Walter Johnson vs. Sherwood

[Anonymous]

I don't get all the Sherwood bashing. It is what it is. It's an average school that serves average kids from average families...like every school without a signature program. If you're looking for an exurban school with academic high-fliers you have to go all the way to Poolesville, but that's because it's a magnet.

[Anonymous]

Actually, people in Olney tend to be religious and charitable. Multiple temples, huge Catholic Church, several other churches, etc. There are multiple local charities that cater to the small low income population in Sandy Spring.

Switching gears: there is a huge artsy group in Sherwood. The annual rock n roll revival is a big deal for the community. We also have Rocketeria, a music store that provides lessons, fosters tween and teen rock bands, and hosts cool events like Rock the Lot. They also support local charities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seriously, what's so special about Sherwood? The avg SAT score of 1600 is not even enough for UMD.

Well, one thing that is special about Sherwood is that children that don't get into UMD are not shamed by their community. Also the ones that go to UMD are not made to believe that UMD is the bottom of the barrel. Do you know that only 30% of the population go to college and 50% of those 30% do not graduate in 6 years. So only 15% of the population graduate from college within 6 years of graduation.

This attitude is precisely why parents do not want to raise their children in the W districts.

When my neighbor's daughter decided to start her own business, sure her mom was nervous that she was not going to college. But she was not shamed into trying to go to college even though she knew it was not her calling. 10 years later she has a very successful business.

Average SAT does not mean anything for my specific child. It only means that my child has friends that didn't get into the UMD. They go to Towson/Salisbury/WVU/UMBC. Oh the horror! She also has friends that went to Northwestern/Amherst/Boston University/Princeton/Duke.

The friend that went to UMBC, worked for Price Water House Coopers for a bit and is now working for a senator on the hill at the age of 25 and was just accepted to Dartmouth business school. FROM UMBC... OMG!

That is actually the definition of diversity. She has friends who will be the 1st person in their family to go to college and they live in a huge house. You do realize there are successful people that don't go to college, right?

Useful post to OP (if OP is still here). OP - you need to make sure you are comfortable with above post b/c you will have to deal with it when your DC applies to colleges.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't get all the Sherwood bashing. It is what it is. It's an average school that serves average kids from average families...like every school without a signature program. If you're looking for an exurban school with academic high-fliers you have to go all the way to Poolesville, but that's because it's a magnet.

+ 1 I agree. RM/IB magent is an option too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, private schools are $20k per year. And many of us have a handful of kids. And not everyone has a rich husband or parents with tons of cash.

PS - Sherwood is sorta like private school without uniforms (or the $80k+ price tag for four years).

PPS - many people move out here precisely so they can send their kids to public school without worrying about them.

for your private school comment.

people move out there b/c that's just about the only high schools remaining in mcps with 1) reasonable housing and 2) without excessive minority populations. let's be honest with ourselves.

Sherwood is 12% Asian, 16% Black and 13% Hispanic. Also the FARM rate for Black and Hispanic is very low. I like Sherwood because it is diverse but the diversity is not poor. I don't want to send a message to my kids that all the poor people have different skin color. The FARM is pretty much evenly distributed (except for Black). Most schools that have higher diversity also have an issue in that all the FARM kids are people of color, this indoctrinates our children to believe that poor = people of color. This is not a good message. Not one I want my children to learn.

So NO people do not move to Sherwood district to get away from minority. People move there when they don't want to live around snobby people. I know very few people that commute to DC for a job. Baltimore, sure... Columbia, definitely but not DC.

Walter Johnson also have a good amount of diversity and the FARM rate is evenly distributed over all the racial/ethnic backgrounds.

This is also true for QO and a few other mentioned in this thread.

It really comes down to does the OP like her neighbors (which she may not, since the nasty posters remind her of her neighbors). Many people can't afford to live in Bethesda. Many people can afford to live in Bethesda but don't ... I am sorry, buy the majority of moms in Bethesda are really immature, bitchy and uptight. Many dads are jerks.

