Reply to Information on Park School or Friends School in Baltimore?

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[quote=Anonymous]My older son graduated recently from Park, and now attends a "highly selective" liberal arts college. He had a great time at Park  - the teachers really stretched him, and he learned A LOT. Even though he's at an excellent college, he has come to recognize the outstanding teaching he had at Park. More to the point, though - he made a great group of friends there, all good kids who stick up for each other and who all stayed away from any sort of inebriated party scene. Got to play on two varsity teams even though he is not an "Athlete" with a capital A. (Warming the bench as a walk-on in DIII at the moment). Immersed himself in a huge variety of extracurricular activities, from the nerdy to the performing arts.

My younger son is currently in the Upper School at Park (started in the middle school). He applied to both Park and Friends. We gave him his choice of where to attend, but secretly hoped for Park, because we value the "progressive" education there (yes, it IS progressive, something we appreciate) and felt the style at Friends was less creative, too much "sage on a stage". He has found a great peer group at Park. It's fine there if you're not an Athlete but instead you're kind of nerdy. At many schools he'd be able to sit in the back row and earn straight A's on the basis of his written work and tests. At Park he knows he has to participate in class if he wishes to do well. It's good for him.

Park works hard to provide financial aid. That being said, with the economy being what it is, it's tough to provide as much as everyone might need. Children of teachers get free tuition. Many students receive some financial aid. My sons have not found themselves with only "uber-rich" kids to hang out with.

We've heard stats about the prevalence of alcohol and other drugs at Park vs other independent schools that make us feel as if Park's approach is much more effective in preventing abuse than many of the other independent schools around here.

Learning issues like dysgraphia - I do know one kid who left Park in lower school for this reason (parents felt he wasn't getting enough support and was struggling). Don't know whether Friends would be any better, no experience there. You might be reliant on what you could arrange on your own. I was not overly impressed with my efforts to secure support in "executive function" issues, so went "outside".

It's not the school for everyone. The kids who thrive, do so because they're self-motivated. The teachers set them on fire. But they don't beat on the kids who aren't self-motivated. I tell people that Park students are given a long leash. You can go a long ways with it if you're a "student", or you can slack off (effectively hang yourself with it) if you're not. You have to be honest about what sort of individual your child is. I've known teachers to walk away from the free tuition because it wasn't working well for their kids.[/quote]

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