Has anyone been unhappy with Gonzaga?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our son is at Gonzaga. A few thoughts::

- It is a big school that is many different things to many different people. There are many that take the service orientation of the Jesuits very seriously and others that could care less. There are some whose idea of service and moral behavior is not even remotely aligned with mine (or with the Jesuits').

-The McKenna Center is real. It legitimately serves members of the community in need. It is not run by the school. It is under the Jesuits who also run the school. It seems like students could conceivably go through their entire four years without stepping foot inside, but it is a relatively convenient way to complete some of their service hours. It seems as if some students really connect to the Center and their mission, others have varying levels of interaction with the Center and the people it serves, and some students may bring in a few cans of food for a food drive every once in a while but have no other interaction. As with many things, the opportunity is there for them if they want to take advantage of it.

-It is wonderful to have school spirit and traditions, but does God really need to bleed purple? Some of it seems a little over the top to the point of being offputting. And if it leads to denigration of others (e.g., opposing teams), it's a problem.

-There is a heck of a lot of money flowing through that school, so even with the service requirements and orientation, a boy could still exist in a pretty isolated bubble of privilege. There is no guarantee that Gonzaga turns out "A Man For Others".

-A lot of the annual service requirement is through two dedicated service days held during the school day every year. I'm sure there is a power in performing service with peers, but this system actually gives students credit for a lot more service hours than they actually perform, means students don't have to be maximally intentional about fulfilling their service hours, and may sometimes be drawn away from the people they are serving by the people they are serving with. Ironically, a DC public school student performing their minimum service hours (100) in good faith may end up with more actual time performing service than a Gonzaga grad who did the minimum.

- Gonzaga does have a lot of amazing opportunities. I doubt many boys who go there regret it.

+1.

[Anonymous]

Actually Kairos at GZ IS different from other schools. I’ve had sons at GC and another Catholic HS. The experience for my son at GZ was transformative. It truly shaped him and he became a Kairos leader. He still holds it as his most impactful experience at GZ. His younger brother at another school had a great experience and has signed up to lead Campus Retreats as a result, but it did not transform him like it did my older son. My older son has clung closer to his Catholic faith, and I attribute that to GZ.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:The neighborhood around the school isn’t great

But great for service opportunities.

This.This. This.

Ms. Murphy's social justice class changed my son. He experienced sadness and a broken system but arrived at the end with humility, more humble and a desire to make a difference as an adult in the large world in front of him. He walked the streets of DC to feed the homeless and assisted in the homeless shelter (in the basement of St. Als). How many boys get to witness daily this level of kindness from a community? I know this all starts in the home but young men can be deterred by so many factors but Gonzaga leveled up.

Who’s an example of why people don’t like Gonzaga. They’re homeless people everywhere not just in DC.

They are homeless shelters literally everywhere.

Every school has service.

You can see from this post how they think it’s “different“ for them, and it’s not.

This constant back patting is one of my pet peeves about GZ. I think it’s great that they do outreach to the homeless but they think they are special for doing so. They seem to be doing it more for their image than to truly help people in need.

As a previous poster said, many schools also help at homeless shelters and soup kitchens, and do outreach to those in need. Also, it is easy to help the homeless and then turn around at the end of the day and go back to your mansion in Virginia where you can wash your hands of it all. Some GZ families are so busy bragging about helping the homeless that they forget that many kids live in neighborhoods where they interact with homeless people and the issues that go with it every day. For some kids, experiencing the “grit” of the city is not a mere novelty, but it is life.

I am happy that GZ emphasizes service and having a shelter onsite, but they need to humble themselves a bit. There is more to DC than just Eye Street.

I don’t have a kid at GZ but I live in the city and somewhat near GZ by H St. NE

You just cannot compare the homeless and poor in that whole area by GZ to just any isolated homeless shelter other schools might visit. There is a huge difference of a blighted and poor neighborhood to just some isolated shelter. The school is actually in this community and living it and serving it everyday. It’s not like the kids are going to a homeless shelter once a month.

