GDS HS English Classes

[Anonymous]

To bring some specifics to the table. Last year our 10th grader at GDS read the following in English:

Gospel According to Mark
Romeo and Juliet
Song of Solomon
The Great Gatsby
Giovanni’s Room
Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein
Interpreter of Maladies

Sustained focus on Romantic poets include Keats, Wordsworth, Shelley, Blake.

Several other novels and contemporary poets I can’t recall at the moment.

[Anonymous]

It comes down to this: if you don't like the education your DC is receiving, go to another school. Most of the people responding to this thread are clearly not GDS parents, but, rather, are people with partisan axes to grind.

[Anonymous]

Unf it’s a concern of many families currently AT the school. And if many students AT the school.
Unclear how long we will “chalk it up” to political DC climate and education trends.

I agree with a PP: there are only so many hours in a school and homework day, what do you want your child spending time on. Silencing themselves? Playing an appeasement game? Getting jaded at anti-everything rhetoric? Being told women and blacks have had generations of terrible treatment, fight fight fight?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It comes down to this: if you don't like the education your DC is receiving, go to another school. Most of the people responding to this thread are clearly not GDS parents, but, rather, are people with partisan axes to grind.

That's always the amazing part about parents who object to what is taught. None of this is a secret when they apply. They won't pull their kids no matter what because they worked too hard to get them in. And 10 other parents are ready to put thier kid in DC's place, so it's impossible to leverage any pressure on the school.

People who choose known outcomes lose their right to moan about persecution or surprises.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here’s the school paper oped OP cited

https://theaugurbit.com/2022/09/03/what-i-wish-i-knew-about-politics-at-gds-as-a-freshman/

And another https://theaugurbit.com/2022/04/13/it-falls-to-gds-to-expose-us-to-varying-political-views/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It comes down to this: if you don't like the education your DC is receiving, go to another school. Most of the people responding to this thread are clearly not GDS parents, but, rather, are people with partisan axes to grind.

That's always the amazing part about parents who object to what is taught. None of this is a secret when they apply. They won't pull their kids no matter what because they worked too hard to get them in. And 10 other parents are ready to put thier kid in DC's place, so it's impossible to leverage any pressure on the school.

People who choose known outcomes lose their right to moan about persecution or surprises.

The people we know assumed it nailed it on all the academics and interwove some SJW. Now they see lack of transparency with parents (across all divisions) and it got more constant and more extreme during the recent BLM, lgbtqia2+, and CRT U.S. political movements.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To bring some specifics to the table. Last year our 10th grader at GDS read the following in English:

Gospel According to Mark
Romeo and Juliet
Song of Solomon
The Great Gatsby
Giovanni’s Room
Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein
Interpreter of Maladies

Sustained focus on Romantic poets include Keats, Wordsworth, Shelley, Blake.

Several other novels and contemporary poets I can’t recall at the moment.

That’s an excellent list. I wish my public high school kid’s class did those.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It comes down to this: if you don't like the education your DC is receiving, go to another school. Most of the people responding to this thread are clearly not GDS parents, but, rather, are people with partisan axes to grind.

That's always the amazing part about parents who object to what is taught. None of this is a secret when they apply. They won't pull their kids no matter what because they worked too hard to get them in. And 10 other parents are ready to put thier kid in DC's place, so it's impossible to leverage any pressure on the school.

People who choose known outcomes lose their right to moan about persecution or surprises.

The people we know assumed it nailed it on all the academics and interwove some SJW. Now they see lack of transparency with parents (across all divisions) and it got more constant and more extreme during the recent BLM, lgbtqia2+, and CRT U.S. political movements.

Parents write a $50K check to an institution that will influence their kids for 35 hours a week for nine months, and they "assumed" what that institution did?

That's hilarious. But they still won't pull their kids, since it's one of the magically famous DC area privates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To bring some specifics to the table. Last year our 10th grader at GDS read the following in English:

Gospel According to Mark
Romeo and Juliet
Song of Solomon
The Great Gatsby
Giovanni’s Room
Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein
Interpreter of Maladies

Sustained focus on Romantic poets include Keats, Wordsworth, Shelley, Blake.

Several other novels and contemporary poets I can’t recall at the moment.

This was NOT the list shown at the Open House event I went to 4 years ago, not even close. So maybe they took a few steps back towards normal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To bring some specifics to the table. Last year our 10th grader at GDS read the following in English:

Gospel According to Mark
Romeo and Juliet
Song of Solomon
The Great Gatsby
Giovanni’s Room
Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein
Interpreter of Maladies

Sustained focus on Romantic poets include Keats, Wordsworth, Shelley, Blake.

Several other novels and contemporary poets I can’t recall at the moment.

This was NOT the list shown at the Open House event I went to 4 years ago, not even close. So maybe they took a few steps back towards normal.

This is similar to what DD read in 10th grade at GDS 4 years ago. All teachers teach some core texts and choose others on their own.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It comes down to this: if you don't like the education your DC is receiving, go to another school. Most of the people responding to this thread are clearly not GDS parents, but, rather, are people with partisan axes to grind.