Also, it is not the only school with reasonable housing. Clarksburg/Poolesville/Gaithersburg/Blake/Northwood/Einstein/etc

LOL! To paraphrase: "I prefer my diversity to be all high SES families." The "message" you're sending is that you don't want to mix with poor families. That's cool, just don't try to twist it into some kind of noble stance.

You have reading comprehension issues. We have already established that this is where the poors move when they can't afford Bethesda. I would like my FARM and high SES to be evenly distributed across all ethnic groups. 1sts we are comparing Sherwood with WJ which has even less SES diversity than Sherwood. Sherwood has 15% FARM but the FARM kids are also white. When you pass the cafeteria and see all the kids getting free breakfast, they are not all people of color. They are all types of kids in the school. Yes there are poor white people... that is the "message". Whether you realize it or not. You are creating a conscious child and a child with a subconscious... having a negative image of people of color (all being poor) creates a subconscious that poor = people of color and it will affect the way they act for the rest of their lives towards people of color. Read about "think slicing" if you are unaware of this.

If that's your idea of "poor" you need to get out more. That line is comical in its obliviousness.

[Anonymous]

People, you will never be able to convince the snobby parents from the W schools that diversity is important, or that scores don't mean everything, or that you can go to a 2nd tier college and be successful and happy in life. It's pointless. Their definition of success and happiness is different from your's. Leave it at that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

You have reading comprehension issues. We have already established that this is where the poors move when they can't afford Bethesda. I would like my FARM and high SES to be evenly distributed across all ethnic groups. 1sts we are comparing Sherwood with WJ which has even less SES diversity than Sherwood. Sherwood has 15% FARM but the FARM kids are also white. When you pass the cafeteria and see all the kids getting free breakfast, they are not all people of color. They are all types of kids in the school. Yes there are poor white people... that is the "message". Whether you realize it or not. You are creating a conscious child and a child with a subconscious... having a negative image of people of color (all being poor) creates a subconscious that poor = people of color and it will affect the way they act for the rest of their lives towards people of color. Read about "think slicing" if you are unaware of this.

And I would like the moon to be brighter. However, it's not, and FARMS and high SES are not evenly distributed across all ethnic groups. It is a valid argument that if children only ever see affluent, educated white and Asian people and poor, uneducated everybody-else people, then they will believe that white and Asian people are affluent and educated and everybody-else people are poor and uneducated. It is also a valid argument that if children only ever see affluent, educated people, then they will have a very skewed view of US society. In fact, they may grow up to be people who do things like post on DCUM about how they are just barely getting by on $250,000 a year and about how anybody can afford an $800,000 house in Bethesda if they only work hard enough and have good values.

[Anonymous]

And that's the beauty of Olney: racially diverse, but no abject poverty. So my white kids would never think that all brown people are poor...especially since many of his brown friends have beach houses and nicer homes than we do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, private schools are $20k per year. And many of us have a handful of kids. And not everyone has a rich husband or parents with tons of cash.

PS - Sherwood is sorta like private school without uniforms (or the $80k+ price tag for four years).

PPS - many people move out here precisely so they can send their kids to public school without worrying about them.

for your private school comment.

people move out there b/c that's just about the only high schools remaining in mcps with 1) reasonable housing and 2) without excessive minority populations. let's be honest with ourselves.

Sherwood is 12% Asian, 16% Black and 13% Hispanic. Also the FARM rate for Black and Hispanic is very low. I like Sherwood because it is diverse but the diversity is not poor. I don't want to send a message to my kids that all the poor people have different skin color. The FARM is pretty much evenly distributed (except for Black). Most schools that have higher diversity also have an issue in that all the FARM kids are people of color, this indoctrinates our children to believe that poor = people of color. This is not a good message. Not one I want my children to learn.

So NO people do not move to Sherwood district to get away from minority. People move there when they don't want to live around snobby people. I know very few people that commute to DC for a job. Baltimore, sure... Columbia, definitely but not DC.