If you don’t understand what I am saying then you are in your bubble and have not lived or been around much of the homeless community.

GZ doesn’t just talk the talk once a month or few times a year. They walk the walk and it is their reality daily because they are physically in it.

I applaud them and they are doing a lot more than what outsiders believe.

I'm not a GZ booster, but agree. Although it's a great school, there are plenty of legitimate critiques of Gonzaga, which is what the OP was looking for, but their dedication to service is not one of them.

that's not the critique though, it's that they think they do more. They don't all the schools are dedicated to service. It's no different.

Please you think the homeless are in shelters in the rest of the country... for example you think Wheaton triangle doesn't have homeless on every corner.

GZ oh boy.

I’m the PP from H St and sorry but you are proving your ignorance. They are running a homeless shelter. Do you even know what that all entails??

They are absolutely doing a ton more than other schools whose kids visit a shelter a few times a year. No other private school in the DMV are getting their hands dirty, managing the huge challenges of this, being actually responsible for serving the homeless and meeting all their needs, etc…

This. The area Gonzaga is in is also full of project housing. The building next to Gonzaga is a women’s shelter. Gonzaga tries to support the women’s shelter in small ways. The service aspect is lived every day at Gonzaga. There are other aspects of Gonzaga to criticize but they live and breathe service way more than other schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:I would say needing to have the student body work on humility, arrogance, and entitlement is a problem. I wish other G parents would see this as well and make a concerted effort to fix this issue. But unfortunately in my experience that awareness from parents is rare, so my hats to you, PP.

You can generally tell if a Gonzaga parent has drank the kool aid if they have the following on their post: “Eagles Fly High”, “God is Purple”, or seem to think AMDG is only for Gonzaga (!) and not the motto of the Jesuits (and therefore used at every Jesuit grade school, high school, and university).

NP here. GMAB. I have a kid at Gonzaga as well as other kids at other DMV independent private schools. Your angst is not unique to Gonzaga and basically could describe many current student at most of the DMV privates for being (Landon, St. Albans, NCS, Potomac, SJC, Visi, Holton, SSSAS, Maret, etc). If you're going to single out Gonzaga, which has a much more socio economically and racially diverse student body than other DMV privates, then be specific as to why it's unique to Gonzaga. Because they have school spirit? Because they drink purple kool aid and have school pride? What makes them particularly more arrogant and entitled than their peers at Landon or St. Albans or another all boys school?

This is true. GZ is much more diverse than other privates in terms of race and SES.

The data I've seen don't bear that out with regard to race. Nor do the optics at public events.

https://projects.propublica.org/private-school-demographics/states/dc

ADW has the numbers somewhere on their site and GZ (surprisingly) was the least diverse. Actually Prep was more diverse which was a big surprise.

And since PP mentioned Landon it’s way more diverse with respect to race, no data on income is published.

Diversity is definitely not the strength.

Gonzaga has more income diversity than all of these other schools. Not racial diversity

[Anonymous]

Apart from Kairos, they offer optional service opportunities through week long summer trips that you apply for. Kids actually get to work and live with migrant families in their homes, etc. That was a transformational experience for my son. Maybe other schools do the exact same thing, I’m not sure

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Apart from Kairos, they offer optional service opportunities through week long summer trips that you apply for. Kids actually get to work and live with migrant families in their homes, etc. That was a transformational experience for my son. Maybe other schools do the exact same thing, I’m not sure

Yes most the schools do that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would say needing to have the student body work on humility, arrogance, and entitlement is a problem. I wish other G parents would see this as well and make a concerted effort to fix this issue. But unfortunately in my experience that awareness from parents is rare, so my hats to you, PP.

You can generally tell if a Gonzaga parent has drank the kool aid if they have the following on their post: “Eagles Fly High”, “God is Purple”, or seem to think AMDG is only for Gonzaga (!) and not the motto of the Jesuits (and therefore used at every Jesuit grade school, high school, and university).

