Reply to Walls vs Private- How Would You Compare

Forum Index » DC Public and Public Charter Schools

Reply to "Walls vs Private- How Would You Compare"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I have a daughter at Walls and wouldn't consider sending her to privates. The bullying is likely worse at the privates and the education is likely similar considering that walls has excellent teachers. Walls (like any DCPS school) also offers the opportunity to register for college classes (for a select few full time and for others on a course by course basis). I have trouble matching our personal experience to all of the walls bashing. On the side of the elite privates i will say that the resources are better and appear to some parents as feeling more like college campuses in terms of resources with multimillion dollar donations. If you are looking for more resources privates will have those. Walls and DCPS cannot match privates in terms of sports either. To us high teacher quality and advanced classes is enough, and we do not like high pressure with sports - even walls is a little higher pressure than we would like. As mentioned with the college classes there are also some advantages that you will not have at privates. For anyone interested in debate the Washington Urban Debate League is only for public school kids and their kids I believe do better than the private school kids.  The peer group is also important. There is no question that the walls kids are top notch academically. In college admissions your child is at a disadvantage at private school because the kids, many of whom are legacies, compete against each other for early decision to elite privates. Walls kids often attend public universities so they can get DC TAG. Walls has many longtime teachers and retaining teachers is one of the most portant roles of a principal.[/quote]

You make some good points.  That said, posters are hardly "Walls bashing" to note that new head is a cipher and that watering down admissions standards at Bowser's behest was a terrible idea. All the Walls kids are hardly top notch academically. Just not the case, not anymore.  I wish things were different.[/quote]

So a test equals academic excellence? That is hardly the case. With all the grade inflation in schools systems, making the GPA cut off should not be too challenging. Just don't apply if your genius kid is too advanced for Walls.[/quote]

You're missing the forest for the trees with this statement.  The Walls admissions process has never been transparent but seems to become less so with each passing admissions season. The arrangement is ripe for a lawsuit, like the one Boston Latin failed to fend off in the late 90s.  BL was forced to ditch its admissions interview and a one-third admissions quota for racial minorities in an embarrassing out of court settlement. Ditching the Walls admissions test and the standardized test requirement (PARCC scores or PSAT or SAT scores) has made the admissions process more discretionary than ever, and, thus, more likely to invite litigation. This is not about genius kids applying, it's about accountability and fairness on DCPS' part.  Let me guess, you're not a lawyer.[/quote]

Nope....I'm sure you're not a school administrator. The process certainly leaves a lot to be desired. But GPA calculations and the interview as well as the percentages are documented. Just file a lawsuit against DCPS if you're so dern sure it's discriminatory. I'm pretty sure you'd have to name all the DCPS application high schools' and not just Walls. Are you prepared to do that? Let us know when this happens...[/quote] I’m not the PP you’re attacking but I see scope for litigation where Walls admissions is concerned for a simple reason. It’s a no brainer that a B+ GPA at BASIS is likely to mean that a student has learned two or three times more in middle school that a competitor with an A+ GPA from a failing DCPS or charter program enrolling no UMC or white families. This New Yorker who attended test-in magnet programs from 6th to 12th grade agrees that the Walls admissions system may provide fertile ground for litigation eventually. Boston Latin wasn’t expecting to be sued either.[/quote]

Yet no one has sued yet.  Just a lot of moaning and hand-wringing on DCUM.[/quote]

That's all it's ever been. No action ever comes from DCUM. That's why it's difficult to take most of the info seriously. I suspect because most have never been in a real fight in any capacity, period. [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics