.

So tell us: What year did the school's culture change?

Are you really trying to imply that the culture hasn’t changed in 40 years? I would assume that Georgetown Prep’s culture started to change at around the same time as the overall party culture started diminishing which would be around the late 80’s. And yes, I realize partying still went on it just wasn’t as hedonistic.

I went to school in the 90s, and I have to say, I never associated the 1980s with "party culture." It seemed like a decade for squares.

[Anonymous]

Maybe we should all stop thinking so much about protecting our reputations and be brave and focus on the truth. Every institution that has had horrific scandals latelt from the Catholic Church to Penn State has been more interested in their reputations than in protecting real people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The actions of one or a few individuals at a local school in the news recently occurred 35-40 years ago. Does any reasonable person really think that those behaviors are still prevalent?

I have no connection to the school except we've been there a few times for children's practices or games. I would have no qualms considering the school for our sons if they were applying to high school and if we lived in the general area.

I think OP is muck raking. Isn't there enough intolerance and nastiness in the world already, OP? Do you really need to dive in, too?

It’s quite hard to believe that people would allow a school’s culture from almost 40 years ago to affect how they think about it now. But yes, people really are that irrational.

So tell us: What year did the school's culture change?

Are you really trying to imply that the culture hasn’t changed in 40 years? I would assume that Georgetown Prep’s culture started to change at around the same time as the overall party culture started diminishing which would be around the late 80’s. And yes, I realize partying still went on it just wasn’t as hedonistic.

I went to school in the 90s, and I have to say, I never associated the 1980s with "party culture." It seemed like a decade for squares.

Have you never seen Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Porky's, Sixteen Candles? These were rather representative of high school life at that time.

[Anonymous]

Do the same people who think Georgetown Prep will take a hit also think Holton Arms will? Their yearbooks from that era were in some ways worse. There are pictures in the yearbooks of girls at parties with beer bottles. They talk about how much they partied and make references to passing out. There's a whole section titled "Why the parents were out" that discuss their alcohol infused parties including someone throwing up all over someone's parents' Persian rug. Why do those of you who judge Georgetown Prep, not judge Holton Arms for allowing the same type of sentiments to be expressed?

[Anonymous]

What references are there to boys in the Holton year ooks back in the day? Any “clubs” to speak of?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The actions of one or a few individuals at a local school in the news recently occurred 35-40 years ago. Does any reasonable person really think that those behaviors are still prevalent?

I have no connection to the school except we've been there a few times for children's practices or games. I would have no qualms considering the school for our sons if they were applying to high school and if we lived in the general area.

I think OP is muck raking. Isn't there enough intolerance and nastiness in the world already, OP? Do you really need to dive in, too?

It’s quite hard to believe that people would allow a school’s culture from almost 40 years ago to affect how they think about it now. But yes, people really are that irrational.

So tell us: What year did the school's culture change?

Are you really trying to imply that the culture hasn’t changed in 40 years? I would assume that Georgetown Prep’s culture started to change at around the same time as the overall party culture started diminishing which would be around the late 80’s. And yes, I realize partying still went on it just wasn’t as hedonistic.

I went to school in the 90s, and I have to say, I never associated the 1980s with "party culture." It seemed like a decade for squares.

Have you never seen Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Porky's, Sixteen Candles? These were rather representative of high school life at that time.

They were fiction. Do you really think a kid who took a gun to school and said he was going to attempt suicide would have been punished with Saturday detention? Do you really think teachers' locked kids in closets and got away with it? I'm a kid of that era and we watched those movies and were titillated by the bad behavior portrayed that we'd never dare partake of.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What references are there to boys in the Holton year ooks back in the day? Any “clubs” to speak of?

q


Yes there were plenty of references to boys in the yearbooks including discussion of having a male stripper come to a party.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The actions of one or a few individuals at a local school in the news recently occurred 35-40 years ago. Does any reasonable person really think that those behaviors are still prevalent?

I have no connection to the school except we've been there a few times for children's practices or games. I would have no qualms considering the school for our sons if they were applying to high school and if we lived in the general area.

I think OP is muck raking. Isn't there enough intolerance and nastiness in the world already, OP? Do you really need to dive in, too?

It’s quite hard to believe that people would allow a school’s culture from almost 40 years ago to affect how they think about it now. But yes, people really are that irrational.

So tell us: What year did the school's culture change?

Are you really trying to imply that the culture hasn’t changed in 40 years? I would assume that Georgetown Prep’s culture started to change at around the same time as the overall party culture started diminishing which would be around the late 80’s. And yes, I realize partying still went on it just wasn’t as hedonistic.

I went to school in the 90s, and I have to say, I never associated the 1980s with "party culture." It seemed like a decade for squares.

Have you never seen Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Porky's, Sixteen Candles? These were rather representative of high school life at that time.

They were fiction. Do you really think a kid who took a gun to school and said he was going to attempt suicide would have been punished with Saturday detention? Do you really think teachers' locked kids in closets and got away with it? I'm a kid of that era and we watched those movies and were titillated by the bad behavior portrayed that we'd never dare partake of.

Yes, they were fiction but the sexual attitudes and party scenes were pretty spot on.

[Anonymous]

I think those of you who are saying the public schools were just like this are kind of deluding yourselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do the same people who think Georgetown Prep will take a hit also think Holton Arms will? Their yearbooks from that era were in some ways worse. There are pictures in the yearbooks of girls at parties with beer bottles. They talk about how much they partied and make references to passing out. There's a whole section titled "Why the parents were out" that discuss their alcohol infused parties including someone throwing up all over someone's parents' Persian rug. Why do those of you who judge Georgetown Prep, not judge Holton Arms for allowing the same type of sentiments to be expressed?

If a Holton girl from 30 years ago is accused of a crime, then there might be something to talk about. But some kids at ALL the schools partied and drank alcohol then. SR, Visi, Holton, Gonzaga, NCS, Landon, etc. While it’s crazy that the party photos and references are in the yearbook, the big problem, and why the attend is focused on GP, is that a graduate is accused of a crime against another person and the culture of the school (then) seemed to support that type of action.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here: I'm not muck raking. I'm sincerely wondering if it might be easier to be accepted at these schools this year and wondering if Landon had fewer applications after its bad press years ago. I'm sure there is a core constituent base and that Landon rebounded. But, was there a dip? If considering Holton or Prep or St. Albans, might my DD and/or DS have an easier chance applying this year? DD is also looking at Catholic girls schools.

Why would you put Holton in that group? I don't particularly like Holton, but one of its students being assaulted 35 years ago does not seem to have anything to do with the school overall. It's not like they created a culture that encouraged being assaulted then and for sure don't now.

Come on now. You know the word allegedly belongs there. And if BK did do the things that he is accused of, I’m sure it’s not Georgetown Prep’s fault for creating that culture. Most of you were toddlers in the early 80’s. It was a very permissive time. My high school even had a smoking area. The 70’s/early 80’s were an overall permissive time period.

I totally believe she was assaulted. I’m not sure many people question that. I didn’t say that Bart allegedly did it.

I was not a toddler in the early 80s, I was in college, after graduating from a DC area private school. I looked back at my yearbook and we had those personal sections but there but really no references to sex and very few to drinking. We were a geeky group.

[Anonymous]

Yes, I think applications to Yale will go way down.