NP here. GMAB. I have a kid at Gonzaga as well as other kids at other DMV independent private schools. Your angst is not unique to Gonzaga and basically could describe many current student at most of the DMV privates for being (Landon, St. Albans, NCS, Potomac, SJC, Visi, Holton, SSSAS, Maret, etc). If you're going to single out Gonzaga, which has a much more socio economically and racially diverse student body than other DMV privates, then be specific as to why it's unique to Gonzaga. Because they have school spirit? Because they drink purple kool aid and have school pride? What makes them particularly more arrogant and entitled than their peers at Landon or St. Albans or another all boys school?

This is true. GZ is much more diverse than other privates in terms of race and SES.

The data I've seen don't bear that out with regard to race. Nor do the optics at public events.

https://projects.propublica.org/private-school-demographics/states/dc

ADW has the numbers somewhere on their site and GZ (surprisingly) was the least diverse. Actually Prep was more diverse which was a big surprise.

And since PP mentioned Landon it’s way more diverse with respect to race, no data on income is published.

Diversity is definitely not the strength.

Gonzaga has more income diversity than all of these other schools. Not racial diversity

Lolz

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Actually Kairos at GZ IS different from other schools. I’ve had sons at GC and another Catholic HS. The experience for my son at GZ was transformative. It truly shaped him and he became a Kairos leader. He still holds it as his most impactful experience at GZ. His younger brother at another school had a great experience and has signed up to lead Campus Retreats as a result, but it did not transform him like it did my older son. My older son has clung closer to his Catholic faith, and I attribute that to GZ.

^^^ this is why people hate GZ parents.., not the school, not the kids. The parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would say needing to have the student body work on humility, arrogance, and entitlement is a problem. I wish other G parents would see this as well and make a concerted effort to fix this issue. But unfortunately in my experience that awareness from parents is rare, so my hats to you, PP.

You can generally tell if a Gonzaga parent has drank the kool aid if they have the following on their post: “Eagles Fly High”, “God is Purple”, or seem to think AMDG is only for Gonzaga (!) and not the motto of the Jesuits (and therefore used at every Jesuit grade school, high school, and university).

NP here. GMAB. I have a kid at Gonzaga as well as other kids at other DMV independent private schools. Your angst is not unique to Gonzaga and basically could describe many current student at most of the DMV privates for being (Landon, St. Albans, NCS, Potomac, SJC, Visi, Holton, SSSAS, Maret, etc). If you're going to single out Gonzaga, which has a much more socio economically and racially diverse student body than other DMV privates, then be specific as to why it's unique to Gonzaga. Because they have school spirit? Because they drink purple kool aid and have school pride? What makes them particularly more arrogant and entitled than their peers at Landon or St. Albans or another all boys school?

This is true. GZ is much more diverse than other privates in terms of race and SES.

I'm pretty racially diverse, imo.

The data I've seen don't bear that out with regard to race. Nor do the optics at public events.

https://projects.propublica.org/private-school-demographics/states/dc

ADW has the numbers somewhere on their site and GZ (surprisingly) was the least diverse. Actually Prep was more diverse which was a big surprise.

And since PP mentioned Landon it’s way more diverse with respect to race, no data on income is published.

Diversity is definitely not the strength.

Gonzaga has more income diversity than all of these other schools. Not racial diversity

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would say needing to have the student body work on humility, arrogance, and entitlement is a problem. I wish other G parents would see this as well and make a concerted effort to fix this issue. But unfortunately in my experience that awareness from parents is rare, so my hats to you, PP.

You can generally tell if a Gonzaga parent has drank the kool aid if they have the following on their post: “Eagles Fly High”, “God is Purple”, or seem to think AMDG is only for Gonzaga (!) and not the motto of the Jesuits (and therefore used at every Jesuit grade school, high school, and university).

