Reply to Seeking first-person experience in Wakefield

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]AP Geography is also offered to freshman.

The AP Network they advertise is not an actual thing. It just means that the school offers AP classes.

Our kid is a junior. It's a pretty poor educational experience and if we had had the option of sending them to W-L would have taken it in a heartbeat.

The AP classes and intensified classes are ok but any student can sign up for them so there are still a lot of disruptive students in them which is a pain.

The teachers have been ok - some great -some so/so - like any high school.

They encourage participation in sports and clubs for students.

The do very little in terms of preparing students for college. We hired a private college counselor. We got the name from other parents.

They are very big on sending kids to NOVA. They push it constantly.

The PTA finally sponsored a mock SAT test this year. I am pretty sure it was the first time. Yorktown seems to offer them on the regular every year for comparison.

Lots and lots and lots of talk about equity and inclusion. Very little conversation on academics or academic achievement. This is from both the admin side at school and from the parent side. Sometimes I wonder if they remember that it's actually a school and the point is education not a nonprofit dedicated to social justice.
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While there is a lot of promotion of NOVA, that's because almost half the school is potential first-generation college and students with limited financial means. It's not like it's a bad thing to promote, especially since it also promotes the "early start" program and other opportunities that require a 3.0 GPA to participate in.  Nevertheless, if you're not in that particular demographic, you can easily plan and get information and assistance for the colleges you're interested in.  College and military representatives visit the school throughout the year and lots of scholarship opportunities are also promoted - many are specific to students of color; but again, the majority of students are students of color and that's a good thing to be encouraging.

The PTA doesn't have the resources of Yorktown; but Yorktown tends to open up its mock exams and other programs to all the high school communities.

If you're hiring a private college counselor, you're likely someone who would do that even if your kid were at WL or YHS.

I agree the AP Network isn't a big deal - though I honestly don't really get what it is; but the AP Capstone is a positive and they have a sufficient offering of AP classes relative to the other schools.   There is a great deal of equity and inclusion speak and the teachers and students clearly lean pretty far left politically (like a lot of Arlington).

If you want a more pressure-cooker atmosphere for your child, WL is your best bet.  If you're not so uptight about your kid taking 5 AP classes at once and being on the most competitive teams and accept that a less-pressure, less-competitive, still-among-the-top-2% of high schools in the country is perfectly fine and won't ruin your child's entire future, Wakefield is absolutely fine.

Parents not talking and boasting about their kids' extraordinary brilliance and academic achievement doesn't mean they do not emphasize academics or believe them to be important.  Personally, I'm grateful not to be surrounded by competitive parents living vicariously through their children, stressing their kids out, and insisting anything less than the best and an ivy league degree is failure.  I can't speak to the level of anxiety or pressure at Yorktown; but even though WL is an excellent school, I find the Wakefield environment pleasantly less stressful for us as parents and for our kid v. our kid and others we know at WL.
We have not heard of any problems with "disruptive" kids in any of our kid's classes of any level.  I'm not aware of policies at any of the schools precluding students from taking an AP class - all students register for classes through their counselor and teachers make recommendations; but you can always discuss those recommendations with the teachers if you disagree.  Generally, though, if a student is a good student and performing well, they will be recommended for the appropriate level courses.

I also much prefer the "senior project" over the "senior experience" at the other high schools.  It's a year long project of the student's choosing with a "mentor" guiding them along the way, culminating in a written piece and a presentation.[/quote]

Since the poster asked for real world experiences, not a bunch of fluff to promote the school -

Wakefield could never be a pressure cooker. It can't even be a boiling pot. Maybe not even a simmering pot. The academic expectations are low even in the AP and Intensified classes. So stop making it about pressure cooker and start listening to parents who have the average, in the middle kids. We are just trying to get a decent, appropriate high school level education for our kids to prepare them to actually go to college, and be able to do the work once there.

Writing is non existent. I feel terrible for kids who go off to college who never received any outside preparation. Can you image getting slammed with writing multi-page papers in freshman year but your only experience was writing one 5 paragraph essay in your entire high school career?

Nothing wrong with NOVA except first gen students can and should be offered the chance to go to 4 yr colleges right out of high school. It takes help and planning to find the right fit for them.  No one has time for that. NOVA is easier.

Most of the scholarships announcements that are sent out are nothing more than a lottery. Send in a bunch of essays and recommendations, wait months and months, and nothing. Or maybe $500.  Never once I have seen any helpful information regarding merit aid, why it matters, how to get it, how to target schools most likely to provide it to a student.

The college counselor we hired isn't to get our kid into an ivy league. It is to help them apply to public universities, understand the application process, help with their essay, and stay on track. It doesn't matter if the counselors are nice at the school, they have a lot of students with a lot of issues. They don't have time to really discuss college or the college process. It's not their fault. It's just how it is.

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First of all, the responder was clearly speaking about direct real world experience.

Second of all, speaking as a parent of middle average and above average but not the very top kids: They will be just as prepared for college as any of their cohorts at the other high schools.

From what I gather, NONE of the high schools are good at teaching writing or expecting long (or even short-to-medium) papers.  It's a nationwide problem, not just a Wakefield problem.  Employers - and colleges - complain about the lack of writing skills coming out of schools (including college graduates) all the time.  Even those advanced kids at what you consider better high schools often have to re-take the calculus class they took in high school because they aren't properly prepared for college mathematics. My kids wrote longer essays in 5th and 6th grades than any of their general ed or intensified high school classes have required so far; but the AP classes have at least emphasized better writing - grammatically and substantively.

I really don't see a problem with "lottery" type scholarships.  I'm happy to accept any scholarship aid my kids can get.  And I know for a fact they are not all (or even most) that way anyway.  Similarly, I think NOVA is a valuable resource and very viable option for all kinds of students, including mine.  My oldest has no idea what they want to do and also hasn't been the highest-achieving student.  It's very likely they will opt to start at NOVA, get core classes or even a two-year degree under their belt, and take the time to figure out what they want to do. And we'll be happy to not waste the tuition at a 4-year school and only pay for 2 years if they subsequently transfer after NOVA (and enjoy the guaranteed admission to a Virginia public university, if they choose that. That's another reason pushing NOVA for Wakefield students is a good idea, btw.)  We are very fortunate to have such a high quality community college at our disposal and I know several people who started off there and are now PhDs and similar level professionals in their fields.  If it's not good enough for your kid, that's fine.  Don't diss it for others -- except the first gen kids, of course.   :roll: I do agree, however, that Wakefield could encourage 4-year tracts more to all the students.  But they are right -and probably more effective - to not overlook the realities, to encourage every student to take at least one AP class and to at least consider some post-secondary education v. just pushing them all into cosmetology or automechanics at the career center.

If you haven't seen the information you want about financial aid, applying to other colleges, etc.,  you could always ASK.  They do offer financial aid information sessions and assistance/information about the process and filling out forms.  It also includes the college application process, though I think they could have provided more on that part.  I was aware of that information session through the PTA listserv and emails sent out by Wakefield.

I hope your disappointment hasn't contributed to your child's miserable high school experience.[/quote]

[b]OMG You are truly insufferable, I bet your kid tells you they want to go far away to school so they don’t have to deal with you.[/b]

For the other posters regarding conservative ideals - I agree - being conservative is frowned on which is funny given how many kids come from fairly strict conservative values and religious homes. 
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Nice.  If you're the same poster, you told us to listen to parents with kids in the middle and here you are being unnecessarily - and imo unwarrantedly - rude to one of those very parents.  If you're a different poster, then it's really sad to know there is more than one really rude person taking away from what is otherwise a useful discussion.
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