Walter Johnson also have a good amount of diversity and the FARM rate is evenly distributed over all the racial/ethnic backgrounds.

This is also true for QO and a few other mentioned in this thread.

It really comes down to does the OP like her neighbors (which she may not, since the nasty posters remind her of her neighbors). Many people can't afford to live in Bethesda. Many people can afford to live in Bethesda but don't ... I am sorry, buy the majority of moms in Bethesda are really immature, bitchy and uptight. Many dads are jerks.

Also, it is not the only school with reasonable housing. Clarksburg/Poolesville/Gaithersburg/Blake/Northwood/Einstein/etc

LOL! To paraphrase: "I prefer my diversity to be all high SES families." The "message" you're sending is that you don't want to mix with poor families. That's cool, just don't try to twist it into some kind of noble stance.

You have reading comprehension issues. We have already established that this is where the poors move when they can't afford Bethesda. I would like my FARM and high SES to be evenly distributed across all ethnic groups. 1sts we are comparing Sherwood with WJ which has even less SES diversity than Sherwood. Sherwood has 15% FARM but the FARM kids are also white. When you pass the cafeteria and see all the kids getting free breakfast, they are not all people of color. They are all types of kids in the school. Yes there are poor white people... that is the "message". Whether you realize it or not. You are creating a conscious child and a child with a subconscious... having a negative image of people of color (all being poor) creates a subconscious that poor = people of color and it will affect the way they act for the rest of their lives towards people of color. Read about "think slicing" if you are unaware of this.

If that's your idea of "poor" you need to get out more. That line is comical in its obliviousness.

It is comical that you don't understand that = sarcasm... W people think it is for the poors. Which is a joke.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And that's the beauty of Olney: racially diverse, but no abject poverty. So my white kids would never think that all brown people are poor...especially since many of his brown friends have beach houses and nicer homes than we do.

Yes, your white kids will never think that all brown people are poor. What they will think is that everybody is affluent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And that's the beauty of Olney: racially diverse, but no abject poverty. So my white kids would never think that all brown people are poor...especially since many of his brown friends have beach houses and nicer homes than we do.

Yes, your white kids will never think that all brown people are poor. What they will think is that everybody is affluent.

No. They will realize they are affluent but they are considered the poors by Bethesda families and that there are poor people that are hard working and need a little extra help to make it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And that's the beauty of Olney: racially diverse, but no abject poverty. So my white kids would never think that all brown people are poor...especially since many of his brown friends have beach houses and nicer homes than we do.

Yes, your white kids will never think that all brown people are poor. What they will think is that everybody is affluent.

No. They will realize they are affluent but they are considered the poors by Bethesda families and that there are poor people that are hard working and need a little extra help to make it.

How will they realize this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And that's the beauty of Olney: racially diverse, but no abject poverty. So my white kids would never think that all brown people are poor...especially since many of his brown friends have beach houses and nicer homes than we do.

Yes, your white kids will never think that all brown people are poor. What they will think is that everybody is affluent.

No. They will realize they are affluent but they are considered the poors by Bethesda families and that there are poor people that are hard working and need a little extra help to make it.

How will they realize this?

They'll see stuff on TV. Or when they drive through the down county neighborhoods with their windows rolled up.

[Anonymous]

This thread has become truly amusing. Sherwood is a fit school. Not a top tier mcps school, but a quality option in an affordable area. We like Olney...would love bethesda but that isnt happening. We liked silver spring but wanted 4 beds and didn't want to pay $600k.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And that's the beauty of Olney: racially diverse, but no abject poverty. So my white kids would never think that all brown people are poor...especially since many of his brown friends have beach houses and nicer homes than we do.

Yes, your white kids will never think that all brown people are poor. What they will think is that everybody is affluent.

lol - Ask the brown families in this district which is more important to them - having their children see not all brown people are poor, or thinking everyone is affluent. I promise you they won't care if junior grows up thinking everyone has money.