NP here. GMAB. I have a kid at Gonzaga as well as other kids at other DMV independent private schools. Your angst is not unique to Gonzaga and basically could describe many current student at most of the DMV privates for being (Landon, St. Albans, NCS, Potomac, SJC, Visi, Holton, SSSAS, Maret, etc). If you're going to single out Gonzaga, which has a much more socio economically and racially diverse student body than other DMV privates, then be specific as to why it's unique to Gonzaga. Because they have school spirit? Because they drink purple kool aid and have school pride? What makes them particularly more arrogant and entitled than their peers at Landon or St. Albans or another all boys school?

This is true. GZ is much more diverse than other privates in terms of race and SES.

The data I've seen don't bear that out with regard to race. Nor do the optics at public events.

https://projects.propublica.org/private-school-demographics/states/dc

ADW has the numbers somewhere on their site and GZ (surprisingly) was the least diverse. Actually Prep was more diverse which was a big surprise.

And since PP mentioned Landon it’s way more diverse with respect to race, no data on income is published.

Diversity is definitely not the strength.

Gonzaga has more income diversity than all of these other schools. Not racial diversity

76% white

[Anonymous]

This threat was started by an antiGonzaga troll. Stop feeding the troll

[Anonymous]

Why? What was so objectionable about this post? The poster has experience at more than one Catholic school with boys who have gone on Kairos. Saying it’s different is somehow … bad?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Actually Kairos at GZ IS different from other schools. I’ve had sons at GC and another Catholic HS. The experience for my son at GZ was transformative. It truly shaped him and he became a Kairos leader. He still holds it as his most impactful experience at GZ. His younger brother at another school had a great experience and has signed up to lead Campus Retreats as a result, but it did not transform him like it did my older son. My older son has clung closer to his Catholic faith, and I attribute that to GZ.

^^^ this is why people hate GZ parents.., not the school, not the kids. The parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why? What was so objectionable about this post? The poster has experience at more than one Catholic school with boys who have gone on Kairos. Saying it’s different is somehow … bad?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Actually Kairos at GZ IS different from other schools. I’ve had sons at GC and another Catholic HS. The experience for my son at GZ was transformative. It truly shaped him and he became a Kairos leader. He still holds it as his most impactful experience at GZ. His younger brother at another school had a great experience and has signed up to lead Campus Retreats as a result, but it did not transform him like it did my older son. My older son has clung closer to his Catholic faith, and I attribute that to GZ.

^^^ this is why people hate GZ parents.., not the school, not the kids. The parents.

You realize many of us Catholics have 6-15 siblings. That means we have. 36-52 nieces and nephews who go to public schools, private schools, other Catholic schools, boarding schools…. And you think this person with an experience of two children have more experience than most of the people who have been going to Gonzaga for generations and have multiple experiences with other schools.

We are a one holy catholic apostolic Church. Othering other Catholic schools is not being a man for others.

It is not in the spirit of the jesuits and it’s incorrect.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:A friend’s son goes there and I have heard some negative things about the “cult” like atmosphere at GZ. Most parents are “all in” and actively shower the school with nothing but praise and love. A sense of superiority is cultivated in students from day one. Some spin this as creating a strong brotherhood, but for others it is a bit much. There are parents who want a strong Catholic education for their sons but who don’t want to drink the kool aid. I’ve also heard about horrible sportsmanship shown by some of GZ’s teams, which is not embraced by all parents.

Last year a Gonzaga boy was arrested with brass knuckles and a pellet gun on his way to a SJC football game. Every year the students vandalize other schools in the name of "school spirit"

I've been to multiple lacrosse and football games, both home and away, over the past four years and have heard nothing about GZ students acting out and/or vandalizing host schools, nor have my sons mentioned anything, nor have we parents gotten communications from the school regarding behavior at sports events. I've attended double digit events in small stadiums where obnoxious behavior would've been noticed easily and I've personally seen nothing that would track with what you're saying.

Not saying none of this happened, but I'm definitely leaning towards "you're making sh*t up" POV here.

The St. John’s sign was defaced with purple paint literally a month ago ahead of the football game between the schools.

[Anonymous]

Oh please, SJC kids stole Gonzaga’s flag before the football game. This stuff goes on every year.