Reply to Top private (Sidwell, GDS) versus top public (JKLM) for early years: what are the differences?

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Reply to "Top private (Sidwell, GDS) versus top public (JKLM) for early years: what are the differences? "

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]It's about opting out of seemingly universal social structures or systems -- like the electrical power grid.  Or schooling.  Sometimes this is part of the simplicity movement (e.g. The Tiny House folks) which basically says we're slaves to all of our stuff and could live more meaningful and satisfying lives if we stopped focussing on material things.  And in some cases, there's also a critique of/resistance to governmental or corporate power.  Some solar power advocates, for example, love technology but don't want to be at the mercy of a monopolistic utility or to see centralized production/distribution of power as a source of vulnerability rather than strength/efficiency.

In either variant -- and the two can and do overlap -- there's a kind of counter-culturalism in the mix.  Which is why, for me, the choice of an EOTP charter as a way to produce the lopsided resume that Ivy League admissions officers apparently crave isn't off-the-grid.  Home-schooling certainly would be.  [/quote]

EOTP off the grid poster here:  I meant off the "pressure cooker" grid - nothing more, because that was the topic/question/recommendation....

1) It is not the charter that produces the lopsided resume that we are told colleges prefer to well rounded do everything care about nothing, I was talking about being able to give your kids enough free time and space so they can explore interests, and if they are lucky, find something they are passionate about - so less academic rigor in the early years, while hanging out with a bunch of really smart kids from a wide variety of backgrounds = more time, and in an environment where there is diversity (not just on the surface but below as well)  I think kids feel more free to explore a wider variety of options because they have broader horizons...

2) I am not using the EOTP school as a way to get anyone to the Ivy League, and I don't agree that the Ivy League or going to Harvard is worth the money.  I said I had one kid wired that way - and that there was nothing I could do about it - maybe I am wrong, maybe I should try harder, but kid is older and set in his ways - he has created his own "pressure cooker" - he puts pressure on himself.  We try to take it off, and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but this kid desperately wants to go to HYP and at a certain point you are criticizing your kid by continuing to argue that HYP is not worth it, makes no sense, and is an improper goal.... so we have backed off a bit.  I would not want to have a family dynamic where the rest of the kids are making fun of him for trying so hard to get the best grades.... ultimately, what matters to him has to matter to us for him in particular, because otherwise we are not respecting his autonomy, his priorities, and this child is not doing drugs, he is just trying to be the one with the top grades in order to go to an Ivy League school.... isn't this the goal of "tiger moms" and many private school parents?

3) in terms of gaming and computer programming, the kid in question has, the way the international population does here, not moved to a better school system (well maybe), but he has returned to his own country which is far far away and in such a different time zone that the two had to be very creative to keep in touch and keep interacting the way they used to when said kid could come over and they could be in the same "universe" side by side on their computers.  This is definitely not "off the grid" in the traditional sense but rather the way the term was used on this thread by the posters who originally used it.

So I meant off the "pressure cooker grid," as did the two prior posters, and that is the only grid we are trying to stay off of.  I thought the use of the term as they used it was the easiest way to explain what we are trying to accomplish for our family - not getting into the Ivy League by going to an EOTP school, and not creating lopsided resumes because that is what we have been told colleges want - but trying to give our kids more space to think and more things to think about in terms of exploring what ultimately interests them.... trying to foster genuine intellectual curiosity which we think is easier to do off the "pressure cooker grid."  I also agree with the poster who said that if they had to do what the kids at the big 3 are doing to try to get into college they would need a gap year.  I don't want my kids to burn out especially academically - I want them to go to college and feel like they are "a kid in a candy store."

I have no idea if going to a school EOTP will give my kids a better shot at getting into college - we just hoped it would give them a healthier and wider perspective about the whole process, which I think is really important for their psychological well being.  Thinking about and exploring where to go to college ought to be a fun process, and I hope it will be, for all but our one kid who has tunnel vision on this issue that we cannot seem to change........ [/quote]

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