Anonymous wrote:Question to a PP. Does Landon have two honor rolls.? My kids go to Sidwell where they don't celebrate grades so even one honor roll seems odd, but what is the point of 2?

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Anonymous wrote:Not OP but will any current families give their opinion on academics. Is it challenging??

I will chime in here: I have a DS at both STA and Landon. The work at both schools is more traditional (more paper/pencil, less use of iPads and online mediums, etc.) They take very similar foundation courses, but Landon also has a course on Ethics. The homework requirement is similar at both schools. The main difference we have found between the two schools is not in the quality or quantity of academics, but the culture surrounding it: STA seems a bit more competitive between the boys jockeying for top seat, while Landon seems a bit more collaborative/supportive between the boys.

Again, this has only been our personal experience, but hope it helps!

Incredibly helpful - honestly you have no idea how much this helps to hear. Thank you for posting! Can I ask (if you will share) what are the big differences about your boys that led them to these different schools?

So glad my comments were helpful. Our DS who is at STA is in many ways impervious to competition. He is not competitive, and the competition around him doesn't bother him at all. In many ways, he doesn't even seem aware of it. He is content just to work on himself and doesn't get his head in it. Everything is a competition at STA, right down to Halloween (who has the best costume,) and so it helps to really thrive in that kind of environment, or just generally not react to it in any way (like our DS.)

Our DS who is at Landon, is also not competitive, and more more of a collaborator. He does better in an environment where the boys are working with each other instead of against each other (and again, I am not attaching value to either scenario.) He really shies away from competition, unless it is in a team format. As a sibling, we could have sent him to STA, but it was just a gut feeling that he would have wilted in the intensity of it all.

Both of our sons tested very similarly (within a percentage point) and are similar learners. So it really came down to a temperament issue for both, not an academic or learning issue.

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Anonymous wrote:I went there for 9 years and graduated almost 15 years ago.

I thought it was a great school, and you couldn't find a more dedicated group of teachers. The place does get a little high on itself, however, I really like that the new headmaster is an outsider.

Its reputation didn't exactly mesh with reality when I was a student, and I gather that's even more so the case now.

When I attended it felt like at least half the students did not fit the school's reputation. I gather this is even more the case since the school has been trying hard ever since the 2010 Huguely disgrace at UVA to counter its existing reputation.

I think it says a lot that the head of the middle school is a) a woman and b) a lesbian.

Landon isn't the most "21st century compatible" of DC's private schools. That said, Landon in 2016 has distanced itself greatly from the Landon of 1986, 1996, or even 2006.

Nothing reinforces my last comment more than Landon's sports, which are getting worse and worse with each passing year.

It's definitely not the place it used to be, but reputations do take time to change.

TMI. I don't want to hear who she sleeps with, thanks.