Reply to Lottery season reminder: your kids don't need to hear about DCUM stuff

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote] But my 3rd grader definitely doesn't know anything about BASIS or Latin or the fact that some kids will peel off for these charters or will move or may go private starting in 4th/5th. I know, but she doesn't. Your 3rd grader likely knows about it because they have an older sibling who has been through it.[/quote]

All is takes is having a friend who has an older sibling who has or is going through it. It doesn't have to be your child's own sibling. So, yes, by 3rd grade my kid understood that lots of kids left at the beginning of 5th grade because they had "won" the lottery. Kid knew that because best friend in school had a sibling  in 5th grade who was unhappy because most of their friends had left for other schools. So younger sib was well aware of the process and, understandably, shared that knowledge with friends--even those who did not have older siblings.

It's not that the friend wanted to be "the source" or something. Friend just knew big sibling was miserable because she missed her friends.

[/quote]

That's a specific situation though. Most kids who don't have older siblings won't get this passed through the grapevine. None of my kid's friends have siblings in 5th, and those with older siblings don't have negative experiences to share, that I can tell. The 3rd graders I know are blissfully unaware of the charter exodus after 4th. Which is good because 3rd grade is hard enough with adding a complication like that which is unlikely to make any sense to them.[/quote]

I find this very difficult to believe. My kids are also at a SH feeder (I will out myself for context and name the school, Ludlow) and the 50% more clued in half of the 3rd grade knows all about the lottery; by this time of year in 4th, it's 90%. But also... There's a real mixed bag in terms of kids' feelings about it. 5th grade is a really fun year at the school: making all of the sports teams (lots of 4th graders relegated to JV or even cut), big roles in the musical, Safety Patrol, 5th grade ski trip, Ford's theater performance, Embassy exchange program, traditional graduation/senior activities (boat cruise, etc). Yes, some kids are desperate to go to Latin or BASIS, but I'd guess at least as many kids who end up getting into one of those schools is really sad to be leaving. I do not have the sense that the 5th graders feel left behind. It obviously helps that a smaller percentage seem to leave each year.[/quote]

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