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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]We chose to send DD to Bryn Mawr, but I have to say I would be thrilled if there were a more academically rigorous co-ed option in the Roland Park area. I am really scratching my head as to why the most rigorous academic options are both single-sex. At least they can take co-ed classes together in the upper school.[/quote]

What about friends?[/quote]

20 years ago Gilman, Bryn Mawr, Friends, Park and McDonogh all had similar reputations for academic rigor. Similar SAT scores, similar college placements. Some years one school might be slightly stronger but on the whole not enough to make a difference. You picked the school on personality and fit. But these days Friends has slipped behind the pack. It's lost the bright and nerdy kids from bright families without much money due to the rising tuition and who now stay in public schools. It's had to take in weaker students. Student body is smaller as well.

No knock on Friends, in many ways it's still a good school and still has strong students. But when a popular middle school math teacher who'd been at Friends for decades was fired for refusing to dumb down the curriculum, you know things have changed. [/quote]

I am the PP who wishes there were an academically rigorous co-ed option in Roland Park. I did not know about the math teacher, but what you wrote resonates with what I have heard from people who have sent their kids there. My impression, though, is that their arts are strong and it is a very nice experience. I just happen to have a kid who really wants to be more challenged academically, which is why we left public. I get the sense that private school interest is up, especially for the middle and upper school, so perhaps Friends is in a good position to reframe itself a bit by adding harder honors courses, etc. [/quote]

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