That's always the amazing part about parents who object to what is taught. None of this is a secret when they apply. They won't pull their kids no matter what because they worked too hard to get them in. And 10 other parents are ready to put thier kid in DC's place, so it's impossible to leverage any pressure on the school.

People who choose known outcomes lose their right to moan about persecution or surprises.

The people we know assumed it nailed it on all the academics and interwove some SJW. Now they see lack of transparency with parents (across all divisions) and it got more constant and more extreme during the recent BLM, lgbtqia2+, and CRT U.S. political movements.

Parents write a $50K check to an institution that will influence their kids for 35 hours a week for nine months, and they "assumed" what that institution did?

That's hilarious. But they still won't pull their kids, since it's one of the magically famous DC area privates.

Hey now, they heard it was “a good school.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It comes down to this: if you don't like the education your DC is receiving, go to another school. Most of the people responding to this thread are clearly not GDS parents, but, rather, are people with partisan axes to grind.

That's always the amazing part about parents who object to what is taught. None of this is a secret when they apply. They won't pull their kids no matter what because they worked too hard to get them in. And 10 other parents are ready to put thier kid in DC's place, so it's impossible to leverage any pressure on the school.

People who choose known outcomes lose their right to moan about persecution or surprises.

The people we know assumed it nailed it on all the academics and interwove some SJW. Now they see lack of transparency with parents (across all divisions) and it got more constant and more extreme during the recent BLM, lgbtqia2+, and CRT U.S. political movements.

Parents write a $50K check to an institution that will influence their kids for 35 hours a week for nine months, and they "assumed" what that institution did?

That's hilarious. But they still won't pull their kids, since it's one of the magically famous DC area privates.

Hey now, they heard it was “a good school.”

This is a mean spirited post so not sure if my response will do any good but the vast majority of students enter in Pk/K. It’s hard to get a full understanding of what each grade does. It’s different if you enter in 9th grade, you will be entirely focused on high school curriculum. It’s a great school and people use these forums to discuss anonymously if they should speak up about certain issues but there are other classes than English so many places for your child to step away from some of the heavier issues if they choose.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It comes down to this: if you don't like the education your DC is receiving, go to another school. Most of the people responding to this thread are clearly not GDS parents, but, rather, are people with partisan axes to grind.

That's always the amazing part about parents who object to what is taught. None of this is a secret when they apply. They won't pull their kids no matter what because they worked too hard to get them in. And 10 other parents are ready to put thier kid in DC's place, so it's impossible to leverage any pressure on the school.

People who choose known outcomes lose their right to moan about persecution or surprises.

The people we know assumed it nailed it on all the academics and interwove some SJW. Now they see lack of transparency with parents (across all divisions) and it got more constant and more extreme during the recent BLM, lgbtqia2+, and CRT U.S. political movements.

Parents write a $50K check to an institution that will influence their kids for 35 hours a week for nine months, and they "assumed" what that institution did?

That's hilarious. But they still won't pull their kids, since it's one of the magically famous DC area privates.

Hey now, they heard it was “a good school.”

This is a mean spirited post so not sure if my response will do any good but the vast majority of students enter in Pk/K. It’s hard to get a full understanding of what each grade does. It’s different if you enter in 9th grade, you will be entirely focused on high school curriculum. It’s a great school and people use these forums to discuss anonymously if they should speak up about certain issues but there are other classes than English so many places for your child to step away from some of the heavier issues if they choose.

Not really; GDS is a school that is known to be woke from top to bottom. If you're good with that, it's the place for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well, these are polarizing times, and we live in Washington, DC. Kids at GDS are going to have strong opinions about politics.

Unless you've been living under a rock, COVID and Jan. 6 pretty much have shown how morally corrupt the Republican party is. Seriously, why would you want to associate yourself with the Republican party these days? Why not just declare yourself an Independent?

I agree that Trump is not Hitler, but there were certainly a lot of Germans who were willing to sign up for the Nazi party because they agreed with Nazi economic policy even while disagreeing with the Nazi treatment of Jews.

Anyway, if anti-Trump sentiment bothers you, pull your kid out of GDS. Trump and his followers are putting our democracy in jeopardy.

BTW, there are a couple of Trump supporting families at GDS, but they keep it quiet. It's got to be terrible for their kids, but oh well...

Nothing on this thread is about Trump or COVID, or Hitler, or Jan 6. It's about the English curriculum at one high school. The fact that you went to politics in a discussion about high school English classes is... odd.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To bring some specifics to the table. Last year our 10th grader at GDS read the following in English:

Gospel According to Mark
Romeo and Juliet
Song of Solomon
The Great Gatsby
Giovanni’s Room
Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein
Interpreter of Maladies

Sustained focus on Romantic poets include Keats, Wordsworth, Shelley, Blake.

Several other novels and contemporary poets I can’t recall at the moment.

Sounds great.

Mark is an interesting choice of the four gospels, especially as a stand alone. Maybe a nod to the theory of Marcan priority. I'd be curious to know what lens they are using to read that one.