Article on Maret in Washington Post

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a parent at Sidwell Friends and for the record, I would be thrilled if the school dropped its football program. It sucks a disproportionate amount of resources from other sports and activities and produces a lot of pressure from certain parents to recruit kids who will provide a winning football season (for their player kids).

+1 from another Sidwell parent

[Anonymous]

PP, You sound foolish and is probably why Sidwell has a great reputation for producing great HS students who go on to do jack -- They don't know how to compete outside of their little, protected world.

[Anonymous]

If you define "Jack" as:

1. Prize winning children's literature author, or
2. Former Miss America (also AA in volleyball), or
3. Former Fed Governor and CEO of TIAA-CREF, or
4. Leading actors on TV series (Saburgatory, Deadwood, Royal Pains)
5. Director of the CIA, or
6. President of the University of Chicago

then you are absolutely correct. The problem with Sidwell is that it prepares students to compete in such silly pursuits as arts, literature, public service, economics, academia and not just the stuff that counts like sports and business.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP, You sound foolish and is probably why Sidwell has a great reputation for producing great HS students who go on to do jack -- They don't know how to compete outside of their little, protected world.

Actually, about 25% of Sidwell students graduate with 6 or more varsity letters. Recent grads are competing as D1 athletes in several sports, including soccer, basketball, and XC and track and field. Additionally, there are many recent grads playing D3 sports, including several NESCAS schools, and on club teams.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP, You sound foolish and is probably why Sidwell has a great reputation for producing great HS students who go on to do jack -- They don't know how to compete outside of their little, protected world.

Actually, about 25% of Sidwell students graduate with 6 or more varsity letters. Recent grads are competing as D1 athletes in several sports, including soccer, basketball, and XC and track and field. Additionally, there are many recent grads playing D3 sports, including several NESCAS schools, and on club teams.

Translation: Sidwell is good for nerd sports.

[Anonymous]

Quit feeding this troll.

[Anonymous]

Reality is that almost all MAC/IAC schools recruit and relax academic standards for boys' basketball. It brings media attention to the school, makes the school look diverse, and unlike football just a couple kids in each class is enough to make a big difference. A lot of these schools make heavy use of their ability to allow kids to reclassify when transferring--SS/SA is ranked top 20 by the Post and their top five scorers are all transfers.

One of Maret's recent star basketball players had to do a prep school year followed by two years of junior college before playing NCAA ball. That had to be pretty embarrassing for the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you define "Jack" as:

1. Prize winning children's literature author, or
2. Former Miss America (also AA in volleyball), or
3. Former Fed Governor and CEO of TIAA-CREF, or
4. Leading actors on TV series (Saburgatory, Deadwood, Royal Pains)
5. Director of the CIA, or
6. President of the University of Chicago

then you are absolutely correct. The problem with Sidwell is that it prepares students to compete in such silly pursuits as arts, literature, public service, economics, academia and not just the stuff that counts like sports and business.

Sure, Sidwell has produced some great students who went on to great things just like every public HS has students who go on to do great things but the reality is that compared to the elite schools around the country (Brearly, Collegiate, Horace Mann, St. Pauls, etc.) Sidwell falls short. To be honest, I don't think Sidwell compares favorably to STA, Madeira, NCS or Holton Arms. Sure, Sidwell has a few students warming the bench at Brown and Cornell, but the culture is not a competitive one (Sidwell does have runners at Stanford).

Based on your final comment, you either never played a sport or don't have kids that are active in a sport. Ask Susan Rice (NCS alumna) if playing basketball gave her the drive to compete during her career (Stanford, Rhodes Scholar, US Amb to the US, NSA to POTUS. I for one am grateful that we have someone who knows how to compete advising the POTUS on national security issues than some liberal tree hugger who attended Sidwell and was on the curling team.

BTW, You left Gansler (AG Maryland) off your list.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you define "Jack" as:

1. Prize winning children's literature author, or
2. Former Miss America (also AA in volleyball), or
3. Former Fed Governor and CEO of TIAA-CREF, or
4. Leading actors on TV series (Saburgatory, Deadwood, Royal Pains)
5. Director of the CIA, or
6. President of the University of Chicago

then you are absolutely correct. The problem with Sidwell is that it prepares students to compete in such silly pursuits as arts, literature, public service, economics, academia and not just the stuff that counts like sports and business.

Sure, Sidwell has produced some great students who went on to great things just like every public HS has students who go on to do great things but the reality is that compared to the elite schools around the country (Brearly, Collegiate, Horace Mann, St. Pauls, etc.) Sidwell falls short. To be honest, I don't think Sidwell compares favorably to STA, Madeira, NCS or Holton Arms. Sure, Sidwell has a few students warming the bench at Brown and Cornell, but the culture is not a competitive one (Sidwell does have runners at Stanford).

Based on your final comment, you either never played a sport or don't have kids that are active in a sport. Ask Susan Rice (NCS alumna) if playing basketball gave her the drive to compete during her career (Stanford, Rhodes Scholar, US Amb to the US, NSA to POTUS. I for one am grateful that we have someone who knows how to compete advising the POTUS on national security issues than some liberal tree hugger who attended Sidwell and was on the curling team.

BTW, You left Gansler (AG Maryland) off your list.

I love STA and NCS but what a silly comment by 14:16. Sidwell is a terrific school which produces business people (eg, Roger Ferguson) and entrepreneurs as well as artists, and STA/NCS produce actors/writers/creative types (Jeffrey Wright, Alex Ross, creators of The Simpsons) as well as politicos and business titans. Very silly to typecast, and the schools you are purporting to tout wouldn't thank you for it.

[Anonymous]

Pretty amazing that Maret starts a separate slow academic track and the thread focuses on other schools.

[Anonymous]

Pretty amazing that you're still saying there is a separate slow track for athletes. What's in this for you? You are beyond annoying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Reality is that almost all MAC/IAC schools recruit and relax academic standards for boys' basketball. It brings media attention to the school, makes the school look diverse, and unlike football just a couple kids in each class is enough to make a big difference. A lot of these schools make heavy use of their ability to allow kids to reclassify when transferring--SS/SA is ranked top 20 by the Post and their top five scorers are all transfers.

One of Maret's recent star basketball players had to do a prep school year followed by two years of junior college before playing NCAA ball. That had to be pretty embarrassing for the school.

Another person who has no clue what it means to play a sport. Your comment is absurb

The student in your example was likely chasing his dream of playing college ball and probably could have attended a strong college if he was pursuing academic interest only and ignoring his passion for basketball. Coming out of Maret he probably did not get much recruiting attention from the top college programs, so he probably went the prep school/JC route to pursue his dream. A kid from my HS team had good enough grades to attend a good state school like Maryland but up to that point had not received much attention from Div. I programs. He spent a year playing prep before going to play four years at a mid-level Div. I program. The last I heard he was the top assistant at a top ten college program and is often sought after for head coaching positions. All that to say is that people can be solid students but might pursue an alternative path in order to pursue his passion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pretty amazing that you're still saying there is a separate slow track for athletes. What's in this for you? You are beyond annoying.

Maret is not transparent about what it has done -- it's good this is coming out, even if it annoys some of the loyal Maret boosters. It also helps explain the decline in the numbers of National Merit Semifinalists at Maret in the past decade.

[Anonymous]

Your analysis if flawed on so many levels.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pretty amazing that you're still saying there is a separate slow track for athletes. What's in this for you? You are beyond annoying.

Maret is not transparent about what it has done -- it's good this is coming out, even if it annoys some of the loyal Maret boosters. It also helps explain the decline in the numbers of National Merit Semifinalists at Maret in the past decade.

Right? I mean, having every class listed in a curriculum guide on the website is so opaque. Well, just to you, I guess. If you're such a fan of transparency, please post your name here so maybe the school can contact you to calm your nerves?