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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Am I alone in thinking there is something wrong with a school that admits children because their parent went to the same school? What century is this? How is social mobility possible when that is what people are up against - even if they have the cash? I'm not from the US, so apologies if this sounds naive. [/quote]

I think you are jumping to a conclusion, PP. I said "some of the kids are children of alums" . That is very differnt than saying " all of the admitted kids, have parents who were alums". Beauvoir admits a lot of regular familes who are new to Washington. Some of these families are new to Washington because , like yourself, they have come to DC from another country. There were many familes like this in my DC's classes over the years. There were also plenty of regular parents, albeit with impressive educations and really interesting careers.

What is more in play here is that Washington is a pretty small town and , chances are, if your mother was a Diplomat or a member of the Kennedy administration and your father also worked in the Federal government, you may have gone to one of these private schools growing up. Given your genes, you may also be interested in law, or foreign policy, or politics or journalism, and when you finish grad school you may eventually end up back in Washington working in similar fields as your parents. ( Many children of doctors become doctors, etc..)  These people eventually get married to someone who they meet at say, the state department, and have kids. 5 years later they are looking at schools. Of course, if a person such as this has wonderful memories and got a good education at the school they attended, they might want their child to have that experience as well.

Do you see how that is a bit different than just accepting someone's kid because their parents went there ? Yes, these schools do ask a lot of their admitted familes: to serve unpaid on the board, to give thousands, sometimes tens of thousands of $$$ to annual fund and capital campaigns over the years, to donate one's time and professional expertise unpaid, over and over again and on and on. The school develop these relationships, and , yes, they honor them[i] when a child is qualified[/i]. By no means to they admit kids who cannot do the work. Its just that given who the parents are, and the opportunities provided them , unlikely their kids can't meet the academic requirements.  It does happen on occasion and then, no, those kids do not attend. Usually because the parents know better.

That being said, many Washington natives choose schools other than the one they went to as a child and that is also based on how they felt about the school. Some times parents do say about a particular school, " oh my god, I will never send my child there"

So, I think you are miss judging a bit. There is opportunity, but Washington is a town that draws people and , as a result its competitive ( think applying to buy an apartment in ther Upper West Side). There is competition. In DC what also drive sthat is the dismall state of DCPS.

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